The present invention relates to a cargo drone.

As is known, initially devised to be used as radio-controlled targets for military practice, over time drones have been used increasingly since they have been found to be particularly suitable for a plurality of uses: photo shoots, movie and TV shoots, inspection of otherwise inaccessible sites, surveillance of dangerous situations, recreational activities, sports contests, etc..

The current use of drones as means for the transport of goods is instead not adequate, since these goods currently need to be grouped into packs or other containers to be hung below drones and at the vertical line that passes through their center of mass.

However, the space occupation of the goods transported in this way affects severely the aerodynamic drag of drones, reducing their cruise speed and flight endurance, or making them inadequate for this use.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a cargo drone that is optimized as air transport means.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a cargo drone that renders irrelevant, for the aerodynamic drag of the drone, the presence or absence of the goods to be transported.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cargo drone that ensures a correct flight configuration by allowing automatic and non automatic positioning of the center of mass in vertical alignment with the aerodynamic center of gravity.

Not least object of the invention is to provide a cargo drone that makes it possible to obtain the most complete operational autonomy, allowing to automate even the operations for loading and unloading the goods to be transported.

This aim and these and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a cargo drone according to claim 1, optionally provided with one or more of the characteristics of the dependent claims.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the cargo drone according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view from above of the cargo drone according to the invention;

Figures 2 and 3 are side views showing the extreme configurations of a lower part C of the cargo drone, the one intended to contain the load and hereinafter referenced as hold;

Figure 4 is a cutout view of the fuselage A of the cargo drone of Figure 1 after separation from the interface plate B and from the hold C;

Figures 5, 6 and 7 are respectively enlarged- scale views of the fuselage A, of the interface plate B and of the hold C already shown in Figure 4;

Figure 8 is a front view of the cargo drone in the flight configuration;

Figure 9 is a highly enlarged-scale transverse sectional view of the means for the longitudinal translation of the interface plate B with respect to the overlying fuselage A and of the means for coupling to the underlying hold C;

Figures 10, 11 and 12 are separate and vertically aligned views of the means of each one of the three components of Figure 9, i.e., of the fuselage A (Figure 10), of the interface plate B (Figure 11), and of the hold C (Figure 12);

Figure 13 is a side view of the cargo drone and of the robotized carriage D that can be used in the operations for engaging and disengaging the hold C and in the ground transfers thereof toward the goods loading and unloading points;

Figure 14 is a perspective view from above of the above cited robotized carriage.

With reference to the figures, the cargo drone according to the present invention is an electromechanical machine, the central component of which is the flight controller, from which all flight dynamics depend and to which all the sensors, the motor management systems, the GPS system, the signal transmission and reception system, and others are connected.

All this is completed by the presence of a minicomputer on which to implement the software and add many functions such as image analysis, obstacle recognition and avoidance, etc.

The cargo drone according to the invention, devised for goods transport, has a plurality of motor drives 1 , for vertical liftoff and landing, together with at least one motor drive 2 for transfer flight.

Independently of their number and arrangement, the wings 3 extend from the two sides of the fuselage A, which, by virtue of such wings, is rigidly connected to the sort of vertical empennage or legs 4 which are sized and arranged so as to rest on the ground while keeping the hold C raised and substantially parallel to the landing surface.

Figures 2 and 3 of drawing 2/8 illustrates the longitudinal adjustability of the center of mass Y of the hold C and of its load with respect to the center of gravity X of the fuselage A and of the elements stably connected thereto.

This is done purely for the purpose of optimizing the flight configuration of the cargo drone regardless of the amount and arrangement of the goods in the hold C.

Therefore, although in the example of Figure 2 the load was off- centered toward the rear region of the fuselage and rendered necessary the forward translation of such hold until the center of mass Y was vertically aligned with the aerodynamic center of gravity X of the rest of the cargo drone, in the example of Figure 3 the center of mass Y of the hold C and of its load was off-centered toward the front region of the fuselage and made it necessary to translate toward the rear of the hold C until the center of mass Y was vertically aligned with the aerodynamic center of gravity X of the rest of the drone.

In any case, the correct positioning of the hold C with respect to the fuselage A, identified by the sensors of the load cells 5 located preferably in the four legs 4, occurs by means of an actuator or piston which acts between the fuselage A and the interface plate B which, provided with skating rollers 6, is engaged slidingly in the two rails 7 of a track which is fixed under the fuselage A together with the cylinder 8 of the piston the stem 9 of which is retained, by a latch 11 or other equivalent means, in a bushing 10 which is integral with the interface plate B to which the underlying hold C is connected by means of additional latches 14.

Four frustum-shaped seats 13 are in fact accessible from the lower side of the plate B and are sized and arranged to accommodate, with a simple vertical translation, the corresponding frustum-shaped protrusions 12 that protrude from the pair of crossbeams 15 of the hold C and are perforated transversely at the latches 14 with which to lock every coupling.

This method of operation, i.e., the use of an interface plate B to which to entrust the longitudinal movements related to correct load positioning, allows the use of a hold C that is similar to a tray and is accessible from above after separation from said plate B, an operation for which, in the illustrated example, the intervention of a robotized carriage D is provided which, by also having to provide for the vertical movements of the hold C, intervenes by preceding the latches 14 in the maneuvers for engaging and releasing the frustum-shaped protrusions 12 of the hold C from the frustum shaped seats 13 of the interface plate B.

The robotized carriage D, which is present in the departure and arrival stations and is provided with motor-powered swivel casters 18, is equipped and programmed to arrange itself autonomously with its own jacks 16, or other equivalent means, aligned vertically with the corresponding frustum- shaped hollows 17 provided in the external lower surface of the hold C in order to accommodate the stems of said jacks 16 that have the task of following the hold C in vertical translations and also in the transfers toward the goods loading and unloading region.

According to a variation of the described embodiment, which is not shown in the drawings but is in any case comprised within the scope of the present invention, the functions already performed by the carriage D are entrusted to the hold C, which for this purpose is provided with retractable motor-powered casters and is equipped and programmed to perform, autonomously and in the necessary sequence, the same operations that in the version already described precede departure and follow the arrival at destination of the new cargo drone.

Therefore, the vertical movements of the hold C, already obtained by the carriage D and the corresponding jacks 16, in this case are entrusted to the retractable casters of the hold C, the arrangement of which under the interface plate B, to which to engage it after stowing the goods, in this case relates to the vertical alignment of the frustum-shaped protrusions 12 of the hold C and of the corresponding frustum-shaped seats 13 of the interface plate B in which to insert and retain them.

Consequently, whereas lifting the hold C requires the downward movement of the corresponding retractable casters, which will be retracted after the engagement of said hold C with the plate B and before liftoff, in order to separate the hold C from the interface plate B it is necessary first of all to make the retractable casters descend until they rest on the ground, where they will remain while their retraction actuation will cause the hold, already disengaged from the overlying interface plate B, to descend.

In practice it has been found that the invention achieves the intended aim and objects, providing a cargo drone that is optimized as air transport means.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the accompanying claims: all the details may furthermore be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials used, so long as they are compatible with the specific use, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to the requirements and the state of the art.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. 102021000015422 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference. Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.