CN112325051A

CN112325051A - Novel pipeline robot

Info

Publication number: CN112325051A
Application number: CN202011219509.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王衍学; 李孟; 李志星; 冯剑波
Original assignee: Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture
Current assignee: Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture
Priority date: 2020-11-05
Filing date: 2020-11-05
Publication date: 2021-02-05
Anticipated expiration: 2040-11-05
Also published as: CN112325051B

Abstract

The invention discloses a novel pipeline robot, which adopts a V-shaped reverse crossing structure design, uses wheel type drive to improve wheels and a drive mode, realizes independent drive of each wheel and has spiral advancing capability, adopts a parallel structure in a movable connection design, ensures that the robot has stronger driving force and steering capability, has larger pipe diameter adaptability and obstacle crossing environment adaptability, greatly improves the comprehensive performance of the pipeline robot, can be suitable for various work of a pipeline system under complex, multi-size and multi-purpose environments, effectively improves the efficiency and replaces manpower to complete daily maintenance and overhaul work of a pipe network.

Description

Novel pipeline robot

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of intelligent manufacturing, in particular to a novel pipeline robot.

Background

Under the background of the high-speed development of modern cities, various pipeline environments are distributed in all corners of cities, and in fast-paced urban life, pipeline problems including blockage, rusting, corrosion, leakage, aging and the like are endless, most of substances in pipelines are often dangerous or harmful to human beings, so that the detection and maintenance of the pipelines are extremely difficult to develop by adopting a traditional manual mode, and the daily maintenance of a pipe network by adopting a random sampling and excavating method has the defects of large workload, high efficiency, underground and the like because most of the pipelines are located underground and have long paths, so that people begin to put forward and develop researches on pipeline robots from the last century.

In practical applications, since the pipe used in the same area or for the same purpose is different in terms of material, size, process, installation, and the like depending on the purpose and the owner of the pipe, the pipe robots that operate in different pipes are different in size, structure, driving method, versatility, and the like. The research on the pipeline robot is started abroad from the 50 th century, and a series of achievements are achieved. Related researches are also carried out in China successively in the 90 s, and the level of practical application is reached at present. At present, most of robots researched at home and abroad are special robots, and are used in pipeline environments with certain specific purposes or specified sizes, and the researches on universal and multipurpose pipeline robots are lacked, so that the existing pipeline robots are single in use and insufficient in universality and flexibility.

The pipeline robot can be divided into a peristaltic type, a wheel type, a crawler type and a foot type according to the motion mode at present. The research of foreign countries on the pipeline robot is early, the development and application range is wide, and the four types of robots with wide application are basically developed and put into use by foreign research institutions.

A representative work of the wheeled robot is a P350 Flexitrax waterproof pipeline detection robot developed in the United states, a vehicle body and a driving wheel of the robot are independently designed, the driving wheel can be replaced according to the requirement of a pipeline, and certain flexibility is achieved. The robot is mainly used for detecting underwater pipelines, and high-definition cameras and LED lamps carried by front sections detect the conditions in the pipelines. However, the robot is low in use efficiency, and only one type of pipeline and working condition can be suitable for replacing one type of driving wheel.

The Versatrax pipeline robot is a series of crawler-type pipeline robots developed by the company inukturnervices, canada, and is mainly used for detecting problems inside pipelines. The crawler-type design that this robot adopted possesses the advantage that drive power is big to thereby the adjustable fuselage size that is used for changing the robot of wheel contained angle satisfies the demand of different pipeline pipe diameters. But the included angle of the moving mechanism of the robot cannot be adjusted in real time, so that the motion and application range of the robot is limited.

The MAKRO robot is a six-joint pipeline robot developed in Germany, and the driving mode is peristalsis. The robot consists of six motion units, each motion unit is independently driven by 3 motors and has 21 degrees of freedom, so that the robot can realize the functions of advancing, retreating, turning, obstacle crossing and the like in a pipeline. The robot has high control complexity and low speed.

The MORITZ multi-foot type climbing pipeline robot researched by Germany Munich university is a typical foot type pipeline robot, a rod-shaped structure with 4 degrees of freedom is adopted, and the whole robot adopts 8 rod-shaped moving mechanisms, so that the robot can realize stable motion in a complex pipeline and has obstacle crossing capability. However, the robot has the obvious disadvantages of low moving speed, complex control and low driving efficiency.

The research on the pipeline robot developed in China is late, but the development is rapid, the pipeline robot which can be put into use is researched and developed by taking foreign experiences as reference in a short time, and the pipeline robot plays an important role in urban and industrial pipeline maintenance. Shenyang automation research institute has developed a spiral pipeline robot that possesses function is exploreed to axial, and this robot adopts variable restraint actuating mechanism, adopts the action of single motor control robot to the drive wheel can carry out certain compression in the circumferential direction, possesses certain pipe diameter and changes adaptability, and this robot has effectively improved the rate of accuracy and the detection efficiency that pipeline defect detected.

A three-wheel leg type pipeline robot is developed by Dunzong of Harbin university of industry. The pipeline robot utilizes the ball screw to change the angle between the wheel legs and the robot main frame, and achieves the purpose of adapting to different pipe diameters in the moving process in the pipeline. The method for adjusting the angle of the wheel leg has the advantage of large adjusting range, and improves the adaptability of the pipeline robot to different pipe diameters. However, the adjusting method is realized by driving the ball screw by the motor, belongs to active adjustment and has certain false operation. In the aspect of a driving system, the rotating speed of the tail end of a driving wheel can be automatically distributed by the design of the three-axis differential mechanism, the output torque is not changed, the pipeline robot can adapt to the change of the curvature of the pipeline at the curve, the power loss is reduced, and the mechanical self-adaptive capacity of the pipeline robot is improved.

A scorpion-imitating pipeline robot is designed by combining Beijing university of petrochemical industry with bionics. The structure and the moving mode of the pipeline robot adopt the body structure and the moving mode of scorpions, so that the obstacle crossing capability of the pipeline robot is improved, and the pipeline robot has the characteristic of simple unique reflecting structure of the scorpions, so that the control of the pipeline robot is relatively simple. The multi-legged pipeline robot increases the degree of freedom of the robot, can select the optimal posture to walk in a pipeline, and has good application in the irregularly changed pipeline. The pipeline robot mainly realizes obstacle crossing through the coordination of the walking feet, and the difficulty of coordination control can be increased along with the increase of the walking feet. In addition, the walking speed is slow, and the driving efficiency is not high.

According to the analysis of the current research situation at home and abroad, the performance of the pipeline robot in the pipeline depends on the driving capability, the over-bending capability and the adaptability of the pipeline. The motion speed of the foot type and the peristaltic type robots is low, the requirement for large-scale pipeline maintenance and investigation work is difficult to meet, the driving force of the crawler type robot is strong, the performance of the crawler type robot is difficult to play in a pipeline environment with a narrow space, the flexibility is poor, and the passing performance of a curve is insufficient.

Disclosure of Invention

This section is for the purpose of summarizing some aspects of embodiments of the invention and to briefly introduce some preferred embodiments. In this section, as well as in the abstract and the title of the invention of this application, simplifications or omissions may be made to avoid obscuring the purpose of the section, the abstract and the title, and such simplifications or omissions are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems occurring in the prior art.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel pipe robot, which includes: the V-shaped mechanical arm units comprise a pair of V-shaped mechanical arm units with the same structure, and the two V-shaped mechanical arm units are formed by connecting a pair of supporting arms; one end of each of two supporting arms in the same V-shaped mechanical arm unit is hinged with each other and forms an angle end of the V-shaped mechanical arm unit together, and rolling pieces are arranged at the other end of each of the two supporting arms; the two V-shaped mechanical arm units are arranged in a mutually crossed manner, the angle ends of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units are opposite to each other and face opposite directions, and the two V-shaped mechanical arm units are connected through a stretching unit; and the supporting unit comprises four supporting ejector rods which are sequentially connected between two adjacent supporting arms, so that each supporting arm in any one V-shaped mechanical arm unit can be respectively connected with two supporting arms in another V-shaped mechanical arm unit in a one-to-one correspondence mode through a pair of supporting ejector rods.

As a preferable aspect of the novel pipeline robot of the present invention, wherein: the structure of each supporting arm is the same, and length can stretch out and draw back.

As a preferable aspect of the novel pipeline robot of the present invention, wherein: the supporting arm comprises a fixed section and a telescopic section; the inner end of the fixed section is hinged with the fixed section of the other supporting arm in the same V-shaped mechanical arm unit, and the outer end of the fixed section is fixed with a screw nut; a driving piece is fixed inside the telescopic section, the output end of the driving piece is connected with a lead screw, the lead screw is matched with the lead screw nut, and the telescopic section can slide relative to the fixed section through the driving of the driving piece; the outer end of the telescopic section is provided with a rolling part.

As a preferable aspect of the novel pipeline robot of the present invention, wherein: the supporting mandril is connected between the fixing sections of the two adjacent supporting arms through universal joints at the two ends of the supporting mandril.

As a preferable aspect of the novel pipeline robot of the present invention, wherein: the telescopic section is sleeved on the periphery of the fixed section; a first sliding block/a first linear guide rail is arranged on the outer side surface of the fixed section, and a first linear guide rail/a first sliding block matched with the first sliding block/the first linear guide rail is arranged on the inner side surface of the telescopic section; the first sliding block and the first linear guide rail form sliding fit and can slide linearly relatively.

As a preferable aspect of the novel pipeline robot of the present invention, wherein: the fixed section is sleeved on the periphery of the telescopic section; a first sliding block/a first linear guide rail is arranged on the inner side surface of the fixed section, and a first linear guide rail/a first sliding block matched with the first sliding block/the first linear guide rail is arranged on the outer side surface of the telescopic section; the first sliding block and the first linear guide rail form sliding fit and can slide linearly relatively.

As a preferable aspect of the novel pipeline robot of the present invention, wherein: the rolling member comprises a roller rotatably arranged at the tail end of the supporting arm and a single-drive motor capable of independently driving the roller.

As a preferable aspect of the novel pipeline robot of the present invention, wherein: the roller adopts a Mecanum wheel; the rollers of the two mecanum wheels in the same V-arm unit are oriented in the same direction and perpendicular to the rollers of the mecanum wheels in the other V-arm unit.

As a preferable aspect of the novel pipeline robot of the present invention, wherein: the V-arm unit further comprises a base platform disposed at a corner end thereof; the base platform comprises a first mounting seat covering the periphery of the corner end, a second mounting seat arranged in the corner end and a third mounting seat hinged at the corner end; the first mounting seat is symmetrically connected to the supporting arms corresponding to the two sides of the corner end through a pair of connecting plates on the two sides of the first mounting seat; one end of the connecting plate is hinged with the first mounting seat, and the other end of the connecting plate is hinged with the corresponding supporting arm respectively; a second sliding block/a second linear guide rail is arranged on the inner side of the first mounting seat, a second linear guide rail/a second sliding block is arranged on the outer side of the third mounting seat, and the second sliding block and the second linear guide rail form sliding fit and can generate relative linear sliding; the extension direction of the second linear guide rail is consistent with the angular bisector direction of the angular end; the second mounting seat is fixed at the inner end of the first mounting seat, and the stretching unit is connected between the second mounting seats of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units.

As a preferable aspect of the novel pipeline robot of the present invention, wherein: when the distance between two respective rolling parts of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units is reduced, the included angles of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units are reduced, the angle ends of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units are extended outwards and protruded, the distance between the angle ends of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units is increased, the inclination angle and the extrusion direction of each supporting ejector rod can be changed, and the V-shaped mechanical arm units at the two ends of each supporting ejector rod can be pushed away and separated.

The invention has the beneficial effects that: after the advantages and the defects of the traditional pipeline robot are integrated and analyzed, a brand new design method is adopted to develop a new type of pipeline robot aiming at the special environment of the pipeline. The robot adopts innovative design in the aspects of mechanical structure, transmission mechanism, connection structure and the like, so that the robot can adapt to the special environment of pipeline operation to the maximum extent, and can realize continuous motion in complex pipelines. The robot can change fuselage size in the pipeline by self-adaptation, makes it can adapt to the different internal diameters and the trend of pipeline, and the robot possesses stable piggybacking ability, can carry on sensing equipment control self motion gesture and other functional type equipment with the usage of extension pipeline robot, possesses the ability of dragging even in the pipeline and makes the robot can realize more functions. The existing pipeline robots are mostly special pipeline robots and only can be used for pipelines with specific sizes or have specific functions, and the pipeline robots developed in the method are powerful in function, good in universality and strong in expansibility, and can replace manpower to complete pipeline inspection and detection tasks in most pipeline fields.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without inventive exercise. Wherein:

fig. 1 is an overall structural view of the novel pipeline robot and a partial detailed view thereof.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a V-shaped inverted crossing structure of the support arm.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of adaptive fuselage variation.

Fig. 4 is a view showing a structure of a fixed segment.

Fig. 5 is an internal construction view of the telescopic section.

Fig. 6 shows an assembly of the telescopic V-shaped robot arm unit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a Mecanum wheel configuration.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the base platform connecting two support arms and a partial detail thereof.

Fig. 9 is a structural view of the first mount.

Fig. 10 is a structural view of the second mount.

Fig. 11 is a structural view of the third mount.

Fig. 12 is a structural view of the connection plate.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of the adaptive change of the attitude of the fuselage at the position of the narrowed pipeline.

Fig. 14 is a schematic view of a robot traveling spirally in a pipe.

FIG. 15 is a force analysis diagram for a Mecanum wheel.

Fig. 16 is a schematic representation of the dimensions of a bendable fuselage.

Figure 17 is a robot overbending demonstration.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a change in platform stability.

Detailed Description

In order to make the aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, but the present invention may be practiced in other ways than those specifically described and will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and therefore the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

Furthermore, reference herein to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one implementation of the invention. The appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3 and 13, an embodiment of the present invention provides a novel pipeline robot, which proposes a V-shaped inverse crossing structure design scheme, wherein a main body is formed by two V-shaped mechanical arms through inverse crossing combination.

Specifically, the novel pipeline robot comprises a pair of V-shaped mechanical arm units 100 with the same structure, and a stretching unit 200 and a supporting unit 300 which are connected between the V-shaped mechanical arm units 100.

The two V-shaped robot arm units 100 are identical in structure and are each formed by connecting a pair of support arms 101 to each other.

Two supporting arms 101 in the same V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100 have the same structure, one end of each of the two supporting arms 101 is hinged to each other through a hinge and forms an angle end D of the V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100, and the other end is provided with a rolling member 101 a. Therefore, the included angle of the angle end D of the V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100 can be adjusted in a variable mode, and the V-shaped mechanical arm unit can adapt to pipelines with different inner diameters.

Wherein the roller 101a includes a roller 101a-1 rotatably provided at the distal end of the support arm 101 and a single-drive motor capable of individually driving the roller 101 a-1.

The two V-shaped robot arm units 100 are arranged to intersect with each other; the two V-shaped arm units 100 have their corner ends D facing each other and facing in opposite directions, and are connected to each other by a tension unit 200. The stretching unit 200 may adopt a linear stretching mechanism (e.g., a spring pull rod) with elastic tension in the prior art, so as to limit the length of the machine body and always ensure the supporting force of the four rolling members 101a on the pipe wall, thereby ensuring the flexibility and the support of the robot when encountering a pipe diameter-changing situation in the pipe.

Because the two V-shaped mechanical arm units 100 are arranged in a crossed manner, four supporting arms 101 distributed in a crossed manner can be formed together, and the supporting unit 300 of the invention comprises four supporting mandrils 301 sequentially connected between two adjacent supporting arms 101, so that each supporting arm 101 in any V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100 can be respectively connected with two supporting arms 101 in another V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100 in a one-to-one correspondence manner through one pair of supporting mandrils 301. The supporting ram 301 may adopt a linear telescopic mechanism having elastic pressure in the prior art, for example: a spring pneumatic ejector rod; the support rams 301 are connected between two adjacent support arms 101 by universal joints 302 at both ends thereof, respectively.

Based on the above, since four pairs of supporting mandrils 301 are installed between the four supporting arms 101 of the present invention to connect all the four supporting arms 101 into one force-receiving system, and the supporting fulcrum of the supporting mandrils 301 of each supporting arm 101 on the V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100 is not on the other supporting arm 101 hinged thereto, but on one supporting arm 101 of the other set of V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100, the two sets of V-shaped mechanical arm units 100 can realize three-dimensional supporting of pipe walls in a pipeline and can realize synchronous change.

In addition, the invention makes the corner end D of the supporting arm of the two front wheels of the robot behind the robot and the corner end D of the supporting arm of the two rear wheels of the robot in front of the robot by the way of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units 100 crossing in opposite directions, thus fully utilizing the body space of the robot and compressing the length of the body of the robot, and making the four wheels of the robot bear uniform force in the pipeline and have symmetrical included angles.

Meanwhile, due to the design, when the robot encounters an obstacle or sudden change of the pipeline size in the pipeline, such as when the robot enters a narrow pipeline, the length of the robot and the distance between the front wheel and the rear wheel can be adaptively shortened, so that the condition that the rest parts of the robot except the rollers cannot collide with the pipe wall in any pipeline environment is ensured, and the safety of a robot arm of the robot and carrying equipment is ensured. The specific principle is as follows:

as shown in fig. 13, since the corner end D corresponding to the front wheel is at the rear and the corner end D corresponding to the rear wheel is at the front, when the body encounters a narrowing pipe diameter, the distance between the two front wheels (and the rear wheels) is reduced and closed by the limitation of the pipe wall, and then the included angle of the V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100 is reduced by compression and the corner end D thereof extends and protrudes outward; because the extending directions of the two angle ends D are opposite, the distance between the two angle ends D is increased, so that the inclination angle of the supporting mandril 301 and the extrusion direction thereof are changed (meanwhile, in the process that the included angle of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units 100 is reduced, the adjacent supporting arms 101 are gradually closed, the supporting mandril 301 between the adjacent supporting arms 101 is pressed, the elastic pressure is increased), the V-shaped mechanical arm units 100 at the two ends can be pushed away to separate, and finally, the distance between the front wheel and the rear wheel is reduced. Thus, the four-wheel interval of the robot which can be contacted with the pipeline at the position with a smaller pipeline diameter is simultaneously reduced, and the flexibility of the robot in pipelines with different diameters is maintained.

Therefore, the V-shaped reverse crossing structure design enables the flexibility of the change of the robot body to be better, the robot body can adapt to the change of different pipeline sizes, the longitudinal length of the robot body can be changed as well, and the robot body has practical application significance to the adaptability of the robot in the pipeline.

Furthermore, in order to expand the application range and flexibility of the robot, each supporting arm 101 of the robot adopts a telescopic design, so that the supporting arm 101 of the robot can adjust the body according to the diameter of the pipeline and the position of the pipeline passing through the supporting arm. And the structure of each support arm 101 is the same.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 1 and 3 to 6, the supporting arm 101 includes a fixed section 101b and a telescopic section 101 c.

The fixing segment 101b is a portion of the single support arm 101 hinged to the adjacent support arm 101, and the main body of the fixing segment is preferably a linear structure with a U-shaped groove in cross section.

The inner end of the fixed section 101b is hinged with the fixed section 101b of the other support arm 101 in the same V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100; the outer end of the fixed section 101b is fixed with a lead screw nut 101 b-1.

The telescopic segment 101c is attached to the fixed segment 101b and is linearly slidable with respect to the fixed segment 101 b. The main body of the telescopic segment 101c is preferably a linear structure with a U-shaped groove in cross section.

A driving part 101d (e.g., a driving motor) is fixed inside the telescopic section 101c, the output end of the driving part 101d is connected with a lead screw 101e, the lead screw 101e is matched with the lead screw nut 101b-1, and the telescopic section 101c can slide relative to the fixed section 101b through the driving of the driving part 101 d; the outer end of the telescopic section 101c is provided with a rolling member 101 a.

The support rams 301 are connected between the fixing sections 101b of two adjacent support arms 101 by universal joints 302 at both ends thereof, respectively.

Further, in order to ensure that the telescopic section 101c can slide in a stable straight line relative to the fixed section 101b, a sliding fit mechanism is arranged between the telescopic section 101c and the fixed section, and the telescopic section comprises the following two embodiments:

the first implementation mode comprises the following steps: the telescopic section 101c is sleeved on the periphery of the fixed section 101 b;

the outer side surface of the fixed section 101b is provided with a first sliding block K-1/a first linear guide rail G-1, and the inner side surface of the telescopic section 101c is provided with a first linear guide rail G-1/a first sliding block K-1 matched with the first sliding block K-1/the first linear guide rail G-1; the first sliding block K-1 is in sliding fit with the first linear guide rail G-1 and can perform relative linear sliding.

The second embodiment: the fixed section 101b is sleeved on the periphery of the telescopic section 101 c;

the inner side surface of the fixed section 101b is provided with a first sliding block K-1/a first linear guide rail G-1, and the outer side surface of the telescopic section 101c is provided with a first linear guide rail G-1/a first sliding block K-1 matched with the first sliding block K-1/the first linear guide rail G-1; the first sliding block K-1 is in sliding fit with the first linear guide rail G-1 and can perform relative linear sliding.

The arm extension of the robot can realize the extension change of 400-580 mm.

Further, as shown in fig. 7, the roller 101a-1 employs a mecanum wheel; the roller orientations of the two mecanum wheels in the same V-shaped robot arm unit 100 are the same and are perpendicular to the roller orientations of the mecanum wheels in the other V-shaped robot arm unit 100.

Because each Mecanum wheel is provided with a single-drive motor and is applied as a driving wheel, sufficient power can be provided for climbing and bending of the robot. The four same Mecanum wheels are in a three-dimensional mounting mode, and can realize spiral motion in the pipeline by running in the same direction, so that the passing performance and obstacle crossing capability of the robot are improved, and the method has practical significance on the running performance of the pipeline robot.

Further, because the above solution does not have a stable mounting platform for mounting other devices and modules, the present invention builds a base platform 102 on the movable support arm 101 for mounting a control system, sensors and other circuit working modules.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 8 to 12 and 18, the V-shaped robot arm unit 100 further includes a base platform 102 disposed at the corner end D thereof.

The base platform 102 includes a first mounting seat 102a covering the periphery of the corner end D, a second mounting seat 102b disposed inside the corner end D, and a third mounting seat 102c hinged at the corner end D.

The first mounting seat 102a is symmetrically connected to the supporting arms 101 at two sides of the corner end D through a pair of connecting plates 102D at two sides thereof (one end of the connecting plate 102D is hinged to the bottom of the first mounting seat 102a through a hinge, and the other end is hinged to the corresponding supporting arm 101 through a hinge.

The first mounting seat 102a, the second mounting seat 102b, and the third mounting seat 102c are all of a gate structure, the second mounting seat 102b is fixed at the inner end of the first mounting seat 102a, and together form a frame shape, and two ends of the stretching unit 200 are respectively connected between the second mounting seats 102b of the two V-shaped robot arm units 100.

The outer end surface of the first mounting seat 102a is a plane and can be used for mounting onboard and control equipment. A second sliding block K-2/a second linear guide rail G-2 are arranged on the inner side of the first mounting seat 102a, a second linear guide rail G-2/a second sliding block K-2 are arranged on the outer side of the third mounting seat 102c, and the second sliding block K-2 and the second linear guide rail G-2 form sliding fit and can generate relative linear sliding; the extension direction of the second linear guide rail G-2 is consistent with the angular bisector direction of the angular end D.

Through the arrangement of the structure, and by utilizing the synchronous change of the supporting arm 101, the third mounting seat 102c and the first mounting seat 102a can be matched and can move in the linear direction, and the movable range of the first mounting seat 102a is limited on the included angle bisector of the V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100. Therefore, the design scheme enables the change of the included angle of the V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100 to be always symmetrical to the equipment mounting base, and can ensure that no matter how the supporting arm 101 stretches and retracts and the included angle changes, airborne equipment cannot collide with the inner wall of the pipeline.

In summary, in order to adapt to the environment conditions of variable pipelines, the pipeline robot of the invention is provided with a highly flexible mechanism, so that the robot body of the pipeline robot can adaptively adjust the length and the posture of the robot body along with the change of the diameter and the trend of the pipeline, the robot can keep the traffic capacity in the complex pipeline, and the supporting force and the driving force of a roller on the pipeline wall can be ensured all the time in the adjusting process. The beneficial effects are embodied in the following aspects:

firstly, the body posture can be adaptively adjusted by changing the size of a pipeline

The self-adaptive adjustment capability of the robot in the pipeline is realized by the common coordination of the variable included angle design of the V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100, the reverse crossing design of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units 100, the connection design of the support mandril 301 and the design of the telescopic support arm 101.

As shown in fig. 13, when the body encounters a sudden change in the diameter of the pipe, the length of the pipe is not increased by the "narrowing of the pipe and the reduction of the included angle of the V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100", but the pressure of the supporting arm 101 on the supporting mandril 301 is increased by the reduction of the included angle, and the distance between the two angle ends D is increased; the reverse crossing installation mode enables the distance between the front wheel and the rear wheel of the robot to be shortened while the two corner ends D of the robot are lengthened, so that the contact surface between the robot and the pipeline is not enlarged but is reduced, and the stress change situation is shown in fig. 13. Meanwhile, in the process of self-adaptive compression posture adjustment of the robot, the pressure of the supporting ejector rod 301 is increased, and the tension of the stretching unit 200 is increased due to the extension of the distance between the two angle ends D, so that the continuous extension of the distance between the angle ends D of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units 100 and the continuous reduction of the included angle of the V-shaped mechanical arm units 100 are limited, the continuous extrusion of the roller 101a-1 of the robot on the inside of the pipeline is ensured, and the continuous supporting force is provided.

In addition, when the supporting force of the roller 101a-1 of the robot on the pipe wall is insufficient (for example, when the pipe is climbing vertically or through a large-diameter pipe, sufficient pressure is required on the pipe by the roller 101a-1), or when the stretching unit 200 cannot provide sufficient pressure, the V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100 can reversely reduce the included angle of the V-shaped mechanical arm of the robot by driving the extension of the supporting arm 101, so as to increase the pressure of the supporting mandril 301 and the tension of the stretching unit 200, and both the forces can be transmitted to the supporting arm 101 to cause the roller 101a-1 to press the pipe wall, so that the larger supporting force can provide sufficient friction for the roller 101a-1, and the robot cannot slide down in the pipe.

In order to better exert the performance of the robot and improve the self-adaptive capacity and the intelligent degree of the robot in a pipeline, a distance sensor and a gyroscope are mounted on a robot body and used for sensing the change of the inner diameter of the pipeline and the posture of the robot in real time, the environment of the pipeline where the robot is located, the diameter of the pipeline and the direction of the pipeline are judged through analysis, the robot is enabled to better distribute power, the robot can rapidly run in a straight pipeline and self-adaptively stretch out and draw back the robot body in a curve, the power can be reduced and kept to rise in the vertical pipeline, the robot is better protected from being damaged due to overspeed or falling, and the condition of overload or blockage cannot occur.

Secondly, the screw driving capability is provided

The robot adopts a built-in drive Mecanum wheel design, and each Mecanum wheel is independently driven and controlled through a corresponding single-drive motor. The rollers which are obliquely arranged around are distributed on the Mecanum wheel, so that the wheels of the robot can move obliquely; according to the special environment of the pipeline, the invention adopts the installation mode of four wheels in the same type, so that the robot can realize spiral motion in the special environment of the pipeline, as shown in fig. 14. The mecanum wheel provides axial driving force and axial rotating force through the rollers with 45-degree inclined wheel surfaces, so that the robot can advance spirally, and the stress condition is shown in fig. 15. The surface of the Mecanum wheel is designed in a mode that a plurality of rollers with 45 degrees are circumferentially and uniformly distributed, so that the Fm driving force is divided into a forward direction force in the direction of F1 and a force overcoming the friction force in the direction of F2 after acting on the surface of the wheel. The included angle between the forward driving force F1 and the central line of the pipeline is 45 degrees, the forward driving force acts on the pipe wall, the finally formed advancing mode of the wheel is spiral advancing, and the passing performance and the obstacle crossing capability of the robot are improved.

Thirdly, the material has excellent passage property on the bend

In the pipeline environment, the passing diameter of the robot is smaller than the diameter of the pipeline when the robot is in an overbending state due to the limitation of the inner curvature and the outer curvature of the pipeline at the bend on the length of the robot body. As shown in fig. 16, in the same diameter pipeline, as an example of a common four-wheel robot, the passable size of the robot at the curve of the pipeline is much smaller than that in the straight pipeline, so that the maximum design size of the robot cannot exceed the passable size of the curve or the fuselage has pipeline adaptability. When the pipeline robot passes through a pipeline curve, under the matching of the V-shaped mechanical arm unit 100 with the variable included angle and the variable-length robot body, the robot can contract the robot body when passing through the curve, and simultaneously, the distance between two wheels in the same direction and the distance between the front wheel and the rear wheel are reduced, so that the robot can smoothly pass through the curve while keeping the supporting force on the pipe wall, as shown in FIG. 17.

Fourthly, has excellent vertical climbing and descending capability

Pipeline laying inevitably has a straight-up and straight-down pipeline design, particularly in places with complex pipe networks, such as port wharfs, pipelines are complicated, different pipelines are crossed to require the pipeline to be provided with a U-shaped interface to cross another pipeline, and therefore, a pipeline robot is required to have the vertical motion capability of the pipeline. The pipeline robot of the invention adopts a four-wheel drive design to ensure that the robot has vertical movement capability. The motor adopted for driving the pipeline robot is a 150W single-drive motor, the maximum rotating speed is 1800rmp, the minimum torque which can be provided by the motor of the type can be obtained according to a torque calculation formula to be 0.796 N.m, and the matched 127mm Mecanum wheel can provide 12.5N driving force. Assuming that the body of the robot is 5kg (i.e. the weight is 49N), the four-wheel drive of the robot can provide a minimum driving force of 50N in total, so that the robot is fully capable of vertical motion. The robot has speed regulation capability based on the analysis calculated under the maximum movement speed of the robot, and the robot can provide larger driving force after the speed of the robot is reduced during vertical movement so that the robot has carrying capability of more devices.

Fifth, stable carrying capacity and expandability

The pipeline robot herein proposes a stable base platform 102, the base platform 102 being connected to the corner end D of the V-shaped robot arm unit 100, so that the robot 102 always remains symmetrical to the V-shaped robot arm unit 100 regardless of the change in the angle, as shown in fig. 18. Accordingly, the relevant detecting device can be stably installed at the position for the pipe path detection while the pipe travels. In addition, the mechanism can be used for dragging other equipment by a robot or a series structure of a plurality of robots, and the usable performance and the expandable capability of the robots are greatly expanded.

It is important to note that the construction and arrangement of the present application as shown in the various exemplary embodiments is illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail in this disclosure, those skilled in the art who review this disclosure will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters (e.g., temperatures, pressures, etc.), mounting arrangements, use of materials, colors, orientations, etc.) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter recited in this application. For example, elements shown as integrally formed may be constructed of multiple parts or elements, the position of elements may be reversed or otherwise varied, and the nature or number of discrete elements or positions may be altered or varied. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention. The order or sequence of any process or method steps may be varied or re-sequenced according to alternative embodiments. In the claims, any means-plus-function clause is intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures. Other substitutions, modifications, changes and omissions may be made in the design, operating conditions and arrangement of the exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope of the present inventions. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to a particular embodiment, but extends to various modifications that nevertheless fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Moreover, in an effort to provide a concise description of the exemplary embodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not be described (i.e., those unrelated to the presently contemplated best mode of carrying out the invention, or those unrelated to enabling the invention).

It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions may be made. Such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure, without undue experimentation.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solutions of the present invention and not for limiting, and although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that modifications or equivalent substitutions may be made on the technical solutions of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention, which should be covered by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A novel pipeline robot is characterized in that: comprises the steps of (a) preparing a mixture of a plurality of raw materials,

the V-shaped mechanical arm unit (100) comprises a pair of identical structures, and the two V-shaped mechanical arm units (100) are formed by connecting a pair of supporting arms (101); one end of each of two supporting arms (101) in the same V-shaped mechanical arm unit (100) is hinged with each other and forms an angle end (D) of the V-shaped mechanical arm unit (100) together, and rolling pieces (101a) are arranged at the other end of each of the two supporting arms; the two V-shaped mechanical arm units (100) are arranged in a mutually crossed manner, the angle ends (D) of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units are opposite to each other and face opposite directions, and are connected through a stretching unit (200); and the number of the first and second groups,

the supporting unit (300) comprises four supporting mandrils (301) which are sequentially connected between two adjacent supporting arms (101), so that each supporting arm (101) in any one V-shaped mechanical arm unit (100) can be respectively connected with two supporting arms (101) in the other V-shaped mechanical arm unit (100) in a one-to-one correspondence mode through one pair of supporting mandrils (301).

2. The novel pipeline robot of claim 1, wherein: the support arms (101) have the same structure and are extendable and retractable in length.

3. The novel pipeline robot of claim 2, wherein: the supporting arm (101) comprises a fixed section (101b) and a telescopic section (101 c);

the inner end of the fixed section (101b) is hinged with the fixed section (101b) of the other supporting arm (101) in the same V-shaped mechanical arm unit (100), and the outer end of the fixed section is fixed with a screw nut (101 b-1);

a driving part (101d) is fixed inside the telescopic section (101c), the output end of the driving part (101d) is connected with a lead screw (101e), the lead screw (101e) is matched with the lead screw nut (101b-1), and the telescopic section (101c) can slide relative to the fixed section (101b) through the driving of the driving part (101 d); the outer end of the telescopic section (101c) is provided with a rolling element (101 a).

4. The novel pipeline robot of claim 3, wherein: the supporting mandrils (301) are respectively connected between the fixing sections (101b) of two adjacent supporting arms (101) through universal joints (302) at two ends of the supporting mandrils.

5. The novel pipeline robot of claim 3 or 4, wherein: the telescopic section (101c) is sleeved on the periphery of the fixed section (101 b);

a first sliding block (K-1)/a first linear guide rail (G-1) is arranged on the outer side surface of the fixed section (101b), and a first linear guide rail (G-1)/a first sliding block (K-1) matched with the first sliding block (K-1)/the first linear guide rail (G-1) is arranged on the inner side surface of the telescopic section (101 c); the first sliding block (K-1) and the first linear guide rail (G-1) form sliding fit and can perform relative linear sliding.

6. The novel pipeline robot of claim 3 or 4, wherein: the fixed section (101b) is sleeved on the periphery of the telescopic section (101 c);

a first sliding block (K-1)/a first linear guide rail (G-1) is arranged on the inner side surface of the fixed section (101b), and a first linear guide rail (G-1)/a first sliding block (K-1) matched with the first sliding block (K-1)/the first linear guide rail (G-1) is arranged on the outer side surface of the telescopic section (101 c); the first sliding block (K-1) and the first linear guide rail (G-1) form sliding fit and can perform relative linear sliding.

7. The novel pipeline robot of claim 5, wherein: the rolling member (101a) includes a roller (101a-1) rotatably provided at the distal end of the support arm (101) and a single-drive motor capable of individually driving the roller (101 a-1).

8. The novel pipeline robot as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 and 7, wherein: the roller (101a-1) adopts a Mecanum wheel; the roller orientations of the two Mecanum wheels in the same V-shaped mechanical arm unit (100) are the same and are perpendicular to the roller orientations of the Mecanum wheels in the other V-shaped mechanical arm unit (100).

9. The novel pipeline robot of claim 8, wherein: the V-shaped robot arm unit (100) further comprises a base platform (102) arranged at an angular end (D) thereof;

the base platform (102) comprises a first mounting seat (102a) covering the periphery of the corner end (D), a second mounting seat (102b) arranged inside the corner end (D), and a third mounting seat (102c) hinged at the corner end (D); the first mounting seat (102a) is symmetrically connected to the supporting arms (101) corresponding to two sides of the corner end (D) through a pair of connecting plates (102D) on the two sides of the first mounting seat; one end of the connecting plate (102d) is hinged with the first mounting seat (102a), and the other end of the connecting plate is hinged with the corresponding supporting arm (101);

a second sliding block (K-2)/a second linear guide rail (G-2) is arranged on the inner side of the first mounting seat (102a), a second linear guide rail (G-2)/a second sliding block (K-2) is arranged on the outer side of the third mounting seat (102c), and the second sliding block (K-2) and the second linear guide rail (G-2) form sliding fit and can generate relative linear sliding; the extension direction of the second linear guide rail (G-2) is consistent with the angular bisector direction of the angular end (D);

the second mounting seat (102b) is fixed at the inner end of the first mounting seat (102a), and the stretching unit (200) is connected between the second mounting seats (102b) of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units (100).

10. The novel pipeline robot as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, 7 and 9, wherein: when the distance between two rolling pieces (101a) of each of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units (100) is reduced, the included angles of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units (100) are reduced, and the angle ends (D) of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units are extended outwards and protruded, so that the distance between the angle ends (D) of the two V-shaped mechanical arm units (100) is increased, the inclination angle and the extrusion direction of each supporting ejector rod (301) can be changed, and the V-shaped mechanical arm units (100) at the two ends of each supporting ejector rod (301) can generate a tendency of pushing and separating.