Repair of structures using unmanned aerial vehicles

An apparatus comprising an unmanned aerial vehicle and a spray-on repair module coupled to the unmanned aerial vehicle,

• wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises:
• a body frame;
• a plurality of rotor motors mounted to the body frame;
• and
• a plurality of rotors operatively coupled to the respective rotor motors of the plurality of rotor motors, and
• wherein the spray-on repair module comprises:
• a hood coupled to the body frame of the unmanned aerial vehicle and bounding an interior volume of space, wherein the hood comprises an inner sealing lip comprising a first flexible substrate which bounds a portion of the interior volume of space and an outer sealing lip comprising a second flexible substrate which surrounds the first sealing lip with an inter-lip volume of space therebetween;
• a pressurized storage canister mounted to the hood and containing a sealant or a coating material in a liquid state;
• a first valve in fluid communication with the pressurized storage canister;
• a spray nozzle mounted to the hood and in fluid communication with the first valve, wherein the spray nozzle is configured and located to distribute the sealant or the coating material over an area on a surface of a structure which is covered by the hood;
• a first electronic switch for controlling a state of the first valve;
• a vacuum pump mounted to the hood;
• a first hose having one end connected to the vacuum pump and another end connected to the hood to enable the vacuum pump to be in fluid communication with the interior volume of space;
• a second hose having one end connected to the vacuum pump and another end connected to the outer sealing lip to enable the vacuum pump to be in fluid communication with the inter-lip volume of space;
• and
• a controller configured to control a switching state of the first electronic switch to cause the first valve to open and distribute the sealant or the coating material from the pressurized storage canister over the area on the surface of the structure, and further configured to control operation of the vacuum pump so that air is removed from the interior volume of space and from the inter-lip volume of space prior to opening of the first valve,
• wherein the inner and outer sealing lips have respective bottom edges and the interlip volume of space may be partially evacuated to provide suction when the bottom edges are in sealing contact with the surface of the structure.

A method for sealing or coating a surface of a structure, the method comprising:

• (a) coupling a spray-on repair module to an unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the spray-on repair module comprises a hood coupled to a frame of the unmanned aerial vehicle, a pressurized storage canister mounted to the hood and containing sealing or coating material in a liquid state, a valve in fluid communication with the pressurized storage canister, and a spray nozzle mounted to the hood and in fluid communication with the valve and configured and located to distribute the sealant or coating material over an area on the surface of the structure which is covered by the hood;
• (b) flying the unmanned aerial vehicle to a location where an inner sealing lip of the hood is in contact with the surface of the structure;
• (c) partially evacuating an inter-lip volume of space bounded by the inner sealing lip and an outer sealing lip of the hood and the surface of the structure to seal the hood to the surface of the structure subsequent to step (b);
• and
• (d) subsequent to step (c), opening the valve to provide sealing or coating material which the spray nozzle sprays on at least a portion of the area which is covered by the hood when the inner sealing lip is in contact with the surface of the structure,
• wherein the inner and outer sealing lips have respective bottom edges and the volume of space between the inner and outer sealing lips may be partially evacuated to provide suction when the bottom edges are in sealing contact with the surface of the structure.