JPH01308101A - Position detector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable positional detection of a moving vehicle without requiring an instrument such as a gyrocompass, by calculating positional information of the moving vehicle from the feeding amount and direction of a power cord. CONSTITUTION:A cord reel 2 is driven through a motor 5 to feed or wind a power cord 1. The motor 5 is provided with an encoder for measuring the rotary amount. An operation control section controls the motion of a moving vehicle according to a travel program. Furthermore, rotary amount of the motor 5 is controlled such that a tension measuring mechanism 6 measures a predetermined tension level and a potentiometer 14 detects the rotary angle of a rotary board 11. Then current position of the moving vehicle itself is calculated from the rotary amount of the moor 5 and the rotary angle of the rotary board 11 and programmed traveling of the moving vehicle is carried out according to the positional information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a position detection device for a moving vehicle such as a cleaning vehicle.

BACKGROUND ART In recent years, mobile vehicles that automatically move within a predetermined area, such as a room, have been developed and are used in work robots such as cleaning robots. These moving vehicles usually move according to a predetermined program, and therefore, the moving vehicle K needs to know its own position. A conventional technique of this type is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 193209/1983. To summarize, there are currently three types of sensors: a distance sensor consisting of a wire reel with an encoder and a wire wound on the reel, a direction sensor such as a gyro compass or a compass, and a mileage sensor that detects the distance traveled. It recognizes the location.

c) Problems to be solved by the invention However, the Z5:yy-pZ5 that constitutes such a multi-position sensor is expensive and requires 9°8 doors.
There was the inconvenience of "l::'power".

2) Means for solving the problem The present invention has been made in view of these nine points, and includes:
It has a detection means for detecting the extension amount and direction of the power supply cord, and a calculation means for calculating the position information of the moving vehicle itself based on the detection result of the detection means.

e) Operation The position of the moving vehicle is detected using the power supply cord itself.

f) Example 1 The first prisoner is a mobile vehicle in which the present invention is used (181 is a mobile vehicle base, α7 is a rotatable drive wheel that holds this mobile vehicle base stop, The direction of travel is determined by the direction of rotation. In other words, the vehicle base moves in the direction in which the driving wheels σ and η face, but its direction does not change, resulting in omnidirectional movement.

[11 is a rotary plate rotatably attached to the mobile vehicle base stop by a bearing t+2112, ■ is a potentiometer attached to a potentiometer holder u3, and the rotation angle of the rotary plate u11 with respect to the base (15I) (6) is a tension measuring mechanism that measures the tension of the cord (1), 1181 is a cord winding unit that winds and supplies the cord (1), and the rotary plate ullV
c is attached.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the tension measuring mechanism (6) and the cord winding section, and FIGS. 6 and 4 are a sectional view of the cord winding section and a schematic diagram of the tension measuring mechanism, respectively. In these figures, (2) shows a cord reel rotatably held by a bearing +31!31 in a housing (4) fixed to the rotating plate (11), and a motor (
5) The power supply cord (1) is supplied and wound up. Further, an encoder (not shown) for measuring the amount of rotation is attached to the motor (5).

f7H7+ is the idler pulley, (8) is the floating pulley, (9) is the 7o-ting pulley holder, 00 is the strain gauge, and the code (1) is the idler pulley 1.
7) to the floating pulley (8) and supports the floating pulley (8). The amount of deflection of the floating gooly holder (9) is measured using a strain gauge (IOl).

FIG. 5 shows the control mechanism of such a mobile vehicle.

In the figure, the arithmetic control unit σj controls the driving of the drive wheels α7)αn to move the mobile vehicle in accordance with the travel program stored in the storage unit ①. In addition, this calculation control unit (11
) controls and adjusts the amount of rotation of the motor (5) so that the tension in the tension measuring mechanism (6) is at a predetermined level, and also controls the amount of rotation of the motor (5) from the potentiometer (14) to the rotary plate (1).
, 11 is detected. On the other hand, the storage section j stores the position of the outlet into which the plug (not shown) of the power supply cord () is inserted, and stores information on the amount of rotation of the motor (5) and the rotation angle of the rotary plate (111). At the same time, the current position of the vehicle itself is calculated and held.Then, the program travel of the vehicle is performed while confirming the position based on this calculated position information.

In such a mobile vehicle, the number of pulses per encoder rotation of the motor (5) is n1, and the radius of the code reel (2) is r, and the feed amount l of code +11 is l knee rxsin.
560, and the outlet position is X as shown in Figure 6.
In the Y coordinate (a+, o), the rotation angle of the rotating plate [111 is θ
Then, the XY coordinate position (H2, b2) of the moving vehicle is (a2
．． b2)-(a1+j2sinθ, Jcooθ).

In addition, in this embodiment, although the mobile vehicle base (151) does not rotate, even if the base (151) rotates, the rotation angle β of the base (151 itself) As long as a means for measuring is provided, the actual rotation angle θ can be calculated by combining the rotation angle α of the rotating plate (111) with respect to the base part by θ−α
It can be found by +β.

g) Effects of the Invention As described above, the position detection device of the present invention detects the amount and direction of extension of the power supply cord and calculates the position information of the moving vehicle based on the detection results. To detect the position of a moving vehicle with a simple configuration without using an expensive instrument such as a compass.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the main parts of a mobile vehicle using the position detection device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the main parts of the device of the present invention, Fig. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the cord winding section, and Fig. 4 5 is a schematic diagram of the state of the tension measuring mechanism, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a moving vehicle using the present invention, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining position calculation of the moving vehicle. (1)...Power supply cord, (2)...Cord reel, f3H31...Bearing, (4)...Housing, (5)...Motor, (6)...Tension measurement mechanism, ( 11J... Rotating plate, I... Potentiometer, a51... Mobile vehicle base, (17)
17)... Drive wheel, (181... Cord winding section, Housing 9... Arithmetic control section, (201... Storage section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) In a moving vehicle that obtains electric power through a power supply cord and moves within a predetermined area, a detection means for detecting the amount and direction of extension of the power supply cord, and a detection means for detecting the length and direction of the power supply cord, and a detection means for detecting the length and direction of the power supply cord; A position detection device comprising: a calculation means for calculating position information of.