JP2006256526A - In-pipe traveling wheel structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an in-pipe traveling wheel structure having a simple structure which is very easy in attachment/detachment. <P>SOLUTION: The in-pipe traveling wheel structure 10 is rotatably attached to a cable C, and travels in a pipe. The wheel structure carries the cable C without any contact of the cable C with an inner wall of the pipe even in a curved portion of the pipe. The wheel structure comprises a cylindrical fixed body 14 consisting of a pair of half-split fixed body components 14a, 14b which can be fixed by biting an engagement projection at an arbitrary position on an outer circumferential surface of the cable C, an axle body 11 consisting of a pair of half-split axle body components 11a, 11b to be rotatably engaged with the cylindrical fixed body 14, and wheels W, W with ball bearings which are rotatably attached to both axles 12, 12 of the axle body 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention is a device that travels in a pipe having a long distance and a large number of curved parts, and inspects and cleans the inside of the pipe, supplies power to these inspection or cleaning devices, or sends an inspection signal. The present invention relates to a guide wheel structure for allowing a cable or the like to be taken out to freely travel within the pipe without resistance.

  Guide means for running a cable or the like in such a curved pipe without resistance is known, for example, in Patent Documents 1 and 2 listed below. However, the conventionally known pulling member or guide wheel body for the cable has a drawback that the structure thereof is very complicated and the mounting operation to the cable or the like is complicated.

  That is, in a known device such as that described in Patent Document 1, the guide wheel body is fixed to the traction member so as not to rotate. Therefore, at least three guide wheel bodies are used. The axles that rotate and support these wheels themselves are fixed to at least three brackets.

Moreover, also in the apparatus of patent document 2 which concerns on the same inventor's application as this invention, two pairs of wheel structures with which a cable and a hose are mounted | worn assemble | attach each wheel body via a wheel body connection part. Is. Accordingly, each of the wheel structures described above includes a wheel support portion that supports the wheel and an attachment portion of the wheel support portion, and each bending portion of the attachment portion is defined as a circumferential surface of the flexible elongated body. It is made to fit and it bolts and fixes in the wheel body connection part of the attachment part.
JP 2004-84728 A JP 2001-310734 A

  In the conventionally known guide wheel body as described above, between the guide wheel body and the traction member such as a cable cannot be rotated, and a bolt and a nut are used to connect the wheel structures, etc. Since the structure is complicated, especially when a large number of guide wheel bodies are provided in a pipe having a large radius of curvature, i.e., a large number of curved portions, the attaching / detaching operation of the guide wheel body is performed. It was extremely inconvenient.

  The present invention eliminates such problems and provides a wheel structure that can freely rotate with respect to the traction member. By simplifying the structure of the wheel support portion and the attachment portion to the traction member, the structure is simple. An in-pipe traveling wheel structure that is extremely easy to attach and detach is provided.

The present invention is an in-pipe travel wheel structure that is rotatably mounted on a cable and travels in a pipe, and supports the cable without contacting the cable and the inner wall of the pipe even at a curved portion in the pipe. A cylindrical fixed body made up of a pair of half-shaped fixed body components that can be fixed at an arbitrary position of the cable, and a pair of half-shaped axle bodies that can be rotatably engaged with the cylindrical fixed body It is characterized by a wheel structure comprising an axle body made of members and wheels with ball bearings that are rotatably mounted on both axles of the axle body.
Further, the pair of half-shaped fixed body constituting members constituting the cylindrical fixed body has an arbitrary number of engaging projections integrally formed on the half-shaped cylindrical inner surface to constitute the axle body. Each of the pair of half-shaft-shaped axle body constituent members has a semicircular arc-shaped engaging portion, and these axle body constituent members are combined to be freely rotatable in the engaging circumferential groove portion of the cylindrical fixed body. Engaged.
Further, the pair of halved cylindrical fixed member constituting members is fixed by two bearing retaining rings in the narrow circumferential groove, and the pair of halved axle member constituting members is attached to the shaft portion. It is a wheel structure characterized by being fixed only by the wheel to be performed.

The in-pipe traveling wheel structure of the present invention has an axle body rotatably attached to a cable or the like, and wheels are provided at both ends of the axle body, so that two wheels in one wheel structure. It is possible to support a cable or the like in any contact with any inner surface in the tube only by providing the cable.
In addition, since the cylindrical fixed body and the axle body to the cable are each configured as a pair of halves, it is very easy to assemble them, and a large number of in-pipe traveling wheel structures are mounted on the same cable. As a result, the resistance can be extremely reduced even in a curved pipe portion having a small curvature radius (a large curvature).
Furthermore, since the axle body and the fixed body are halved, they can be easily fixed by the split pins and the bearing retaining ring, and the operation of assembling and removing the wheel structure becomes very simple, and the bolt Without using the bolt, there is a remarkable effect that there is no fear of dropping off in the pipe such as bolts and nuts.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a state where the wheel structure 10 of the present invention is attached to a cable C, and FIGS. 2 and 3 show a side view and a front view (front view in the cable direction of FIG. 1), respectively. In this specification, the term “cable” means not only a line that actually transmits power or a signal, but also a linear, string-like or flexible long body that can be carried by the wheel structure 10. is doing.

  In these drawings, the wheel structure 10 is shown attached and fixed to the cable C. In actual use, a large number of wheel structures 10 are mounted on the cable C at substantially equal intervals, but only one of them is shown in these drawings. The wheel structure 10 has two wheels W and W. The wheel itself may be a well-known one, and a bearing structure with an axle described later is not particularly limited, but is preferably a ball bearing in order to reduce friction.

  The axle body 11 for these wheels W, W is composed of a pair of half-shaft axle body constituting parts 11a, 11b, and the axle body constituting parts 11a, 11b are formed in the axle parts 12a, 12b and semicircular shape. It has engagement parts 13a and 13b. Then, as will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 4, the columnar axle 12 and the ring-shaped engagement portion 13 can be formed by combining the axle body constituting portions 11 a and 11 b.

  As apparent from FIGS. 1 and 3, a cylindrical fixing body 14 for locking the axle body 11 to the cable C is shown. The cylindrical fixed body 14 is also composed of a pair of halved fixed body constituent members 14a and 14b, and each of the fixed body constituent members has an arcuate inner surface, and each of these fixed body constituents. The substantially cylindrical fixed body 14 is configured by abutting the members 14a and 14b.

The cylindrical inner peripheral surface of the fixed body is created so that its inner diameter is substantially equal to the outer diameter of the cable C. Therefore, when the pair of fixed member constituting members 14a and 14b are fitted on the surface of the cable C at an arbitrary position and fastened, the fixed member constituting members 14a and 14b can be fixedly engaged with each other in the axial direction of the cable C.
In addition, by providing an arbitrary number of engagement protrusions (see FIG. 4, without reference numerals) on at least one arc-shaped inner peripheral surface of the fixed member constituting members 14a and 14b, or by making the inner peripheral surface rough. The engagement relationship with the surface of the cable C can be ensured.

  Each of the fixed member constituting members 14a and 14b has a circumferential groove portion 15 that engages with the ring-shaped engaging portion 13 of the axle body 11 at least in the center in the longitudinal direction. Such engagement circumferential groove 15 is formed on, for example, the ring-shaped engagement portion 13 on each outer peripheral surface of the pair of half-shaped fixed member constituting members 14a and 14b constituting the cylindrical fixed body 14 described above. It can be formed by providing a pair of flange portions 16a and 16b on both sides of the corresponding cylindrical portion (see the engagement circumferential groove portion in FIG. 4).

  Further, in the cylindrical fixed body 14, other narrow circumferential grooves 17 are formed on both ends of the engagement circumferential groove 15 formed by the pair of flange portions 16a and 16b. Usually, grooves 17a and 17b for the thin circumferential groove 17 are formed on the cylindrical outer periphery at both end portions of the flange portions 16a and 16b of the pair of fixed member constituting members 14a and 14b. Formed by. However, the grooves 17a and 17b are integrally formed of synthetic resin, like the flange portions 16a and 16b and the engagement circumferential groove portion 15.

In this way, the details will be described with reference to FIG. 4, but first, the fixing member constituting portions 14 a and 14 b of the cylindrical fixing body 14 are fitted into appropriate portions of the cable C, and the narrow circumferential grooves 17 and 17 thereof. It is fixed by mounting the shaft receiving ring P ₂ in. At this time, if the above-described protrusions or the like are provided on at least one arcuate inner peripheral surface of each of the constituent members 14a and 14b of the cylindrical fixed body 14, the protrusions are formed on the surface of the resin layer of the cable C, for example. The bite can be more securely engaged with the cable.

  Next, with respect to the engagement circumferential groove portion 15 (see FIG. 4) of the cylindrical fixed body 14 fixed to the outer periphery of the cable C, each of the pair of axle body constituting portions 11a and 11b constituting the axle body 11 is provided. When the semicircular arc engaging portions 13a and 13b are brought into contact with each other and the axle body constituting portions 11a and 11b are combined, a pair of axle shafts 12 and 12 are constituted by the axle portions 12a and 12b. In addition, a positioning action can be provided by providing recesses and protrusions (not shown) to be fitted to each other on the facing surfaces of the axle body components 11a and 11b, particularly the axle parts 12a and 12b.

  What is important here is that the ring-shaped engaging portion 13 formed by combining the pair of axle body constituting portions 11a and 11b has an inner diameter outside the engaging circumferential groove portion 15 of the cylindrical fixed body 14. It is produced slightly larger than the diameter. For this reason, the axle body 11 engaged with the engagement circumferential groove 15 of the cylindrical fixed body 14 rotates freely around the cylindrical fixed body 14 and therefore with respect to the cable C. It is something that can be done.

Thus, the axles 12 and 12 formed by combining the pair of axle pair members 11a and 11b are fitted with the bearing portions of the wheels W and W, respectively. By mounting on the axles 12, 12, the pair of axle body constituting members 11a, 11b are restrained in a state of being coupled to each other, and no special fixing means is required. Note that after mounting of the wheel W, W axle 12 and 12, but retaining the wheel is timed by the split pin P ₁ as shown in FIG. 2, the only pin hole is shown in FIG. 1 .

The configuration of the above, in the wheel structure 10 engaged with the cable C, the wheel W as shown by the arrow F ₂ in FIG. 2, W is a rotating naturally by the arrow F ₃ in FIG. 3 As shown, the wheel structure 10 itself is rotatable with respect to the cable C at the ring-shaped engaging portion 13 of the axle body 11. Therefore, the wheel structure 10 of the present invention has only a pair of wheels, and can support the cable C to any part of the inner wall of the traveling pipe in a non-contact manner with the wheels.

  FIG. 4 is a development view of each component of the wheel structure 10. The cylindrical fixed body 14 mounted and fixed so as to wrap around the side surface of the cable C is composed of a pair of fixed body constituting members 14a and 14b, and each fixed body constituting member is a substantially semi-cylindrical body and its center. The part has engaging circumferential groove portions 15 and 15. Further, flange portions 16a and 16b are integrally formed to form the engagement circumferential groove portion 15.

Narrow circumferential grooves 17a and 17b are provided on both outer sides of the flange portions 16a and 16b, respectively, and in a state where the pair of fixed member constituting members 14a and 14b, which are semi-cylindrical bodies, are combined, The bearing retaining rings P ₂ and P ₂ are engaged and fixed in the circumferential groove.

  The pair of axle body constituting portions 11a and 11b are combined by engaging the semicircular arc engaging portions 13a and 13b in the central portion thereof with the above-described engaging circumferential groove portion 15, and the axle portions at both ends thereof. The axle 12 is constituted by 12a and 12b, and the axle body constituting portions 11a and 11b can be integrated by inserting the bearing holes of the wheels W and W into these axles.

According to the configuration of the present invention, for the engagement between the fixed member constituting member and the cable, for example, a protrusion is provided in the inner side surface of the fixed member constituting member 14a, 14b, thereby increasing the reliability and fixing the fixed member constituting member 14a, 14b. The body constituent members may be engaged with each other only by mounting the bearing retaining rings P ₂ and P ₂ . Furthermore, the axle body component 11a, coalescence engagement 11b is simply need only mount the wheels W, W, the wheel W, ensuring W can be easily performed by split pin P _1, the pin dropping etc. There are no defects.

Next, with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the behavior of the cable with the wheel structure when the cable C equipped with a large number of the wheel structure 10 according to the present invention moves in the curved pipe will be described.
(A) of FIG. 5 has shown the state which inserts the cable C in the arrow FA direction with respect to the inside of the piping X curved in the crank shape. Cable to be inserted first, that wheel structure 10 is in contact with the curved portion X ₁ of the pipe X, while carrying the cable C by the pair of wheels, it travels along the inner wall of the curved portion X _1.

Then, it further advanced cable and wheel structure contacts the curved portion X ₂ is a wall surface of the curved portion X ₁ opposite, the cable C by the rotation of the pair of wheels similarly to advance little resistance Can do. Thus, if the number of wheel structures 10 to be mounted is increased or decreased according to the degree of curvature of the pipe X, the inner wall of the pipe X and the cable C will not be in direct contact.

FIG. 5B illustrates the behavior of the cable when the cable C with the wheel structure is pulled out in the arrow FB direction from the state of the above (A). The As is evident in the drawings in the case, the cable C will attempt to contact the pipe at the bending portion X ₃ and bend X ₄ of the pipe X. However, in any of these curved portions X ₃ and X ₄ , the outer diameter of the pair of wheels W and W in the wheel structure 10 and the distance between the front and rear wheels, that is, the mounting position of the wheel structure 10 are appropriate. By selecting this, it is possible to appropriately cope with the curvature of any curved portion.

In this case, as is apparent from the description in FIG. 3 above, each wheel structure 10 in contact with the curved portion is centered on the cable C and the cylindrical fixed body 14 to which the pair of wheels W and W are fixed. Therefore, it can freely rotate according to the relative angle between the inner wall surface of the cable C and the pipe X, and the pair of wheels W, W always moves so as to be in contact with the wall surface.
Accordingly, the cable C always moves from the inner wall surface of the pipe while being held at a fixed position, and does not come into contact with the pipe wall.

  What is important here is that, as is clear from these drawings, in order to move the cable C and the inner wall of the curved portion of the pipe without contact, the wheel structure 10 is mounted according to at least the degree of curvature of the pipe. The distance is adjusted, and the outer diameter of the pair of wheels in the wheel structure and the distance (vehicle width) between the pair of wheels may be set as appropriate. However, such actual numerical values belong to the design matters.

FIG. 6 shows a state in which a cable C equipped with a number of similar wheel structures 10 moves in a pipe X curved in a U shape. In FIG. (A), the cable C is pushed in the arrow FA direction, in this case, all of the wheel structure moves while in contact with the inner wall surface of the curved portion X _5. As is clear in FIG. (B), when moving the cable C in the drawing direction as the arrow FB, all of the wheel structure 10 moves while in contact with the inner wall surface of the curved portion X _6.

  Therefore, after all, the relationship between the curvature of the curved portion and the configuration and number of mounted wheel structures is the correlation between the inner diameter of the pipe, the maximum curvature of the curved portion, the outer diameter of the pair of wheels and the vehicle width, and the mounting position interval of the wheel structure. Such a design item may be determined by economic factors such as the production cost of the wheel structure itself and the number of work for attaching the cable to the cable.

It is a top view in the state where the wheel structure of the present invention was attached to the cable. It is a side view of the state where the wheel structure of the present invention was attached to the cable. It is a front view of the state which attached the wheel structure of the present invention to the cable. It is an expanded view of each part of the wheel structure of the present invention. It is behavior explanatory drawing in the crank-shaped curved part of the cable with which the wheel structure of this invention was mounted | worn. It is behavior explanatory drawing in the U-shaped curved part of the cable with which the wheel structure of this invention was mounted | worn.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Wheel structure 11 Axle body 11a, 11b Axle body structure part 12 Axle 12a, 12b Axle part 13 Ring-shaped engagement part 13a, 13b Semicircular engagement part 14 Cylindrical fixed body 14a, 14b Fixed body structural member 15 Engagement Combined circumferential groove 16a, 16b Flange 17 Narrow circumferential groove 17a, 17b Groove C Cable P ₁ split pin P ₂ Bearing retaining ring W Wheel

Claims (6)

An in-pipe running wheel structure for carrying the cable without causing the cable and the inner wall of the pipe to come into contact with each other even at a curved portion in the pipe. A cylindrical fixed body composed of a pair of half-shaped fixed body constituent members which can be fixed at an arbitrary position, and an axle comprising a pair of half-shaped axle body constituent members which can be rotatably engaged with the cylindrical fixed body A wheel structure comprising a body and wheels with ball bearings rotatably mounted on both axles of the axle body. 2. The wheel structure according to claim 1, wherein the pair of halved fixed member constituting the cylindrical fixed member has an arbitrary number of engagement protrusions integrally formed on the halved cylindrical inner surface thereof. A wheel structure characterized by being molded. 3. The wheel structure according to claim 1, wherein each of the pair of half-shaped axle body constituting members constituting the axle body has a semi-arc-shaped engaging portion, and the axle bodies are provided. A wheel structure characterized by combining structural members and rotatably engaging with an engaging circumferential groove of the cylindrical fixed body. It is a wheel structure in any one of Claims 1-3, Comprising: A pair of half-shaped cylindrical fixing body structural member is fixed by the two bearing retaining rings in the thin circumferential groove. Characteristic wheel structure. The wheel structure according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the pair of halved axle body constituting members are fixed only by wheels attached to the shaft portion. Structure. The wheel structure according to claim 5, wherein the wheel mounted on the axle is locked only by a split pin.

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