JP2882893B2 - Wheel type propulsion mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wheel type propulsion mechanism,
More specifically, the present invention relates to a propulsion mechanism using a wheel of a cable-like active moving device that is effective as a moving device of a mobile robot used in a nuclear reactor, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a moving device of a mobile robot used in a nuclear reactor, for example, a cable-like active moving device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-255487 is known. This device comprises a plurality of articulated structure is connected in series to form an articulated section torso structure, the plurality of articulated structures are mutually direction phase adjacent joint structure to each other perpendicular to the array surface And the propulsion unit is configured to be able to rotate relative to each other about an axis along the vertical traverse, and each of the joint structures is provided with a propulsion device at a predetermined position in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement plane. Is attached.

By the way, as a propulsion mechanism of the cable-like active type moving apparatus having such a configuration, for example, a mechanism shown in FIG. 2 can be considered. Reference numeral 1 in the figure denotes articulated bodies connected in series so as to form an articulated articulated trunk structure. An axle 2 that can swing around the roll axis (the direction of the arrow X) is provided at the lower part of these joints 1, and wheels 3 are provided at both ends of the axle 2 to obtain the entire propulsion motion. .

In the propulsion mechanism described above, it is necessary to cross a slope as shown in FIG. 2 when traveling on uneven terrain or the like, but in the propulsion mechanism of FIG. You must be able to rock to X.

[0005]

However, if the swinging motion is actively performed, one degree of freedom is newly added, which causes an increase in weight and complicated control. On the other hand, if the swinging motion is passively absorbed by the suspension, the posture of the articulation part becomes unstable when the entire articulated trunk takes a straight posture. In addition, when steering, a differential mechanism or the like is required to eliminate the difference between the inner and outer wheels, resulting in an increase in weight.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has a drive system for each articulated body of a cable-like active type moving device, which has one wheel, and has one wheel arranged alternately on the left and right of the articulated articulated body. Thereby, the translational motion between the joints controls the position of the wheels with respect to the traveling direction of each joint, and can be applied to the attitude control of the lateral inclination angle with respect to the traveling direction. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wheel-type propulsion mechanism having advantages such as being able to cope with a lateral inclination with respect to the traveling direction without increasing the degree of freedom of configuration, and being able to reduce the weight without generating a difference between the inner and outer wheels.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is, counting from the top and the odd-numbered clauses of the even-numbered clauses bodies are connected in series, the phase adjacent nodes bodies is translated in the vertical direction of the section member An articulated articulated trunk structure that is movable and can rotate relative to each other about an axis along a vertical direction, and a propulsion attached to each of the articulated bodies at a predetermined position in the vertical direction of the articulated body In the wheel-type propulsion mechanism comprising a propulsion device for generating motion, and propelling the cord-like active type moving device, in each of the articulated bodies, one wheel is either left or right with respect to the propulsion direction of the moving device. A wheel type propulsion mechanism characterized by being provided alternately in order.

[0008]

[Effect] The cord-shaped active moving device described above (Japanese Patent Application No. 60-25548)
The movement of the inter-body translational movement mechanism originally provided in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7 (1995) was for controlling the attitude with respect to the inclination angle (elevation angle) in the traveling direction.

However, by adopting the one-wheel configuration as in the present invention, the translational motion between the articulated bodies can control the position of the wheel having the ground contact portion which is deviated to the right or left with respect to the traveling direction, respectively. Can be applied to attitude control of the lateral (left / right) inclination angle with respect to. Therefore, it is possible to adapt to a lateral (left / right) inclination with respect to the traveling direction without increasing the original configuration flexibility of the cable-like active mobile device. Also,
Also for steering, by providing the wheel rotation speed of each joint according to the turning radius of the joint as a whole, there is no difference between the inner and outer wheels. Therefore, a weight reduction can be achieved without requiring a differential mechanism or the like.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A wheel-type propulsion mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. here,
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cable-like active moving device using a wheel-type propulsion mechanism of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a cable-like active moving device using a wheel-type propulsion mechanism of the present invention. 3A is a top view, and FIG. 3B is a side view. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the cord-like active type mobile device is adapted to a lateral (left / right) inclined surface with respect to its traveling direction. In addition, the wheel type propulsion device
In the structure, the description in the preceding paragraph in claim 1, that is,
… ”To“… wheel-type propulsion mechanism ”are described in the specification.
It is clear from the disclosed JP-A-60-255487 and the like.
This is a well-known technique.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes an odd-numbered first node from the top. An even-numbered second articulation body 12 is arranged between these first articulation bodies 11, and the first articulation body 11 and the articulated joint
They are connected in series to form a nodal trunk structure. Here, the first articulated body 11 and the second articulated body 12 each have a propulsion unit 13 mounted symmetrically with respect to the traveling direction (the direction of arrow Z), and a grounding surface that is biased to one of the left and right sides. It has wheels 14. The odd-numbered one wheel 14 is attached to the left side of the propulsion unit 13 and the even-numbered number is attached to the right side of the propulsion unit 13 from the top.

The first and second joints 11 and 12
Is such that adjacent articulations can translate in a direction (arrow X direction in FIG. 3) orthogonal to the arrangement plane,
Rotational movement can be made mutually in the direction around the axis along the arrow X direction (arrow Y direction).

In the wheel type propulsion mechanism having such a configuration,
With respect to the lateral (left / right) inclination angle with respect to the traveling direction, a difference occurs in the absolute height of the ground contact portion of the one wheel 14 in the first articulated body 11 and the second articulated body 12. A difference in translational relative position between the first articulation body 11 and the second articulation body 12 that is integral with 14 occurs. The difference can be absorbed and controlled by the inter-articular translation mechanism originally provided in the complex active moving device, so that the lateral (left / right) inclination angle with respect to the traveling direction can be flexibly adapted.

According to the wheel-type propulsion mechanism of the above embodiment, the odd-numbered first joint 11 and the even-numbered second joint 12 each have one wheel 14 alternately provided. Therefore, the translational motion between the articulations can be applied to the attitude control of the inclination angle (elevation angle) in the traveling direction and the lateral (left / right) inclination angle with respect to the traveling direction. Therefore, the following effects are obtained. (1) It is possible to adapt to the lateral (left / right) inclination with respect to the traveling direction without increasing the degree of freedom of the original configuration of the main body of the active mobile device.

(2) Since there is no increase in the number of control axes with the simplification of the mechanism, the control processing can be performed in the same manner as the conventional method for adapting to the inclination angle in the traveling direction (elevation angle) and uneven terrain, which is easy.

(3) At the time of steering, by providing the wheel rotation speed of each joint according to the turning radius of the entire joint joint, there is no difference between the inner and outer wheels. Therefore, an operation mechanism or the like is not required, and the weight can be reduced.

[0017]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the drive system of each articulated body of the cable-like active type moving device is set as one wheel, and the one articulated body is arranged alternately on the left and right sides of the articulated bodies. The translational motion between the joints controls the position of the wheels with respect to the traveling direction of each joint, and can be applied to the attitude control of the lateral inclination angle with respect to the traveling direction. It is possible to provide a wheel-type propulsion mechanism having advantages such as being able to cope with a lateral inclination with respect to the traveling direction without increasing the degree of freedom, and being able to reduce the weight without generating a difference between the inner and outer wheels.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a cable-like active type mobile device provided with a wheel type propulsion mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a conventional cord-shaped active moving device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the cord-like active moving device of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 11, 12 ... articulated body, 13 ... propulsion unit, 14 ... one wheel.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-116364 (JP, A) JP-A-61-81280 (JP, A) JP-A-60-219173 (JP, A) , U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B62D 57/024 B25J 5/00 B60B 19/00 B61F 13/00 G21C 17/013

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An odd-numbered node and an even-numbered node counted from the beginning are connected in series, and adjacent nodes are connected to each other.
A multi-joint articulated trunk structure that is capable of translational movement in the up and down direction of the articulation , and is capable of rotating with respect to each other around an axis along the vertical direction, A propulsion device for generating a propulsion motion attached to a predetermined position, a wheel-type propulsion mechanism for propelling the cord-shaped active moving device, wherein each of the articulated bodies has one wheel with respect to the propulsion direction of the moving device. A wheel-type propulsion mechanism characterized by being provided alternately on one of the right and left sides.