Ganged servo flight control system for an unmanned aerial vehicle
AssigneeAeroVironment, Inc.
InventorsLance HOLLY, William DONOVAN
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A ganged servo flight control system for an unmanned aerial vehicle is provided. The flight control system may include a swashplate having first, second, and third connection portions; a first control assembly connected to the first connection portion of the swashplate; a second control assembly connected to the second connection portion of the swashplate; and a third control assembly connected to the third connection portion of the swashplate. The first control assembly may include two or more servo-actuators connected to operate in cooperation with each other.
Claims20
A flight control system for controlling collective and cyclic pitch of a helicopter comprising:
- a swashplate having one or more connection portions;
- a first control assembly coupled to the first connection portion and having at least two first servo-actuators;
- a third control assembly coupled to the third connection portion and having means for controlling the collective and cyclic pitch in a third manner by movement of third components arranged opposite each other in a facing relationship and moving within parallel planes.
A flight control system for a helicopter comprising
- a swashplate;
- a first control assembly coupled to a first connection portion of the swashplate and having at least two first servo-actuators;
- a third control assembly coupled to a third connection portion of the swashplate and having at least two third servo-actuators and including means for controlling the collective and cyclic pitch in a third manner by movement of third components arranged opposite each other in facing relationship and moving within parallel planes;
- a control signal generator electrically coupled to the first control assembly by a first output and the third control assembly by a third output;
- and
- wherein the control signal generator manipulates each of the at least two first servo-actuators or the at least two third servo-actuators with a single signal output.
An aerial vehicle, wherein the aerial vehicle is in a form of a helicopter comprising:
- a swashplate having a plurality of connection portions;
- a rotor assembly including a plurality of rotor blades operably controlled by the swashplate;
- two or more control assemblies, each of the two or more control assemblies operatively coupled to one of the plurality of connection portions, wherein:
- one of the two or more control assemblies includes means for controlling the swashplate in one manner by movement of first components in a first common plane;
- the other of the two or more control assemblies includes means for controlling the swashplate in another manner by the movement of two or more components within parallel planes and arranged in a facing relationship across a vertical midline of the helicopter;
- a control signal generator having two or more outputs each electrically coupled to the two or more control assemblies;
- and
- wherein the control signal generator controls both of the two or more servo-actuators of one of the two or more control assemblies by providing a respective single signal to change an orientation of the swashplate, the change in orientation of the swashplate changing a pitch of the one or more rotor blades.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.