JPH0519086U - Self-propelled underwater robot - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Correction) [Purpose] A self-propelled underwater working robot for underwater inspection or repair of offshore structures, especially with a device for removing underwater deposits mounted on the front surface of the traveling roller. In addition, it is possible to reliably remove the underwater deposits on the rolling surface of the traveling roller. [Structure] A swivel shaft support shaft 16 is rotatably attached to a robot body 10, a pair of these swivel shafts 19 are provided to project left and right, and they are bent downward, and a pedestal 4 is attached to each end thereof. When the pedestal 6 is integrally attached to the pedestal, the wire brush or the like is swung at the same angle when the traveling direction of the moving roller 2 is changed by the turning of the turning shaft support shaft 16, and the width W is provided in front of the moving roller 2. _A surface M for removing adherent organisms of ₂ was formed.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a self-propelled underwater work robot for underwater inspection or repair of marine structures, and particularly for self-propelled underwater work in which a device for removing underwater deposits is installed in front of a moving roller. In a robot, the present invention relates to a self-propelled underwater working robot in which the underwater deposits on the rolling contact surface of a moving roller can be reliably removed by the above removing device.

It can be applied to a work robot having the same purpose as being used on the surface of water or on the ground.

[Prior Art]

 Generally, a self-propelled underwater working robot having a moving roller with an electromagnet function is used for underwater inspection of a steel underwater structure. This robot is configured so that it can move along the surface of an underwater structure by the rotation of a moving roller rolling on the surface of the underwater structure and the thrust of a propeller.

In order to prevent the robot from being unable to move while having a certain distance from the surface of the structure due to the underwater adherent organisms (oysters, barnacles, seaweed, etc.) attached to the surface of the underwater structure. The diver's passages have been cleaned in advance by a diver's manual work.

Therefore, in order to eliminate such cleaning work, there has been conventionally proposed a device in which an underwater adhered organism removing device such as a wire brush is attached in front of a moving roller of a robot.

However, in such a robot, when the roller shaft is rotated in order to change the traveling direction of the robot from a straight line to an arbitrary direction, the operating range of the underwater adhered organism removing device and the rolling surface of the moving roller are There was a problem in that there was a case in which the adhered organisms that adhered to the rolling surface of the robot's transfer roller could not be removed due to the gap between the two.

As a result, the moving roller of the underwater work robot rides on the attached organisms on the surface of the underwater structure such as oysters, barnacles and seaweeds, and the adsorption performance of the moving roller due to the electromagnet function is significantly reduced. However, there is a risk that the underwater robot will fall off the surface of the steel structure.

[0007]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 In the conventional work robot in which the above-described device for removing underwater adhered organisms (moving obstacles) is simply attached in front of the moving roller, it is necessary to change the traveling direction of the moving roller of the underwater working robot. When the moving roller rotates, the moving obstacle removing device does not follow this, and there is a problem that the moving obstacle in the traveling direction of the robot moving roller is not removed.

In addition, the gap between the surface of the underwater structure and the robot is kept as constant as possible without being affected by moving obstacles such as organisms adhering to the water, so that highly accurate and efficient underwater inspection and repair work can be performed. In addition, if the roller with the electromagnet function for moving the robot gets on the underwater adhered organisms on the surface of the underwater structure, the adsorption function of the electromagnet decreases and the underwater robot may fall off the surface of the underwater structure. There are problems such as

The present invention is intended to solve such a problem by integrating a gantry equipped with a robot moving roller and a gantry equipped with a device for removing underwater adherents. It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-propelled underwater working robot that is unitized so that a device for removing underwater adherents can be simultaneously rotated when a moving roller is rotated.

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the self-propelled underwater working robot of the present invention can be rolled along the surface of an underwater structure of steel structure and is attached to the main body of the robot via a swingable mount. A moving roller having an electromagnet function and a removing device which is disposed in front of the roller and removes underwater adhered organisms adhering to the surface of the underwater structure. It is characterized by being integrated with a pedestal equipped with rollers.

[0011]

[Action]

 In the above-described self-propelled underwater working robot of the present invention, the mount equipped with the moving roller and the mount equipped with the device for removing the underwater adherents are integrated and attached so that they can be transformed to the robot body. Therefore, when the transfer roller is rotated to change the moving direction of the robot, the submerged organism removal device is also rotated together in the same direction and at the same angle, so that the movement roller always moves immediately before moving. Removal of organisms adhering to water on the track surface is performed.

[0012]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of essential parts of a self-propelled underwater working robot as a first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view, and FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view. 4 is a front sectional view, FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a main part of a self-propelled underwater working robot as a second embodiment.

In the first embodiment, reference numeral 1 denotes a bottom plate of the robot main body 10, and a swivel shaft support shaft 16 is provided between a bearing 18 on the bottom plate 1 and a bearing 18 on an upper outer shell 13 of the robot main body. It is rotatably mounted by a motor 12 and gears 20 and 21. The motor 12 is attached to the bottom plate 1.

A pair of (hollow) swivel shafts 19 are provided on the swivel shaft support shaft 16 so as to project in the left-right direction, and the ends of the swivel shafts 19 are bent downward to be formed on the bottom plate 1 (the swivel shaft support It extends downward through an arc-shaped long groove 1a (centered on the shaft 16) and has a shaft 22 inserted at each lower end with a spring 23 interposed therebetween.

The mount 4 of the moving roller 2 is attached to the lower end of each insertion shaft 22, and the underwater of the surface 15 of the underwater structure located in front of the moving roller 2 is attached to the mount 4. A pedestal 6 of a removing device (this removing device is composed of a wire brush 7, a motor 9 and a rotating shaft 8) for removing attached organisms is integrally formed. The diameter of the wire brush 7 is slightly larger than the width of the moving roller 2.

The left and right moving rollers 2 are rotatably driven by a common motor 5 via a drive shaft 3, and each moving roller 2 has an electromagnet function, and the surface 15 of the steel-structured underwater structure is provided. It can be moved by the rotation of the motor 5 while being adsorbed on.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, one roller unit having the above-described structure is attached to each of the front and rear sides of the robot body 10.

Reference numeral 14 in the figure denotes an underwater working device (inspection device, repair device, etc.) attached to the robot body 10.

The motors 5 and 12 use a battery (not shown) mounted on the robot body 10 as a drive source, and are separately controlled from the ground by a wireless or wired control device (not shown). Is configured.

With the above-described configuration, the four moving rollers 2 rotate while adsorbing to the surface 15 of the underwater structure of steel structure by the electromagnet function thereof, whereby the robot is moved.

When the robot moves, first, an adhering organism removing surface M from which adhering underwater organisms have been removed by driving the wire brush 7 of the underwater adhering organism removing device is formed on the front surface of the moving roller 2 in the traveling direction. It After that, by rotating the moving roller 2 while driving the wire brush 7, the moving roller 2 rolls on the smooth adhered organism removing surface M from which obstacles (underwater adherents) are removed. The robot is moved.

Then, when changing the moving direction of the robot, the turning shaft 19 is turned in the desired direction by the rotation of the motor 12. At this time, the removing device for the underwater adherent organisms is moved together with the moving roller 2. Since the moving roller is swung by the same angle, the adhering matter removing surface M having a width W ₂ wider than the width W ₁ of the moving roller 2 is always formed on the front surface in the traveling direction of the moving roller.

Therefore, the underwater working device 14 (inspection device, repairing device, etc.) can always secure a constant distance H from the surface 15 of the underwater structure, and highly accurate and efficient work can be performed. Further, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of an accident in which the moving roller 2 rides on an oyster, a barnacle or the like to reduce the adsorbing force of the electromagnet, and the roller falls off.

Further, the insertion shaft 22 is attached to the lower end of the revolving shaft 19 via a spring 23, and this spring 23 absorbs an unreasonable load on the moving roller 2 when the obstacle is removed. At the same time, it corresponds to the unevenness of the surface 15 of the moving roller 2 to improve its adsorption property. Next, a second embodiment will be described.

The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment described above in that the bottom plate 1 of the robot body 10 and the moving rollers 2 as front wheels are for turning (direction changing), respectively. The motor 25 is attached, and each moving roller 2 is configured so that the motor 25 can rotate 360 °. No drive motor is attached to the moving roller 2 as the front wheel. The roller unit of the first embodiment is used for the rear wheels so that the robot can be moved.

With this configuration, that is, with the configuration in which the gantry 4 (and 6) can rotate 360 °, it is possible to remove an obstacle having a width wider than W ₂ . This operation is performed when the robot is stopped, and the underwater working robot is moved with the wire brush 7 positioned in front of the moving roller 2.

[0027]

[Effect of the device]

 As described in detail above, according to the self-propelled underwater working robot of the present invention, the following effects and advantages are obtained. (1) In a self-propelled underwater work robot, no matter what direction the moving roller turns, it is always possible to remove obstacles such as organisms adhering to the water in synchronization with the moving direction of the roller. Can be done smoothly. (2) Due to the above reasons, the distance between the surface of the underwater structure and the robot can be kept constant regardless of the direction in which the robot moves, enabling highly accurate underwater inspection and repair work. Becomes (3) Since the attraction force of the roller with the electromagnet function to the surface of the underwater structure can be kept constant regardless of the traveling direction of the roller, the moving roller rides on the obstacle adhering to the surface of the underwater structure and attracts the force. It is possible to prevent the robot from falling out of the underwater structure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part of a self-propelled underwater working robot according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a front sectional view of the same.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a main part of a self-propelled underwater working robot according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Bottom plate 1a Arc-shaped long groove 2 Moving roller 3 Drive shaft 4, 6 Stand 7 Wire brush 9 Motor 10 Robot body 12 Motor 13 Upper shell 14 Underwater working device 15 Surface of underwater structure 16 Swivel support shaft 17,18 Bearing 19 Swivel axis 22 Insertion axis 23 Spring

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A self-propelled underwater working robot that is movable along the surface of an underwater structure having a steel structure and has an electromagnet function that is attached to a main body of the robot via a pedestal that can be swung. A roller and a removing device arranged in front of the roller for removing underwater adhered organisms attached to the surface of the underwater structure, and a gantry equipped with the removing device is a gantry equipped with the moving roller. A self-propelled underwater work robot characterized by being integrated.