Patents Assigned to AeroVironment
  • Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) winged air vehicle with complementary angled rotors
    Patent number: 10370095
    Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods for an aircraft having a fuselage (110); a wing (120) extending from both sides of the fuselage; a first pair of motors (132b, 133b) disposed at a first end of the wing; and a second pair of motors (142b, 143b) disposed at a second end of the wing; where each motor is angled (381, 382, 391, 392) to provide a component of thrust by a propeller (134, 135, 144, 145) attached thereto that for a desired aircraft movement applies a resulting torque additive to the resulting torque created by rotating the propellers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventors: Henry Thome Won, Quentin Lindsey
  • RECONFIGURABLE BATTERY-OPERATED VEHICLE SYSTEM
    Publication number: 20190233100
    Abstract: A quadrotor UAV including ruggedized, integral-battery, load-bearing body, two arms on the load-bearing body, each arm having two rotors, a control module mounted on the load-bearing body, a payload module mounted on the control module, and skids configured as landing gear. The two arms are replaceable with arms having wheels for ground vehicle use, with arms having floats and props for water-surface use, and with arms having pitch-controlled props for underwater use. The control module is configured to operate as an unmanned aerial vehicle, an unmanned ground vehicle, an unmanned (water) surface vehicle, and an unmanned underwater vehicle, depending on the type of arms that are attached.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2018
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: AeroVironment, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher E. Fisher, Phillip T. Tokumaru, Marc L. Schmalzel, John Peter Zwaan, Jeremy D. Tyler, Justin B. McAllister, Gabriel E. Torres, Pavel Belik
  • Unmanned aerial vehicle angular reorientation
    Patent number: 10343766
    Abstract: A system comprising an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having wing elements and tail elements configured to roll to angularly orient the UAV by rolling so as to align a longitudinal plane of the UAV, in its late terminal phase, with a target. A method of UAV body re-orientation comprising: (a) determining by a processor a boresight angle error correction value bases on distance between a target point and a boresight point of a body-fixed frame; and (b) effecting a UAV maneuver comprising an angular role rate component translating the target point to a reoriented target point in the body-fixed frame, to maintain the offset angle via the offset angle correction value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventor: Carlos Thomas Miralles
  • Pod launch and landing system for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL)unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
    Patent number: 10336470
    Abstract: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) storage and launch system, including: a UAV pod having an interior; and a telescoping UAV landing surface disposed in the interior of the UAV pod; where the telescoping UAV landing surface may translate up toward a top opening of the UAV pod, translate down into an interior of the UAV pod, or rotate relative to the UAV pod.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventors: Christopher Eugene Fisher, Jason Sidharthadev Mukherjee, William Arden Lott
  • Invertible aircraft
    Patent number: 10329025
    Abstract: A rotorcraft including a fuselage, one or more motor-driven rotors for vertical flight, and a control system. The motors drive the one or more rotors in either of two directions of rotation to provide for flight in either an upright or an inverted orientation. An orientation sensor is used to control the primary direction of thrust, and operational instructions and gathered information are automatically adapted based on the orientation of the fuselage with respect to gravity. The rotors are configured with blades that invert to conform to the direction of rotation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: AeroVironment, Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew Todd Keennon, Karl Robert Klingebiel
  • UAV PAYLOAD MODULE CAMERA ASSEMBLY AND RETRACTION MECHANISM
    Publication number: 20190118971
    Abstract: In one possible embodiment, a UAV payload module retraction mechanism is provided including a payload pivotally attached to a housing. A biasing member is mounted to bias the payload out of the housing and a winch is attached to the payload. An elongated flexible drawing member is coupled between the housing and the winch, the elongated drawing flexible member being capable of being drawn by the winch to retract the payload within the housing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2018
    Publication date: April 25, 2019
    Applicant: AeroVironment, Inc.
    Inventors: John Peter Zwaan, Pavel Belik, Manolis Dimotakis, Christopher J. D'Aquila
  • Air vehicle flight mechanism and control method
    Patent number: 10266258
    Abstract: Heavier-than-air, aircraft having flapping wings, e.g., ornithopters, where angular orientation control is effected by variable differential sweep angles of deflection of the flappable wings in the course of sweep angles of travel and/or the control of variable wing membrane tension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventors: Matthew Todd Keennon, Karl Robert Klingebiel, Alexander Andryukov, Bart Dean Hibbs, John Peter Zwaan
  • Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) air vehicle
    Patent number: 10259577
    Abstract: A flight control apparatus for fixed-wing aircraft includes a first port wing and first starboard wing, a first port swash plate coupled between a first port rotor and first port electric motor, the first port electric motor coupled to the first port wing, and a first starboard swash plate coupled between a first starboard rotor and first starboard electric motor, the first starboard electric motor coupled to the first starboard wing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventors: Dana J. Taylor, Phillip T. Tokumaru, Bart Dean Hibbs, William Martin Parks, David Wayne Ganzer, Joseph Frederick King
  • STATOR WINDING HEAT SINK CONFIGURATION
    Publication number: 20190103780
    Abstract: In one possible implementation, a motor is provided including a rotor and a stator. Front cooling fins are thermally coupled to a front of the stator, and rear cooling fins are thermally coupled to a rear portion of the stator. The winding is between the front and rear cooling fins.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2018
    Publication date: April 4, 2019
    Applicant: AeroVironment, Inc.
    Inventors: Zaher Abdallah DABOUSSI, Lindsay Aspinwall SHEPPARD, Bart Dean HIBBS, Wally Ewald RIPPEL
  • Interactive weapon targeting system displaying remote sensed image of target area
    Patent number: 10247518
    Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods for determining a predicted impact point of a selected weapon and associated round based on stored ballistic information, provided elevation data, provided azimuth data, and provided position data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventors: John C. McNeil, Earl Clyde Cox, Makoto Ueno, Jon Andrew Ross
  • Launch tube restraint system for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
    Patent number: 10239639
    Abstract: An unmanned aerial launch vehicle (UAV) launch apparatus is disclosed that includes a UAV having an exterior surface, an aerial vehicle (AV) tab extending from the exterior surface, a tube containing the UAV, the tube including a tab stop configured to controllably hinder travel of the AV tab past the tab stop, and a pair of opposing tab guides configured to position the AV tab for travel over the tab stop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventors: Guan H Su, Marcos Henry Rodriguez
  • WATER-TIGHT COMPARTMENT WITH REMOVABLE HATCH AND TWO-SIDED GEL SEAL FOR MULTIPLE CONDUIT ACCESS
    Publication number: 20190078381
    Abstract: A water-tight or air-tight accessible compartment has a removable hatch sealed at the edge with elastically conformable opposing seals, with elongate communication elements extending into the compartment between the opposing seals, seals conforming to the topology formed between the compartment edge and the elongate communication elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2018
    Publication date: March 14, 2019
    Applicant: AeroVironment, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald H. Olch, Pavel Belik
  • Aircraft system for reduced observer visibility
    Patent number: 10227129
    Abstract: An aircraft apparatus is disclosed that has a fuselage boom having proximal and distal ends, a wing coupled to a proximal end of the fuselage boom and at least one transparent stabilizer coupled to a distal end of the fuselage boom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventors: Christopher Eugene Fisher, Steven Bradley Chambers, Pavil Belik, Austin Craig Gunder, John Peter Zwaan
  • Multimode unmanned aerial vehicle
    Patent number: 10222177
    Abstract: A system comprising an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) configured to transition from a terminal homing mode to a target search mode, responsive to an uplink signal and/or an autonomous determination of scene change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventor: Carlos Thomas Miralles
  • Rotating Lidar
    Publication number: 20190064325
    Abstract: A lidar system, including a base, a sensor body, and a motor having a shaft. The motor is affixed to the base, and can drive the sensor body in rotation with respect to the base. An LED device and a light sensor are each mounted upon the sensor body. A data processing device is also mounted upon the sensor body, and is programmed to produce range information based upon the sensor data. The shaft carries two slip rings. The LED, the sensor and the data processing device all receive electrical power via the two slip rings. The data processing device is configured to transmit the range information via the two slip rings using pulse width modulation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Publication date: February 28, 2019
    Applicant: AeroVironment, Inc.
    Inventor: Reza Miremadi
  • Safety system for operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle
    Patent number: 10209707
    Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods for a safety system including: selecting an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) command on a controller, the controller comprising a first processor with addressable memory; presenting a first activator and a second activator on a display of the controller for the selected UAV command, wherein the second activator is a slider; and sending the UAV command to a UAV if the first activator and the second activator are selected, the UAV comprising a second processor with addressable memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventors: Thaddeus Benjamin Matuszeski, William Arden Lott, Derek Lisoski
  • Deep stall aircraft landing
    Patent number: 10204522
    Abstract: An aircraft defining an upright orientation and an inverted orientation, a ground station; and a control system for remotely controlling the flight of the aircraft. The ground station has an auto-land function that causes the aircraft to invert, stall, and controllably land in the inverted orientation to protect a payload and a rudder extending down from the aircraft. In the upright orientation, the ground station depicts the view from a first aircraft camera. When switching to the inverted orientation: (1) the ground station depicts the view from a second aircraft camera, (2) the aircraft switches the colors of red and green wing lights, extends the ailerons to act as inverted flaps, and (3) the control system adapts a ground station controller for the inverted orientation. The aircraft landing gear is an expanded polypropylene pad located above the wing when the aircraft is in the upright orientation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: AeroVironment, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher E. Fisher, Thomas Robert Szarek, Justin B. McAllister, Pavel Belik
  • System for aligning a propeller
    Patent number: 10196150
    Abstract: A motor assembly that includes a motor (102) having a rotatable shaft, a hub coupled to the rotatable shaft, the hub having a propeller indexer to receive a propeller (104), when the propeller is present, a sensor trigger rotatable with the shaft (100) and positioned at a propeller offset angle ?PROP from the propeller indexer, and a sensor coupled to the motor and positioned to detect the sensor trigger so that the propeller indexer may be positioned at the propeller offset angle ?PROP from the sensor through rotation of the shaft so that said sensor is proximate to the sensor trigger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventors: Jason Allen Firanski, Justin Bates McAllister, Ronald Howard Olch, Lane Dennis Dalan, Emil Ghapgharan
  • Mounting system for mechanical-shock resistant printed circuit board (PCB)
    Patent number: 10194551
    Abstract: A shock resistant fuselage system includes first and second fuselage side walls, each of the first and second fuselage side walls having a plurality of guide posts, and a printed circuit board (PCB) rigidly attached to at least one of the first and second fuselage side walls, the PCB having a plurality of guide slots, each of the plurality of guide posts slideably seated in a respective one of the plurality of guide slots so that elastic deformation of the PCB is guided by the guide slots between the first and second fuselage side walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
    Inventor: William John Nicoloff
  • UAV payload module camera assembly and retraction mechanism
    Patent number: 10189581
    Abstract: In one possible embodiment, a UAV payload module retraction mechanism is provided including a payload pivotally attached to a housing. A biasing member is mounted to bias the payload out of the housing and a winch is attached to the payload. An elongated flexible drawing member is coupled between the housing and the winch, the elongated drawing flexible member being capable of being drawn by the winch to retract the payload within the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: AeroVironment, Inc.
    Inventors: John Peter Zwaan, Pavel Belik, Manolis Dimotakis, Christopher J. D'Aquila