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US 12,179,902 B2Granted
Smart cargo bay door(s) for a UAV
AssigneeWing Aviation LLC
InventorsJesse Blake, Andre Prager, Evan Twyford, Ivan Qiu, Jasper Lewin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) including a fuselage body having a cavity that forms a cargo bay for transporting a payload, and a lower access opening for lowering the payload from the cargo bay, the lower access opening including a cargo bay door; a winch system positioned in the cargo bay configured to suspend a payload within the cargo bay; and a cargo bay door monitor which is configured to detect when the payload is applying a weight to the cargo bay door.
Claims25
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:
- a fuselage body including:
- a cavity that forms a cargo bay for transporting a payload, and
- a lower access opening for lowering the payload from the cargo bay, the lower access opening including a cargo bay door;
- a winch system positioned in the cargo bay configured to suspend a payload within the cargo bay;
- a motor operable to open and close the cargo bay door;
- and
- a cargo bay door monitor which is configured to detect a current of the motor to determine whether the payload is exerting a force on the cargo bay door to provide an indication that the payload has been detached from the winch system and/or the payload has been lowered by the tether onto the cargo bay door such that the payload is applying a weight to the cargo bay door.
4 more elements
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:
- a fuselage body including:
- a cavity that forms a cargo bay for transporting a payload;
- and
- a lower access opening for lowering the payload from the cargo bay, the lower access opening including a cargo bay door;
- a winch system positioned in the cargo bay configured to suspend a payload within the cargo bay;
- a motor operable to open and close the cargo bay door;
- and
- a cargo bay door monitor which is configured to detect a current of the motor to determine whether the payload is exerting a force on the cargo bay door to provide an indication that the payload has been detached from the winch system and/or the payload has been lowered by the tether onto the cargo bay door such that the payload is in contact with the cargo bay door.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having a fuselage body including a cavity that forms a cargo bay for transporting a payload, and a lower access opening for lowering the payload from the cargo bay, the lower access opening including a cargo bay door;
- a winch system positioned in the cargo bay configured to suspend a payload within the cargo bay;
- and a cargo bay door monitor which is configured to detect contact between the payload and the cargo bay door;
- and
- using the cargo bay door monitor to detect contact between the payload and the cargo bay door;
- wherein the cargo bay door monitor is a current of a motor;
- wherein the cargo bay door includes a first door rotatably attached to the fuselage body on a first edge of the first door with a first hinge, and a second door rotatably attached to the fuselage body on a first edge of the second door with a second hinge;
- and
- further including retracting the first and second doors of the cargo bay door inwardly into the cavity of the cargo bay using the motor;
- and
- measuring the current of the motor to determine whether a payload is present in the cavity of the cargo bay, as when the first and/or second doors of the cargo bay door contact the payload there is a rise in the current of the motor indicating that the payload is present in the cargo bay.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.