JPH08239096A - Unmanned helicopter main rotor controller - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To make it possible to automatically start the control for maintaining the main rotor at the flight speed. [Structure] An enconstic inclination angle detection sensor 24 for detecting an operation amount of an enconstic and an engine speed detection sensor 19 are provided. It is detected that the engine rotation speed has reached a set rotation speed lower than the flyable rotation speed and that state is maintained for a certain period of time. After that, when the amount of operation of the enconstic is larger than a predetermined amount of operation and the state is maintained for a certain period of time, the engine rotation control is started.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a main rotor control device for an unmanned helicopter that maintains the main rotor of a wirelessly steered unmanned helicopter at a flight speed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a radio-controlled unmanned helicopter for spraying agricultural chemicals, a main rotor and a tail rotor are rotatably driven by an engine, and the rotational speeds of these rotors are maintained at flyable rotational speeds. The structure was such that it could be raised or lowered by increasing or decreasing the blade pitch.

The main rotor is connected to the output shaft of the engine directly or via a power connection / disconnection means such as a centrifugal clutch, and is maintained at a flight speed by controlling the engine speed by the main rotor control device. Was configured to. That is, when the control start switch of the main rotor control device is in the OFF state, the engine is idling, so the main rotor is stopped or rotates at a low speed. When the control start switch is turned on, the throttle of the engine is opened by the main rotor control device to increase the rotational speed, and the rotational speed of the main rotor is also increased accordingly. At this time, the main rotor control device controls the engine speed so that the main rotor can take off.

In this manner, the pitch angle of the main rotor (the inclination angle of the rotor blade itself) is increased by operating the enconstic provided on the transmitter while the main rotor is rotating at the take-off speed. This will increase lift and allow the unmanned helicopter to take off.

[0005]

However, in the main rotor control device configured as described above, since the engine and the main rotor are maintained at the fly speed when the control start switch is in the ON state, after landing. If you do not turn off this switch immediately, the noise will be loud,
Moreover, the fuel is wasted. Therefore, the control start switch has to be turned on and off each time the aircraft is taken off and landed, and there is a problem that the operation is troublesome.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and improves the operability by automatically starting and stopping the control for maintaining the main rotor at the flyable speed. The purpose is to do.

[0007]

A main rotor control device for an unmanned helicopter according to a first aspect of the present invention includes an engine control sensor for detecting an operation amount of an engine control operator of a transmitter, and a rotation speed for detecting an engine rotation speed. When the engine rotation speed reaches a set rotation speed lower than the flyable rotation speed and the state is maintained for a certain period of time, the operation amount of the engine control operator detected by the engine control sensor is The engine rotation control is started when the operation amount is larger than a predetermined amount and the state is maintained for a certain period of time.

A main rotor control device for an unmanned helicopter according to a second aspect of the present invention is the main rotor control device for an unmanned helicopter according to the first aspect, which includes a descent detection sensor for detecting that the airframe is not descending. When the engine speed reaches a set speed lower than the flight speed and the state is maintained for a certain period of time, and the operation amount of the engine control element detected by the engine sensor is lower than the predetermined operation amount. When the airframe stop state detected by the lowering detection sensor is low and is maintained for a certain period of time,
The configuration is such that the engine rotation control is stopped.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the engine rotation control is started when a certain time has elapsed after operating the engine control operator to the machine body ascending side while the engine rotation speed has reached the set rotation speed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the engine rotation speed reaches the set rotation speed, the operator for the engine is operated to the downside of the machine body, and the engine rotation speed is reached after a certain period of time when the machine body is not down. Stop control.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an unmanned helicopter in which a main rotor control apparatus according to the present invention is implemented, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main rotor control apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a main rotor control apparatus. It is a flow chart for explaining operation.

In these figures, 1 is an unmanned helicopter body, 2 is a main rotor, 3 is a tail rotor, and 4 is an engine for rotationally driving the main rotor 2 and the tail rotor 3. Reference numeral 5 denotes an engine controller servomotor for controlling the rotation speed of the engine 4, 6 denotes a collective servomotor for controlling the inclination angle of the axis of the main rotor 2 and the inclination angle (pitch angle) of the main rotor blades,
Reference numeral 7 denotes a ladder servo motor for controlling the inclination angle (pitch angle) of the tail rotor blade, and these servo motors 5-7 have a structure controlled by a controller 8 described later.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a receiver mounted on the machine body 1. The receiver 9 receives the pilot command signal transmitted from the transmitter 10 by the receiver 9a and outputs it to the controller 8.
The control signal from the controller 8 is sent to the servomotor 5 to
7 has an amplifier 9b built in. Reference numeral 1a denotes a battery that supplies power to various sensors mounted on the machine body 1, servomotors, the controller 8 and the receiver 9. The machine body 1 is equipped with a pesticide spraying device (not shown) for spraying pesticides from the air.

The controller 8 detects the angles of the main body 1 with respect to three mutually orthogonal main azimuths (horizontal, front-back and up-down directions), the altitude of the airframe, acceleration in the vertical direction, etc. by using various sensors described later, The structure is such that the target flight state set by the pilot command signal sent from the transmitter 10 is controlled. here,
As the sensor, the axis line in the left-right direction of the machine body 1 (X axis)
Acceleration sensor 11 as an inclinometer for detecting the angle of rotation
And the angular velocity sensor 12, the acceleration sensor 13 and the angular velocity sensor 14 as an inclinometer for detecting the angle around the longitudinal axis (Y axis) of the machine body 1, and the angle around the vertical axis line (Z axis) of the machine body 1. A geomagnetic direction sensor 15 and an angular velocity sensor 16 for detecting the speed, an acceleration sensor 17 for detecting the acceleration of the machine body 1 in the Z-axis direction, an altitude sensor 18 for detecting the altitude of the machine body 1, and a rotation speed of the engine 4. Engine speed detection sensor 19 for detecting
(Fig. 2). The geomagnetic direction sensor 15 can be omitted as described later.

Among these sensors, the X-axis acceleration sensor 11 detects from the acceleration in the Y-axis direction how many times the Y-axis of the machine body 1 is inclined with respect to the vertical direction, and the X-axis angular velocity sensor 12 is It is configured to detect an angular velocity when the machine body 1 rotates about the X axis. Further, the Y-axis acceleration sensor 13 detects how many times the X-axis of the machine body 1 is inclined with respect to the vertical direction from the acceleration in the X-axis direction, and the Y-axis angular velocity sensor 14 detects the machine body 1 around the Y-axis. It is configured to detect the angular velocity when rotating.

Further, the geomagnetic direction sensor 15 detects, for example, how many times the Y axis of the airframe is rotating with respect to the north direction,
The Z-axis angular velocity sensor 16 is configured to detect the angular velocity when the machine body 1 rotates about the Z-axis. In addition, the Z-axis acceleration sensor 17 is configured to detect acceleration in the same direction as the Z-axis acceleration of the machine body 1, and the altitude sensor 18 optically detects the distance between the machine body 1 and the ground surface. Is configured to detect. Further, the engine speed detection sensor 19 is configured to detect the rotation of a crankshaft (not shown) of the engine 4. An optical fiber gyro is used as the angular velocity sensors 12, 14, 16 in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the controller 8 calculates the actual attitude angle of the body 1 with respect to the earth from the output values of the various sensors, and the attitude angle arithmetic apparatus 21. Based on the actual attitude angle of the aircraft 1, the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensors 11, 13, 17, the distance from the ground detected by the altitude sensor 18, and the engine speed detected by the engine speed detection sensor 19. A CPU 2 which controls the flight state of the machine body to be a state intended by the operator and maintains the main rotor 2 at a flyable rotation speed.
2 and an interface for connecting each sensor to the CPU 22.

The attitude angle computing unit 21 detects a tilt angle of the body 1 with respect to the earth and a value of an azimuth angle with respect to a reference azimuth described later when the body is stationary before takeoff and stores the value in a memory (not shown), Angular velocity sensor 12, 1 after takeoff
The angle obtained by integrating the angular velocities detected by 4 and 16 is added to the value before takeoff to obtain the current attitude angle. As the reference direction, for example, true north is set as the reference direction (0). If the geomagnetic direction sensor 15 is omitted, for example, the azimuth angle at the time when the power switch (not shown) provided in the airframe 1 is turned on is 0.
And this is the reference direction.

The output values of the acceleration sensors 11 and 13 are used for the tilt angle obtained before takeoff, and the output value of the geomagnetic direction sensor 15 is used for the azimuth angle. If the geomagnetic direction sensor 15 is omitted, the azimuth angle is obtained using the output values of the angular velocity sensors 12, 14, 16. Further, in order to detect that the airframe 1 is stationary, the angular velocity sensor 1
It is performed by detecting that 2, 14, and 16 continuously output a value smaller than a predetermined value during a fixed time.

The CPU 22 has a function of calculating a target attitude angle, azimuth, and altitude based on a pilot command signal sent from the transmitter 10, and an actual attitude by an output of the attitude angle calculation device 21 and each sensor. The function of controlling each actuator (each of the servo motors) so that the actual flight state becomes the target flight state by obtaining the angle, azimuth, and altitude, and the rotation speed of the main rotor 2 is selectively used as the flyable rotation speed. It has a function to maintain.

When the CPU 22 controls each actuator, the manual control switch 23 of the transmitter 10 is used.
When (FIG. 3) is in the ON state, the actual flight state is matched with the target flight state, and when in the OFF state, the servo motors 5 to 7 are operated according to the pilot command signal. In the following, the time when the control switch 23 is in the ON state is called the automatic control mode,
When it is in the OFF state, it is called a manual control mode.

The transmitter 10 includes the control switch 23.
Besides, a stick (not shown) as an operator is provided, and the operation amount (stick inclination angle) of this stick is detected by a sensor and a pilot command signal corresponding to this operation amount is transmitted. . Therefore, the target posture angle, azimuth, and altitude described above have values corresponding to the stick operation amount. The transmitter 10 shown in FIG.
Reference numeral 24 provided on the sensor indicates a sensor that detects the inclination angle of the stick for encon (stick to operate when changing altitude), and 25 indicates a sensor that detects the inclination angle of other sticks (this is provided for each stick). It is). Reference numeral 26 is a CPU that obtains a command value to each servo motor. The CPU 26 and the control switch 2
3. Reference numeral 27, which is interposed between the sensors 24 and 25, is an A / D converter.

That is, the transmitter 10 controls the command value to each servo motor obtained by the CPU 26 and the control switch 23.
A signal whose ON / OFF state can be discriminated is transmitted.

On the other hand, the CPU 2 of the controller 8 of the machine body 1
2 is a signal discrimination processing unit 28 for discriminating the ON / OFF state of the control switch 23 from the control switch ON / OFF signals.
And a calculation / judgment processing unit 29 for making various calculations and judgments for automatic control when the control switch 23 is in the ON state.
And a signal generator 30 for outputting a drive signal to the engine controller servomotor 5 to drive the same. The calculation / judgment processing unit 29 includes the main rotor 2
Main rotor control means 3 for maintaining the rotational speed at which the vehicle can fly
1 and an attitude and azimuth calculation means 32 for controlling the flight attitude and flight azimuth of the airframe 1.

The main rotor control means 31 operates when the engine speed N detected by the engine speed detection sensor 19 reaches a predetermined set speed N0 and the state is maintained for a certain period of time. The signal generation unit 30 starts the engine rotation control when the operation amount of the enconstic detected by the enconstic inclination angle detection sensor 24 is larger than a predetermined operation amount X1 and the state is maintained for a certain period of time. The control start signal is sent to the.

The set rotational speed N0 is set to a rotational speed before takeoff and smaller than the final target rotational speed (flyable rotational speed). In the embodiment, the rotational speed is set to about 1/2 of the final target rotational speed. Further, the amount of operation X1 of the enconstic required for starting the engine rotation control is set to the amount of operation required for operating the aircraft 1 when taking off in the unloaded state. Furthermore, the reason why the engine speed or the stick operation amount is determined to be maintained for a certain period of time is determined in order to prevent erroneous control due to noise. For this reason, the time for maintaining the fixed time is set to a time at which it can be determined whether or not there is noise.

Further, the main rotor control means 31 is
When the engine speed N reaches the set speed N0 and the state is maintained for a certain time, the operation amount of the enconstic detected by the enconstic inclination angle detection sensor 24 is a predetermined operation amount (the above-mentioned operation amount). Operation amount X1
) A control stop signal is sent to the signal generation unit 30 so as to stop the engine rotation control when the number is smaller and the state in which the machine body 1 is not descending is maintained for a certain period of time. Whether or not the aircraft 1 is descending is determined by integrating the output value from the acceleration sensor 17 in the Z-axis direction
The velocity in the axial direction is calculated, and the velocity with respect to the vertical direction in the earth coordinate system is calculated by adding the attitude angle of the airframe 1 to the calculated velocity, and it is determined whether or not the downward velocity is generated.

When the control start signal is input from the main rotor control means 31, the signal generator 30 outputs a drive signal to the engine controller servomotor 5 so that the rotation speed of the engine 4 becomes a flyable rotation speed. It is structured to When a control stop signal is input,
The drive signal is output to the engine controller servomotor 5 so that the rotation speed of the engine 4 becomes, for example, the idling rotation speed.

The attitude / azimuth control means 32 controls the operation based on the command values and the outputs from the attitude angle computing device 21, the X, Y, and Z axis acceleration sensors 11, 13, 17 and the altitude sensor 18. Each servo motor is driven so as to obtain the flight attitude and flight direction intended by the person. More specifically, the target flight attitude and the target flight azimuth are calculated based on the tilt angle of each stick of the transmitter 10 so that the current attitude and azimuth of the airframe 1 detected by various sensors of the airframe 1 match the target. To control each servo motor.

Next, a control method for maintaining the main rotor 2 at a flyable speed will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The power switch (not shown) of the machine body 1 is O
When operated N, the signal discrimination processing unit 28 of the controller 8 first determines whether the control switch 23 of the transmitter 10 is in the ON state as shown in step S1 of FIG.
At this time, when the control switch 23 is in the OFF state, it waits until it is turned on.

When the signal discrimination processing unit 28 detects that the control switch 23 has been turned on, the main rotor control means 31 compares the engine speed N at this time with the set speed N0 in step S2. At this time, if the engine 4 is operating at a rotational speed higher than the set rotational speed N0 after the engine is started, the routine proceeds to step S3, where the engine 4
Is not started or the number of revolutions is less than the set number of revolutions N0, the process returns to step S1 to enter the standby state.

In step S3, the main rotor control means 31 determines whether or not the continuous elapsed time Te in the state where the rotational speed condition is satisfied is equal to or longer than the time T0 at which the influence of noise can be ignored. If the answer is NO in step S4, the process returns to step S1 to enter the standby state. When the continuous elapsed time Te becomes equal to or longer than the time T0, that is, when the engine 4 is in the idling operation, the main rotor control means 31 performs an operation in which the position (operation amount) of the enconstic is predetermined in step S4. It is determined whether or not the quantity is larger than X1.

When the stick operation amount is larger than the operation amount X1 such as when the operator operates the encon stick to the body rising side in order to take off the airframe 1, the main rotor control means 31 proceeds to step S5. It is determined whether the continuous elapsed time TS in the state where the lever operation amount is large is the time T1 or more at which the influence of noise can be ignored. When the condition of this time is satisfied, the main rotor control means 31 sends a control start signal to the signal generator 30 in step S6 so as to start the engine rotation control. This control start signal is the signal generation unit 30.
Is input to the engine controller servomotor 5 via the amplifier 9b of the receiver 9 so that the engine rotation control is performed. ON
State. After the engine rotation control is started in this way, the process returns to step S1.

When it is determined in step S4 for determining the stick position that the position of the enconstick is less than or equal to the set operation amount X1, in other words, the operator tries to lower the body 1 and moves the enconstick to the body lowering side. When it is operated to, it proceeds to step S7 and determines whether or not the machine body 1 is descending. When it is determined that the vehicle is descending, the main rotor control means 31 sends a control signal for maintaining the previous state to the signal generator 30 in step S8, and returns to step S1.
At this time, if it is the first control cycle, a control stop signal is sent. Also, when it is determined in step S5 that the state where the stick position is larger than the set amount X1 does not continue for a certain period of time, the main rotor control means 31 sends a signal to the signal generator 30 in step S8. Send control signals to maintain state.

When it is determined in step S7 that the aircraft 1 is not descending, the operation proceeds to step S9, where the continuous elapsed time TK when the aircraft 1 is not descending is the time T2 or more at which the influence of noise can be ignored. Determine if there is,
If YES, then the operation proceeds to step S10, and if NO, then the operation proceeds to step S8. That is, when the airframe 1 is landing, the main rotor control means 31 sends a control stop signal to the signal generator 30 in step S10. As a result, a drive signal is sent from the signal generator 30 to the engine controller servomotor 5 so that the engine 4 is in an idling state, and engine rotation control is stopped. After the engine rotation control is stopped in this way, the process returns to step S1.

Therefore, the controller 8 is operated when a certain time elapses after the enconstick is operated to the body rising side while the engine speed N of the engine 4 reaches the set engine speed N0.
Will start engine rotation control. Further, the engine rotation control is stopped when the enconstick is operated to the downside of the machine body while the engine speed N of the engine 4 reaches the set engine speed N0, and when the machine body 1 is not descended for a certain period of time. Become.

For this reason, the control for maintaining the main rotor 2 at the flyable rotation speed can be automatically started and stopped without operating any special switch.

[0038]

As described above, the main rotor control device for an unmanned helicopter according to the first aspect of the present invention includes an encoder control sensor for detecting an operation amount of an encoder control operator of a transmitter,
And a rotation speed sensor for detecting the engine rotation speed, and when the engine rotation speed has reached a set rotation speed lower than the flyable rotation speed and the state is maintained for a certain period of time, the sensor for engine control detects. The engine rotation speed has reached the set rotation speed because the engine rotation control is started when the operation quantity of the engine control operator is larger than the predetermined operation quantity and the state is maintained for a certain period of time. Then, the engine rotation control is started after a certain period of time elapses after the operator for the engine control is operated to the body rising side.

A main rotor control device for an unmanned helicopter according to a second aspect of the present invention is the main rotor control device for an unmanned helicopter according to the first aspect, further comprising a descent detection sensor for detecting that the airframe is not descending, When the engine speed reaches a set speed lower than the flight speed and the state is maintained for a certain period of time, and the operation amount of the engine control element detected by the engine sensor is lower than the predetermined operation amount. When the airframe stop state detected by the lowering detection sensor is low and is maintained for a certain period of time,
Since the engine rotation control is configured to stop, the engine rotation control is operated when the engine speed has reached the set speed, and the engine rotation control is performed when the machine is not descending for a certain period of time. Will come to a stop.

Therefore, since the control for maintaining the main rotor at the flyable speed can be automatically started and stopped without operating any special switch, the troublesome operation of the switch is eliminated and the operability is improved. Is improved.
Moreover, before the take-off operation and after landing, the engine speed is lower than that during flight, so noise and fuel consumption at this time can be suppressed to a low level.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an unmanned helicopter in which a main rotor control device according to the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main rotor control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the main rotor control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Airframe, 2 ... Main rotor, 5 ... Engine controller servomotor, 8 ... Controller, 9 ... Receiver, 10
... Transmitter, 17 ... Z-axis acceleration sensor, 22 ... CP
U, 23 ... Control switch, 24 ... Enconstic inclination angle detection sensor, 28 ... Signal discrimination processing unit, 29 ... Calculation /
Judgment processing unit, 30 ... Signal generating unit, 31 ... Main rotor control means.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An unmanned helicopter main rotor for maintaining an engine-driven main rotor whose pitch angle is increased or decreased by operating an encoder control element of a transmitter to maintain a flight speed by controlling an engine speed. In the control device, an engine control sensor for detecting the operation amount of the encoder control operator of the transmitter, and a rotation speed sensor for detecting the engine rotation speed are provided, and the engine rotation speed is set to a rotation speed lower than the flyable rotation speed. And when the state is maintained for a certain period of time, when the operation amount of the engine control operator detected by the engine controller is greater than a predetermined operation amount and the state is maintained for a certain period of time. , A main rotor control device for an unmanned helicopter, which is configured to start engine rotation control. 2. The unmanned helicopter main rotor control device according to claim 1, further comprising a descending detection sensor for detecting that the aircraft is not descending, and the engine revolution speed is set to a set revolution speed smaller than a flyable revolution speed. When the state is reached and the state is maintained for a certain period of time, the operation amount of the engine control operator detected by the engine control sensor is less than a predetermined operation amount, and the aircraft stop state detected by the descent detection sensor is A main rotor control device for an unmanned helicopter, characterized in that engine rotation control is stopped when it is maintained for a certain period of time.