CN109334921B

CN109334921B - Underwater robot

Info

Publication number: CN109334921B
Application number: CN201811312314.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黄中华; 李彦会; 谢雅; 刘喆
Original assignee: Hunan Institute of Engineering
Current assignee: Hunan Institute of Engineering
Priority date: 2018-11-06
Filing date: 2018-11-06
Publication date: 2023-08-08
Anticipated expiration: 2038-11-06
Also published as: CN109334921A

Abstract

The invention discloses an underwater robot, which comprises a robot body with a frame structure and a hovering control device arranged in the robot body, wherein the robot body comprises a first vertical beam and a second vertical beam which are oppositely arranged, the hovering control device comprises a stay wire, a winding shaft, a first damping piece and a second damping piece which can be automatically wound, the winding shaft is rotatably arranged between the first vertical beam and the second vertical beam, the first damping piece and the second damping piece are respectively wound and arranged on the first vertical beam and the second vertical beam, and the extending ends of the first damping piece and the second damping piece are connected with the winding shaft through the stay wire. The damping fin expansion device has small disturbance to surrounding water body when in work, so that the problem that the propeller forms a floating plume is avoided, and the definition and the visible range of the observation field of view are obviously improved.

Description

Underwater robot

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of robots, in particular to an underwater robot.

Background

With the increasing demands of underwater operations, the demands of people for underwater robots are growing. Performing work at a specified water depth is an important technical performance index of the underwater robot. When the underwater robot needs to be kept at a certain depth for observation operation, the underwater robot needs to realize depth control on one hand, and on the other hand, the disturbance of the underwater robot to the surrounding water body needs to be reduced as much as possible so as to improve the definition of the observation field of view. The existing underwater robots are usually designed to be positively buoyant for safety, i.e. the underwater robots can also float out of the water by virtue of their own buoyancy when losing active buoyancy. The underwater robot generally adopts a method for controlling the thrust of a propeller in the vertical direction in real time when realizing the depth setting operation, and the method has the following defects:

1. when the propeller works, surrounding water is stirred, so that sediment in water and at the bottom of the water is caused to generate diffusion motion, a floating plume is formed, and the definition and the visible range of an observation field of view are obviously reduced;

2. the propeller in the vertical direction needs to be continuously powered, and the energy consumption of the underwater robot is increased.

Therefore, the underwater robot with low energy consumption has important significance, and can not disturb surrounding water bodies in the process of depth-fixing observation operation and improve the definition of an observation field of view.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the problems existing in the prior art, the invention provides the underwater robot which does not disturb surrounding water bodies in the process of fixed depth operation and has low energy consumption.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the invention discloses an underwater robot, which comprises a robot body with a frame structure and a hovering control device arranged in the robot body, wherein the robot body comprises a first vertical beam and a second vertical beam which are oppositely arranged, the hovering control device comprises a stay wire, a winding shaft, a first damping piece and a second damping piece which can be automatically wound, the winding shaft is rotatably arranged between the first vertical beam and the second vertical beam, the first damping piece and the second damping piece are respectively wound and arranged on the first vertical beam and the second vertical beam, and the extending ends of the first damping piece and the second damping piece are connected with the winding shaft through the stay wire.

Further, the first damping fin and the second damping fin are arranged oppositely and synchronously move in a telescopic mode.

Further, the damping fin winding device further comprises a damping fin winding shaft, a first winding drum connected with the first vertical beam and a second winding drum connected with the second vertical beam, wherein scroll springs are arranged in the first winding drum and the second winding drum and are connected with the damping fin winding shaft in a winding mode, and the first damping fin and the second damping fin are connected with the damping fin winding shaft.

Further, the first damping fin and the second damping fin are arranged to cover the cross section of the robot body in the vertical direction.

Further, one end of the stay wire is connected with the midpoints of the first damping piece and the second damping piece, and the other end of the stay wire is connected with the midpoint of the wire-collecting shaft.

Further, an electronic cabin is arranged at the middle position of the robot body, a depth sensor and a controller are arranged in the electronic cabin, the winding shaft is driven by a motor, and the motor and the depth sensor are connected with the controller.

Further, a horizontal propeller and a vertical propeller are also arranged in the robot body, and the horizontal propeller and the vertical propeller are both connected with the controller.

Further, a plurality of buoyancy blocks are uniformly distributed on the robot body.

Further, the first damping fin and the second damping fin are set to be in a stretched out and unfolded state about half of the first damping fin and the second damping fin in an initial working state.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the advantages that:

compared with the traditional underwater robot, the floating plume can be generated in the process of hovering through the power generated by the vertical propeller, and the electric energy is consumed. According to the underwater robot, the damping fin expansion device is designed, when the movement resistance needs to be increased, the first damping fin and the second damping fin extend out, the expansion area of the damping fin is increased, and therefore slow sinking and approaching hovering of the underwater robot are achieved. When the movement resistance needs to be reduced, the damping fin contracts, and the unfolding area is reduced. Because the damping fin expansion device has small disturbance to surrounding water body when in work, floating plume can be avoided in the hovering process, thereby obviously improving the definition and the visible range of the observation field of view; meanwhile, the power supply to the propeller in the hovering process is avoided, so that the energy consumption is reduced.

The invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of an underwater robot disclosed in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of an underwater robot disclosed in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural view of a hover control device for an underwater robot disclosed in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view A-A of fig. 1.

Legend description:

1. a robot body; 11. a first vertical beam; 12. a second vertical beam; 13. a first cross beam; 131. an upper front cross member; 132. an upper rear cross member; 14. a second cross beam; 141. a lower front cross member; 142. a lower rear cross member; 15. a horizontal propeller; 16. a vertical propeller; 161. a left vertical propeller; 162. a right vertical propeller; 17. a buoyancy block; 171. a left front buoyancy block; 172. a left rear buoyancy block; 173. a right front buoyancy block; 174. a right rear buoyancy block; 18. a cable; 19. an electronic cabin; 191. a depth sensor; 192. a controller; 2. a hover control device; 21. a motor; 22. a reel is taken up; 23. a pull wire; 231. a left pull wire; 232. a right pull wire; 241. a first damping fin; 242. a second damping fin; 251. a first reel; 261. a second reel; 27. a spiral spring; 28. the damping fin winds the shaft.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings, but the invention can be implemented in a number of different ways, which are defined and covered by the claims.

As shown in fig. 1 to 4, the invention discloses an underwater robot, which comprises a robot body 1 and a hover control device 2 for controlling the hovering of the robot body 1, wherein the robot body 1 is a frame structure formed by a first vertical beam 11, a second vertical beam 12, a first beam 13 and a second beam 14, meanwhile, the robot body 1 is provided with a horizontal propeller 15, a vertical propeller 16, a buoyancy block 17, a cable 18, an electronic cabin 19, a depth sensor 191 and a controller 192, the first vertical beam 11 and the second vertical beam 12 are vertically arranged on the left side and the right side of the underwater robot, the first beam 13 is provided with 2 blocks, namely an upper front beam 131 and an upper rear beam 132, the second beam 14 is provided with 2 blocks, namely a lower front beam 141 and a lower rear beam 142, the first beam 13 and the second beam 14 are horizontally arranged on the upper side and the lower side of the underwater robot, the buoyancy block 17 is provided with 4 blocks, namely a left front buoyancy block 171, a left rear buoyancy block 172, a right front buoyancy block 173 and a right rear buoyancy block 174. The buoyancy block 17 is symmetrically arranged on the upper surface of the first cross beam 13, the left front buoyancy block 171 and the left rear buoyancy block 172 are in contact with the inner side surface of the first vertical beam 11, the right front buoyancy block 173 and the right rear buoyancy block 174 are in contact with the inner side surface of the second vertical beam 12, 2 vertical thrusters 16 are respectively a left vertical thruster 161 and a right vertical thruster 162, the left vertical thruster 161 is arranged between the left front buoyancy block 171 and the left rear buoyancy block 172, the right vertical thruster 162 is arranged between the right front buoyancy block 173 and the right rear buoyancy block 174, the electronic cabin 19 is horizontally arranged at the center of the first cross beam 13, the horizontal thruster 15 is horizontally and symmetrically arranged on the lower surface of the first cross beam 13, the depth sensor 191 and the controller 192 are arranged inside the electronic cabin 19, and the depth sensor 191 and the controller 192 are electrically connected.

In this embodiment, the hover control device 2 is installed inside the frame of the underwater robot and is located between the first beam 13 and the second beam 14, and includes a motor 21, a take-up spool 22, a damper winding shaft 28, a pull wire 23 (including a left pull wire 231 and a right pull wire 232), a left first damper 241, a right second damper 242, a left first spool 251 and a right second spool 261, the motor 21 is installed at the center of the second beam 14, the output end of the motor 21 is connected with the take-up spool 22, the motor 21 and the electronic compartment 19 are connected through a cable 18, scroll springs 27 are provided in the first spool 251 and the second spool 261, the first spool 251 is installed on the first vertical beam 11, both ends of the left damper winding shaft 28 are connected with the scroll springs 27 in the first spool 251, simultaneously, the second spool 261 is installed on the second vertical beam 12, both ends of the right damper winding shaft 28 are connected with the scroll springs 27 in the second spool 261, the protruding end of the first damper 241 is connected with the right spool 22 through the left pull wire 231, and the protruding end of the second spool 22 is connected with the right scroll springs 27 through the pull wire 232.

In this embodiment, a first end of the left pull wire 231 is connected with a midpoint of an extending end of the first damping fin 241, a second end of the left pull wire 231 is wound around a midpoint of the winding shaft 22, the left pull wire 231 pulls the winding shaft 22 to drive the first damping fin 241 to move towards the winding shaft 22, and the left pull wire 231 pulls the spiral spring 27 to drive the first damping fin 241 to move towards the first vertical beam 11; the first end of the right pull wire 232 is connected with the midpoint of the movable end of the second damping fin 242, the second end of the right pull wire 232 is wound around the midpoint of the winding shaft 22, and the right pull wire 232 drives the second damping fin 242 to move towards the winding shaft 22 under the pulling of the winding shaft 22. Meanwhile, in this embodiment, when the underwater robot is in the initial state of operation, both the first damping fin 241 and the second damping fin 242 are in the unfolded state, so as to provide an initial damping force f for the underwater robot, so that the subsequent accurate fine adjustment is facilitated, and the adjustment process is accelerated, so that the underwater robot can quickly enter the suspended state.

Specifically, the working process of the invention is as follows: when the underwater robot needs to observe the underwater environment at the designated depth, the underwater robot is first submerged to the designated depth, then the vertical propeller 16 is turned off, the controller 192 in the electronic cabin 19 detects the depth in real time through the depth sensor 191, if the depth detection value is smaller than the set depth value, the controller 192 is connected with the motor 21 to rotate positively, the motor 21 rotates with the take-up spool 22, the take-up spool 22 moves towards the take-up spool 22 with the left pull wire 231 and the right pull wire 232 at the same speed, the first damping piece 241 and the second damping piece 242 are synchronously pulled out from the first winding drum 251 and the second winding drum 261 at the same speed, and the damping force applied to the underwater robot is increased; if the depth detection value is equal to the set depth value, the motor 21 stops rotating; if the depth detection value is greater than the set depth value, the controller 192 turns on the motor 21 to reverse, the first damping sheet 241 and the second damping sheet 242 are respectively wound up at the same speed under the tension of the spiral spring 27, and the damping force applied to the underwater robot is reduced.

Meanwhile, the working principle and the advantages of the invention are as follows:

the buoyancy force F1 born by the underwater robot when working in water is greater than the gravity force G and the damping force F, the damping force F is constant when the existing underwater robot moves up and down in water at a low speed, the underwater suspension control method is to generate thrust T in the vertical direction in real time through the vertical propeller 16 to maintain the stress balance of the underwater robot in the vertical direction, and the force balance equation is as follows: f1 The invention provides a method for maintaining the stress balance of an underwater robot in the vertical direction by adjusting the damping force f of the underwater robot in the vertical direction in real time, which is characterized in that a damping fin expansion device is designed on a lower cross beam of the underwater robot, and the calculation formula of the damping force f applied to a damping fin when the underwater robot moves in the vertical direction is as follows: f=k×a, where k is a damping coefficient and a is an area of the damping sheet, and it is known that the damping force f can be adjusted by adjusting the area of the damping sheet. When the underwater robot needs to hover observation operation at a specified depth, the underwater hover can be achieved without turning on the vertical thrusters 16 by changing the damping force f to satisfy the following force balance equation: f1 For a small underwater robot, the adjustment range of the damping force f is about 1N.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, but various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. The utility model provides an underwater robot, its characterized in that includes robot body (1) and the setting of frame-type structure are in hover controlling means (2) in robot body (1), robot body (1) are including relative first vertical beam (11) and the second vertical beam (12) that set up, hover controlling means (2) are including acting as go-between (23), receipts spool (22), first damping fin (241) and second damping fin (242) of automatic roll-up, receipts spool (22) rotatable install between first vertical beam (11) and second vertical beam (12), first damping fin (241) and second damping fin (242) are installed in the winding respectively on first vertical beam (11) and second vertical beam (12), just the extension end of first damping fin (241) and second damping fin (242) is all passed through act as go-between (23) with receive spool (22) and be connected.

2. The underwater robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the first damping fin (241) and the second damping fin (242) are arranged opposite and in synchronous telescopic movement.

3. The underwater robot according to claim 2, further comprising a damper sheet winding shaft (28), a first reel (251) connected to the first vertical beam (11), and a second reel (261) connected to the second vertical beam (12), wherein a spiral spring (27) is provided in the first reel (251) and the second reel (261), the spiral spring (27) is wound and connected to the damper sheet winding shaft (28), and the first damper sheet (241) and the second damper sheet (242) are connected to the damper sheet winding shaft (28).

4. An underwater robot according to claim 3, characterized in that the first damping fin (241) and the second damping fin (242) are arranged to cover a cross section of the robot body (1) in the vertical direction.

5. The underwater robot according to claim 4, wherein one end of the stay wire (23) is connected to a midpoint of the first damping sheet (241) and the second damping sheet (242), and the other end is connected to a midpoint of the take-up shaft (22).

6. The underwater robot according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein an electronic cabin (19) is installed at the middle position of the robot body (1), a depth sensor (191) and a controller (192) are installed in the electronic cabin (19), the winding shaft (22) is driven by a motor (21), and the motor (21) and the depth sensor (191) are both connected with the controller (192).

7. The underwater robot according to claim 6, characterized in that a horizontal propeller (15) and a vertical propeller (16) are also installed in the robot body (1), and the horizontal propeller (15) and the vertical propeller (16) are connected with the controller (192).

8. The underwater robot according to claim 6, wherein the robot body (1) is further provided with a plurality of buoyancy blocks (17) uniformly distributed thereon.

9. The underwater robot as claimed in any of claims 1-5, characterized in that the first damping fin (241) and the second damping fin (242) are arranged in a half-extended state in an initial working state.