JP2020006808A - Flight work body - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a flight work body capable of solving problems for example, when moving directly, on a curve ceiling plane such as inside of a duct, when the flight work body is deviated from a direct movement direction, since force directed to a peripheral direction of the curve ceiling plane acts the wheels, the flight work body tends to meander in lateral directions, thereby resulting in difficulty of direct movement.SOLUTION: There is provided a flight work body which performs a work by contact movement on a ceiling plane, the flight work body comprises: a ceiling plane contact unit which has a contact part contacting the ceiling plane; a flight unit which is provided below the ceiling plane contact unit and has a propulsion part for flight; and a connection part for connecting the ceiling plane contact unit and the flight unit, and comprising a rotary freedom degree to a pitch axis. The ceiling plane contact unit has front steering means having a rotary axis for controlling a movement direction when moving in contact to the ceiling plane, and rear steering means having a rotary axis, the rotary axis of the front steering means is inclined so that a front side thereof becomes higher, and a rotary axis of the rear steering means is inclined so that a rear side thereof is higher.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flying work body that performs operations such as inspection, inspection, and repair while contacting and moving a ceiling surface of a structure such as a tunnel, a common ditch, and a sewer pipe.

  As a prior art of a flying work body that performs an inspection work or the like while contacting and moving on a ceiling surface, there is Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-163873). The claims in Patent Document 1 and FIGS. 2 and 3 show a “flight unit having a plurality of thrusters, the flight attitude of which changes by controlling the thrust generated by the thrusters, Two or more contact portions provided on the unit and in contact with a target surface around the flight unit; and a force applied by the contact between the contact portion and the target surface provided on each of the contact portions is detected as a contact force. And a posture control unit that controls the posture of the flying unit such that the respective contact forces detected by the contact force detection unit are equal.

JP 2017-061298 A

  However, in the flight device of Patent Literature 1, when the flight device goes straight in the axial direction while contacting a curved ceiling such as in a circular pipeline, if the flight device deviates from the axial direction of the pipeline, the flight device As a result, the one side of the wheel is likely to separate from the ceiling surface, and a force that orients the flying device in the circumferential direction acts on the wheel that is in contact with the ceiling surface, so that the flying device is likely to meander left and right. In such a state, it is difficult for the flying device to return to the center of the curved ceiling, but Patent Literature 1 does not consider this problem at all.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a flying body capable of stably moving a curved ceiling surface such as in a circular conduit and performing operations such as stable inspection, inspection, and repair.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a flying work body of the present invention is a flying work body that performs a work by contacting and moving a ceiling surface, and a ceiling surface contact unit including a contact portion that contacts the ceiling surface, A flight unit provided below the ceiling surface contact unit and provided with a propulsion unit for flight, and a connection unit that connects the ceiling surface contact unit and the flight unit and has at least a degree of freedom of rotation with respect to a pitch axis. , The ceiling surface contact unit includes a front steering unit and a rear steering unit having a rotation axis for controlling a traveling direction when moving in contact with the ceiling surface, the rotation of the front steering unit The axis is inclined so that the front becomes higher, and the rotation axis of the rearward steering means is inclined so that the rear becomes higher.

  According to the flying work body of the present invention, when the flying work body deviates from the axial direction of the pipeline when traveling straight in the axial direction while contacting a curved ceiling such as in a circular pipeline. Also, by controlling the inclined steering unit of the ceiling contact unit of the flying work body, the trajectory of the wheel is three-dimensionally changed with respect to the reference plane of the ceiling contact unit, and the contact state between the wheel and the curved ceiling is changed. Being able to maintain it will make it easier to return to the center of the curved ceiling. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the flying work body of the first embodiment moving on a ceiling surface in a circular pipeline. FIG. 9 is a schematic front view when a conventional flying work body deviates from the center of a curved ceiling. FIG. 2 is a side view of the flying work body according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a ceiling contact unit of the flying work body according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of a steering unit of a ceiling contact unit of the flying work body according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the case where the ceiling contact unit of the flying work body according to the first embodiment is steered to the right. FIG. 4 is a front view in the pipeline when the rudder of the ceiling contact unit is turned to return to the center of the ceiling when the flying work body of the first embodiment deviates from the center of the ceiling. FIG. 5 is a top view of a first modification of the ceiling contact unit of the flying work body according to the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is a side view of the flying work body according to the second embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In a plurality of embodiments, substantially the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

  First, a problem when the flying work body 10 moves in contact with the ceiling surface will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The flying work body 10 mainly includes a ceiling surface contact unit 11 for pressing and moving a wheel against a ceiling surface, and a flight unit 12 for generating a flight thrust. As shown in the schematic side view of FIG. 1, the flying work body 10 moves in a pipeline 1 such as a sewer pipe, a common ditch, or a tunnel, and uses a camera, a sensor, or the like mounted on the flying work body 10. It is to acquire images in the jurisdiction and conduct investigations and inspections.

  When the flying body 10 is levitated by a rotating wing or the like, and the inner diameter of the pipeline 1 is relatively small with respect to the size of the flying body 10, wind generated by the flying body 10 itself is generated in the pipeline 1. As a result, it becomes difficult to stabilize the attitude and altitude of the flying work body 10. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the attitude and the altitude of the moving flying body 10 are stabilized by moving the ceiling surface contacting unit 11 of the flying body 10 while making contact with the ceiling surface 2 of the pipeline 1. be able to. The thick black arrow in FIG. 1 indicates the traveling direction of the flying work body 10.

  In the case where the cross section of the pipeline 1 is rectangular and the ceiling surface is flat, the airframe does not greatly tilt in the roll axis direction when the flying work body 10 moves in contact with the ceiling surface. However, when the cross section of the pipeline 1 is a curved surface such as a circle, as shown in the schematic front view of FIG. 2, if the flying work body deviates from the center of the ceiling curved surface (axial direction of the pipe), conventionally, one side of the wheel is provided. (The right wheel in FIG. 2) can be easily separated from the ceiling surface, and a force that orients the flying work body 10 in the circumferential direction acts on the wheel (the left wheel in FIG. 2) that is in contact with the curved curved surface. 10 is easy to meander left and right. For this reason, the conventional flying work body has a problem that it is difficult to return to the center of the ceiling curved surface. In the present invention, in order to solve such a problem, the flight mode of operation 10 is configured as follows.

  First, the basic configuration of the flying work body 10 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the body side view of FIG. As shown here, the flying work body 10 includes a ceiling surface contact unit 11 for moving while contacting the ceiling surface 2, and a propulsion unit provided below the ceiling surface contact unit 11 for flight. It is composed of a flight unit 12 and both are connected by a connection portion 13 having at least one axis of rotation or more. In the present embodiment, a cylindrical fixing pin 32 is arranged as the connecting portion 13 in a direction perpendicular to the pitch axis direction (axial direction of the pipe) of the ceiling surface contact unit 11, thereby connecting both units rotatably. are doing. With this configuration, as shown in FIG. 1, the flight unit 12 can be tilted back and forth with respect to the ceiling surface contact unit 11 using the fixing pin 32 as a rotation axis, so that the wheels 14 of the ceiling surface contact unit 11 2, the flying work body 10 can be stably contacted and moved.

  Further, in addition to the above-described basic configuration, the flying work body 10 of the present embodiment is equipped with a camera 21 that can capture a moving image and / or a still image as a device for inspecting the inside of the pipeline 1. Note that a configuration may be adopted in which a lighting device, an environment sensor, and the like are provided according to the investigation environment. Further, when repairing a deteriorated portion in the pipe, a spray gun or a robot arm containing a filler or a corrosion-inhibiting paint may be mounted.

  Next, the configuration of the flight unit 12 will be described in detail. The flight unit 12 includes a flight unit frame 18, a thrust unit including a propeller 16 and a motor 17, a flight control unit 19, and a power source 20 such as a battery. In this embodiment, a control system using a conventional multi-copter type propulsion unit including four sets of propellers 16 and a motor 17 is employed. That is, by changing the rotation speed of each propeller 16, the flight unit 12 itself can be tilted and moved back and forth, right and left, and up and down. Feedback on acceleration, angular velocity, and azimuth information is used to control the attitude in the air. As long as sufficient flight thrust can be generated and the thrust direction can be arbitrarily controlled, a thrust generation unit having another configuration may be used.

  Subsequently, the details of the ceiling surface contact unit 11 will be described with reference to FIG. The ceiling contact unit 11 is for realizing a stable contact movement when the flying work body 10 comes into contact with the ceiling, and has two axles before and after the chassis formed by the ceiling contact unit frame 15. 31 is a two-axle, four-wheel truck structure. The shape of the wheels 14 is not particularly limited. However, when the ceiling surface 2 is a curved surface such as a circular tube, it is preferable that the wheels 14 be tapered as shown in FIG. It is desirable because the straightness and the turning property in the axial direction of the lens increase.

  In this embodiment, since each of the wheels 14 is not provided with a self-propelled actuator, it does not correspond to the traveling direction control by rotation control of the self-propelled actuator. The front steering device 30f and the rear steering device 30r) can control the directions of the front and rear axles 31 to control the traveling direction. Further, unlike a self-propelled actuator which needs to be constantly driven, the steering device 30 need only be driven when the traveling direction is changed. By using such a steering mechanism, both the total weight and the power consumption can be greatly reduced as compared with a configuration using a self-propelled actuator that requires constant driving of each wheel.

  Here, each steering device 30 is connected to the ceiling surface contact unit frame 15 via an inclination angle adjusting unit 33 that adjusts the inclination angle of the steering device 30. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the periphery of the steering device 30. As shown here, in the flying work body 10 of the present embodiment, by using the inclination angle adjusting unit 33, when the ceiling surface is a curved surface such as a circular pipeline, the inclination angle is in accordance with the curvature. Thus, the steering device 30 can be fixed by being inclined obliquely. In the present embodiment, the front and rear tilt angle adjusting sections 33 are provided on both sides, and as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. The rotation axis of the device 30r is inclined so that the rear is higher.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the operation timing and the rotation amount of the front and rear steering devices 30 are synchronized, and the rotation directions are reversed in the front and rear. FIG. 6 is an example of synchronous control of the front and rear steering devices 30. As shown by a thick black arrow, when it is desired to turn the rudder of the flying work body 10 to the right, both the front steering device 30f and the rear steering device 30r are rotated clockwise in FIG. With respect to both the front and rear axles 31, the right wheel can be raised and the left wheel lowered, that is, the steering can be turned to the right. On the other hand, when it is desired to turn the rudder of the flying work body 10 to the left, both the front steering device 30f and the rear steering device 30r are rotated counterclockwise by a predetermined amount in FIG. With regard to, the left wheel can be raised and the right wheel lowered, that is, the steering can be turned to the left. The amount of rotation of each steering device 30 is substantially proportional to the amount of turning of the rudder, and is usually made substantially proportional to the amount of deviation of the position of the flying work body 10 from the neutral position of the pipeline 1. The amount of rotation of the steering device 30 may be controlled.

As described above, unlike the conventional flying work body in which the rudder turning direction is limited to the horizontal direction, in the flying work body 10 of the present embodiment, the rudder turning direction is also extended in the up-down direction, that is, three-dimensionally. Therefore, even when the ceiling of the pipeline 1 is a curved surface, the course can be changed to a desired direction in a stable state in which all four wheels of the flying work body 10 are in contact with the ceiling. It becomes possible. As a result, all four wheels 14 of the ceiling surface contact unit 11 were brought into contact with the ceiling surface 2 even when the flying work body 10 was in contact with a position deviated to the left from the center of the circular tube as shown in FIG. In this state, the rudder can be turned to the right, and the flying work body 10 can be returned to the center of the ceiling of the circular tube.
(Modification 1)
Next, a first modification of the flying work body 10 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the ceiling surface contact unit 11 of FIG. 4, a two-axis four-wheel trolley structure is shown as the ceiling surface contact portion, but the invention is not necessarily limited to this. That is, the ceiling surface contact unit 11 may be a ceiling surface contact portion that can form three or more contact points that are not on the same straight line as a contact method for achieving stable contact movement of the ceiling surface. As in the case of the ceiling surface contact unit 11 shown in FIG. 8, a two-axle three-wheel truck structure may be used. The number of contact points is not limited as long as the number of contact points is three or more (three points). However, the number of contact points is light in order to provide a margin for the payload of the flight unit 12, that is, the number of wheels 14 is small. Preferably, it is small. Further, wheels having different types and outer diameters may be combined according to the state of the ceiling surface. The arrangement of the wheels 14 (contact points) suppresses the left-right and front-rear fluctuations when the ceiling surface contact unit 11 comes into contact with the ceiling surface and moves, and a contact force is uniformly applied to each contact point. As described above, it is desirable to arrange the contact points symmetrically with respect to the main traveling direction (the pipe axis direction) of the flying work body 10.

  Next, a flying work body 10 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the same points as in the first embodiment will not be described repeatedly. The basic structure of the flying work body 10 of the present embodiment is also the same as that of the first embodiment, and a ceiling contact unit 11 and a flying unit 12 are connected by a connection unit 13. However, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, a contact pressure detection device 40 for detecting a pressure (contact pressure) at which the flight unit 12 presses the ceiling surface contact unit 11 against the ceiling surface 2 below the connection portion 13. Has been added.

  Therefore, in the flying work body 10 of the present embodiment, the thrust of the flying unit 12 can be adjusted based on the contact pressure detected by the contact pressure detecting device 40, and thereby the ceiling contact unit 11 can be adjusted with a constant force. It can also be in contact with the ceiling surface. By executing such thrust control, it is possible to avoid a state where the thrust of the flight unit 12 is excessive, so that a desired grip force can be given to each wheel 14 while suppressing the power consumption of the flight unit 12. Therefore, stable contact movement on the ceiling surface is possible.

  In this embodiment, the contact pressure detecting device 40 is constituted by an elastic body 41 such as a spring, a displacement sensor 42, and an arm 43, and adopts a pantograph-like structure. When the ceiling surface contact unit 11 is pressed against the ceiling surface 2, the elastic body 41 contracts, and the amount of deformation is measured by the displacement sensor 42. When the Young's modulus of the elastic body 41 is clear, the contact pressure can be calculated from the deformation amount of the elastic body 41, so that the contact pressure can be directly measured.

  Further, even when the contact pressure is not directly observed, if the thrust of the flight unit 12 is controlled so that the amount of deformation of the elastic body 41 detected by the displacement sensor 42 becomes constant, substantially, Control for applying a constant contact pressure to the ceiling surface contact unit 11 can be realized. In FIG. 9, the contact pressure detecting device 40 is arranged below the connection portion 13, but may be added between the wheels 14 of the ceiling surface contact unit 11 and the ceiling surface contact unit frame 15 in the manner of a suspension. . Naturally, the contact pressure on the ceiling surface may be directly measured by a pressure sensor such as a load cell.

  The present invention described above is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be applied to various embodiments without departing from the gist thereof. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the described configurations. Further, a part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of one embodiment can be added to the configuration of another embodiment. Further, with respect to the configuration of each embodiment, it is possible to add, delete, or replace another configuration.

1 pipeline,
2 ceiling surface,
10 flying bodies,
11 ceiling contact unit,
12 flight units,
13 connections,
14 wheels,
15 ceiling contact unit frame,
16 propellers,
17 motor,
18 flight unit frames,
19 Flight control unit,
20 power sources,
21 cameras,
30 steering gear,
30f forward steering device,
30r rear steering device,
31 axles,
32 fixing pins,
33 tilt angle adjustment unit,
40 contact pressure detecting device,
41 elastic body,
42 displacement sensor,
43 arms,

Claims (6)

A flying work body that works by touching and moving the ceiling surface,
A ceiling surface contact unit having a contact portion that contacts the ceiling surface,
A flight unit provided below the ceiling contact unit and including a propulsion unit for flight;
A connection unit that connects the ceiling surface contact unit and the flight unit, and has at least a rotational degree of freedom with respect to a pitch axis;
The ceiling surface contact unit,
It comprises a front steering unit and a rear steering unit having a rotation axis for controlling a traveling direction when moving in contact with the ceiling surface,
The rotation axis of the front steering means is inclined so that the front is higher,
A flying body, wherein a rotation axis of the rear steering means is inclined so that the rear is higher. The flying work body according to claim 1,
The flying work body, wherein the contact portion of the ceiling surface contact unit is a four-wheeled vehicle, and two left and right wheels are coaxially mounted on rotation axes of the front steering means and the rear steering means. The flying work body according to claim 2,
A flying body, wherein a curvature of a ground contact surface of wheels used in the four-wheeled vehicle is approximated to a curvature of a curved ceiling surface. The flying work body according to claim 1,
A flying work body comprising: a tilt angle adjusting unit that can arbitrarily adjust a tilt angle of a rotation axis of the front steering unit or the rear steering unit. A flying work body that works by touching and moving the ceiling surface,
A ceiling contact unit having a contact portion that contacts the ceiling,
A flight unit provided below the ceiling contact unit and including a propulsion unit for flight;
A connection unit that connects the ceiling surface contact unit and the flight unit, and has at least a rotational degree of freedom with respect to a pitch axis;
The contact portion of the ceiling surface contact unit,
Forward or rearward, a three-wheeled trolley including a steering means having a rotation axis for controlling the traveling direction when moving in contact with the ceiling surface,
When the steering means is in front, the rotation axis is inclined so that the front is higher,
When the steering means is at the rear, its rotation axis is inclined so that the rear is higher,
A flying body, wherein two left and right wheels are coaxially mounted on a rotation shaft of the steering means. The flying work body according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The flying work body further includes a contact pressure detection unit that detects a contact pressure that presses the ceiling surface contact unit against the ceiling surface.

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