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The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Patent No.:

US 11163302 B1

PDFFull Text
Date of Patent:
Nov. 02, 2021

Filed:

Sep. 06, 2018

Aerial vehicle propellers having variable force-torque ratios

Applicant:

Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US);

Inventors:

Michael Szmuk, Seattle, WA (US);

Christopher McFarland, Seattle, WA (US);

Assignee:

Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US);

Attorney:

Athorus, PLLC

Primary Examiner:

Ninh H Nguyen

Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B64C 11/30 (2006.01); G05D 1/00 (2006.01); B64C 27/08 (2006.01); B64C 27/20 (2006.01); B64C 27/467 (2006.01); B64C 27/52 (2006.01); B64C 29/02 (2006.01); B64C 39/02 (2006.01); B64C 39/08 (2006.01); B64D 45/04 (2006.01); B64C 39/06 (2006.01); B64C 11/46 (2006.01); B64C 11/20 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G05D 1/0072 (2013.01); B64C 11/20 (2013.01); B64C 11/30 (2013.01); B64C 11/46 (2013.01); B64C 27/08 (2013.01); B64C 27/20 (2013.01); B64C 27/467 (2013.01); B64C 27/52 (2013.01); B64C 29/02 (2013.01); B64C 39/024 (2013.01); B64C 39/062 (2013.01); B64C 39/08 (2013.01); B64D 45/04 (2013.01); B64C 2201/021 (2013.01); B64C 2201/024 (2013.01); B64C 2201/108 (2013.01); B64C 2201/165 (2013.01);
Abstract

Systems and methods to improve controllability of an aerial vehicle responsive to degraded operational conditions are described. For example, one or more propeller blades of an aerial vehicle may be modifiable between two or more configurations. The configurations may include a low torque configuration suitable for normal operational conditions, and a high torque configuration suitable for degraded operational conditions. Various aspects or portions of a propeller blade may be modified to increase torque generated by the propeller blade due to drag or air resistance. The additional generated torque may then be used as a source of additional torque to improve controllability of the aerial vehicle responsive to degraded operational conditions.

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