CN211902061U

CN211902061U - Robot of crawling in pipeline

Info

Publication number: CN211902061U
Application number: CN202020196784.0U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 许王哲; 王东; 胡小立; 陈李华; 席承胜; 康泽坛; 陈和平; 毕盛; 马力川; 钟华; 徐显腾; 邱振生
Original assignee: Shenzhen Academy Of Robotics; China Nuclear Power Engineering Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Academy Of Robotics; China Nuclear Power Engineering Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-02-21
Filing date: 2020-02-21
Publication date: 2020-11-10
Anticipated expiration: 2030-02-21

Abstract

The utility model discloses a robot of crawling in pipeline, including actuating mechanism and the supporting mechanism who supports in pipeline inner wall, actuating mechanism is including a plurality of groups drive wheel subassemblies, the drive arrangement that are the circumference and distribute, and the drive wheel subassembly includes the drive wheel more than two that arrange along the pipeline axial, and the drive wheel slope is installed. This robot of crawling in pipeline, realize along pipeline axial motion through actuating mechanism, drive arrangement drives the drive wheel subassembly rotatory around the central axis of pipeline, drive wheel and the contact of pipeline inner wall, the installation of drive wheel slope, under the frictional force effect, the spiral rising motion is done to the drive wheel subassembly, drive the supporting mechanism motion, and every group drive wheel subassembly includes the drive wheel more than two of arranging along the pipeline axial, in the drive wheel subassembly of the same group, each drive wheel can not be in obstacle department simultaneously, have a drive wheel and the contact of pipeline inner wall promptly, provide bigger power that drags, thereby improve and hinder the performance more, this utility.

Description

Robot of crawling in pipeline

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a robot field especially relates to a robot crawls in pipeline.

Background

Pipeline transportation is a transportation mode for long-distance transportation of materials such as liquid or gas by using a pipeline as a transportation tool, and compared with other transportation modes, the pipeline transportation has the advantages of large transportation amount, continuity, rapidness, safety, reliability, stability, small occupied area, low cost and the like. In recent years, with the rapid development of transportation, industry, agriculture and building industry, pipeline transportation systems are more widely applied to civil use and industry. Long distance pipes are usually joined by welding, and unground welds can cause the pipes to be susceptible to corrosion, leakage and even breakage, and the use of pipes throughout the year can cause corrosion and blockage to increase. In order to solve the problems, the crawling robot in the pipeline is particularly important, and the crawling robot in the pipeline is used as a drive for dragging equipment for polishing, detecting or cleaning in the pipeline to finish a plurality of operations in the pipeline.

In recent years, with the rapid development of electromechanical technology, a crawling robot in a pipeline is increasingly used to replace manual work. Various robots are developed and designed by various research institutions at home and abroad, and the walking modes of the robots mainly comprise wheel type, crawler type, creeping type and spiral type, but not all the robots. Regardless of the walking mode, the main technical requirements of the pipeline robot are larger dragging force, pipe diameter adaptability, obstacle surmounting performance and over-bending capacity. At present, a crawling robot applied to a pipeline with a large pipe diameter (phi 250-phi 400mm) mainly adopts a wheel type structure, but the pipeline robot with the structure is limited by a driving structure, generally shows the defects of small dragging force and insufficient obstacle crossing capability, and simultaneously needs to design a differential structure to smoothly pass through a curve, so that the structure is complex.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The utility model aims to solve the technical problem that a robot of crawling in pipeline is provided, provide bigger power of dragging, improve and cross the barrier performance.

The technical scheme adopted for solving the technical problems is as follows:

the utility model provides a robot of crawling in pipeline, includes actuating mechanism and supports in the supporting mechanism of pipeline inner wall, and actuating mechanism is including being a plurality of groups drive wheel subassemblies that the circumference distributes, drive the drive arrangement of drive wheel subassembly around pipeline the central axis rotation, and drive arrangement installs on supporting mechanism, and the drive wheel subassembly includes the drive wheel more than two that arrange along the pipeline axial, and the drive wheel slope is installed.

Preferably, the device further comprises an elastic component for pressing the driving wheel on the inner wall of the pipeline.

Preferably, the first telescopic device is used for adjusting the distance of the driving wheel assembly in the radial direction of the pipeline.

Preferably, the driving wheel assembly includes a first driving wheel, a second driving wheel, and a driving wheel mounting seat for mounting the first driving wheel and the second driving wheel, and the driving wheel mounting seat includes a seat body connected to the first telescopic device, and two mounting blocks for mounting the first driving wheel and the second driving wheel.

Preferably, the supporting mechanism comprises a supporting frame and a plurality of circumferentially distributed supporting wheel assemblies arranged on the supporting frame, and each supporting wheel assembly comprises more than one supporting wheel arranged along the axial direction of the pipeline.

Preferably, the support wheel assembly further comprises a second telescopic device for adjusting the distance of the support wheel in the radial direction of the pipeline.

Preferably, the driving device comprises a motor and a speed reducer, and a transmission mechanism is arranged between the motor and the speed reducer.

Preferably, the camera is further included, and a hollow shaft for mounting the camera is connected with the supporting mechanism through the rotating base plate and the driving device.

Preferably, the motor further comprises a slip ring, the slip ring comprises a stator and a rotor, a slip ring connecting block is arranged between the slip ring and the hollow shaft, the stator is fixedly connected with the hollow shaft through the slip ring connecting block, and a wire passing hole is formed in the hollow shaft.

Preferably, the supporting mechanism is connected with a connecting piece, and the connecting piece comprises a first connecting head, a second connecting head and a universal joint for connecting the first connecting head and the second connecting head.

The utility model has the advantages that: this robot of crawling in pipeline, realize along pipeline axial motion through actuating mechanism, drive arrangement drives the drive wheel subassembly and rotates around the central axis of pipeline, drive wheel and the contact of pipeline inner wall, the installation of drive wheel slope, under the frictional force effect, the spiral rising motion is done to the drive wheel subassembly, drive the supporting mechanism motion, and every group drive wheel subassembly includes the drive wheel more than two of arranging along the pipeline axial, in the drive wheel subassembly of the same group, each drive wheel can not be in obstacle department simultaneously, have a drive wheel and the contact of pipeline inner wall promptly, provide bigger power that drags, thereby improve and hinder the performance more.

Drawings

The present invention will be further explained with reference to the accompanying drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic overall structure diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a front view of an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 3 is a top view of an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a driving mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural view of a driving wheel assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural view of a slip ring and a hollow shaft according to an embodiment of the present invention;

figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of a slip ring and hollow shaft according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural view of a support mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a driving wheel assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which driving wheels are arranged on the same straight line;

fig. 10 is a schematic view of a driving wheel assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which driving wheels are arranged on different straight lines.

Detailed Description

Referring to fig. 1-3, the utility model relates to a robot crawls in pipeline, including actuating mechanism 100 and the supporting mechanism 200 that supports in pipeline inner wall, actuating mechanism 100 is including being a plurality of groups drive wheel subassembly 110 that the circumference distributes, drive arrangement 120 of drive wheel subassembly 110 around pipeline central axis rotation, drive arrangement 120 installs on supporting mechanism 200, drive wheel subassembly 110 includes the drive wheel 111 more than two of arranging along the pipeline axial, the slope installation of drive wheel 111, drive wheel 111 is greater than 0 and is less than 90 with pipeline central axis's contained angle.

This robot of crawling in pipeline, realize along pipeline axial motion through actuating mechanism 100, drive arrangement 120 drives drive wheel subassembly 110 and rotates around the central axis of pipeline, drive wheel 111 and the contact of pipeline inner wall, drive wheel 111 slope sets up, under the frictional force effect, drive wheel subassembly 110 is spiral rising motion, drive supporting mechanism 200 motion, and every drive wheel subassembly 110 of group includes more than two drive wheels 111 of arranging along the pipeline axial, thereby in the drive wheel subassembly 110 of the same group, each drive wheel 111 can not be in the obstacle department simultaneously, the obstacle department includes pipeline groove, the pipeline junction, the pipeline welding seam, there is the local equipotential of local barrier, at least one drive wheel 111 and the contact of pipeline inner wall, provide bigger power of dragging, guarantee drive power, improve and hinder the performance more.

In the driving wheel assembly 110, the driving wheels 111 are arranged along the axial direction of the pipeline, which means that a certain distance is provided between the driving wheels 111 in the axial direction of the pipeline, so that the driving wheels 111 are not in an obstacle at the same time, and the driving wheels 111 may be installed on the same straight line, as shown in fig. 9, or may be installed on different straight lines, as shown in fig. 10, where each set of driving wheel assembly 110 in fig. 10 includes three driving wheels 111.

The driving wheel assembly 110 is installed on the rotating base plate 130, the rotating base plate 130 is connected with the driving device 120, and the driving device 120 drives the rotating base plate 130 to rotate, so that the driving wheel assembly 110 is driven to do spiral ascending motion around the central axis of the pipeline, and the whole robot moves forward in the pipeline. In this embodiment, there are three sets of driving wheel assemblies 110, the driving device 120 includes a motor 121 and a speed reducer 122, a transmission mechanism 123 is disposed between the motor 121 and the speed reducer 122, and the transmission mechanism 123 may adopt a synchronous belt transmission, as shown in fig. 4.

The driving wheel 111 is obliquely arranged, the included angle between the rotation plane of the driving wheel 111 and the central axis of the pipeline is theta, as shown in fig. 9, 0 degrees is larger than theta and smaller than 90 degrees, the theta value can be set according to actual needs, the theta value can be adjusted to adjust the spiral angle of the spiral motion path of the driving wheel 111, the smaller the theta value is, the faster the spiral ascending motion speed is, but the larger the friction force between the driving wheel 111 and the inner wall of the pipeline is, the larger the required driving force is, and in the embodiment, theta is 60 degrees.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 4, an elastic member 140 is further included to press the driving wheel 111 against the inner wall of the pipe. The elastic component 140 provides elasticity, the elastic component 140 has a certain amount of extension and contraction, when the robot encounters an obstacle, a welding line or a small-range pipe diameter change and the like in the moving process, the elastic component 140 extends or shortens, the driving wheel 111 is tightly attached to the inner wall of the pipeline, the pushing pressure and the friction force of the driving wheel 111 and the inner wall of the pipeline are ensured, and the pipe diameter adaptability and the obstacle crossing performance of the robot are improved. The elastic component 140 may be made of elastic elements such as springs, rubber, etc., in this embodiment, the elastic component 140 includes a spring 141 and a guide rod 142 passing through the spring 141, and the guide rod 142 plays a guiding role to ensure that the spring 141 stretches in the radial direction of the pipeline. Meanwhile, when the robot passes through a curve in the pipeline, the elastic assembly 140 can keep the driving wheels 111 in close contact with the inner wall of the pipeline, thereby ensuring the overbending and working posture of the robot.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 5, a first telescopic device 150 for adjusting the distance (distance from the central axis of the pipe) of the driving wheel assembly 110 in the radial direction of the pipe is further included. The elastic assembly 140 can be adjusted in a telescopic manner within a small range, so that the robot can adapt to various conditions in the pipeline when walking, and the first telescopic device 150 can adjust the distance of each driving wheel assembly 110 in the radial direction of the pipeline within a large range, so that the robot can adapt to pipelines with different pipe diameters, and the applicability of the robot is improved. The first expansion device 150 may be a linear driving mechanism such as an air cylinder, an electric cylinder, or a hydraulic cylinder, and in this embodiment, the first expansion device 150 is an air cylinder.

Preferably, the number of the driving wheels 111 in each group of driving wheel assemblies 110 is two, each driving wheel assembly 110 includes a first driving wheel 112, a second driving wheel 113, and a driving wheel mounting seat for mounting the first driving wheel 112 and the second driving wheel 113, each driving wheel mounting seat includes a seat body 114 connected to the first telescopic device 150 and two mounting blocks 115 for mounting the first driving wheel 112 and the second driving wheel 113, each mounting block 115 is provided with an inclined mounting surface 116, the inclined angle of the mounting surface 116 is the inclined angle of the driving wheel 111, the elastic assembly 140 is mounted between the seat body 114 and the mounting block 115, each driving wheel 111 is correspondingly provided with two groups of elastic assemblies 140, the overall mounting structure is compact, and the occupied space is small. The telescopic pipeline expansion device further comprises a fixed seat 160 for installing the first expansion device 150, and a guide rod 170 is arranged between the fixed seat 160 and the driving wheel installation seat, so that the expansion of the first expansion device 150 is ensured to be along the radial direction of the pipeline. The first telescopic device 150 is a main stressed component, provides main tightening force, and can adjust traction force within a certain range by matching with a pressure reducing valve.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 8, the supporting mechanism 200 includes a supporting frame 210 and a plurality of circumferentially distributed supporting wheel assemblies 220 mounted on the supporting frame 210, the supporting wheel assemblies 220 include one or more supporting wheels 221 arranged along the axial direction of the pipeline, and the supporting frame 210 includes a first supporting plate 211 and a second supporting plate 212, and a supporting rod 213 connecting the first supporting plate 211 and the second supporting plate 212. The supporting wheels 221 contact with the inner wall of the pipeline, the supporting mechanism 200 plays a supporting role to ensure the working posture of the robot in the walking process, and the supporting mechanism 200 does not rotate along with the driving mechanism 100. The supporting wheel 221 is parallel to the central axis of the pipeline, the friction force between the supporting wheel 221 and the inner wall of the pipeline limits the circumferential rotation of the supporting mechanism 200, the supporting mechanism 200 moves forward under the drive of the driving mechanism 100, and the driving device 120 is fixed on the supporting mechanism 200 to drive the driving wheel assembly 110 to rotate. In this embodiment, there are three sets of support wheel assemblies 220, each set of support wheel assemblies 220 including two support wheels 221.

Preferably, the support wheel assembly 220 further includes a second retractor 222 that adjusts the distance of the support wheel 221 in the radial direction of the pipe (the distance from the central axis of the pipe). The second expansion device 222 has the same function as the first expansion device 150, and the distance of the support wheel 221 in the radial direction of the pipeline can be adjusted within a certain range by the second expansion device 222, so that the robot is suitable for pipelines with different pipe diameters, and the applicability of the robot is improved. In this embodiment, the second expansion device 222 is an air cylinder.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 6 and 7, the system further includes a camera 300 and a hollow shaft 400 for mounting the camera 300, the camera 300 can be used to observe the inside of the pipeline, so as to facilitate maintenance and cleaning, and the camera 300 is mounted through the hollow shaft 400 in order to avoid the influence of the rotation of the driving mechanism 100 on the camera 300, and the hollow shaft 400 is connected to the supporting mechanism 200 through the rotating base plate 130 and the driving device 120. The hollow shaft 400 is connected with the supporting mechanism 200, so that the camera 300 and the hollow shaft 400 do not rotate along with the rotating base plate 130 and the driving device 120, the imaging picture of the camera 300 is ensured to be stable, and the observation is not influenced, the speed reducer 122 adopts a hollow harmonic speed reducer, a through hole is formed in the center of the hollow harmonic speed reducer and can be used for the hollow shaft 400 to pass through, the hollow shaft 400 is connected to the first supporting plate 211, and a signal line and a power line of the camera 300 pass through the hollow shaft 400 to be connected with a control module on the supporting mechanism 200.

Preferably, the slip ring 500 is further included, the slip ring 500 includes a stator 510 and a rotor 520, a slip ring connection block 530 is disposed between the slip ring 500 and the hollow shaft 400, the stator 510 is fixedly connected to the hollow shaft 400 through the slip ring connection block 530, and the hollow shaft 400 is provided with a wire passing hole 410. In this embodiment, the outer portion of the slip ring 500 is a stator 510, the middle portion thereof is a rotor 520, the slip ring connecting block 530 is inserted into the rotor 520, a gap exists between the slip ring connecting block 530 and the rotor 520, therefore, the slip ring connection block 530 and the hollow shaft 400 do not rotate with the rotor 520, the slip ring connection block 530 is also hollow, the camera head 300 is mounted on the top end of the slip ring connection block 530, the rotor 520 is connected with the rotating base plate 130 through the slip ring connection strip 540, the air pipe connector 550 on the first telescopic device 150 is connected with the air pipe connector 550 on the rotor 520 through an air pipe, the air pipe connector 550 on the stator 510 is connected with the air pipe and the air pipe passes through the wire passing hole 410 to enter the hollow shaft 400, then extends to the supporting mechanism 200 and then extends along the pipeline until the air pump is connected outside the pipeline, so that part of the air pipe rotates along with the driving mechanism 100 and the first telescopic device 150 and part of the air pipe is fixed and connected to the air pump outside the pipeline through the sliding ring 500.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 2, the supporting mechanism 200 is connected with a connecting member 600, and is connected with other equipment through the connecting member 600 so as to perform maintenance or cleaning work on the pipeline, the connecting member 600 includes a first connecting head 610, a second connecting head 620, and a universal joint 630 connecting the first connecting head 610 and the second connecting head 620, the universal joint 630 may be in the form of a universal joint or a ball joint, and the second connecting head 620 is connected with the relevant equipment so as to drive the equipment to travel in the pipeline.

In this document, the terms front, back, upper and lower are used to define the components in the drawings and the positions of the components relative to each other, and are used for clarity and convenience of the technical solution. It is to be understood that the use of the directional terms should not be taken to limit the scope of the claims.

The features of the embodiments and embodiments described herein above may be combined with each other without conflict.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and those skilled in the art can make equivalent modifications or substitutions without departing from the spirit of the invention, and these equivalent modifications or substitutions are included in the scope defined by the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. The utility model provides a robot of crawling in pipeline which characterized in that: including actuating mechanism and the supporting mechanism who supports in pipeline inner wall, actuating mechanism is including being a plurality of groups drive wheel subassembly, the drive that the circumference distributes drive wheel subassembly is around the rotatory drive arrangement of pipeline the central axis, drive arrangement installs on supporting mechanism, drive wheel subassembly includes the drive wheel more than two of arranging along the pipeline axial, the installation of drive wheel slope.

2. The in-pipe crawling robot of claim 1, wherein: the elastic component is used for pressing the driving wheel on the inner wall of the pipeline.

3. The in-pipe crawling robot of claim 1, wherein: the first telescopic device is used for adjusting the distance of the driving wheel assembly in the radial direction of the pipeline.

4. The in-pipe crawling robot of claim 3, wherein: the driving wheel assembly comprises a first driving wheel, a second driving wheel and a driving wheel mounting seat for mounting the first driving wheel and the second driving wheel, and the driving wheel mounting seat comprises a seat body connected with the first telescopic device and two mounting blocks for mounting the first driving wheel and the second driving wheel.

5. The in-pipe crawling robot of claim 1, wherein: the supporting mechanism comprises a supporting frame and a plurality of supporting wheel assemblies which are arranged on the supporting frame and distributed circumferentially, and each supporting wheel assembly comprises more than one supporting wheel which is arranged along the axial direction of the pipeline.

6. The in-pipe crawling robot of claim 5, wherein: the support wheel assembly further comprises a second telescopic device for adjusting the distance of the support wheel in the radial direction of the pipeline.

7. The in-pipe crawling robot of claim 1, wherein: the driving device comprises a motor and a speed reducer, and a transmission mechanism is arranged between the motor and the speed reducer.

8. The in-pipe crawling robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: the camera also comprises a camera and a hollow shaft for mounting the camera, and the hollow shaft passes through the rotating base plate and the driving device to be connected with the supporting mechanism.

9. The in-pipe crawling robot of claim 8, wherein: the slip ring comprises a stator and a rotor, a slip ring connecting block is arranged between the slip ring and the hollow shaft, the stator is fixedly connected with the hollow shaft through the slip ring connecting block, and a wire passing hole is formed in the hollow shaft.

10. The in-pipe crawling robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: the supporting mechanism is connected with a connecting piece, and the connecting piece comprises a first connecting head, a second connecting head and a universal joint connected with the first connecting head and the second connecting head.