Unmanned aerial vehicle for painting structures
AssigneeGraco Minnesota Inc.
InventorsDavid J. Thompson, Dale D. Johnson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a sprayer configured to generate a pressurized fluid flow and a nozzle configured to receive the pressurized fluid from the sprayer and to generate a spray fan to apply the fluid to a surface. The UAV includes sensors and a control unit to control both flight of the UAV and spraying by the sprayer. The fluid can be stored onboard the UAV in a reservoir or can be remotely stored and pumped to the UAV. The UAV control unit can be preloaded with a spray plan and a flight plan, or the UAV can be controlled by a user.
Claims17
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for spraying a fluid on a surface of a structure, the UAV comprising:
- a UAV body supporting at least one lift rotor configured to operationally drive the UAV body;
- a spray tube extending from the UAV body;
- a nozzle supported by the UAV body via the spray tube, the nozzle including a single orifice that is configured to release the fluid along a spray axis as a spray on the surface, wherein the single orifice is shaped to atomize the spray fluid into a spray fan, wherein the nozzle is rotatable relative to the UAV body to change an orientation of the single orifice and thereby change an orientation of the spray fan emitted from the nozzle relative to the UAV body, and wherein the single orifice is disposed in-line with the spray tube;
- a sleeve connecting the nozzle to the spray tube and extending axially between the spray tube and the nozzle;
- a first arm extending from the UAV body and supporting a first lift rotor;
- a second arm extending from the UAV body and supporting a second lift rotor;
- and
- a control unit supported by the UAV body, wherein the control unit is configured to control operation of the first lift rotor and the second lift rotor during flight of the UAV and the control unit is configured to control release of the fluid from the nozzle;
- wherein the orientation of the nozzle is configured to change relative to the UAV body in flight such that the sleeve and the nozzle are reoriented relative to the UAV body to change the orientation of the spray fan and such that the nozzle is reoriented relative to the first lift rotor and the second lift rotor during rotation of the first lift rotor and the second lift rotor;
- and
- wherein the orientation of the nozzle is configured to change such that a spray fan generated by the nozzle is oriented orthogonal to a direction of travel of the UAV.
A method comprising:
- emitting a spray fan of spray fluid from a single orifice of a nozzle supported by a UAV body of a UAV by a spray tube extending from the UAV body, the UAV body supporting at least one lift rotor configured to operationally drive the UAV body, the spray fan being in a first orientation, the single orifice shaped to atomize the spray fluid into the spray fan;
- rotating the nozzle relative to the UAV body while in flight during rotation of the at least one lift rotor to change an orientation of the single orifice while in flight and relative to the UAV body such that the single orifice is reoriented to emit the spray fan in a second orientation different from the first orientation, the second orientation orthogonal to a direction of travel of the UAV, the nozzle and the single orifice in-line with the spray tube with the spray fan in the first orientation and the second orientation;
- and
- emitting the spray fan of spray fluid from the nozzle with the spray fan in the second orientation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.