Delivery of electrical power
AssigneeEE Limited
InventorAyan Ghosh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tethered aircraft or balloon carrying a communications base station for rapid deployment in emergency situations. Electrical power is delivered from a generator on the ground using a pulsed electrical supply system in which each power pulse is delivered over a cable and acknowledged, and pulses only continue to be delivered whilst such acknowledgements are received by the ground station. This reduces the risks associated with delivering electrical power over an aerial tether, and avoids the need for an earth (ground) connection, reducing the risk from lightning.
Claims18
A system comprising:
- an aircraft comprising:
- a connection point for a tether;
- an electrical power connection for receiving electrical power through a cable from a remote source;
- a receiving unit for a pulsed electrical delivery system connected through the electrical power connection;
- a monitoring unit for detecting electrical pulses received by the receiving unit;
- and
- a communications transmitter for transmitting an acknowledgement in response to detection of electrical pulses by the monitoring unit;
- and
- a ground-based device comprising:
- a pulsed electrical delivery system for powering the aircraft, via the cable, using electrical pulses;
- a controller configured to receive the acknowledgement from the aircraft and to cause, from the pulsed electrical delivery system to the aircraft:
- transmission of each electrical pulse in response to receipt by the controller of the acknowledgment of a previous electrical pulse;
- and
- transmission of one or more electrical pulses at reduced power if no acknowledgment is received by the controller within a predetermined period.
A method of delivery of electrical power to an aircraft connected to the ground by a tether, comprising:
- delivering electrical pulses to an airborne aircraft from a ground-based device over an electrical connection;
- detecting, by the airborne aircraft, received electrical pulses;
- transmitting, by the airborne aircraft, acknowledgements of the detected electrical pulses;
- and
- transmitting, by the ground-based device:
- each electrical pulse in response to the acknowledgement of a previous electrical pulse;
- and
- one or more electrical pulses at reduced power if no acknowledgment is received by the ground-based device within a predetermined period.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.