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US 11,498,652 B2Granted
Unmanned undersand vehicle
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorNghia X. Tran
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An unmanned vehicle capable of tunneling into soft materials, such as sand, comprises a hollow, bullet-shaped forward outer body with a first drive screw thread integrated into its exterior, a hollow cylindrical rear outer body with a second drive screw thread integrated into its exterior but threaded in the opposed direction of the first drive screw thread, and an inner body that is rotatably coupled to the inside of the forward and rear outer bodies via mechanical gears, and including directional control fins mounted on a housing at the rear end of the inner body.
Claims16
An unmanned vehicle comprising:
- a forward outer body, generally cylindrical and hollow, with a forward end tapering to a point;
- a first drive screw thread rigidly attached to the forward outer body beginning at the forward end of the forward outer body and winding circumferentially around the exterior to the rearward end of the forward body;
- a rear outer body comprising a hollow cylinder with a rearward end that is not tapered, but is circular and perpendicular to a centerline axis of the unmanned vehicle;
- a second drive screw thread rigidly attached to the rear outer body, the second drive screw thread beginning at a forward end of the rear outer body and winding circumferentially around the rear outer body but winding in the direction opposite to that of the first drive screw thread rigidly attached to the forward outer body;
- an inner body rotatably coupled to the forward and rear outer bodies, capable of rotating the forward and rear outer bodies about a centerline axis;
- a directional control actuator housing rigidly attached to a rear end of the inner body and extending past the rearward end of the rear outer body with a plurality of directional control structures coupled to the directional control actuator housing;
- and
- wherein the directional control structures are a plurality of fins, and wherein a distal tip of each fin is located farther from the centerline axis than an exterior surface of the unmanned vehicle and closer than an outermost edge of the second drive screw thread.
5 more elements
An unmanned vehicle capable of tunneling comprising:
- a hollow, bullet-shaped, forward outer body with a first drive screw thread integrated into the forward outer body beginning at a forward end of the forward outer body and winding circumferentially around an exterior to a rearward end of the forward outer body;
- a hollow, cylindrical, rear outer body with a second drive screw thread integrated into the rear outer body, the second drive screw thread beginning at a forward end of the rear outer body and winding circumferentially around an exterior of the rear outer body but winding in a direction opposite to that of the first drive screw thread;
- an inner body mounted within and rotatably coupled to the forward and rear outer bodies;
- a directional control actuator housing rigidly attached to a rearward end of the inner body and extending past the rearward end of the rear outer body with a plurality of directional control structures coupled to the directional control actuator housing;
- wherein each of the directional control structures is a vectored thruster;
- wherein the unmanned vehicle is not tethered to anything;
- and
- wherein the inner body contains a sensor payload, electrical power system, and control and guidance system.
5 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- an inner body;
- a forward outer body coupled to the inner body, wherein the forward outer body rotates around a common centerline axis with the inner body and the inner body is partially inside of the forward outer body;
- a first drive screw thread rigidly attached to the forward outer body, the first drive screw thread winding circumferentially around the forward outer body from a point at a forward end of the forward outer body to a rearward end of the forward outer body;
- a rear outer body coupled to the inner body, wherein the rear outer body rotates around the common centerline axis and the inner body is partially inside of the rear outer body;
- a second drive screw thread rigidly attached to the rear outer body, the second drive screw thread winding circumferentially around the rear outer body from a forward end to a rearward end of the rear outer body;
- the inner body having a means for rotation of the forward outer body and rear outer body, wherein the rotation causes the apparatus to move in a forward direction through a surrounding material;
- and,
- a direction control housing rigidly attached to the rearward end of the inner body with direction control structures rotatably coupled to the direction control housing, wherein the direction control structures control the pitch, yaw, and roll of the apparatus, wherein the directional control structures are a plurality of fins, and wherein a distal tip of each fin is disposed farther from the centerline axis than an exterior surface of the rear outer body and closer to the centerline axis than an outer edge of the second drive screw thread.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.