Aircraft winch cable stabilizer
AssigneeModern Technology Solutions, Inc.
InventorMarinus Bernard Bosma
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A stabilizing system for a cable has a cable deployed and suspended from a helicopter, a cargo support attached at a deployed end of the cable, an end effector attached to the cable, the end effector comprising thrusters directed in a plurality of directions orthogonal to a vertical axis of the cable, first control circuitry in the helicopter, and second control circuitry in the end effector. Thrust of individual thrusters is controlled through the first and second control circuitry maintaining the axis of the cable vertical, damping swinging of the cable.
Claims20
A stabilizing system for a cable suspended from a fixed-wing aircraft, comprising:
- a winch cable deployed and suspended from the aircraft;
- a cargo support attached at a deployed end of the cable;
- an end effector attached directly to the cable, the end effector comprising at least four thrusters mounted in pairs at opposing positions across a vertical axis of the cable, the thrusters directed in a plurality of directions orthogonal to and away from the vertical axis of the cable;
- first control circuitry in the fixed-wing aircraft;
- and
- second control circuitry in the end effector;
- wherein the first and second control circuitry communicate to automatically control stabilization of the cable by controlling the thrusters.
A cable stabilizing method, comprising:
- deploying and suspending a cable from a fixed-wing aircraft with a cargo support attached at a deployed end of the cable, and an end effector also attached directly to the cable, the end effector comprising at least four thrusters mounted in pairs at opposing positions across a vertical axis of the cable providing thrust directed in a plurality of directions away from, orthogonal to and across the vertical axis of the cable;
- and
- controlling the thrust of individual thrusters of the end effector through first control circuitry in the fixed-wing aircraft and second control circuitry in the end effector, maintaining the axis of the cable vertical, damping swinging of the cable.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.