Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research (IC&SR) , IIT Madras
Multi-rotor Aerial Vehicle with Variable Center of Gravity and Method Control thereof
Categories for this Invention
Technology: Multi-rotor aerial vehicle;
Industry: Aerospace, Other Technologies;
Applications: Robotics.
Market: The global multirotor drone market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.1% during the forecast period of 2024-2031.
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Problem Statement
- The sensitivity of a conventional quadrotor to environmental disturbances can be reduced by using robust controllers or techniques. However, there are several areas in quadrotor design & control that needs to be further explored which states that to control the quadrotor by varying its center of gravity (CoG).
- There remains a need for a control configuration which is capable improved agility in large scale quadrotors, & also ground effect is an important criterion to be taken into consideration for improved stability during take-off and landing of the quadrotor.
- Hence there is a need to address the issues.
Technology
- Present invention describes a multi-rotor aerial vehicle. (Refer Fig.1)
- Said Vehicle includes a frame having an axis & housing a control unit, a plurality of rotors affixed to the frame, each driven by a drive motor & a foldable landing gear.
- Said gear comprising a plurality of legs which are placed beneath the frame, each leg having a length & a control mass at the end thereof & pivotably attached to the frame via a control motor.
- Each control motor is configured to vary the angle of folding of the leg & move the control mass either inward toward the aerial vehicle axis or outward away from the axis under instruction from the control unit to adjust attitude of the aerial vehicle by varying the center of gravity (CoG) of the aerial vehicle.
- Each control motor is configured to vary the angle of folding of the leg & move the control mass either inward toward the aerial vehicle axis or outward away from the axis under instruction from the control unit to adjust attitude of the aerial vehicle by varying the CoG of the aerial vehicle.
- The drive motors are controlled using PID control logic.
- Further, a method for controlling the attitude & position of the aerial vehicle through variation of center of gravity (CoG) by moving the control masses is disclosed.
Key Features / Value Proposition
Technical Perspective:
Multi-Rotor Aerial Vehicle: Parts:
Legs:
- The vehicle consists of at least 4 legs and the lengths of the legs of the landing gear are configured to minimize thrust loss due to ground effect to 3% or less.
- The angle of folding of the legs with respect to the frame ranges between 0° to 145°.
Control Masses:
- Attitude & position of the vehicle are controlled by moving the control masses in coordination using an integral back-stepping controller.
- A ratio of a total of the control masses to mass of the vehicle is 0.1 or less.
Rotors:
- Vehicle comprises 4,6 or 8 rotors.
Process of controlling the attitude & position of a multi-rotor aerial vehicle
- The method describes a few steps which includes setting & traversing way-points in set sequence to achieve desired position in space while avoiding CoG saturation.
- The Way-point navigation of the aerial vehicle is adopted to avoid CoG saturation.
Industrial Perspective:
- The claimed aerial vehicle is cost-effective, reliable and efficiently.
- It requires to provide way-points such a way that neither the performance of the vehicle degrades, nor the actuators saturate.
Questions about this Technology?
Contact For Licensing
sm-marketing@imail.iitm.ac.in
ipoffice2@iitm.ac.in
Research Lab
Inventor: Kedarisetty Siddhardha
Department of Aerospace Engineering,
Intellectual Property
IITM IDF Ref. 1537
IN Patent No. 493085 (Granted)
Technology Readiness Level
TRL- 3/4
Proof of Concept ready, tested and validated in Laboratory