JP2001213392A - Internally driven flapping propeller drive mechanism and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an internally driven flapping propeller drive mechanism rationally operative with high reliability, and its control method. SOLUTION: A driving arm 2 constituted by connecting a plurality of drive units with curve function is provided in an elastic wing part 1 to flap the elastic wing part 1 by the driving arm 2. A plurality of aerofoil frames 3 are laterally provided at specified spaces in the elastic wing part 1, and a plurality of skeleton units 5 are provided between a plurality of aerofoil frames 3 so as to connect them. The skeleton unit 5 is composed of a lateral pair of unit pieces 5A, 5A bendably connected at the middle through a joint 8 at the middle of the adjacent aerofoil frames 3, 3. Corresponding to the respective skeleton units 5, a plurality of driving elements 9 of expansive structure are provided between a plurality of aerofoil frames so as to connect them. The skeleton units 5 are bent by expansively driving the driving elements 9 to flap the elastic wing part 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a drive mechanism of an internally-driven fluttering type propulsion device for propelling a ship or an underwater vehicle underwater, and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional type of propulsion device for an underwater vehicle is a rotary screw propeller. It has a simple mechanism and high efficiency, but is prone to noise and vibration caused by cavitation and fluid fluctuation caused by the propeller rotating at a relatively high speed in the turbulent stern flow, resulting in low noise. There are many problems with underwater vehicles that require a vehicle.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, a fluttering type propulsion device generates a propulsion force by slowly moving large wings on the body side, such as a kind of propulsion wing which propells by flapping underwater. Can be considered. The present applicant has filed and applied for such a fluttering type propulsion device (Japanese Patent No. 2920206).

[0004]

Such a propulsion device is
By making the periodic motion much slower than a propeller, it is possible to efficiently propel the underwater vehicle at a relatively high speed while keeping the noise of the propulsion unit extremely low. On the other hand, in such a low-noise propulsion device, it is important that unnecessary water turbulence not related to the generation of thrust is generated. And a large number of drive elements must be independently driven to achieve an effective flapping motion as a whole. However, it is difficult to realize such a driving mechanism, and the movement form of a large number of driving elements is complicated and various.

In view of the above points, the present invention has improved the drive mechanism of the internally driven flapping type propulsion device and the control method thereof according to the above-mentioned patent invention by the present applicant, and has achieved a more reliable and rational operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide an actuating drive mechanism and a control method therefor.

[0006]

Next, means for achieving the above-mentioned objects will be described with reference to the drawings according to the embodiments. That is, in order to propell an underwater vehicle such as a submersible or a watercraft with a sufficient draft, the present invention includes a drive arm 2 formed by connecting a plurality of drive units having a bending function inside the elastic wing 1. And a plurality of airfoil forms 3 provided at predetermined intervals in the left and right direction within the elastic wing 1 in an internally driven fluttering type propulsion device in which the elastic wing 1 is made to flap by the driving arm 2. A plurality of skeletal units 5 provided between the plurality of airfoil forms 3 so as to connect the plurality of airfoil forms 3, wherein an intermediate portion is provided with a joint 8 in the middle of the adjacent airfoil forms 3.
A pair of left and right unit pieces 5 flexibly connected via
A, 5A, and a plurality of expandable and contractible drive elements 9 provided between the plurality of airfoil frames 3 corresponding to each of the skeleton units 5, respectively. An internal drive type fluttering propulsion drive mechanism characterized in that the skeletal unit is bent by causing the drive element 9 to expand and contract, thereby causing the elastic wing portion 1 to flutter.

It is desirable to provide a pair of extendable and contractible drive elements 9 and 9 in front and behind the one skeleton unit 5 in parallel.

In addition, the present invention provides at least two rows of driving arms 2 each composed of the plurality of skeleton units 5 and the corresponding plurality of driving elements 9 in the elastic wing portion 1 in the front-rear direction. The front drive arm 2A is rotatably connected to the front of the airfoil 3 and the drive arm 2B is connected to the rear of the airfoil 3 so as to be rotatable and movable in the front-rear direction. An internal drive type fluttering type propulsion device driving mechanism is characterized in that:

Further, the present invention uses the above-mentioned internally driven flapping type propulsion device driving mechanism, and controls the driving of each of the plurality of driving elements 9 simultaneously and by different driving signals, so that the entire propulsion device is provided. A method of controlling an internally driven flapping propulsion device, characterized in that a fluttering motion is performed.

[0010]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows the entire structure of a single-wing drive mechanism for realizing the propulsion unit shown in FIG. The wing 1 as a pair of propulsors that flies on both sides of the hull 101 of the submarine shown in FIG. 1 has all driving mechanisms inside the wing 1.
The wing portion 1 is hollow and has a streamlined cross section, and a wing surface coating 4 forming an outer peripheral surface thereof is attached to an inner wing form 3 as shown in FIG. Can be The airfoil frame 3 is a streamlined frame, and a plurality of airfoil frames 3 are provided at predetermined intervals in the left-right direction of the airfoil 1. The wing surface coating 4 is made of an elastic film that is easily stretched and contracted. The fluttering motion of the driving mechanism lifts the surrounding water. Occurs.

Structure of the Drive Mechanism The main structure of the drive mechanism has two drive arms 2, ie, a front drive arm 2A, a rear drive arm 2B, and six airfoil frames 3, as shown in FIG. Is fixed to the hull 101 by the fixed portion airfoil 3A at the inner end. The driving arm 2 has a role of generating a fluttering motion of the propulsion device. The airfoil 3 serves to maintain the airfoil surface on the airfoil coating 4 and to transmit the force from the drive arm 3 to the airfoil. The fixed part wing formwork 3A has a role of firmly fixing the propulsion device to the hull 101.

Structure of Drive Arm The two drive arms 2 (2A, 2B) are connected to a plurality of bendable skeletal units 5 provided between adjacent airfoil forms 3, as shown in FIGS. It consists of. Each skeletal unit 5 includes a pair of left and right unit pieces 5A having an intermediate joint 8.
As a result, the airfoil forms 3 and 3 are connected to each other at the middle between the airfoil forms 3 and 3 adjacent to each other. That is, each skeleton unit 5
Are connected to each other by a joint 8 that can freely rotate only one axis (rotation about an axis perpendicular to the paper surface in the front view of FIG. 3). The intermediate unit piece 5A-1, which is an inner intermediate part of the unit piece 5A constituting the skeleton unit 5, has joints 8 at both ends thereof, and the intermediate part bent into a crank shape serves as a connecting member 11, 12 or 13 described later. It is connected to the airfoil form 3 via The base unit piece 5A-2 on the base end side has a joint 8 at one end, but the other end is firmly fixed to the fixed part airframe 3A. The difference is that one end has a joint 8 and the other end is free. Adjacent skeletal units are connected by joints 8, and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a pair of drive elements 9 arranged in parallel,
Are connected via rod ends 10 at both ends of the shaft and shafts 6A protruding from both sides of the skeleton unit. However, the shaft is not attached to the base end unit piece 5A-2, but the shaft 6B in place of the shaft is attached to the fixed part wing form 3
A (FIG. 3).

Method of Generating Bending Movement of Drive Arm FIGS. 5 to 8 show a method of generating a bending movement of the drive arm 2 (2A, 2B). The drive element 9 is a device in which the rod 9A protruding from the cylinder enters and exits in the axial direction due to electric energy or fluid pressure energy and the like, and the drive element 9 as a whole expands and contracts, and exhibits a driving force in the expansion and contraction direction. Have the ability to Due to the expansion and contraction, the drive element 9 is moved by the rod end 10 to the shaft 6A
Is moved in the direction of expansion and contraction. Since the pair of driving elements 9 are controlled to perform the same expansion and contraction, the adjacent skeleton units 5 are controlled.
Produces a movement centering on the joint 8 to increase or decrease the mutual angle, that is, a bending movement.

Each of the six pairs of drive elements 9 of one drive arm 2 (2A, 2B) can move independently.
The movements of the six pairs of drive elements 9 are combined, and the drive arm as a whole is curved in a curved manner as shown in FIG. 9, and performs a fan-shaped supple vertical movement centering on the joint 8 of the fixed part skeleton unit. Make it possible. The shape of this bend is rich in arbitrariness by giving the movements of the six pairs of drive elements 9 independently and arbitrarily.

Driving of Airfoil Formwork by Driving Arms Since the two driving arms 2 (2A, 2B) have the above-described mechanism, each of the driving elements 9 is independently expanded and contracted so that each driving The arms can perform different flexion movements. The front drive arm 2A of the two drive arms is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, one airfoil form 3 is connected to upper and lower airfoil form connecting members 11 and 13 of the skeleton unit 5.
Connected to The rear drive arm 2B is connected to the wing form 3 by the upper wing form connecting member 12. That is, each airfoil 3 is connected to the front drive arm 2A and the rear drive arm 2B at three points. Therefore, if the bent shapes of 1 and 2 are determined, each of the airfoil forms 3 is connected to the three connecting members 11, 1, and 1.
The position and orientation are given by 2, 13. Such a connection between each wing form 3 and each skeletal unit 5 of the drive arm 2 constitutes an entire wing of the fluttering drive mechanism having the shape contours as shown in FIGS.

The connecting member of the driving arm and the airfoil form The connecting member 11 is capable of three-axis angular displacement around the point A of the driving shaft 14 of the skeletal unit of the front driving arm 2A as shown in FIGS. The wheel has a spherical bearing, and an outer surface of the wheel is fixed to a hole 15 of the airfoil form 3. With this connection structure, the connection member 11 functions to transmit the vertical force due to the bending of the front drive arm 1 to the airfoil form 3. Connecting member 1
2 is also the B of the drive shaft 16 of the skeleton unit of the rear drive arm 2B.
A wheel having a similar spherical bearing around a point, but the outer surface of the wheel is fitted in a slit 17 of the airfoil 3,
The wheels are constrained to slide within the slit.
The degree of freedom of the slide is given in order to cope with a change in the distance between the points A and B when the airfoil form 3 has an elevation angle. With this connection structure, the connection member 12 functions to transmit the vertical force of the rear drive arm 2B to the airfoil frame 3 and to give a moment to the airfoil frame 3 to cause a displacement of the elevation angle. The connecting member 13 is a wheel having a cylindrical bearing (a normal bearing having only a degree of freedom of rotation of the wheel) around the drive shaft 18 of the skeleton unit of the front drive arm 1. The guide plates 19 and 20 are parallel to each other, and a force can be laterally transmitted to the lower end portion of the airframe while the elevation angle of the airframe 3 is freely changed.

Realization of flapping motion The front drive arm 2A and the rear drive arm 2B are periodically extended and contracted in a sinusoidal manner by the six pairs of drive elements 9 attached to the front drive arm 2A and the rear drive arm 2B. Indicate bending deformation slightly shifted from each other, and perform a sector-shaped vertical motion. Each of the airfoil frames 3 attached thereto has a vertical position displacement and an elevation angle displacement due to the vertical position relationship of the connecting members 11 and 12 which are connection points with the drive arm. As a result of such a movement of each airfoil 3, the entire wing can periodically flap up and down while exhibiting an appropriate elevation angle change.

Driving of Wing Surface Coating by Airfoil Form The wing surface coating 4 forming the wing surface of the present propulsion device is attached to and covers such an airfoil form 3 so that the wing surface shape is sound. You can do a flapping exercise while keeping the

FIG. 17 shows a control method of expansion and contraction of each drive element pair for performing a fluttering motion. Each drive element pair is named as shown in FIG. That is, Ac11, Ac12,...
Ac16 indicates a pair of drive elements attached to the front drive arm 2A, and is numbered 1, 2, ... 6 in order from the root side of the wing to the tip of the wing. Ac21,
Ac22,... Ac26 indicate a pair of drive elements attached to the rear drive arm 2B, and are numbered from the root side of the blade toward the blade tip similarly to the front drive arm 2A. The movement of each drive element is a repetition of the movement as shown in the graph of FIG. The vertical axis shows the elongation of the rod of the driving element, and the horizontal axis shows the passage of time. The elongation length of Acij is ε
When expressed as ij,

Ε _1j = ε ₀ K {ωt + δ _j };
δ _j = (j−1) α ε _2j = ε ₀ K {ωt + δ _j + β} (j = 1, 2,..., 6)

Thus, the extension movement of each drive element is controlled. Here, t is a variable indicating time, and ω is an angular frequency of the periodic motion. K is a periodic function having a period of 2π / ω, and is an arbitrary function having the following characteristics: maximum value; Kmax = 1 minimum value; Kmin = −k, k> 0. Concrete 1 of function K
An example is K (t) = sin (ωt) (in this case, automatically
k = 1). The extension length 0 is defined as the extension of the drive element in a state where each drive arm extends straight as shown in FIGS. In this control method, the function K and the angular frequency ω
Is determined, the magnitude and form of the fluttering motion are described by numerical values of three parameters ε _O , α and β. α indicates the phase difference between the driving elements in the blade tip direction, and β indicates the phase difference between the driving arms.

Embodiment of Motion of Flap Mechanism and Control of Driving Element FIG. 18 shows the present drive mechanism and its flapping motion realized by the above control method. In this motion, K (t) = sin (ωt) and ε _O 10 = 5 mm α = 10 · π / 180 β = 5 · π / 180 In this case, the size of the mechanism shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is obtained when the unit length drawn in the figures is 100 mm. ε _O is selected such that the components of the drive mechanism do not protrude from the blade coating at this dimension.

By connecting the drive element to a computer and its related equipment, it is possible to precisely realize an arbitrary expansion and contraction movement. Therefore, the shape of the function K and the value of the angular frequency ω in the above-described control method can be realized in a considerably wide range. In particular, it is easy to realize a small value of ω. Therefore, by using such a driving mechanism and a control method, a very gentle and smooth flapping motion can be realized in the propulsion wing.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and it is obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the claims. It would be obvious.

[0025]

As described above, the drive mechanism and the drive control method according to the present invention allow the internal drive type fluttering propulsion unit to move very slowly, smoothly and supplely in a stable state. In addition, it can be moved to generate a propulsive force by effectively scraping water, and the reliability of the operation can be improved. As a result, the present invention can realize a quiet underwater marine propulsion device that generates less vibration noise and cavitation than the conventional propeller.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a submarine equipped with a fluttering type propulsion device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an internal perspective view showing a mechanical configuration of the thruster.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a driving mechanism of the propulsion device.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a driving mechanism of the propulsion device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a basic unit of the drive mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a basic unit of the drive mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing an operation of a drive element constituting the drive mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing the operation of the drive mechanism when the basic unit is extended (A) and contracted (B).

FIG. 9 is a front view showing an operation of a front drive arm constituting the drive mechanism.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of an airfoil form part constituting the drive mechanism.

FIG. 11 is a side view of an airfoil form part constituting the drive mechanism.

12 is a sectional view taken along line EE in FIG. 11 (A) and a front view of the sectional portion (B).

13 is a cross-sectional view (A) along line FF in FIG. 11 and a front view (B) of the cross-sectional portion.

FIG. 14 is a side view at the time of the elevation angle movement of the airfoil forming part constituting the drive mechanism.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view taken along line GG in FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a sectional view taken along line HH in FIG. 14;

FIG. 17 is a graph showing a method of controlling expansion and contraction of a driving element for realizing a fluttering motion effective as a fluttering type propulsion device according to the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a view showing a fluttering motion of the fluttering type propulsion device according to the present invention by a change in form during one cycle.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 wing part 2 drive arm, 2A front drive arm, 2B rear drive arm 3 wing formwork, 3A fixed part wing formwork 4 wing surface coating 5 skeleton unit, 5A unit piece, 5A-1
Intermediate unit piece, 5A-2 Base end unit piece, 5A-3 Tip unit piece 6A shaft, 6B shaft 8 Joint 9 Drive element, 9A Rod 10 Rod end 11 Connecting member (for upper front driving arm) 12 Connecting member (for rear driving) 13) Connection member (for lower front drive arm) 14 Wing form shaft drive shaft of skeleton unit for front drive arm 15 Hole for fixing wing form connection member 16 Wing form shaft drive shaft of skeleton unit for rear drive arm 17 Slit 18 Lower wing form drive shaft of skeleton unit for front drive arm 19, 20 Guide plate

Claims (4)

[Claims] In order to propel an underwater vehicle such as a submersible or a watercraft having a sufficient draft, a drive arm formed by connecting a plurality of drive units having a bending function is provided in an elastic wing portion. An internally driven fluttering propulsion device in which the elastic wings are fluttered by a driving arm, wherein a plurality of wing forms provided in the elastic wings at predetermined intervals in the left-right direction, and between the plurality of wing forms. A plurality of skeletal units provided so as to connect them, a skeletal unit comprising a pair of left and right unit pieces whose intermediate portion is flexibly coupled via a joint in the middle of the plurality of airfoil frames, A plurality of telescopic drive elements each provided between the plurality of airfoil frames so as to connect the airframes to the respective skeleton units, and the skeleton unit is driven by expanding and contracting the drive elements. Bend the elastic wings Internal driven flapping propulsion device drive mechanism, characterized in that the as flapping. 2. The internal drive type fluttering type propulsion device driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a pair of driving elements of the telescopic structure are provided before and after the one frame unit. 3. A driving arm comprising the plurality of skeleton units and the plurality of driving elements corresponding thereto,
At least two rows are provided in the elastic wing portion in a front-rear parallel manner, a front drive arm thereof is connected to a front of the airfoil, and a drive arm is thereafter connected to a rear of the airfoil. 3. The internal drive type fluttering type propulsion device driving mechanism according to 1 or 2. 4. The flapping of the plurality of driving elements simultaneously and individually by using the internally driven flapping type propulsion device driving mechanism according to claim 1, and flapping as a whole of the propulsion device. A method of controlling an internally-driven fluttering type propulsion device, wherein a motion is performed.