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.
Claims15
An aerial spray system comprising:
- an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) including:
- a UAV body;
- at least one lift rotor supported by the arm and configured to generate vertical thrust;
- a sprayer pump fluidly supported by the UAV body and configured to generate a pressurized fluid flow;
- a nozzle disposed downstream of and fluidly connected to the sprayer pump, the nozzle configured to output a spray of the pressurized fluid flow;
- and
- a control unit supported by the UAV body, the control unit configured to control a flight parameter of the UAV and to control a spray generation by the UAV;
- and
- an off-board supply system comprising:
- a reservoir configured to store the fluid;
- an off-board pump configured to drive fluid downstream from the reservoir and to the sprayer pump;
- a tether extending from the off-board pump and connected to the UAV, the tether configured to provide the fluid to the UAV;
- and
- a controller connected to the off-board supply system and configured to control the off-board pump;
- wherein the sprayer pump is a high-pressure pump and the off-board pump is a low pressure pump such that the sprayer pump is configured to pump at a relatively higher pressure than the off-board pump.
An aerial spray system comprising:
- an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:
- a UAV body including at least one lift rotor configured to generate vertical thrust;
- a fluid port extending into the UAV body;
- a sprayer pump fluidly connected to the fluid port and configured to generate a pressurized fluid flow;
- and
- a nozzle disposed downstream of and fluidly connected to the sprayer pump, the nozzle configured to apply the pressurized fluid flow to a surface;
- and
- an off-board supply system comprising:
- an off-board pump configured to drive fluid downstream from a reservoir and to the sprayer pump;
- and
- a fluid supply hose extending from the off-board pump and connected to the fluid port of the UAV, the fluid supply hose configured to provide the fluid to the UAV;
- wherein the sprayer pump comprises a high-pressure pump configured to generate a first fluid pressure sufficient to atomize the fluid when sprayed from the nozzle, and the off-board pump comprises a low-pressure pump configured to generate a second fluid pressure sufficient to push the fluid through the fluid supply hose to the UAV, the first fluid pressure greater than the second fluid pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.