JP2001354167A - Variable attitude crawler - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a variable attitude crawler having a small turning radius and capable of getting over a large level difference. SOLUTION: In this crawler for traveling, turning and ascending and descending on stairs by an endless belt 14 arranged so as to be extended on plural wheels 13, a frame 11 for supporting the wheels 13 is composed of a parallel link mechanism 12, the wheels 13 are arranged on the respective fulcrums, a link control means 27 for controlling an attitude of a link is connected to the parallel link mechanism 12, and a travel driving device 26 is connected to either wheel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a crawler which travels, turns and climbs up and down stairs by means of an endless belt provided over a plurality of wheels, and more particularly to a frame supporting a wheel by a parallel link mechanism. The present invention relates to a variable attitude crawler.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, work in a very narrow place,
Uses a crawler that travels, turns, and climbs up and down stairs, etc. using an endless belt that is installed over multiple wheels as an unmanned bogie to perform work in places where people can not enter, such as measurement of radiation. Have been.

Since crawlers sometimes turn in a narrow place such as a factory corridor, a small crawler having a small turning diameter has been desired.

[0004]

However, when the crawler is downsized, there is a problem that it is impossible to move up and down large steps such as stairs.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a variable attitude crawler having a small turning diameter and capable of overcoming a large step.

[0006]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a crawler that travels, turns, and ascends and descends stairs by an endless belt provided over a plurality of wheels. A frame for supporting the wheels is constituted by a parallel link mechanism, the wheels are arranged at respective fulcrums, and link control means for controlling the attitude of the link is connected to the parallel link mechanism. And a traveling drive device connected to the crawler.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, wheels are attached to the front and rear sides of the crawler body, and a lower horizontal link is provided opposite to the crawler body supporting the wheel, and the front and rear portions of the crawler body and the lower horizontal link are swung. A parallel link mechanism is formed by linking the swing links with each other, and the swing link is formed to be longer than the rising height of the stairs moving up and down.
2. The variable attitude crawler according to claim 1, wherein the attitude of the parallel link mechanism is controlled so that the swing link is fixed at an arbitrary rotational position so as to rotate forward to a horizontal state.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a traveling drive device is connected to a wheel provided at a fulcrum at a rear portion of the lower horizontal link, and the link control means is provided at a fulcrum at a front portion of the lower horizontal link. 3. A variable attitude crawler according to 1 or 2.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is the variable attitude crawler according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein an observation camera for observing a travel guide and an observation location is mounted on the crawler body.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is the variable attitude crawler according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein a measuring device for radiation or the like is mounted on the crawler body.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a variable attitude crawler, FIG. 2 is a front view of a variable attitude crawler showing a state immediately before climbing over a step, and FIG. 3 is a view of the state shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the variable-posture crawler, and FIG. 4 is a front view of the variable-posture crawler in a state of climbing over a staircase.

As shown in FIG.
Has a frame 11, a wheel 13 rotatably provided on the frame 11, and an endless belt 14 provided over the wheel 13.
Is an unmanned vehicle that is driven to rotate by remote control, travels, turns, and climbs up and down stairs.

In the present invention, the frame 11 includes a parallel link mechanism 12.

That is, the frame 11 is mounted on the crawler body 20.
A lower horizontal link 21 provided at the lower portion on both sides of the crawler main body 20 so as to face the crawler main body 20, and an oscillating link 22a connecting the front portions of the crawler main body 20 and the lower horizontal link 21 to each other and the rear portions thereof. , 22b.

More specifically, one ends of swing links 22a and 22b are rotatably connected to connection brackets 23 provided on front and rear portions on both sides of the crawler body 20, and the other ends of the swing links 22a and 22b. On the side, the lower horizontal link 21
Are connected rotatably.

The swing links 22a and 22b are connected to the crawler 1
0 is formed to be longer than the rising height A of the stairs moving up and down.

At each fulcrum of the parallel link mechanism 12, a wheel 13 is rotatably provided via a shaft 25. (See FIG. 3) A traveling drive device 26 (for example, an electric motor) for rotating and driving the wheel 13 is provided on a wheel 13 provided at a fulcrum between a lower horizontal link 21 and a rear (left side in FIG. 1) swing link 22b. Motor), and the other wheels 13 have no driving force.

An endless belt 1 is mounted on the outer periphery of these wheels 13.
The endless belt 14 is rotationally driven by the traveling drive device 26. The material of the endless belt 14 is preferably rubber, but is not limited.

In one of the parallel link mechanisms 12 (in this embodiment, the upper parallel link mechanism in FIG. 3), a connecting portion between the lower horizontal link 21 and the front swing link 22a is Link control means 27 (for example, an electric motor) for controlling the attitude of the parallel link mechanism 12 while rotating the swing link 22a and fixing the swing link 22a at an arbitrary rotation position is connected.

By the link control means 27, the parallel link mechanism 12 can be changed to a desired angle and fixed, and can travel, turn, and the like.

The rotation shaft of the traveling drive unit 26 is connected to the swing link 22b and the lower horizontal link 21 so as to be relatively rotatable, and does not affect the angle of the parallel link mechanism 12.

Link control means 27 and traveling drive unit 2
6 may be provided at another fulcrum of the parallel link mechanism 12, but by providing it at the lower fulcrum as in the present embodiment, stable traveling can be obtained.

An idler 29 is provided between the lower horizontal link 21 and the endless belt 14 and between the front swinging link 22a and the endless belt 14 to prevent the endless belt 14 from loosening. .

The lower horizontal link 21 is provided with a battery 30 for supplying electric power to the above-described traveling drive device 26, link control means 27, and the like.

A measuring device and the like are mounted on the crawler body 20 in accordance with the purpose of using the variable attitude crawler 10.

In this embodiment, an observation camera unit 31, a radiation counter 32, a control box 33, and the like for traveling guidance and observing an observation point are mounted.

However, the present invention is not limited in this respect, and other devices may be mounted.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described.

During normal running, the frame 11 is fixed at a desired angle and the endless belt 14 is
Is rotated to travel and move the variable attitude crawler 10.

When the variable attitude crawler 10 is turned, the endless belt 14 is rotated in different directions to make an on-the-spot turn. However, when trying to turn in a narrow place, as shown in FIG. Oscillating link 22a by 27
Is turned to fix the angle of the link to about 90 degrees, and the frame 11 is turned in a rectangular or square shape.

By doing so, the length of the endless belt 14 in the traveling direction can be reduced, and the crawler 10 can be turned with the minimum turning diameter d.

For example, in the present embodiment, the minimum turning diameter d is about 500 mm.

Next, when climbing over a step such as a staircase, as shown in FIG. 2, the swing link 22a is rotated forward just before the stairs S, and the crawler body 20 and the front swing link 2 are rotated.
The wheel 13 provided at the fulcrum with 2a is hit against the corner of the stairs S.

In this embodiment, the rising height A of the stairs S is about 200 mm, and the swing link 22a is formed longer.

Thereafter, the swing link 22a is further rotated forward to fix the parallel link mechanism 12 in a state where the link is substantially straight.

After fixing the frame 11, the endless belt 1
Drive 4 to get over the stairs.

The crawler 10 can ascend and descend the stairs by setting the length of the endless belt 14 in such a manner that the endless belt 14 is always in contact with two or more steps.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the crawler 10 shown by a two-dot chain line below the stairs in the figure is in contact with the stairs at the middle and rear of the endless belt 14.

Thereafter, when the crawler 10 rises and the rear part of the endless belt 14 separates from the stairs, the front part of the endless belt 14 leans downward due to its own weight of the crawler body 20 and comes into contact with the stairs (shown by a solid line in the figure). .

This is because the center of gravity of the crawler 10 is located forward because the crawler body 20 is located forward by rotating the swing shaft 22a forward.

When the crawler 10 further moves up and down, and the front part of the endless belt 14 separates from the stairs, the rear part of the endless belt 14 leans downward and comes into contact with the stairs.

The above operation is repeated to move up and down the stairs.

As described above, in the variable attitude crawler 10 of the present invention, by changing the attitude of the frame 11, a large step like a stair can be overcome.

Further, when the crawler 10 turns,
The attitude of the frame 11 can be changed to make a turn with a minimum turning diameter.

If the length of the swing shaft 22a is increased,
It is possible to get over a larger step, but the turning diameter does not increase.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment.

In this embodiment, as the link control means 27, a link control cylinder 34 is provided between opposed fulcrums of the parallel link mechanism 12.

The attitude of the parallel link mechanism 12 can be changed by expanding and contracting the link control cylinder 34.

[0050]

In summary, according to the present invention, the following excellent effects are exhibited.

(1) The turning diameter is small.

(2) A large step such as a stair can be overcome.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a variable attitude crawler according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a variable posture crawler showing a state immediately before the vehicle climbs over a step.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a variable attitude crawler in a state shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the variable posture crawler in a state where the crawler has climbed over a step.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Frame 12 Parallel link mechanism 13 Wheel 14 Endless belt 26 Running drive device 27 Link control means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yuichi Miura 3-1-1-15 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries, Ltd. Tokyo Engineering Center

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A frame for supporting wheels in a crawler for traveling, turning, and moving up and down stairs by means of an endless belt provided over a plurality of wheels. The frame is configured by a parallel link mechanism. A variable attitude crawler comprising the above-mentioned wheel, a link control means for controlling the attitude of the link connected to the parallel link mechanism, and a traveling drive device connected to one of the wheels. 2. A wheel is mounted on both front and rear sides of a crawler body, and a lower horizontal link is provided opposite to the crawler body supporting the wheel, and the front and rear portions of the crawler body and the lower horizontal link are connected by a swing link. To form a parallel link mechanism, the swing link is formed to be longer than the rising height of the stairs moving up and down, and the link control means rotates the swing link forward from a vertical state to a horizontal state of about 90 degrees. The attitude variable crawler according to claim 1, wherein the attitude of the parallel link mechanism is controlled by fixing the swing link at an arbitrary rotational position. 3. The drive control device according to claim 1, wherein a traveling drive device is connected to a wheel provided at a fulcrum at a rear portion of the lower horizontal link, and the link control means is provided at a fulcrum at a front portion of the lower horizontal link. Variable attitude crawler. 4. The crawler body is provided with an observation camera for observing a travel guide and an observation point.
A variable attitude crawler according to any one of the above. 5. The attitude variable crawler according to claim 1, wherein a measuring device for measuring radiation or the like is mounted on the crawler body.