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US 11,628,934 B2Granted
Reel system for an unmanned aerial vehicle and related methods
AssigneeAGCO Corporation
InventorMark Aron Crowley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system comprising a reel, a tether configured to be wound about the reel, and at least one unmanned aerial vehicle attached to the tether. When unmanned aerial vehicle is at rest, the unmanned aerial vehicle resides on the reel. Related methods of operating such a system can be used to extract crop from a field.
Claims18
A system, comprising:
- a vehicle comprising a chassis;
- a storage bin mounted to the chassis;
- a reel mounted to the chassis;
- a tether comprising a vacuum tube configured to be wound about the reel;
- and
- at least one unmanned aerial vehicle attached to the tether, wherein when the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle is at rest, the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle resides on the reel;
- wherein the storage bin is configured to store material received from the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle via the vacuum tube.
4 more elements
A method of extracting crop from an agricultural field, the method comprising:
- propelling a vehicle through the field, the vehicle comprising:
- a chassis;
- a storage bin mounted to the chassis;
- a reel mounted to the chassis;
- a tether comprising a vacuum tube wound about the reel;
- and
- at least one unmanned aerial vehicle attached to the tether wherein the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle resides on the reel;
- rotating the reel to unwind the tether;
- launching the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle as the tether unwinds from reel;
- and
- transferring material from the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle to the storage bin via the vacuum tube.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.