Textron Innovations Inc.

Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.

William Benjamin Johns

Daniel Bryan Robertson

Kirk Landon Groninga

Jason William Minter

An exemplary unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) mountable to a conductor of an aerial power transmission line system includes a body having a rotor system, a motivation system attached to the body to motivate the UAV along the conductor, a battery carried by the body and electrically connected to at least one of the rotor system and the motivation system, a monitoring tool mounted with the body and an inductive coil carried by the body and in electric connection with the battery, wherein the inductive coil is configured to harvest electricity from the aerial power transmission line system and charge the battery.

Power line inspection vehicle

In some examples, an aircraft comprises a motorized module. The motorized module comprises a motor and a first coil. The motor is to operate equipment onboard the aircraft and generates vibrations during operation. The first coil is operable to wirelessly transmit power to a separate module onboard the aircraft based on electromagnetic induction between the first coil and a second coil in a separate module, and wirelessly transfer data with the separate module via the second coil based on the electromagnetic induction, the data being associated with the motor. A gap separates the motorized module and the separate module. The gap isolates the separate module from the vibrations.

Growing community of inventors

Little Elm, TX, United States of America

William Benjamin Johns