JP3040453B2 - Wire inspection robot - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a feeder line and a train line which constitute a part of a train line, a distribution line line and the like laid for supplying electric power of an electric railway. The present invention relates to an electric wire inspection robot used for inspection of overhead electric wires such as return lines and distribution lines.

(Prior art) At present, inspection of electric wires used in electric railways is mainly performed by visual inspection. Using the developed aluminum feeder corrosion degradation evaluation device, the measuring device is hung on a feeder, etc., and the input device is moved along the feeder, etc., and the feeder is inspected (RTRI) Report: RTRI REPORT Vol.3, No.9, 1989.9, P38-44
reference).

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, the method of performing an inspection by approaching the electric wire during a power outage time and the method of performing an inspection using the corrosion deterioration determination device include a train guard and other personnel. Approximately three to four people are required, and since these wires are laid at a considerable distance along the railway, inspection of the wires requires a large number of people and a lot of inspection time.

The present invention eliminates the above problems, reduces the number of wire maintenance personnel and reduces the work required for wire inspection robots that can move these inspections by themselves on wires and avoid obstacles on the wires. It is intended to improve efficiency.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electric wire inspection robot for automatically inspecting an abnormal state of an overhead electric wire, wherein a plurality of connecting portions corresponding to nodes and a connection between the connecting portions are provided. A main body in which long members each including a connecting rod to be connected are arranged in two rows, and an overhead electric wire provided in each of the connecting portions, which can pinch and detach the overhead electric wires from both sides, and mesh with each other at the time of the pinching to engage with the overhead electric wires. A pair of gear-shaped rollers that move along a pair of gears, a locking device that can form the pair of gear-shaped rollers in a coupled / uncoupled state, and a connection between the connecting portions of the long members arranged in parallel in the two rows. An opening / closing motor that drives to close or move, a progressing motor that drives the gear-shaped roller, a first sensor that is disposed in front of the main body and detects a location where progression has been hindered, and is mounted on the connecting portion. Abnormal state of overhead power line A second sensor, a power supply, and a power supply, which is provided between the power supply and the opening / closing motor and the traveling motor, controls the locking device based on an output from the first sensor, and A drive control device for controlling a traveling motor, wherein the output from the first sensor is used to deactivate the locking device and drive the opening / closing motor, thereby expanding the space between the leading coupling portions. The main body is propelled by the advancing motor, the subsequent connecting portion is operated in the same manner, and when the leading connecting portion passes through a progress obstruction point, the connecting portions are closed to each other to form the locking device in a connected state, The subsequent connecting portion is operated in the same manner so as to get over the traveling obstacle.

(Action) According to the present invention, as described above, the robot is constituted by a main body in which long members each including a plurality of connecting portions that hit a node and a connecting rod connecting the connecting portions are arranged in two rows. Then, the electric wire is sandwiched between the gear-shaped rollers by the urging of the electromagnets of the left and right locking devices at the connecting portion, and the electric wire is moved by the traveling motor. Therefore, if an obstacle is found, the coupling is released by deenergizing the electromagnets of the left and right locking devices, and the connecting rod is moved by the open / close motor, causing the main body to break laterally and move forward avoiding the obstacle. When the avoiding operation is completed, the electric wire is again sandwiched by the gear-shaped rollers, the connecting rod is moved by the opening / closing motor, the left and right locking devices are connected again by the electromagnet, and the wire can be moved again along the electric wire.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the operation of an electric wire inspection robot according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a locked state of a lock device of a connecting portion of the electric wire inspection robot. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. 2 (b) is a side view of the electric wire viewed from a cross-sectional direction. FIG. 3 is a view showing an unlocked state of a lock device of a connecting portion of the electric wire inspection robot, wherein FIG. 3 (a) is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 3 (b) is viewed from a cross sectional direction of the electric wire. It is a side view. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a lock device and an opening / closing motor of a connecting portion of the electric wire inspection robot, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a control system of the electric wire inspection robot.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of an electric wire inspection robot, and the main body 1 includes a plurality of long members including a plurality of connecting portions 2 corresponding to nodes and connecting rods 3 connecting the connecting portions 2 in two rows. Structure.

4 is a gear-shaped roller, 5 is a rubber pad, 6 is a drive shaft of the gear-shaped roller, 7 is a traveling motor for rotating the drive shaft 6,
8 is a lock device, 9 is an opening / closing motor for opening and closing the connecting portion 2 left and right, 10 is a drive control device, 11 is a battery, 13 is a drive shaft of the open / close motor 9, 14 is an electromagnet for operating the lock device 8,
15 is a coil of the electromagnet 14, 16 is a first sensor, for example, an infrared sensor, 17 is a second sensor, for example, an eddy current sensor, 20 is an electric wire, 21 and 22 are obstacles, and 30 is a CPU (central processing unit). , 31 are ROMs (Read Only Memory) which store programs of the control system of the electric wire inspection robot. Reference numeral 32 denotes a RAM (random access memory) for storing the inspection results of the electric wire inspection robot. 33
Is the D / A converter, 34 is the electromagnetic coil of the lock device 15
, A drive circuit 35 for the opening / closing motor 9, a drive circuit 36 for the traveling motor 7, a DO (digital output) 40, an insulation circuit 41 and 46 including a photocoupler, and a reference numeral 42 for the infrared LED 44. A drive circuit, 45 is a DI (digital input), 47 is an amplifier circuit for amplifying a signal from the infrared phototransistor 48, 50 is an A / D converter, and 51 is a sensor amplifier circuit.

As shown in these figures, long members composed of a connecting portion 2 and a connecting rod 3 are arranged side by side symmetrically to constitute a main body 1. The connecting portion 2 of the main body 1 is provided with a gear-shaped roller 4 having a rubber pad 5 sandwiching the electric wire 20, a traveling motor 7, a lock device 8, a drive control device 10, and a battery 11. One connecting rod 3 extends from the lock device 8 in the front-rear direction.

Then, when there is no obstacle such as a support point, a connection point, and a branch point in the electric wire 20, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the coil 15 of the electromagnet 14 of the lock device 8 is urged,
Locking is performed in the suction state, the left and right gear-shaped rollers 4 are engaged, the traveling motor 7 is driven, and the rotation of the drive shaft 6 of the gear-shaped rollers 4 causes the gear-shaped rollers 4 to rotate. Is moved along the line.

When the obstacle 22 is detected on the electric wire 20 by the infrared sensor as the first sensor 16, the electromagnet 14
The energization of the coil 15 is cut off to deenergize the electromagnet 14 and bring it into the unlocked state. Then, the opening / closing motor 9 is driven, and the drive shaft 13 is rotated to disconnect the connecting portion 2 to the left and right, thereby avoiding the obstacle 22 as shown in FIG.

When the avoidance of the obstacle 22 is completed, the opening / closing motor 9 is driven again to bring the connecting portion 2 into close contact from the left and right, and finally, the electromagnet 14 of the lock device 8 is attracted and connected.
The electric wire 20 is sandwiched again.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the operation of an electric wire inspection robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a total of 14 left and right symmetrical connecting portions 2 are provided, and are connected by six connecting rods 3 on the right and left sides of the electric wire 20. Second sensor 17 for electric wire inspection
The eddy current sensor (for example, an eddy current sensor) is installed at the connection part 2 at the center of the seven connection parts 2 provided in series.

First, in a step, when the first sensor 16 installed on the leading connecting part 2 finds an obstacle 21, as shown in the step, the leading connecting part 2 is connected to the opening / closing motor 9 (see FIG. 3). Open left and right by driving. In the step,
Since the leading connecting portion 2 has passed the obstacle 21, the connecting portion 2 is closed right and left by the driving of the opening / closing motor 9 (see FIG. 2) and is locked again. Next, in the step, the third
The second connecting portion 2 opens right and left to avoid the obstacle 21.

As described above, from step to step, one of the connecting portions 2 is opened to avoid the obstacle 21, and the other connecting portions 2 are moved along the electric wire 20 in the connected state.
In the step, only the final connecting portion 2 is opened right and left to avoid the obstacle 21. When the final connecting portion 2 finishes avoiding the obstacle 21, the final connecting portion 2 is also locked again as shown in a step, and continues to travel along the electric wire 20 in a state similar to the step.

Then, the corroded state of the electric wire is sequentially detected by the eddy current sensor as the second sensor 17, and is sequentially stored in the RAM 32.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible based on the gist of the present invention.
They are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically avoid obstacles attached to the electric wire along the electric wire, and to proceed in the morning. If the automatic wire inspection robot of the present invention is attached to such wires and collected in the evening, the wire installed at a distance where the robot can be moved for several hours can be automatically inspected, and the wires can be inspected. Inspection personnel can be reduced and work efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the operation of an electric wire inspection robot showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a locked state of a lock device of a connecting portion of the electric wire inspection robot, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an unlocked state of a lock device of a connection portion of the robot, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a lock device and an opening / closing motor of the connection portion of the electric wire inspection robot, and FIG. It is a block diagram. 1 ... body of electric wire inspection robot, 2 ... connecting part, 3 ...
... Connecting rod, 4 ... Gear-shaped roller, 5 ... Rubber pad, 6
... Driving shaft of gear type roller, 7 ... Progress motor, 8 ...
... Locking device, 9 ... Opening / closing motor, 10 ... Drive control device, 11 ... Battery, 13 ... Driving shaft of opening / closing motor, 14
... electromagnet, 15 ... coil of electromagnet, 16 ... first sensor (infrared sensor), 17 ... second sensor (eddy current sensor), 20 ... electric wire, 21, 22 ... obstacle, 30 …… CPU (central processing unit), 31… ROM (read only memory), 32…
... RAM (random access memory), 33 ... D / A converter, 34 ... Drive circuit for electromagnet coil of lock device, 35
…… Open / close motor drive circuit, 36… Progress motor drive circuit, 40… DO (digital output), 41,4
6 Insulation circuit including photocoupler, 42 Infrared LED drive circuit, 44 Infrared LED, 45 DI (digital
Input), 48 ... infrared phototransistor, 50 ...
... A / D converter, 51 ... Sensor amplifier circuit.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-61-146484 (JP, A) JP-A-58-164874 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B25J 5 / 00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electric wire inspection robot for automatically inspecting an abnormal state of an overhead electric wire, wherein a long member composed of a plurality of connecting portions corresponding to a section (a) and connecting bars connecting the connecting portions is provided in two rows. And (b) a pair of gear-shaped rollers provided at each of the connecting portions so that the overhead electric wires can be pinched and detached from both sides, and mesh with each other at the time of the pinching and move along the overhead electric wires. (C) a locking device capable of connecting and disengaging the pair of gear-shaped rollers; and (d) to expand or close the connecting portions of the long members arranged in parallel in the two rows. An opening / closing motor that drives the gear-shaped roller; (f) a first sensor that is disposed in front of the main body and detects a position where the movement is hindered; A second cell for detecting an abnormal state of the overhead electric wire mounted on the connecting portion. (H) a power supply; and (i) provided between the power supply and the opening / closing motor and the traveling motor, controlling the locking device based on an output from the first sensor, and (J) when an obstacle is detected by the output from the first sensor, the lock device is set to a non-coupled state. When the opening / closing motor is driven, the main body is propelled by the advancing motor while expanding the space between the leading connecting portions, and the subsequent connecting portions are operated in the same manner. An electric wire inspection robot, wherein the connecting portions are closed to each other, the locking device is brought into a connected state, and the following connecting portions are operated in the same manner so as to get over a traveling obstacle. 2. The electric wire inspection robot according to claim 1, wherein the traveling obstacles are an electric wire support point, a connection point, and a branch point. 3. The electric wire inspection robot according to claim 1, wherein the locking and unlocking of the lock device is performed by energizing / deactivating an electromagnet. 4. The electric wire inspection robot according to claim 1, further comprising a storage device for storing information from the second sensor.