Helicopter Hoist Systems, Devices, and Methodologies

摘要

A helicopter-hoist system is described. The system may include: hoist equipment, illumination systems, range-measuring equipment, camera(s), communication systems, display devices, processing/control systems including image-processing systems, and power-management systems. The system may also include a smart-hook for measuring a load on the hook. Based on the measured load on the cable, the lighting may be illuminated in different manners. In another aspect, the system may communicate with display devices, which render images of a mission to helicopter crew members or other observers. Measured parameters appurtenant to the mission—such as the weight of the load, height of the smart-hook above a surface, altitude of the aircraft, distance between the aircraft and end of the hook, location of the hook in three-dimensional space, forces on the hook and cable, and other mission-critical information—may be overlaid, or rendered proximate to the real images to provide crew members with a full understanding of a mission.

主权项

1. A smart hook apparatus, comprising:
a housing having a cable end for attachment to a rescue cable, and a hook end for attachment to rescue equipment, the housing further including an outer surface; a ring coaxially protruding from the outer surface of the housing and located between the cable end and the hook end, wherein the ring has an upper surface facing the cable end, and a lower surface facing the hook end; a first plurality of lights mounted on the upper surface of the ring configured to illuminate light upward and generally toward a helicopter when the hook end is lowered from a helicopter; a second plurality of lights mounted on the lower surface of the ring configured to illuminate light downward and generally in a direction away from a helicopter when the hook end is lowered from a helicopter; a control system located in the housing configured to measure, store, and transmit at least one of the following parameters:
(a) a load between the hook end and the cable end;(b) an altitude of the assembly above the ground or water;(c) the position and/or relative motion of the hook in coordinate space; wherein the control system is further configured to modify at least one of the following: an illumination pattern, flash frequency, and color emitted from the plurality of lights based on the measured load between the hook end and the cable end and/or the measured altitude of the housing relative to the ground.