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US 2017/0291697 A1Published application
Foldable aircraft with protective cage for transportation and transportability
AssigneeEcole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (Epfl)
InventorsPrzemyslaw Mariusz Kornatowski, Stefano Mintchev, Dario Floreano
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aerial vehicle, configured to transport cargo, and including a propulsion system and a foldable cage is described. The foldable cage is substantially linear while in a folded configuration, and substantially circular while in a deployed configuration. Moreover, the foldable cage includes a rods that form isosceles triangles. The rods are coupled together by flexible joints.
Claims20
An aerial vehicle, comprising:
- a multicopter;
- and
- a foldable cage coupled to the multicopter, the foldable cage being substantially flat in a folded configuration and substantially circular in a deployed configuration, the foldable cage substantially fully enclosing the multicopter when the foldable cage is in at least one of the deployed configuration and the folded configuration, the foldable cage including a plurality of like modules, each of the modules including flexible joints that couple a plurality of rods to form geometric elements.
An aerial vehicle, comprising:
- a propulsion system;
- and
- a foldable cage coupled to the propulsion system, the foldable cage including a central top joint and a central bottom joint, the foldable cage including like modules, each module including:
- rods connecting the central top joint to the central bottom joint, the rods forming a substantially arcuate structure, and
- flexible joints interconnecting the rods, the flexible joints orienting the rods to form geometric shapes when the module is in a deployed configuration.
2 more elements
An aerial vehicle, comprising:
- a propulsion system;
- and
- a foldable cage coupled to the propulsion system, the foldable cage including like modules, each module including:
- flexible joints, and
- rods interconnected by the flexible joints, the flexible joints orienting the rods to form a substantially arcuate structure.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.