JPS62187606A - Running vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To raise reliability against overturn by joining two points of load burden at front and rear through mobile frames out of four points of load burden set at front and rear, right and left, and joining the right and left mobile frames through a connecting rod, and providing respective car body support devices at the midways thereof. CONSTITUTION:Wheels 12a-12d are arranged at the four places, front and rear, right and left,underneath a car body 11,and the points of load burden 14a and 14d/14b and 14c located near both ends of a front wheel 13a and of a rear wheel 13b are connected through mobile frames 15a, 15b. Also, both mobile frames 15a, 15b are connected to each other through a connecting rod 13a (also used as a front axle) at the front. And turning support points 16a-16c are set at three places, that is, at the midway of each of mobile frames 15a, 15b and the connecting rod 13a, whereon car body support devices 17a-17c each to support a car body 11 are placed. And each of connecting parts (14a-14d) of mobile frames 15a, 15b and the connecting rod 13 is connected by dint of an universal joint.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention is mainly concerned with the provision of operating equipment such as a manipulator (robot arm) for work or inspection, a transfer machine, etc. on the upper part of a vehicle body. It relates to a running vehicle equipped with the vehicle.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, a general running vehicle has wheels 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d as ground-contact rolling devices located at a total of four locations on the front, rear, left, and right sides of the lower part of the vehicle body 1, and has front and rear axles 3a, 3b. In order to prevent the wheels from floating due to irregularities in the running road surface and to prevent the vehicle body load from being extremely biased on each wheel, springs 4a are installed at four vehicle body load bearing points near both ends of the front and rear axles 3a and 3b. , 4b, 4c, and 4d were provided.

In such a traveling vehicle, when equipment that requires movement, such as a manipulator or a transfer machine for work or inspection, is mounted on the upper part of the vehicle body 1, the position of the center of gravity changes depending on the operation mode of these mounted equipment, or the work The spring system of the suspension system is affected and changes due to the reaction force of the movement. For this reason, for example, when controlling a manipulator by remote control, changes in the spring system may change the coordinate position of the object to be worked or inspected with respect to the reference coordinate system of the manipulator, resulting in a decrease in the accuracy of control by remote control. Therefore, to prevent this, there was a difficult problem that required measures such as installing a fixing device on the vehicle body.

Therefore, on the one hand, consideration has been given to adopting an equalizer type traveling vehicle as shown in FIG. This is the front left and right wheels 6a, 6b, and 6c at the bottom of the vehicle body 5.

6d is provided via axles 7a and 7b, and one of the front and rear axles, for example, the rear axle 7b, is provided with a vehicle body support device 8a, which is located at two vehicle body load bearing points near both ends.
8b is provided, and an equalizer mechanism 9 is provided on the other front axle 7a at a midpoint between two vehicle body load bearing points near both ends, so that the vehicle body 5 is basically supported at three points. This is what I did. With such an equalizer type traveling vehicle, the above-mentioned problems will not occur due to the stability provided by the three-point support.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in such an equalizer type traveling vehicle, the permissible range of movement of the center of gravity in the width direction of the vehicle body is limited and narrow, and the inclination of the vehicle body 5 depends on the inclination of the axle 7b. Since the center of gravity moves a large amount on rough roads, those with a large center of gravity movement due to the operation of onboard equipment or those with a relatively high center of gravity are disadvantageous in terms of overturnability. That is,
In order for a traveling vehicle equipped with an equalizer mechanism 9 to support the vehicle body 5 at three points from falling over, the position of the center of gravity G of the vehicle body 5 projected in the vertical direction must be located within the shaded area in FIG. Must be. As is clear from this, the permissible movement range of the center of gravity G in the vehicle width direction is quite wide near the rear axis 7b of the vehicle body, but it becomes extremely narrow as you move toward the front of the vehicle body. The allowable amount of movement in the width direction of the vehicle body is significantly smaller than the distance between the left and right wheels.

Therefore, it is vulnerable to falling over in the left and right direction (vehicle width direction),
The operating range of onboard equipment such as transfer machines and manipulators is considerably restricted. In addition, the inclination of the vehicle body 5 due to unevenness of the running road is reduced by the equalizer mechanism 9, which supports the axle 7a at one point.
The axle 7b on the opposite two-point support side does not depend on the inclination of
Since the slope is approximately equal to the slope of the road, it is easily affected by the unevenness of the road surface. For this reason, combined with the aforementioned small allowable amount of movement of the center of gravity G in the width direction of the vehicle body, there is a problem in that it is extremely disadvantageous for mounting equipment with a relatively high center of gravity.

Recently, as mentioned above, in vehicles that have wheels and other ground rolling devices at four or more locations on the front, rear, left, and right sides of the lower part of the vehicle body, it has become possible to increase the allowable range of movement of the center of gravity near the middle of the vehicle body. There has been a strong desire to develop something that will be less likely to fall over due to shifts in the center of gravity due to uneven road surfaces.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problem) The traveling vehicle of the present invention has been developed in view of the above circumstances, and in order to easily solve the conventional problems, the traveling vehicle of the present invention has a ground contact point such as a wheel or a crawler at at least four points in the lower part of the vehicle body, in the front, rear, left and right directions. In a running vehicle that is provided with a moving device and basically has vehicle body load bearing points at four locations on the front, rear, left and right needles, a movable frame is provided that connects the front and rear load bearing points to each other on the left and right, and these left and right movable frames are connected to each other. A connecting rod is provided to connect at the front or rear, and each connection between the left and right movable frames and the connecting rod is a swivel connection represented by a spherical bushing. The present invention is characterized in that rotational fulcrums are provided at a total of three locations approximately in the middle, and a vehicle body support device is provided to support the vehicle body at these three rotational fulcrums.

(Function) With the above configuration, the vehicle body support device that supports the vehicle body at three points is placed in the most effective position for the range of movement of the center of gravity expected due to the operation form of the equipment mounted on the vehicle body and the unevenness of the running road surface. When selected and arranged, the permissible range of center of gravity movement near the middle of the vehicle body can be increased, and it becomes difficult to overturn due to movement of the center of gravity due to the operation mode of the mounted equipment or unevenness of the running road surface.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. First, in FIGS. 1 and 2, 11 is a vehicle body, 12 a, 12 b, and 12 c.

Reference numeral 12d indicates a ground rolling device (a running unit such as a wheel or a crawler) arranged at four locations on the front, rear, left, and right of the lower part of the vehicle body 11.
13a (hereinafter simply referred to as a wheel).

13b is a front and rear axle. Here, the front and rear axles 13
It is the same as before that there are vehicle body load bearing points 14a, 14b, 14c, and 14d at four locations near both ends of sections a and 13b, but the vehicle body 11 is not directly supported at each of these vehicle body load bearing points 14a to 14d. Don't do it. Instead, load bearing points 14 are located near both ends of the longitudinal axes 13a and 13b.
a and 14d and 14b and 14c are connected to each other by movable frames 15a and 15b on the left and right, respectively, and these left and right movable frames 15a and 15b are connected at the front part with a connecting rod (also used as a front shaft) 13a. And these left and right movable frames 15a.

A total of three locations, approximately the middle part of each of the connecting rods 15b and a substantially middle part of the connecting rod 13a, are pivot points 16a and 16b.

These three pivot points 16a are represented by 16c.

Vehicle body support devices 17a, 17b, and 17c that support the vehicle body 11 are provided on the vehicle bodies 13b and 16C. Note that each of the vehicle body support devices 17a to 17c is similar to an equalizer mechanism, and a rotation fulcrum 16a is the lower end of each of these vehicle body support devices 17a to 17c.

Left and right movable frame 15a via 16b and 160.

15b and the connecting rod 13a are rotatable. In other words, the left and right movable frames 15a and 15b are rotatable about pivot points 16a and 16b, respectively, about axes parallel to the width direction of the vehicle body, and the connecting rod 13a is rotatable about pivot points 16c.
It is rotatably supported around an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.

Further, the left and right movable frames 15a, 15b and the connecting portions (14a to 14d) of the connecting rod 13a are connected using a universal joint represented by a spherical bushing, thereby forming the left and right movable frame 15a.

The structure is such that no excessive force is applied to the rotation of 15b. In addition, the left and right movable frames 15a and 15b
The pivot points 16a and 16b of the connecting rod 13a are located on a straight line passing through the center of gravity G of the vehicle body 11 and parallel to the width direction of the vehicle body, and the pivot point 16c of the connecting rod 13a is located on a straight line passing through the center of gravity G of the vehicle body 11 and parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. It is positioned on a straight line. That is,
Rotation fulcrum 16a of both left and right movable frames 15a, 15b.

Each movable fulcrum 1 [ 5a, 16b.

16c is set.

Thus, in the traveling vehicle of the embodiment described above, the left and right movable frames 15a centering on the left and right rotation fulcrums 16a and 16b,
15b, the rotation of the connecting rod 13a about the rotational fulcrum 16c, and the action of the spherical bushings at the respective connecting portions 14a to 14d, the front and rear vehicle widths 12a to 14d are changed.
12d can easily follow the unevenness of the running road surface and roll on the ground. In addition, the vehicle body 11 has a support device 17
It is stable because it is basically supported at three points by a to 17c.

Here, to describe the range of permissible movement of the vehicle center of gravity G of this running vehicle, coordinate axes are taken with the vehicle center of gravity G as the origin, X in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and y in the width direction of the vehicle body. Moreover, each connection part 14a-14d from each rotation fulcrum 16a-16c, and the left and right wheels 12a.

Let the distance dimension to 12c be <A-F as shown in FIG. Now, considering the case where the position of the center of gravity G of the vehicle body 11 changes to the position G' due to the moving operation of the onboard equipment,
Let W be the weight of the vehicle acting on the center of gravity, and this vehicle body filW
Accordingly, each of the three pivot points 16a, 16b, 16
If the forces acting on c are Pa, Pb, and Pc, then according to the balance condition, the following is obtained. A force Qa acting on the vehicle body load bearing points 14a to 14d, which are the respective connections, due to the forces Pa, Pb, and Pc.
, Qb, Qc, and Qd are as follows. Therefore, the vehicle weights Ra, Rb, Rc, and Rd distributed to the front, rear, left, and right wheels 12a to 12d are as follows: (8) (9) (10) (11).

Here, the condition that the vehicle does not fall due to the movement of the center of gravity G is Ra≧0 (12) Rb≧0
・・・・・・・・・(13) Rc≧0 ・・・
・・・・・・(14) Rd≧0 ・・・・・・・・・
- Since (15) is satisfied, if the above equations (1) to (11) are substituted into equations (12) to (15) and rearranged, the following equation is obtained.

The area where both of these equations (1B) to (19) are satisfied is the shaded area in FIG. 3, which is the allowable center of gravity movement range of the running vehicle.

Note that this calculation does not include the ffi amount of the vehicle body support system including the wheels, so the range of movement of the center of gravity at the limit of actual overturning is wider than the shaded area in FIG. 3. Therefore, if the vehicle is used under such conditions that the center of gravity G of the vehicle body 11 including the mounted equipment is always within the shaded area in FIG. 3, the vehicle will be able to travel safely without overturning.

As a result, the area of the permissible center of gravity movement range indicated by diagonal lines in FIG. 3 of the present invention is approximately equal to that shown in FIG. 9 of the prior art; The portion spreads on average around the center of gravity G, which is the center of the vehicle body 11,
The advantage is that the permissible center of gravity movement range becomes wider.

For example, when a transfer machine is mounted on the upper part of the vehicle body 11, the center of gravity G of the vehicle moves due to the movement of the loaded object accompanying this transfer operation.

In this case, in the conventional model shown in Fig. 9, the permissible range of movement of the center of gravity in the width direction of the vehicle body is narrow, so there is a risk of tipping over when a relatively heavy load relative to the vehicle weight is transferred in the width direction of the vehicle body. arise. In contrast, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, the permissible center of gravity movement range extends over the distance between the front and rear wheels in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and the distance between the left and right wheels in the width direction of the vehicle body.
This is because the range is distributed on average in other directions as well. Furthermore, since the allowable amount of movement of the center of gravity is large and there are no restrictions on direction, it is particularly advantageous for mounting a robot equipped with a manipulator that can operate in a wide variety of directions.

On the other hand, the front and rear axles 13a of the traveling vehicle described above.

Considering the case where the vehicle body 11 is inclined by θa and θb with respect to the horizontal plane due to unevenness of the running road surface, in this case, the inclination angle θ of the vehicle body 11 is the same as that of the axle on the two-point support side as in the running vehicle shown in FIG. It does not depend only on 7b, but has a value similar to the following equation.

That is, the inclination angle θ of the vehicle body 11 is
Take the value in the direction that averages the inclination angles θa and θb of 3b,
For example, the rotation fulcrums 16a and 16b are the movable frame 15a,
15b, it becomes a perfect average value of θa and θb. For this reason, it is clear that in the traveling vehicle of the present invention, the permissible range of movement of the center of gravity near the center of gravity of the vehicle is large, and it is extremely difficult to overturn due to unevenness of the traveling road surface.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the same effect can be obtained even if a ground rolling device such as a crawler or a traveling unit equipped with an independent steering and drive mechanism is provided in place of the wheels 12a to 12d. .

Further, in the above embodiment, the movable frame 15a.

When the rotation supports 15b rotate in opposite directions, the rotation support points 16a and 16b tend to be displaced in a direction that reduces the distance between the support points. In this case, the movable frame 15a,
By enlarging the rotation range of the movable frame 15b, if the displacement cannot be tolerated, one of the rotation fulcrums 16a and 16b can be moved in the width direction of the vehicle body, or one of the movable frames 15a and 15b can be moved. Either side may be made to have elasticity in the lateral direction so that the displacement can be tolerated. Similarly, if the rotation fulcrum 16c is configured to allow displacement in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, the ability to follow unevenness on the road surface will be further improved.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, what is shown in FIG. 4 is a case of a running vehicle in which the position of the center of gravity G of the vehicle is originally biased due to the mounting conditions of the onboard equipment, etc. In such a case, the left and right movable frames 15a, 15b and the connecting rod 13a as shown in the figure. The pivot points of 16a' and 16b'
, 16c' are selected and provided at positions shifted from the respective intermediate positions. In this way, the same effects as described above can be effectively obtained.

In addition, the one shown in Fig. 5 has 1 left and right wheels in the front and rear, respectively.
The wheels 2a to 12d are not connected by an axle and are each independent, and the vehicle body load bearing points 14a and 14d and 14b and 14c of the inner shaft portion of each wheel 12a to 12d are connected by movable frames 15a and 15b, The left and right movable frames 15a and 15b are connected to each other by a single connecting rod 21 with the ends of the frames 15a and 15b being connection points 20a and 20b. And those left and right movable frames 15a
, 15b and the connecting rod 21 are provided with pivot points 16a to 16c similar to those described above, and vehicle body support devices 17a to 17 are mounted on these three pivot points 16a to 16c, respectively.
b is provided to support the vehicle body 11. In this embodiment as well, the allowable range of movement of the center of gravity of the vehicle body and its effects are obtained in the same manner as in the previous embodiment, and the range of allowable movement of the center of gravity does not depend on the position of the connecting rod 21 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.

Furthermore, the vehicle shown in FIG. 6 has six grounding points at the bottom of the vehicle body 11. For example, there are wheels 12a and 12b on the left and right at the front, which are ground rolling devices, and one at the rear. −
2c, 12d, 12e+12f, two on the left and right, for a total of six wheels. In this case, the two wheels 12c and 12e and 12d and 12f at the rear are connected by equalizer mechanisms 22a and 22b, Basically 4
The vehicle body has load bearing points 14a to 14d at locations,
In this state, the left and right movable frames 15a, 1
5b and connecting rods 23 connecting them to each other,
The vehicle body 11 is supported at three points by vehicle body support devices 17a to 17c on pivot points 16a to 16c located between them.

Even in this case, the same effects as described above can be obtained.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since this invention has been made as described above, ground rolling devices such as wheels or crawlers are provided at least at least four locations in the lower part of the vehicle body in total, front, rear, left and right, and basically the vehicle body has load-bearing points at four locations in total, front, rear, left and right. In the traveling vehicle, a movable frame is provided that connects the front and rear load-bearing points on the left and right sides, and a connecting rod is provided that connects the left and right movable frames at the front or rear part, and the left and right movable frames and the connecting rod are connected to each other. Each connection is a swivel connection represented by a spherical bushing, and furthermore, rotational fulcrums are provided at three locations in total, approximately in the middle of each of these left and right movable frames and approximately in the middle of the connecting rod. Since the structure includes a vehicle body support device that supports the vehicle body, the vehicle body can be
The vehicle body support device, which supports the vehicle body at points, can be selected and placed at the most effective position for the range of movement of the center of gravity expected due to the operation form of the equipment mounted on the vehicle body and the unevenness of the running road surface.
It becomes possible to widen the permissible range of center of gravity movement near the middle of the vehicle body, and it is possible to obtain the effect that the center of gravity is extremely unlikely to tip over due to movement of the center of gravity due to the operation mode of the mounted equipment or unevenness of the running road surface.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 3 show an embodiment of this invention.
Figure 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the three-point support structure of the vehicle body;
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the permissible range of movement of the center of gravity of the vehicle body, FIGS. 4 to 6 are plan views showing different embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of the conventional FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional three-point support structure, and FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the permissible range of movement of the center of gravity of the conventional vehicle shown in FIG. be. 11-...Vehicle body, 12a to 12d, 12e, 13d.
・・Ground rolling device (wheels, etc.), 13a, 21.23・・
・Connecting rod (13a... axle), 14a to 14d・
... Vehicle body load bearing points, 15a, 15b... Movable frame, 16a to 16c, 16a to 16c'... Rotation fulcrum, 17a to 17c... Vehicle body support device. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 2 Figure 3 '8 Figure 4 126

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a running vehicle that is equipped with a ground rolling device such as a wheel or crawler at at least four locations in the lower part of the vehicle body, and basically has vehicle body load-bearing points at four locations in the front, rear, left, and right locations, The load-bearing points are connected to each other by movable frames on the left and right, and the left and right movable frames are connected to each other by connecting rods at the front or rear, and each connection between the left and right movable frames and the connecting rods is represented by a spherical bush. A flexible connection is provided, and rotational fulcrums are provided at three locations in total, approximately in the middle of each of the left and right movable frames and approximately in the middle of the connecting rod, and a vehicle body support device is provided to support the vehicle body at these three rotational fulcrums. A running vehicle characterized by comprising: (2) A state in which the intersection of the straight line connecting the pivot points of the left and right movable frames with the straight line passing through the pivot point of the connecting rod and parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is approximately at the center of gravity of the vehicle body including the mounted equipment. The traveling vehicle according to claim 1, wherein each of the movable fulcrums is set at . (3) The traveling vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the connecting rod is replaced by an axle that connects the left and right vehicle body load-bearing points.