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US 11,535,496 B2Granted
Device for stabilizing a hoisted object
AssigneeVita Inclinata Technologies, Inc.
InventorsMahdi Al-Husseini, Joshua Lamar Barnett, Anthony Chen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed are various embodiments for stabilizing a hoisted object. A hoisted object such as a litter can have a tendency spin while being retrieved on a lift line. A device may be connected to the hoisted object to reduce a spin or other angular velocity of the hoisted object. The device may monitor stability of the hoisted object and determine that the hoisted object is unstable. The device may be configured to rotate at least one flywheel to apply torque to an enclosure of the device.
Claims12
A stabilizer device for stabilizing a hoisted object, comprising:
- a stabilizer assembly configured to transfer a torque to a hoisted object connectable to an enclosure of the stabilizer device;
- and
- a stability manager comprising:
- a sensor pack configured to obtain a measurement that corresponds to an angular velocity of the hoisted object, wherein the sensor pack comprises:
- an inertial measuring unit (IMU), wherein the IMU senses an angular velocity of the enclosure of the stabilizer device, wherein the angular velocity of the enclosure of the stabilizer device corresponds to the angular velocity of the hoisted object;
- a load sensor to determine an angular momentum of the enclosure and the hoisted object;
- and
- an encoder configured to detect a rotation of at least a first driveshaft and a flywheel, wherein the first driveshaft is coupled to the flywheel;
- a motor driver configured to drive a motor;
- a processor;
- and
- program instructions stored in memory and executable by the processor that, when executed, cause the stability manager to determine that hoisted object is unstable based on the measurement that corresponds to an angular velocity of the hoisted object, and to use the motor driver to determine the angular momentum of the enclosure and the hoisted object, select a selected angular velocity of the flywheel to reduce the angular velocity of the hoisted object based at least in part on the angular momentum of the enclosure and the hoisted object, and rotate at least the flywheel at the selected angular velocity, according to the rotation of at least the first driveshaft and the flywheel detected by the encoder, to reduce the angular velocity of the hoisted object.
9 more elements
A device for stabilizing a hoisted object, comprising:
- an enclosure comprising a line attachment configured to attach to a lift line and a hoisted object attachment configured to attach to a hoisted object;
- a stabilizer assembly comprising a motor connected to a flywheel by at least a first driveshaft;
- and
- a stability manager connected to the motor, the stability manager configured to apply a torque to the enclosure to reduce an angular velocity of the hoisted object;
- wherein
- the stability manager comprises:
- a processor, a memory, a motor driver, and a sensor pack configured to obtain a measurement corresponding to the angular velocity of the hoisted object;
- wherein the sensor pack comprises:
- an inertial measurement unit (IMU), wherein the IMU senses an angular velocity of the enclosure, wherein the angular velocity of the enclosure corresponds to the angular velocity of the hoisted object;
- a load sensor to determine an angular momentum of the enclosure and the hoisted object;
- and
- an encoder configured to detect a rotation of at least the first driveshaft and the flywheel;
- and
- program instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor that, when executed, cause the stability manager to determine that hoisted object is unstable based on the measurement that corresponds to an angular velocity of the hoisted object and to use the motor driver to determine the angular momentum of the enclosure and the hoisted object, select a selected angular velocity of the flywheel to reduce the angular velocity of the hoisted object based at least in part on the angular momentum of the enclosure and the hoisted object, and rotate at least the flywheel at the selected angular velocity, according to the rotation of at least the first driveshaft and the flywheel detected by the encoder, to reduce the angular velocity of the hoisted object.
11 more elements
A method for stabilizing a hoisted object, comprising:
- obtaining, from a sensor pack, at least one measurement corresponding to an angular velocity of a hoisted object, wherein the at least one measurement is obtained from an inertial measurement unit (“IMU”) secured to an enclosure of a stabilizer device, wherein the IMU senses an angular velocity of the enclosure of the stabilizer device, wherein the angular velocity of the enclosure of the stabilizer device corresponds to the angular velocity of the hoisted object;
- determining that the hoisted object is unstable based on the at least one measurement corresponding to the angular velocity of the hoisted object;
- and
- in response to determining that the hoisted object is unstable, rotating at least a portion of a stabilizer assembly of the stabilizer device to reduce the angular velocity of the hoisted object;
- wherein the sensor pack further comprises at load sensor to determine an angular momentum of the enclosure and the hoisted object and wherein the stabilizer assembly further comprises at least one driveshaft coupled to a flywheel and wherein the sensor pack further comprises an encoder configured to detect a rotation of the at least one driveshaft and the flywheel, and wherein the method further comprises determining the angular momentum of the enclosure and the hoisted object, selecting a selected angular velocity of the flywheel to reduce the angular velocity of the hoisted object based at least in part on the angular momentum of the enclosure and the hoisted object, and rotating at least the flywheel at the selected angular velocity, according to the rotation of the at least one driveshaft and the flywheel detected by the encoder, to reduce the angular velocity of the hoisted object.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.