Parrot’s Bebop Prop Patent

Parrot, the French company that gave us the precursor consumer drone, has filed for a patent application on propeller mounting means. I know first-hand the frustration of seeing a prop fly off a spindle in mid-air, where it goes nobody knows, but it’s somewhere in the lawn.

The bird in question is the new Parrot Bebop (http://www.parrot.com/ca/products/bebop-drone/) and it is fabulous.

This invention at hand offers the following advantages:

1) Weight distribution of the prop hub – the application says the design “minimises the vertical bulk of the motor-propeller unit”;

2) Quick on and quick off without a tool;

3) You can hold the prop in one hand and the rotor cage with the other, and that’s the most complicated it gets to install or remove the prop.

4) Dedicated props means Murphy’s Law is still in effect, but I can see a n00b forcing the wrong prop on the rotor, then cussing madly that their 500EUR toy has crashed.

The way the thing works is actually quite simple: there are three heads that protrude out of the rotor cage, and matching holes in the prop hub. You insert the prop over the rotor cage so that the heads pop through the holes of the prop hub, and give it a twist. The heads lock the rotor due to channels that follow the holes. As the rotor spins, it’s tightening its hold onto the propeller. Check the drawings for a better picture.

Title: “Rotary-Wing Drone With Gearless-Drive and Fast-Mounting Propellers”

US Patent Application Publication No: 20150129711

Filed (PCT): Nov 13, 2013

Published: May 14, 2015