Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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CASING OPENING/CLOSING SYSTEM OF AN
UNMANNED HELICOPTER
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to the field of unmanned helicopter, and more
particularly, to a
casing opening/closing system of an unmanned helicopter.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With good ability to adapt to weather, an unmanned rotary-wing helicopter is
widely
applied to civilian and military fields for aerial photographing, overhead
line stringing and
line patrolling, etc. However, in the process of actual use, in the event of a
special working
condition, the unmanned helicopter needs hovering for a long time. However,
its internal
temperature will rise because natural air cooling is unavailable to the
unmanned helicopter by
high-speed movement, which may result in malfunction of the engine by
overheating, or even
result in crash of the unmanned helicopter, thus causing enormous economic
losses.
The prior patent Unmanned Helicopter with an Engine Radiator Shield (Chinese
Patent Application Publication number: 103587705) solves the above-mentioned
problems to
a certain extent. However, obvious defects still exist. The heat emission
efficiency is lower
because only heat-removal meshes of the radiator shield are relied on for heat
emission, heat
in the engine is still unable to be removed rapidly, the temperature of the
engine is still
relatively high, and the fault probability is still relatively high.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a casing
opening/closing system for an unmanned helicopter comprising: a hatch arranged
on an upper
part of a casing of the unmanned helicopter, an opening/closing cover and a
retractable device
arranged on the hatch, wherein the opening/closing cover is adapted to
articulate with the
casing by means of the hinge, the retractable device is mounted in the casing
and is connected
with the opening/closing cover for controlling the opening/closing cover to
open and close the
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hatch; the retractable device comprises a foundation seat, a swing link, a
connecting rod, a
sliding block, a threaded rod and a motor; the threaded rod is rotatably
mounted in the
foundation seat; the sliding block is mounted on the threaded rod through a
threaded
connection; the motor is mounted in the foundation seat for driving the
threaded rod to rotate;
an inner end of the swing link is adapted to articulate inside the foundation
seat; an outer end
of the swing link is connected with the opening/closing cover by means of the
connecting rod;
an outer end of the sliding block is positioned in a swing drive slot which is
arranged at the
inner end of the swing link; the swing drive slot is a slot with a side wall;
and the sliding
block is adapted to push the side wall to swing the swing link.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an
unmanned helicopter comprising: a casing; an engine; a rotor wing; a tail
pipe; and a casing
opening/closing system, wherein an end of the engine and an end of the tail
pipe are mounted
in the casing; and the casing opening/closing system comprises: a hatch
arranged on an upper
part of the casing, an opening/closing cover and a retractable device arranged
on the hatch,
wherein the opening/closing cover is adapted to articulate with the casing by
means of the
hinge, the retractable device is mounted in the casing and is connected with
the
opening/closing cover for controlling the opening/closing cover to open and
close the hatch;
the retractable device comprises a foundation seat, a swing link, a connecting
rod, a sliding
block, a threaded rod and a motor; the threaded rod is rotatably mounted in
the foundation
seat; the sliding block is mounted on the threaded rod through a threaded
connection; the
motor is mounted in the foundation seat for driving the threaded rod to
rotate; an inner end of
the swing link is adapted to articulate inside the foundation seat; an outer
end of the swing
link is connected with the opening/closing cover by means of the connecting
rod; an outer end
of the sliding block is positioned in a swing drive slot which is arranged at
the inner end of the
swing link; the swing drive slot is a slot with a side wall; and the sliding
block is adapted to
push the side wall to swing the swing link.
Preferably, the retractable device includes a foundation seat, a swing link, a
connecting
rod, a sliding block, a threaded rod and a motor; the threaded rod is
rotatably mounted in the
foundation seat, the sliding block is mounted on the threaded rod through the
threaded
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connection, the motor is mounted in the foundation seat for driving the
threaded rod to rotate,
the inner end of the swing link is articulated inside the foundation seat, the
outer end of the
swing link is connected with the opening/closing cover by means of the
connecting rod, and
the outer end of the sliding block is positioned in a swing drive slot which
is arranged at the
inner end of the swing link.
Preferably, the foundation seat is internally provided with a linear guideway
which is
in parallel with the threaded rod, and the inner end of the sliding block is
slidably mounted on
the linear guideway.
Preferably, a spindle of the motor is coaxially connected with the threaded
rod, the
spindle is also provided with a limit wheel positioned in a limit slot
arranged on the
foundation seat.
Preferably, two opening/closing covers are provided and respectively mounted
at both
sides of the hatch.
Preferably, the casing is internally provided with a spoiler which is arranged
slantwise.
In some embodiments, compressed underspin airflow rotating at the rotor wing
at high
speed is introduced into the casing through the hatch arranged on the upper
part of the casing
by the casing opening/closing system of an unmanned helicopter, heat in the
casing is directly
removed by underspin airflow, with high heat emission efficiency, cooling down
the engine in
the casing.
The opening/closing cover mounted on the hatch is controlled by the
retractable
device. The hatch is opened if it is necessary to dissipate heat by making use
of underspin
airflow so as to guarantee the heat dissipation effect. The hatch is closed
when the helicopter
is flying at high speed, and heat dissipation is achieved by natural air
cooling, thus avoiding
increasing flight drag from the opening/closing cover opened, with high
flexibility in use.
A lead-screw structure consists of the sliding block and the threaded rod of
the retractable
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device, characterized by high reliability, smooth movement, high precision and
high transmission
efficiency. The motor provides the sliding block with larger thrust by means
of smaller torque so
that the sliding block may be enough to toggle the swing link to open or close
the opening/closing
cover subject to larger wind drag by means of the connecting rod, to control
the position of the
movement of the sliding block, to avoid the opening/closing cover from being
opened excessively
or insufficiently, to prevent the sliding block from breaking away from the
swing drive slot, and to
avoid damaging the opening/closing system.
The sliding block is also mounted on the linear guideway so that both the
linear guideway and
the threaded rod may jointly form a guiding role in the movement of the
sliding block, thus further
improving the movement stability of the sliding block.
The limit wheel may avoid the threaded rod from axial movement, thus
guaranteeing the
accuracy in movement of the sliding block and avoiding the opening/closing
cover from being
opened excessively or insufficiently due to positional deviation in movement
of the sliding block.
Two opening/closing covers are arranged in a split way, the weight of each
opening/closing
cover is reduced, thus reducing both the resistance and impetus for opening or
closing the
opening/closing covers, and improving the speed of opening or closing the
opening/closing covers.
Under the condition that the size of the hatch is determined, the width of
each opening/closing
cover is reduced, thus increasing the distance from its edge to the rotor wing
when the
opening/closing covers are opened, preventing the rotor wing from colliding
with the
opening/closing covers, and avoiding crash of the unmanned helicopter from
damage of the rotor
wing.
The spoiler arranged slantwise in the casing may lead airflow flowing into the
casing to the
engine, which further improves the speed of removing heat from the engine by
airflow.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is the overall structure diagram of the casing opening/closing system
of an unmanned
helicopter.
Fig. 2 is a partial enlarged drawing of Part A in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the retractable device
when the hatch is
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opened.
Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the retractable device
when the hatch is
closed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
In the casing opening/closing system of an unmanned helicopter, as shown in
Figs. 1-4, the
unmanned helicopter includes a casing 1, an engine 2, a rotor wing 3 and a
tail pipe 4; one end of
the engine 2 and one end of the tail pipe 4 are mounted in the casing 1.
The casing opening/closing system includes: a hatch 5 arranged on the upper
part of the casing
1, an opening/closing cover 6 arranged on the hatch 5 and a retractable device
7.
The opening/closing cover 6 is articulated with the casing 1 by means of a
hinge. Two
opening/closing covers 6 are provided and respectively mounted at both sides
of the hatch 5 so that
the two opening/closing covers 6 are arranged in a split way.
The retractable device 7 is mounted in the casing 1 for controlling the
opening/closing cover 6
to open or close the hatch 5.
The retractable device 7 includes a foundation seat 8, a swing link 9, a
connecting rod 10, a
sliding block 11, a threaded rod 12 and a motor 13; the threaded rod 12 is
rotatably mounted in the
foundation seat 8, the sliding block 11 is mounted on the threaded rod 12
through the threaded
connection, a lead-screw mechanism consists of the sliding block 11 and the
threaded rod 12, the
motor 13 is mounted in the foundation seat 8 for driving the threaded rod 12
to rotate, the inner end
of the swing link 9 is articulated inside the foundation seat 8, the outer end
of the swing link 9 is
connected with the opening/closing cover 6 by means of the connecting rod 10,
and the outer end of
the sliding block 11 is positioned in a swing drive slot 14 which is arranged
at the inner end of the
swing link 9.
The foundation seat 8 is internally provided with a linear guideway 15 which
is in parallel with
the threaded rod 12, and the inner end of the sliding block 11 is slidably
mounted on the linear
guideway 15.
A spindle of the motor 13 is coaxially connected with the threaded rod 12, the
spindle is
provided with a limit wheel 16 positioned in a limit slot 17 arranged on the
foundation seat 8.
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The casing 1 is internally provided with a spoiler 18 which is arranged
slantwise.
When the hatch 5 is in the closed state, as shown in Fig. 4, the swing link 9
of the retractable
device 7 is perpendicular to the foundation seat 8. When the hatch 5 is to be
opened, the motor 13
drives the threaded rod 12 to rotate, the rotating threaded rod 12 drives the
sliding block 11 to slide
downward, the sliding block 11 which is sliding pushes the side wall at the
lower side of the swing
drive slot 14 so that the outer end of the swing link 9 swings upward and the
swing link 9 drives the
opening/closing cover 6 by means of the connecting rod 10 to open the hatch 5.
After the hatch 5 is opened, airflow generated by the rotor wing 3 enters into
the casing 1.
Airflow flowing from the hatch 5 into the casing 1 through the spoiler 18
which is higher at the
back and lower at the front is led to the engine at the front side of the
hatch 5 so that airflow touches
the engine 2 as much as possible to remove heat and finally flows out of a
plurality of ports at the
lower side of the casing 1.
When the hatch 5 is completely opened, the retractable device 7 is in the
state as shown in Fig.
3, and the swing link 9 of the retractable device 7 moves to a parallel state
relative to the foundation
seat 8. When the hatch 5 is to be closed, the motor 13 is adjusted to
contrarotate to drive the sliding
block 11 to slide upward, the sliding block 11 pushes the side wall at the
upper side of the swing
drive slot 14 so that the outer end of the swing link 9 swings downward and
the swing link 9 drives
the opening/closing cover 6 by means of the connecting rod 10 to close the
hatch 5.
