On-board power and remote power for suspended load control apparatuses, systems, and methods
Load control apparatuses, systems and methods to control a location, orientation, or rotation of a suspended load by imparting thrust with thrusters. The load control apparatuses, systems and method comprise an on-board power supply, a remote power supply, and a power control module. The power control module may distribute a pulse power to the thrusters from the on-board power supply and or from a combination of the on-board power supply and the remote power supply, may manage power between the on-board power supply and the remote power supply, and may to recharge the on-board power supply with the remote power supply.
1. A load control system to influence at least one of a position, orientation, or motion of a load suspended by a cable from a carrier, comprising:
a plurality of thrusters, a sensor suite, an on-board power supply, a remote power supply, a power management system, and a computer processor and memory, wherein
the memory comprises a thrust control module which, when executed by the computer processor, is to determine a position, orientation, or motion of the load based on a sensor data from the sensor suite, and is to utilize the power management system, the on-board power supply, the remote power supply, and the plurality of thrusters to influence at least one of the position, orientation, or motion of the load;
wherein to influence at least one of the position, orientation, or motion of the load, the power management system is to provide power to the plurality of thrusters from both the on-board power supply and the remote power supply, where to provide power to the plurality of thrusters from both the on-board power supply and the remote power supply, the power management system is to provide to the plurality of thrusters a pulse power from the on-board power supply and a power up to a power rating of the remote power supply from the remote power supply, wherein the pulse power increases power to the plurality of thrusters above a power rating of the remote power supply.
2. The load control system according to claim 1 , wherein the on-board power supply comprises a battery pack, the remote power supply comprises a power line extending down the cable, and the carrier comprises a crane.
3. The load control system according to claim 1 , wherein the power management system is to trickle charge the on-board power supply with the remote power supply.
4. The load control system according to claim 1 , further comprising a modular housing, wherein the modular housing contains at least one of a first thruster in the plurality of thrusters, a first sensor of the sensor suite, or the computer processor and memory, wherein the modular housing is a first modular housing, wherein the first modular housing contains the first thruster in the plurality of thrusters, and further comprising a second modular housing, wherein the second modular contains a second thruster in the plurality of thrusters, wherein the first modular housing and the second modular housing are to be located at distal ends of the load.
5. The load control system according to claim 4 , further comprising a housing-load securement mechanism, wherein the housing-load securement mechanism is to releasably secure the modular housing to the load.
6. The load control system according to claim 1 , wherein the thrust control module determines the position, orientation, or motion by combining the sensor data from the sensor suite through a non-linear filter to determine a current state, wherein the thrust control module further projects near-term future motion based on the current state with feedback from at least one of a functional mode or command state of an operational module, a thrust and orientation mapping, or a fan mapping.
7. A method to influence at least one of a position, orientation, or motion of a load suspended by a cable from a carrier, comprising:
with a load control system, determining a position, orientation, or motion of the load based on a sensor data from a sensor suite, providing power to a plurality of thrusters of the load control system from at least one of an on-board power supply of the load control system and a remote power supply and thereby influencing at least one of the position, orientation, or motion of the load;
wherein influencing at least one of the position, orientation, or motion of the load comprises providing power to the plurality of thrusters from both the on-board power supply and the remote power supply and wherein providing power to the plurality of thrusters from both the on-board power supply and the remote power supply comprises providing to the plurality of thrusters a pulse power from the on-board power supply and a power up to a power rating of the remote power supply from the remote power supply, wherein the pulse power increases power to the plurality of thrusters above a power rating of the remote power supply.
8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the on-board power supply comprises a battery pack, the remote power supply comprises a power line extending down the cable, and the carrier comprises a crane.
9. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising determining that the plurality of thrusters are in an idle mode and then trickle charging the on-board power supply with the remote power supply.
10. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the load control system comprises a modular housing, wherein the modular housing contains at least one of a first thruster in the plurality of thrusters, a first sensor of the sensor suite, or a computer processor and memory to perform the method according to claim 7 , wherein the modular housing is a first modular housing, wherein the first modular housing contains the first thruster in the plurality of thrusters, and further comprising a second modular housing, wherein the second modular contains a second thruster in the plurality of thrusters, wherein the first modular housing and the second modular housing are to be located at distal ends of the load.
11. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising a housing-load securement mechanism and further comprising releasably securing the modular housing to the load with the housing-load securement mechanism.
12. The method according to claim 7 , wherein a sensor in the sensor suite is located in or proximate to one of a fan unit, a housing for the computer processor, a housing for a power controller, a housing for a power supply, the carrier, or a remote interface, wherein the sensor is located to provide a line-of-sight view of at least one of a ground surface or the carrier and further comprising determining the position, orientation, or motion of the load using the line-of-sight view of at least one of the ground surface or the carrier.
13. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising determining the position, orientation, or motion by combining the sensor data from the sensor suite through a non-linear filter and thereby determining a current state and further comprising projecting near-term future motion based on the current state with feedback from at least one of a functional mode or command state of an operational module, a thrust and orientation mapping, or a fan mapping.
14. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the plurality of thrusters are configured to generate a plurality of thrust vectors, wherein the plurality of thrust vectors are perpendicular to a long axis of the load.
15. An apparatus to influence at least one of a position, orientation, or motion of a load suspended by a cable from a carrier, comprising:
means comprising a computer processor and memory to determine a position, orientation, or motion of the load based on a sensor data from a sensor suite, means to provide power to a plurality of thrusters from at least one of an on-board power supply and a remote power supply and to thereby influence at least one of the position, orientation, or motion of the load, wherein the on-board power supply comprises a battery pack, the remote power supply comprises a power line extending down the cable, and the carrier comprises a crane;
wherein means to provide power to the plurality of thrusters from the on-board power supply and the remote power supply comprises means to provide to the plurality of thrusters a pulse power from the on-board power supply and a power up to a power rating of the remote power supply from the remote power supply, wherein the pulse power increases power to the plurality of thrusters above a power rating of the remote power supply.
16. The apparatus according to claim 15 , further comprising means to determine that the plurality of thrusters are in an idle mode and then to trickle charge the on-board power supply with the remote power supply when the plurality of thrusters are in the idle mode.
17. The apparatus according to claim 15 , further comprising a modular housing, wherein the modular housing contains at least one of a first thruster in the plurality of thrusters, a first sensor of the sensor suite, or the computer processor and memory, wherein the modular housing is a first modular housing, wherein the first modular housing contains the first thruster in the plurality of thrusters, and further comprising a second modular housing, wherein the second modular contains a second thruster in the plurality of thrusters.