CN114055512A

CN114055512A - Driving joint and driving device

Info

Publication number: CN114055512A
Application number: CN202111313269.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘思聪; 刘健慧; 王峥; 易娟
Original assignee: Southern University of Science and Technology
Current assignee: Southern University of Science and Technology
Priority date: 2021-11-08
Filing date: 2021-11-08
Publication date: 2022-02-18

Abstract

The utility model provides a drive joint and drive arrangement, wherein, drive joint includes the relative bearing base and the motion platform that set up in interval, is used for rotating the coupling mechanism who connects motion platform and bearing base and distributes at motion platform and a plurality of driving pieces between bearing base around coupling mechanism, and motion platform is connected to the one end of driving piece, bearing base is connected to the other end for order about the position that motion platform and this driving piece are connected and be close to and keep away from bearing base. The coupling mechanism is used as a basic framework of the joint to limit the translational freedom degree of the motion platform under the coordination of the driving piece; firstly, the motion platform can perform twisting motion, turning motion and motion composition of the twisting motion and the turning motion relative to the bearing base, so that the interchangeability of joints is enhanced; secondly, the joint can be in an antagonistic state, the structural rigidity of the joint is increased, and the load capacity of the joint is improved; and thirdly, the structural rigidity of the joint is changed by regulating and controlling each driving piece, so that the joint is suitable for various application scenes.

Description

Driving joint and driving device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of robots, in particular to a driving joint and a driving device.

Background

The mechanical joint is a basic and key component of a robot system device, complex actions performed by the robot are mostly completed by depending on the mechanical joint, and motion actions such as rotation, swing, pitching and the like which can be realized by a mechanical arm of the robot are all embodied by the application of the mechanical joint.

At present, most common mechanical joints are composed of rigid structures, and although the common mechanical joints have reliable load capacity and high repetition precision, the common mechanical joints have single freedom of motion and poor flexibility; therefore, when complex motions or multi-degree-of-freedom motions of a robot system device (e.g., a robot arm) are realized by mechanical joints, it is often necessary to combine a plurality of mechanical joints, but this also results in problems such as an excessively complex structure of the robot system device and poor interactivity and adaptability.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention mainly solves the technical problem of providing a driving joint and a driving device applying the driving joint so as to improve the performance of the joint and meet the actual application requirement.

According to a first aspect, there is provided in one embodiment a drive joint, comprising:

the bearing base is used for bearing;

the motion platform is used for loading a carrier to be driven, and the bearing base and the motion platform are oppositely arranged at intervals;

the coupling mechanism is used for rotatably connecting the motion platform and the bearing base, one end of the coupling mechanism is connected to the center of the motion platform, and the other end of the coupling mechanism is connected to the center of the bearing base; and

a drive assembly comprising a plurality of drives arranged about a coupling mechanism between the motion platform and the load-bearing base; one end of the driving piece is connected with the moving platform, the other end of the driving piece is connected with the bearing base, and the driving piece is used for driving the part, connected with the driving piece, of the moving platform to be close to and far away from the bearing base.

In one embodiment, the driving members are arranged in groups two by two to form a plurality of driving groups uniformly distributed around the coupling mechanism; one end of each driving piece in each driving group is connected to the motion platform in a crossed mode, and the other end of each driving piece in each driving group is connected to the bearing base in a separated mode.

In one embodiment, the driving member comprises a soft muscle for communicating with a fluid source, one end of the soft muscle is fixed on the motion platform, and the other end of the soft muscle is fixed on the bearing base; the soft muscle can be folded under the action of fluid pressure so as to drive the part of the motion platform connected with the soft muscle to be close to the bearing base; the soft muscle can be stretched under the action of fluid pressure so as to drive the connecting part of the motion platform and the soft muscle to be far away from the bearing base.

In one embodiment, the coupling mechanism is a ball hinge structure, and includes a ball head member and a ball seat member, the ball head member is rotatably mounted in the ball seat member, and one of the ball head member and the ball seat member is fixed at the center of the motion platform, and the other one is fixed at the center of the bearing base.

In one embodiment, the portion of the ball head member rotatably connected to the socket member retains a lubricating filler.

In one embodiment, the ball head part comprises a ball head part and a first supporting part, and the ball head part is arranged at one end of the first supporting part and is rotatably arranged in the ball seat part; the other end of the first supporting part is fixed at the center of the motion platform or the center of the bearing base, and the outer diameter of the first supporting part is gradually increased from the end where the spherical head part is located to the end where the motion platform or the bearing base is located; and/or

The ball seat member includes a ball groove portion provided at one end of the second support portion and capable of receiving at least a portion of the ball head member; the other end of the second supporting part is fixed at the center of the bearing base or the center of the moving platform, and the outer diameter of the second supporting part is gradually increased from the end where the spherical groove part is located to the end where the bearing base or the moving platform is located.

In one embodiment, the bearing base comprises two base parts which are arranged oppositely in a mirror image mode, the two base parts are detachably spliced and fixed into a whole to form the bearing base in a splicing mode, and the bearing base can be spliced at the center of the bearing base to form a ball seat piece; or

Motion platform includes two platform portions that the mirror image set up relatively, two platform portion detachably splices fixedly as an organic whole to the concatenation forms motion platform, and can motion platform's center concatenation forms the ball seat spare.

According to a second aspect, there is provided in one embodiment a drive device comprising a plurality of the drive joints of the first aspect, the plurality of drive joints being arranged in a cascade so that the drive device has a predetermined length; the bearing base of one of the two adjacent driving joints is superposed and fixed on the motion platform of the other one.

In one embodiment, the device further comprises an information detection piece, wherein the information detection piece is arranged between the bearing base and the moving platform which are fixedly overlapped, and is used for detecting the motion information and/or the state information of the driving device.

In one embodiment, the driving piece of one of the two adjacent driving joints and the driving piece of the other one of the two adjacent driving joints are arranged in one-to-one alignment along the length direction of the driving device, and the driving pieces in the opposite alignment are in synchronous control connection.

According to the drive joint of above-mentioned embodiment, including bearing base and the motion platform that the interval set up relatively, be used for rotating the coupling mechanism who connects motion platform and bearing base and around the coupling mechanism distribute at motion platform and bear a plurality of driving pieces between the base, the motion platform is connected to one end of driving piece, the bearing base is connected to the other end for order about the position that motion platform and this driving piece are connected is close to and keeps away from bearing base. The coupling mechanism is used as a basic framework of the joint to limit the translational freedom degree of the motion platform under the coordination of the driving piece; firstly, the motion platform can perform twisting motion, turning motion and composite motion of the twisting motion and the turning motion relative to the bearing base, so that the interchangeability of joints is enhanced; secondly, the joint can be in an antagonistic state, the structural rigidity of the driving joint is increased, and the load capacity of the driving joint is improved; and thirdly, the structural rigidity of the joint is changed by regulating and controlling each driving piece, so that the joint is suitable for various application scenes.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural assembly view of a driving joint of an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional structure view of a drive joint according to an embodiment.

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the drive joint according to an embodiment.

Fig. 4 is an exploded view of the driving joint according to an embodiment (ii).

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the arrangement of the soft muscles in the driving joint according to an embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram (one) of a state simulation analysis of the driving joint according to an embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram (two) illustrating a simulation analysis of the state of the driving joint according to an embodiment.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram (iii) of a state simulation analysis of the driving joint according to an embodiment.

Fig. 9 is a schematic view (iv) of a state simulation analysis of the driving joint according to an embodiment.

Fig. 10 is a schematic plan view of a driving device according to an embodiment.

Fig. 11 is a plan view schematically illustrating a driving joint according to another embodiment.

In the figure:

10. a load-bearing base; 20. a motion platform; 30. a coupling mechanism; 31. a ball head piece; 31a, a ball head portion; 31b, a first support part; 32. a ball seat member; 32a, a ball groove portion; 32b, a second support portion; 40. a drive member; 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e, 40f, soft muscle; 41. a fluid inlet and outlet; 50. a lubricating filler; 60. a fluid line.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. Wherein like elements in different embodiments are numbered with like associated elements. In the following description, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present application. However, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that some of the features may be omitted or replaced with other elements, materials, methods in different instances. In some instances, certain operations related to the present application have not been shown or described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the core of the present application from excessive description, and it is not necessary for those skilled in the art to describe these operations in detail, so that they may be fully understood from the description in the specification and the general knowledge in the art.

Furthermore, the features, operations, or characteristics described in the specification may be combined in any suitable manner to form various embodiments. Also, the various steps or actions in the method descriptions may be transposed or transposed in order, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the various sequences in the specification and drawings are for the purpose of describing certain embodiments only and are not intended to imply a required sequence unless otherwise indicated where such sequence must be followed.

The numbering of the components as such, e.g., "first", "second", etc., is used herein only to distinguish the objects as described, and does not have any sequential or technical meaning. The term "connected" and "coupled" when used in this application, unless otherwise indicated, includes both direct and indirect connections (couplings).

The term "axial direction" as used herein refers to the direction in which the central point of the load-bearing base and the central point of the motion platform are in the same straight line. For example, in a certain state, the bearing base and the motion platform are parallel and opposite to each other and are relatively stationary, the central points of the two are located on the same straight line, the straight line is the axis of the driving joint, and the direction along the axis or the direction of the axis can be defined as the axial direction. Based on the definition of "axial direction", it is understood that the term "circumferential direction" as used herein refers to a direction around the axial direction.

The term "axial force" as used herein refers to a force generated in an axial direction or applied to a force-receiving object; accordingly, the term "circumferential force" as used herein refers to a force generated in a circumferential direction or applied to a force-receiving object.

Example one

Referring to fig. 1 to 9, in the first embodiment, a driving joint is provided, in which a movable connection relationship can be established between two adjacent mechanism components, and the output power drives one of the mechanism components to move in an environmental space or a working space relative to the other mechanism component, so as to adjust the position, the posture, and the like of the mechanism component in the environmental space or the working space; to describe the structure and principle of the driving joint in more detail, the following description is given by taking the example of applying the driving joint to a robot, for example, the driving joint may be disposed between an arm and a wrist of the robot and used as the wrist joint of the robot. However, it should be noted that the robot is only an application object of the driving joint, and the driving joint can also be applied to other aspects, such as being applied to various existing mechanical equipment as a driving device or a power transmission device. The driving joint comprises a bearing base 10, a motion platform 20, a coupling mechanism 30 and a driving component; the following are described separately.

Referring to fig. 1 to 9, the carrying base 10 mainly serves as a carrying support, and the carrying base 10 can be generally fixedly installed at a predetermined position, such as a body of a robot, to provide a structural support for the movement of the moving platform 20 and the power output of the driving assembly. The motion platform 20 is mainly used for loading a carrier to be driven, such as a robot, a clamping jaw, a vision monitoring device, and other function executing devices, and is arranged opposite to the carrying base 10 at an interval in the axial direction, so as to form a structural gap with a certain distance between the motion platform 20 and the carrying base 10, and a structural assembling space can be provided for the coupling mechanism 30 and the driving assembly by using the structural gap. In specific implementation, the bearing base 10 and the moving platform 20 are rigid structures with fixed structures, such as plate-shaped structures that can be formed by processing metal materials, injection molding plastic materials, or 3D printing related materials; meanwhile, the carrying base 10 and the motion platform 20 may have the same or different shapes, such as a regular or irregular geometric shape, such as a circle, a polygon, etc., according to the application scenario of the driving joint.

Referring to fig. 1 to 4, the coupling mechanism 30 is mainly used as a basic skeleton of the whole driving joint, and the bearing base 10 and the moving platform 20 can be always kept in a mutually combined and connected state when relative movement occurs by establishing a rotational connection relationship between the bearing base 10 and the moving platform 20; the coupling mechanism 30 adopts a spherical hinge structure bionic to the joints of the human body, and makes use of the characteristics of the spherical hinge structure to enable the motion platform 20 to have the structural conditions of turning (or swinging) motion towards any direction (any side) along the circumferential direction relative to the bearing base 10 and rotation motion based on the spherical center of the spherical hinge structure; the coupling mechanism 30 includes a ball head member 31 and a ball seat member 32; wherein, the ball head piece 31 is fixedly arranged at the geometric center position of the motion platform 20 and is positioned at one side of the motion platform 20 facing the bearing base 10; accordingly, the ball seat member 32 is fixedly disposed at the geometric center of the carrying base 10 and is located at the side of the carrying base 10 facing the moving platform 20, and the ball seat member 32 has a receiving space capable of receiving and matching with the structural feature of the ball portion of the ball member 31, so that the ball member 31 can be rotatably mounted in the ball seat member 32. Of course, the positions of the ball head member 31 and the ball seat member 32 may be changed, that is: the ball head piece 31 is disposed on the load-bearing base 10, and the socket piece 32 is disposed on the motion platform 20.

In specific implementation, the ball head piece 31 and the motion platform 20 can be integrally manufactured and formed by adopting technological means such as injection molding, 3D printing, machining and the like, and the ball seat piece 32 and the bearing base 10 can be integrally manufactured and formed; on one hand, the manufacturing procedures among the bearing base 10, the motion platform 20 and the coupling mechanism 30 can be reduced, the assembly cost is reduced, and the assembly efficiency is improved; on the other hand, the structural integrity and the structural strength of the motion platform 20 and the load-bearing base 10 can be effectively enhanced. Of course, the ball head member 31 and the ball seat member 32 may be selectively fixedly disposed on the motion platform 20 and the carrying base 10 by a detachable connection method such as locking or a non-detachable connection method such as welding, according to different requirements.

In another embodiment, the coupling mechanism 30 is provided by referring to the related fittings of the prior art, such as rigid universal joints, flexible universal joints, etc., which have the characteristics of a spherical hinge structure, or adopts other structural forms of couplings; the point is that the coupling mechanism 30 can be used to realize the rotation connection between the motion platform 20 and the carrying base 10, and the rotation can be in the form of universal rotation in any direction and can also be in the form of turning in one or more specific different directions.

Referring to fig. 1 to 4, the driving assembly is mainly used for establishing a power connection relationship between the bearing base 10 and the moving platform 20 and realizing structural support of the moving platform 20; the driving assembly includes a plurality of driving members 40, such as four, six, eight or other larger numbers, the plurality of driving members 40 are arranged between the moving platform 20 and the bearing base 10 around the coupling mechanism 30 along the circumferential direction, one end of the driving member 40 is connected to the moving platform 20, and the other end is connected to the bearing base 10. Taking the driving assembly having six driving members 40 as an example, the six driving members 40 are arranged in groups two by two to form three groups (or three) of driving groups uniformly distributed around the coupling mechanism 30, one end of each driving member 40 in each group (or each) of driving groups is connected to the moving platform 20 in a cross state, and the other end of each driving member 40 is connected to the carrying base 10 in a separated state; in this way, the six driving members 40 are arranged between the carrying base 10 and the moving platform 20 in an obliquely staggered manner along the circumferential direction, and each two adjacent driving members 40 present a form similar to a "V" shape or an inverted "V" shape along the circumferential direction.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 1 to 9, the driving member 40 is a soft driver, which includes a soft muscle, and the soft muscle is mainly a soft flexible structure with a certain length, which can be integrally formed by processes such as blow molding, injection molding, 3D printing, etc. with elastic material or plastic material, and has a tubular structure with an internal closed space, for example, the peripheral wall of the tube body is made of a gimura folding paper type, a bellows type, or other structures with certain structural flexibility; the two ends of the soft muscle along the length direction are respectively fixed on the moving platform 20 and the bearing base 10 in a welding mode or an adhesive such as hot melt adhesive in an adhesive mode, or are respectively fixed with the moving platform 20 and the bearing base 10 in a detachable mode by fasteners such as clamps and the like; meanwhile, a fluid inlet 41 is arranged at the end or the peripheral surface of the soft muscle, and the fluid inlet 41 and the corresponding pipeline are used for communicating the inner closed space of the soft muscle with a fluid source such as a water pump, an air pump and the like or a fluid driving device.

The flow rate of the fluid medium in the soft muscle is regulated and controlled by the fluid source (wherein, the fluid medium can be a liquid fluid medium such as water, a gaseous fluid medium such as air, or a gas-liquid mixed fluid medium), so as to realize the regulation and control of the stretching and folding deformation of the soft muscle, and further generate the driving action on the motion platform 20. Specifically, a fluid medium can be injected into the soft muscle by means of the fluid source, so that the soft muscle can be stretched along the length direction of the soft muscle under the action of fluid pressure, and a force similar to a thrust is applied to the part of the motion platform 20 connected with the soft muscle, and the part of the motion platform 20 is enabled to be far away from the bearing base 10. Conversely, the fluid medium in the soft muscle is discharged by the fluid source, so that the soft muscle can be folded and contracted along the length direction thereof under the action of the fluid pressure, thereby applying a force similar to a pulling force to the part of the motion platform 20 connected with the soft muscle and promoting the part of the motion platform 20 to be close to the bearing base 10.

In another embodiment, the driving member 40 can also be a rigid power component, such as a linear driver, such as an electric cylinder, an air cylinder, etc., for example, a body end of the linear driver is pivotally connected to the carrying base 10, and a power output end is pivotally connected to the moving platform 20, such that the pushing and pulling effects on the moving platform 20 can also be achieved.

Referring to fig. 5 to 9, the driving assembly includes six driving members 40, and the driving members 40 are soft muscles, for example, to perform simulation analysis on the motion state of the driving joint; in fig. 6 to 9, the cylinders shown within the circular area represent the soft muscles; and the six soft muscles are marked as 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e and 40f in turn in the anticlockwise order; wherein the

soft muscles

40a and 40b are combined into a driving group, the

soft muscles

40c and 40d are combined into a driving group, and the

soft muscles

40e and 40f are combined into a driving group.

It should be noted that the solid hatched cylinder represents that the soft muscle is in the stretching state (or in the state of being filled with the fluid medium), the oblique hatched cylinder represents that the soft muscle is in the contracting state (or in the state of being discharged with the fluid medium), the blank cylinder represents that the soft muscle is in the initial state (or in the natural state or in the state of holding a certain amount of the fluid medium), the dotted arrows in the figures represent the direction of the acting force received by the whole motion platform 20 or the direction of the output power of the soft muscle, and the solid arrows in the figures represent the motion direction of the motion platform 20.

Referring to fig. 6, in the initial state: the six soft muscles are filled with the same amount of fluid medium in advance or have the same basic fluid pressure, so that the six soft muscles are all in a stretching state, and the stretching deformation quantity is the same; at this time, for two soft muscles in the same driving group, the forces applied by the two soft muscles in the circumferential direction to the moving platform 20 are mutually offset, so that the driving assembly can only apply a force in the axial direction to the moving platform 20, but the existence of the coupling mechanism 30 limits the translational degree of freedom of the moving platform 20 in the axial direction, and the soft muscles are in a mutually antagonistic state, so that the moving platform 20 cannot undergo any position change relative to the supporting base 10 and remains at an initial position (e.g., a position parallel or nearly parallel to the supporting base 10); meanwhile, under the matching of the coupling mechanism 30 and the soft muscle, the whole driving joint is in an antagonistic state, the overall structural rigidity of the driving joint is improved, and the stable support of the function executing equipment loaded on the motion platform 20 is realized.

Referring to fig. 7, the swing motion: when the soft muscles 40c and 40d perform the stretching action and the amount of deformation for stretching is the same, the soft muscles 40a and 40f perform the folding and contracting state and the amount of deformation for contracting is the same, and the soft muscles 40b and 40e are in the natural state; the axial acting force exerted by the soft muscles 40a and 40b and the soft muscles 40e and 40f on the motion platform 20 is downward along the Z-axis direction, and the exerted circumferential acting force are mutually counteracted, so that the soft muscles 40a, 40b, 40e and 40f apply a downward pulling force along the axial direction to the motion platform 20, while the soft muscles 40c and 40d apply an upward axial acting force along the Z-axis direction and the exerted circumferential acting force are mutually counteracted, so that the soft muscles 40c and 40d apply an upward pushing force along the axial direction to the motion platform 20; due to the limiting effect of the coupling mechanism 30 on the axial translational degree of freedom of the motion platform 20, the motion platform 20 can be turned to the left by taking the rotation connection point (specifically, the center of the ball head piece 31) of the coupling mechanism 30 as a base point; otherwise, the motion platform 20 can be driven to reverse direction; based on this, the motion platform 20 has the capability of performing the turning motion towards any side along the circumferential direction relative to the bearing base 10 through the selection of the number of the soft muscles and the differential control of each soft muscle. When the motion platform 20 is turned to the preset position, the driving joint is in the antagonistic state as a whole by keeping the current state of each soft muscle (i.e. keeping the current deformation amount inconvenient), so as to ensure that the driving joint has enough rigidity.

Referring to fig. 8, the twisting motion: when the

soft muscles

40a, 40c and 40e all perform the folding and contracting actions with the same deformation amount, and the

soft muscles

40b, 40d and 40f all perform the stretching actions with the same deformation amount, the axial acting forces exerted by the

soft muscles

40a and 40b on the motion platform 20 are mutually counteracted, and the circumferential acting forces are distributed along the clockwise direction; for the same reason, the axial acting forces exerted by the

soft muscles

40c and 40d and 40e and 40f on the motion platform are mutually counteracted, and the circumferential acting forces are distributed along the clockwise direction; thereby causing the motion platform 20 to perform a certain angle of torsional motion in a clockwise direction with the active connection point of the coupling mechanism 30 as a base point; conversely, a twisting movement occurs in the counterclockwise direction. When the motion platform 20 is twisted to a predetermined value, the state of each soft muscle is maintained, and the entire drive joint is maintained in the antagonistic state.

Referring to fig. 9, the compound motion of rolling and twisting: when the soft muscles 40a, 40e and 40f all perform the stretching action and the stretching deformation amount is the same, the soft muscles 40b, 40c and 40e all perform the folding contraction action and the contraction deformation amount is the same; the axial acting force exerted by the soft muscles 40a and 40b on the motion platform 20 is mutually counteracted, the circumferential acting force is distributed along the counterclockwise direction, the axial acting force exerted by the soft muscles 40c and 40d on the motion platform 20 is downwards along the axial direction, the circumferential acting force is mutually counteracted, so that the soft structures 40c and 40d are equivalent to the tensile force exerted on the motion platform 20 downwards along the axial direction; the soft muscles 40e and 40f exert axial acting force on the motion platform 20, and the axial acting force and the circumferential acting force are mutually counteracted, so that the soft muscles 40e and 40f equivalently exert upward thrust on the motion platform 20 in the axial direction; so as to finally cause the motion platform 20 to perform a twisting motion relative to the carrying base 10 and simultaneously to swing towards the direction of the soft muscles 40c and 40 d; therefore, the combination of the turning and twisting motion is realized, and the driving joint is ensured to be kept in an antagonistic state after the integral turning and twisting combined motion is completed.

Firstly, the coupling mechanism 30 is used as a basic skeleton of the whole driving joint to limit the translational degree of freedom of the motion platform 20 along the axial direction, so that the motion platform 20 can perform clockwise or counterclockwise twisting motion or perform vertical pitching tilting motion and combined motion of the twisting motion and the tilting motion by taking the coupling mechanism 30 as a basic point under the action of the driving piece 40, and the driving joint can drive the loaded function execution equipment to perform multiple degrees of freedom motion and combined motion.

Secondly, by using the matching of the coupling mechanism 30 and the driving member 40, the orientation, angle or posture of the motion platform 20 (together with the loaded function executing equipment) in the working space can be converted through the differential control of the driving member 40, and the whole driving joint can be in an antagonistic state, so that the structural rigidity of the whole driving joint is increased, and the load capacity of the driving joint is improved.

Thirdly, under the embodiment that the driving member 40 adopts soft muscles, due to the characteristics of excellent anti-interference performance, excellent mechanical property, flexibility and light weight of the soft muscles, the noise of the driving joint in the motion process is effectively reduced, and the driving member has certain self-adaptive capacity and overload prevention capacity; meanwhile, the movement of the motion platform 20 is more stable and faster due to the application of the spherical hinge structure.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 3 and 4, the ball head 31 includes a ball head portion 31a and a first supporting portion 31b, and the ball head portion 31a and the first supporting portion 31b are sequentially distributed on a side of the moving platform 20 facing the load-bearing base 10 along the axial direction; wherein, the ball head portion 31a is disposed at one end of the first supporting portion 31b, the other end of the first supporting portion 31b is fixedly disposed at the center of the moving platform 20, the outer contour of the first supporting portion 31b is substantially in a cone structure, that is: the outer diameter of the first support part 31b gradually increases from the end where the ball head part 31a is located to the end where the moving platform 20 is located; based on the same structural requirements, the ball seat member 32 includes a ball groove portion 32a and a second support portion 32b, and the ball groove portion 32a and the second support portion 32b are sequentially distributed on the side of the bearing base 10 facing the moving platform 20 along the axial direction; the ball groove portion 32a is substantially a spherical groove structure, which can receive and cover most of the ball portion 31a, so that the ball portion 31a has a structural condition of rotating in the ball groove portion 32a, the ball groove portion 32a is fixedly disposed at one end of the second supporting portion 32b, the other end of the second supporting portion 32b is fixedly disposed at the central position of the bearing base 10, and the second supporting portion 32b is substantially similar to the first supporting portion 31b in outline form, that is: the outer diameter thereof gradually increases from the end where the spherical groove portion 32a is located toward the end where the load base 10 is located.

Firstly, the ball head part 31a and the ball groove part 32a can keep a certain distance from the moving platform 20 and the load-bearing base 10 by the arrangement of the first supporting part 31b and the second supporting part 32b, not only can enough structural clearance be formed between the moving platform 20 and the load-bearing base 10 to provide sufficient structural space for the assembly and movement of the driving member 40, but also the rotational connection point between the moving platform 20 and the load-bearing base 10 (or the rotational position of the coupling mechanism 30) can be in the central position of the whole driving joint by controlling the length (or height) size of the first supporting part 31b and the second supporting part 32b, thereby ensuring that the moving platform 20 can stably and smoothly move relative to the load-bearing base 10 by the action of the coupling mechanism 30. Secondly, the first support part 31b and the second support part 32b adopt a structure similar to a cone, which is beneficial to enhancing the structural strength of the coupling mechanism 30, ensuring that the ball head part 31a can be stably accommodated in the ball groove part 32a, and generating a rapid and stable rotation effect; meanwhile, the bearing base 10 can stably support the motion platform 20, and the load capacity of the driving joint is effectively improved under the cooperation of the driving element 40.

It should be noted that, according to the requirement of the overall structural design of the driving joint, the first supporting portion 31b is also omitted from the ball head part 31, and the ball head part 31a is directly arranged at the central position of the motion platform 20 or the central position of the load-bearing base 10; or the ball seat member 32 omits the second support portion 32b and directly arranges the ball groove portion 32a at the center position of the load base 10 or the moving platform 20.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 3 and 4, the ball head member 31 is integrally formed with the motion platform 20, and the ball seat member 32 is integrally formed with the carrying base 10; wherein, the ball head part 31 (including the ball head part 31a and/or the first supporting part 31 b) may adopt a hollow structure; in the case of the ball seat member 32, the center of the carrying base 10 has a through hole structure, the second support portion 32b extends from the edge of the through hole structure toward the moving platform 20 and has a hollow cone structure, and the ball groove portion 32a is formed at the end of the second support portion 32b in a recessed or sinking manner. By utilizing the hollow structure of the ball head piece 31 and the ball seat piece 32, the weight of the motion platform 20 and the bearing base 10 can be effectively reduced, and conditions are created for realizing the light weight of the driving joint.

In specific implementation, in order to assemble the ball portion 31a of the ball portion 31 in the ball seat 32, the motion platform 20 and the carrying base 10 are integrally connected through the coupling mechanism 30, and the carrying base 10 adopts a split structure, that is: the bearing base 10 is formed by splicing and combining two base parts which are mutually in mirror image structures or are oppositely arranged in mirror image, and simultaneously, a ball seat piece 32 is spliced on the bearing base 10; it will also be understood that the load base 10 is spaced apart along its center (or the center of the ball seat member 32) to form two base portions; when the bearing base 10 is combined and connected with the motion platform 20, the ball head piece 31 can be firstly placed at one of the base parts which is positioned at the forming part of the ball base piece 32, and then the other base part is spliced on the base part, so that the covering or the wrapping of the ball head piece 31 is realized; and finally, locking the splicing part of the two base parts by using structural members such as connecting blocks and the like, so as to finally form the bearing base 10 with a stable structure. Of course, the two base parts can also be fixed together in a non-detachable manner by means of welding or the like, or the two base parts can be clamped and fixed by means of tenon-and-mortise structures or the like, so that the two base parts are prevented from being separated from each other along the circumferential direction.

In embodiments where the ball seat member 32 is provided on the motion platform 20, the motion platform 20 may also be of a split configuration, i.e.: the ball seat member 32 is formed by splicing, fixing and molding two platform parts which are arranged in a mirror image or have mirror image structures, and the dog dung structure. In view of the foregoing description of the split-type carrying base 10, no further description is provided herein.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 2, a lubricating filler 50 is retained at a portion where the ball head member 31 is rotatably connected to the ball seat member 32 (specifically, a portion where the ball head portion 31a is combined with the ball groove portion 32 a), and the ball head member 31 can smoothly rotate in the ball seat member 32 by using the lubricating filler 50, so as to avoid the problem that the motion platform 20 is easily shaken during the motion process due to the friction of the ball joint, and enable the motion platform 20 to more stably and rapidly drive the carrier to change the position or the orientation. In practice, the respective lubricating fillers 50 are selected based on the type of material of the ball head member 31 and the ball seat member 32; for example, when the ball head member 31 and the ball seat member 32 are made of a plastic material or a plastic-like material, a powder lubricant (e.g., molybdenum disulfide, graphite powder having a particle size of 3000 mesh, etc.) may be filled in a bonding gap between the ball groove portion 32a and the ball head portion 31a to serve as the lubricating filler 50; for example, when the ball head member 31 and the ball seat member 32 are made of metal, the lubricating grease can be enclosed in the ball groove portion 32a and used as the lubricating filler 50.

In one embodiment, the motion platform 20 is provided with a detection element such as an attitude sensor, a position sensor, an angle sensor, a gyroscope, etc., and the detection element can be used to detect the motion information and/or the state information of the motion platform 20 in real time, so that the driving member 40 can be adjusted and controlled according to the information detected or fed back by the detection element, and further, the adjustment of the motion form and the motion attitude of the motion platform 20 or the joint as a whole can be realized.

Example two

Referring to fig. 10 in combination with fig. 1 to 9, a second embodiment provides a driving device, such as a mechanical arm or a power device with multiple joints, where the driving device is constructed by combining multiple driving joints in the first embodiment, such as two, three, or more; it will be appreciated that the drive arrangement is a modular application of the drive joint of the first embodiment.

More specifically, a plurality of driving joints are arranged in a cascade manner along the axial direction; for convenience of description, the up-down direction is taken as a reference, for two adjacent driving joints, the bearing base 10 of the driving joint located above is superposed and fixed on the motion platform 20 of the driving joint located below, and the fixing mode can adopt a detachable mode such as screw locking, tenon-and-mortise clamping and the like, and can also adopt an undetachable mode such as welding, bonding and the like; and through the selection of the number of the driving joints, the driving device with a certain length (or preset length) can be formed.

During specific implementation, step-by-step transmission of power and motion forms can be realized by regulating and controlling the driving pieces 40 in the driving joints of each step, the distance of the driving device for outputting power outwards is prolonged, and the function execution equipment is loaded at the tail end of the driving device, so that the driving device can drive the function execution equipment to perform larger-range motion or richer position and posture transformation in an operation space.

In an embodiment, referring to fig. 10, the driving members 40 in the driving joints of each level are arranged in the same number and in the same layout manner, and after the driving joints are arranged in a cascade manner, the driving members 40 in two adjacent driving joints are arranged in a one-to-one alignment manner; by synchronously controlling and connecting the driving members 40 in the opposite directions, the driving device as a whole can perform clockwise or counterclockwise twisting motion around the axis thereof, or perform turning motion toward a certain side in the circumferential direction, or perform combined motion of twisting and turning. It should be noted that the term "synchronous control connection" is understood to mean that the power output between the driving members 40 at opposite positions is the same in the same manner, such as the same power output direction, the same power output size, the same power output distance, and the like, through the form of physical connection (such as pipeline connection) and/or signal connection (such as cable connection).

For the soft muscle as the driving member 40, the fluid pipeline 60 can be used to connect the driving members 40 in series, and the fluid sources can be used to fill fluid medium into or discharge fluid medium from the driving members 40 connected in series with the same fluid pipeline 60, so as to ensure that the driving members 40 in opposite (or same) sides can be extended or folded synchronously; in this way, not only is the complexity of the control scheme of the driving device simplified, but also the control precision of the function execution device mounted on the driving device is improved, so that the function execution device can reach a preset position in the working space. In specific implementation, the fluid pipeline 60 may be a flexible pipe (such as a corrugated pipe) with certain deformability; meanwhile, a pressure detection piece can be arranged on the fluid pipeline 60, and the pressure flow detection piece can be selected according to the type of the fluid medium, such as an air pressure sensor; the pressure of the fluid in the corresponding fluid pipeline 60 is detected and fed back in real time by the pressure flow detection part, so that information support can be provided for accurately regulating and controlling the overall motion form of the driving device, the position and the posture of the driving device in the space.

As for the driving member 40 adopting a linear driver, the driving members 40 in opposite positions can be connected in series by using a signal cable, so that the driving members 40 in opposite positions can synchronously output power under the control of the same signal command, thereby realizing the regulation and control of the motion form and posture of the driving device and the function executing equipment carried by the driving device. Based on the description of the above soft muscle, it will not be described herein.

The driving device provided by one embodiment further comprises an information detection piece, wherein the information detection piece is mainly used for providing information support for the final regulation and control of the driving device through the real-time detection and feedback of motion information and/or state information of each driving joint or the whole driving device; the information detecting member is disposed between the bearing base 10 and the moving platform 20, and may be implemented by, for example, a gyroscope, a position sensor, an attitude sensor, an angle sensor, etc., according to the actual situation. In specific implementation, through the selection of the structural forms of the bearing base 10 and the moving platform 20, when the bearing base 10 and the associated moving platform 20 are stacked and fixed, a certain structural space (for example, a cavity structure is reserved) may be formed between the bearing base 10 and the associated moving platform 20, so as to install the information detection member. Of course, the information detecting member may be selectively disposed at a suitable position on the driving device, such as on the moving platform 20 for loading the function performing apparatus, according to the actual circumstances.

It should be noted that, the mentioned "motion information" can be understood as information corresponding to the driving joint during the motion process, including speed, etc.; the "state information" referred to may be understood as the position, attitude, angle, etc. of the corresponding drive joint in the space.

Taking the driving device configured with the pressure flow detection part and the information detection part at the same time as an example, when the driving device is designed with a control scheme, a double closed loop feedback control scheme can be adopted; when the driving member 40 outputs power according to a preset rule and prompts the function execution equipment carried by the driving device to reach a preset position, the position and posture information of the corresponding driving joint can be detected by the information detection member, the confirmation of whether the function execution equipment reaches a target position or is kept at a target posture can be realized by the integrated analysis of the information detected or fed back by each information detection member, and the state information of each driving member 40 can be detected in real time by the pressure flow detection member, so that when the function execution equipment does not reach the target position, is not kept at the target posture, and the structural rigidity of the driving device does not meet the requirement or needs to be adjusted, the driving member 40 can be accurately regulated and controlled in real time.

EXAMPLE III

Referring to fig. 11 in combination with fig. 1 to 9, a third embodiment provides a driving joint, which is different from the first embodiment in that: the arrangement of the driving members 40 between the moving platform 20 and the load-bearing base 10 is different.

In this embodiment, the driving assembly includes a plurality of driving members 40, such as two, three, four or more, the plurality of driving members 40 are uniformly distributed between the moving platform 20 and the carrying base 10 around the coupling mechanism 30; each driving member 40 is disposed perpendicular to the moving platform 20 and the carrying base 10 along the axial direction, and one end of each driving member 40 is fixed (or hinged) on the moving platform 20 and the other end is fixed (or hinged) on the carrying base 10 according to the difference that the driving members 40 adopt soft muscle or linear driver.

By utilizing the limiting effect of the coupling mechanism 30 on the degree of freedom of translation between the moving platform 20 and the carrying base 10 in the axial direction, the driving platform 20 can be driven to perform a certain range of tilting motion relative to the carrying base 10 towards any side or a specific side by using the rotation connection point of the coupling mechanism 30 as a base point through the differential control of the driving members 40. Compared with the driving joint in the first embodiment, although the degree of freedom of motion of the driving joint in the first embodiment is reduced (that is, the twisting motion and the combined motion of twisting and swinging of the motion platform 20 cannot be realized), by virtue of the characteristic that the motion platform 20 can drive the carrier to perform swinging motion in any direction, a plurality of driving joints in the first embodiment or the driving joints in the first embodiment and the driving joints in the second embodiment can be combined and built to form a driving device similar to the second embodiment, so that the driving device can meet application requirements in other scenes.

The present invention has been described in terms of specific examples, which are provided to aid understanding of the invention and are not intended to be limiting. For a person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, several simple deductions, modifications or substitutions may be made according to the idea of the invention.

Claims

1. A drive joint, comprising:

the bearing base is used for bearing;

a drive assembly comprising a plurality of drives arranged about a coupling mechanism between the motion platform and the load-bearing base; one end of the driving part is connected with the moving platform, and the other end of the driving part is connected with the bearing base so as to drive the part of the moving platform connected with the driving part to be close to or far away from the bearing base.

2. The drive joint of claim 1, wherein a plurality of said drive members are arranged in groups of two to combine to form a plurality of drive groups evenly arranged about said coupling mechanism; one end of each driving piece in each driving group is connected to the motion platform in a crossed mode, and the other end of each driving piece in each driving group is connected to the bearing base in a separated mode.

3. The drive joint of claim 1, wherein the drive member comprises a soft muscle for communication with a fluid source, the soft muscle having one end secured to the motion platform and an opposite end secured to the load-bearing base; the soft muscle can be folded under the action of fluid pressure so as to drive the part of the motion platform connected with the soft muscle to be close to the bearing base; the soft muscle can be stretched under the action of fluid pressure so as to drive the connecting part of the motion platform and the soft muscle to be far away from the bearing base.

4. The drive joint of claim 1, wherein the coupling mechanism is a ball-and-socket joint including a ball head member and a socket member, the ball head member being rotatably mounted in the socket member, one of the ball head member and the socket member being fixed to the center of the motion platform and the other of the ball head member and the socket member being fixed to the center of the load-bearing base.

5. The drive joint of claim 4, wherein a lubricating filler is retained in a portion where the ball head member is rotatably connected to the socket member.

6. The drive joint of claim 4, wherein the ball head member includes a ball head portion and a first support portion, the ball head portion being disposed at one end of the first support portion and rotatably mounted in the socket member; the other end of the first supporting part is fixed at the center of the motion platform or the center of the bearing base, and the outer diameter of the first supporting part is gradually increased from the end where the spherical head part is located to the end where the motion platform or the bearing base is located; and/or

7. The drive joint of claim 4, wherein the bearing base comprises two base portions arranged in opposite mirror image, the two base portions are detachably assembled and fixed into a whole to form the bearing base in a splicing manner, and can be assembled at the center of the bearing base to form a ball seat piece; or

Motion platform includes two platform portions that the mirror image set up relatively, two platform portions detachably assemble fixed as an organic whole to the concatenation forms motion platform, and can motion platform's center concatenation forms the ball seat spare.

8. A drive device comprising a plurality of drive joints according to any one of claims 1 to 7, the plurality of drive joints being arranged in a cascade so that the drive device has a predetermined length; the bearing base of one of two adjacent driving joints is superposed and fixed on the motion platform of the other driving joint.

9. The driving apparatus as claimed in claim 8, further comprising an information detecting member disposed between the fixed bearing base and the moving platform for detecting motion information and/or status information of the driving apparatus.

10. The drive device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the drive member of one of the two adjacent drive joints is aligned with the drive member of the other drive joint in a one-to-one manner along the length direction of the drive device, and the drive members in the aligned manner are in synchronous control connection with each other.