Patent ID: 11885769
Assignee: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  B  F | IPC B  F  G

Claim 15:
16. A method, comprising:
providing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having a probe, a clutch, a motor, a propeller configured to rotate about a vertical rotary axis, a power transmission sub-system, and a wheel;
controlling the clutch to selectively move vertically parallel to the vertical rotary axis in a first direction to selectively couple the motor to the propeller and to not couple the motor to the power transmission sub-system in a flight mode;
flying the UAV to be spaced from a location on a surface of a structure;
landing the UAV at the location on the surface;
controlling the clutch to selectively move vertically parallel to the vertical rotary axis in a second direction opposite to the first direction to selectively couple the motor to the power transmission sub-system and to not couple the motor to the propeller in a perch mode;
controlling the power transmission sub-system to rotate the wheel;
traversing the wheel over and along the surface the structure; and
scanning the structure using the probe.