Unmanned aerial vehicle, unmanned aerial vehicle system, and battery system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11167653-B2
Application number	US-201816610091-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2018
Priority date	Jun 7, 2017
Publication date	Nov 9, 2021
Grant date	Nov 9, 2021

Abstract

An unmanned aerial vehicle includes a main body, a propulsion assembly including a rotary blade and a motor to rotate the rotary blade about a rotation axis, the propulsion assembly being attached to the main body, a rechargeable battery to supply electric power to the propulsion assembly, a leg portion connected to the main body on a lower side of the main body in a vertical direction, and a power receiving coil to provide non-contact power feeding, the power receiving coil being electrically connected to the battery and being provided in the leg portion.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle comprising:
a main body;
a propulsion assembly including a rotary blade and a motor to rotate the rotary blade about a rotation axis, the propulsion assembly being attached to the main body;
a rechargeable battery to supply electric power to the propulsion assembly;
a leg portion connected to the main body on a lower side of the main body in a vertical direction; and
a power receiving coil to provide non-contact power feeding, the power receiving coil being electrically connected to the battery and being provided in the leg portion; wherein the leg portion has a closed frame shape which includes a central hole;
the power receiving coil is provided along the closed frame shape of the leg portion and surrounds the central hole;
the leg portion protrudes downward from the main body in the vertical direction;
a plurality of the leg portions are provided; and
the power receiving coil is provided to each of the plurality of leg portions.

2. The unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the power receiving coil provides non-contact power feeding through a magnetic field resonance system.

3. The unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein
a pair of the leg portions is provided via a gap in one direction orthogonal or substantially orthogonal to the vertical direction;
and
a distance between the pair of leg portions in the one direction increases as the pair of leg portions extends toward a lower side in the vertical direction.

4. The unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the leg portion is defined by the power receiving coil.

5. The unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising a switching circuit that connects and short-circuits terminals of the motor in an ON state.

6. An unmanned aerial vehicle system comprising:
the unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 ; and
a power transmission device including a power transmission coil to provide non-contact power feeding capable of transmitting electric power to the power receiving coil.

7. The unmanned aerial vehicle system according to claim 6 , wherein
a second central axis of the power transmission coil extends in a direction orthogonal or substantially orthogonal to the vertical direction; and
a total dimension of the power transmission coil in the vertical direction is larger than a total dimension of the leg portion in the vertical direction.

8. The unmanned aerial vehicle system according to claim 6 , wherein
a second central axis of the power transmission coil extends in a direction orthogonal or substantially orthogonal to the vertical direction; and
a total dimension of the power transmission coil in a direction orthogonal or substantially orthogonal to both the second central axis of the power transmission coil and the vertical direction is about 648 mm or smaller.

9. A battery system of an unmanned aerial vehicle, the unmanned aerial vehicle including:
a main body; and
a propulsion assembly including a rotary blade and a motor to rotate the rotary blade about a rotation axis, the propulsion assembly being attached to the main body;
the battery system comprising:
a rechargeable battery to supply electric power to the propulsion assembly;
a leg portion connected to the main body on a lower side of the main body in a vertical direction; and
a power receiving coil to provide non-contact power feeding, the power receiving coil being electrically connected to the battery and being provided in the leg portion; wherein
the leg portion protrudes downward from the main body in the vertical direction;
a portion of the power receiving coil which is provided in the leg portion extends downward from the main body in the vertical direction;
a plurality of the leg portions are provided; and
the power receiving coil is provided to each of the plurality leg portions.

Assignees

• Nidec Corp

Inventors

• Kodaira Yasumasa
• Kato Masaki

Classifications

• B64U30/20

  Rotors; Rotor supports · CPC title

• B64U10/13

  Flying platforms · CPC title

• H02J2105/32

  for aircrafts · CPC title

• H02J7/70

  characterised by the mechanical construction · CPC title

• B64F1/22

  for handling aircraft · CPC title