On-board power and remote power for suspended load control apparatuses, systems, and methods
AssigneeVita Inclinata IP Holdings LLC
InventorsDerek Sikora, Caleb B. Carr, Joe Hankin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Load control apparatuses, systems and methods to control a location, orientation, or rotation of a suspended load by imparting thrust with thrusters. The load control apparatuses, systems and method comprise an on-board power supply, a remote power supply, and a power control module. The power control module may distribute a pulse power to the thrusters from the on-board power supply and or from a combination of the on-board power supply and the remote power supply, may manage power between the on-board power supply and the remote power supply, and may to recharge the on-board power supply with the remote power supply.
Claims17
A load control system to influence at least one of a position, orientation, or motion of a load suspended by a cable from a carrier, comprising:
- a plurality of thrusters, a sensor suite, an on-board power supply, a remote power supply, a power management system, and a computer processor and memory, wherein
- the memory comprises a thrust control module which, when executed by the computer processor, is to determine a position, orientation, or motion of the load based on a sensor data from the sensor suite, and is to utilize the power management system, the on-board power supply, the remote power supply, and the plurality of thrusters to influence at least one of the position, orientation, or motion of the load;
- wherein to influence at least one of the position, orientation, or motion of the load, the power management system is to provide power to the plurality of thrusters from both the on-board power supply and the remote power supply, where to provide power to the plurality of thrusters from both the on-board power supply and the remote power supply, the power management system is to provide to the plurality of thrusters a pulse power from the on-board power supply and a power up to a power rating of the remote power supply from the remote power supply, wherein the pulse power increases power to the plurality of thrusters above a power rating of the remote power supply.
A method to influence at least one of a position, orientation, or motion of a load suspended by a cable from a carrier, comprising:
- with a load control system, determining a position, orientation, or motion of the load based on a sensor data from a sensor suite, providing power to a plurality of thrusters of the load control system from at least one of an on-board power supply of the load control system and a remote power supply and thereby influencing at least one of the position, orientation, or motion of the load;
- wherein influencing at least one of the position, orientation, or motion of the load comprises providing power to the plurality of thrusters from both the on-board power supply and the remote power supply and wherein providing power to the plurality of thrusters from both the on-board power supply and the remote power supply comprises providing to the plurality of thrusters a pulse power from the on-board power supply and a power up to a power rating of the remote power supply from the remote power supply, wherein the pulse power increases power to the plurality of thrusters above a power rating of the remote power supply.
An apparatus to influence at least one of a position, orientation, or motion of a load suspended by a cable from a carrier, comprising:
- means comprising a computer processor and memory to determine a position, orientation, or motion of the load based on a sensor data from a sensor suite, means to provide power to a plurality of thrusters from at least one of an on-board power supply and a remote power supply and to thereby influence at least one of the position, orientation, or motion of the load, wherein the on-board power supply comprises a battery pack, the remote power supply comprises a power line extending down the cable, and the carrier comprises a crane;
- wherein means to provide power to the plurality of thrusters from the on-board power supply and the remote power supply comprises means to provide to the plurality of thrusters a pulse power from the on-board power supply and a power up to a power rating of the remote power supply from the remote power supply, wherein the pulse power increases power to the plurality of thrusters above a power rating of the remote power supply.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.