JPH038911B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a walking-type wall running device, and in particular, even when the wall surface forms a curved surface such as a spherical or cylindrical surface, it can run along this curved surface in all postures. The present invention relates to a walking-type wall running device that can be used for walking on a wall.

[Background of the invention]

Maintenance work such as inspection and inspection of various tanks and structures is carried out regularly, but currently it is only done manually, and there is a need for the application of robots to this work. For this reason, various types of walking-type wall running devices have been developed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 54-59789), but all of them walk linearly on a flat surface.

FIGS. 2a and 2b are a plan view and an AA sectional view showing an example of such a walking wall traveling device,
In the figure, 1 is an outer frame consisting of horizontal members 2, 2 and vertical rods 3, 3 connecting these, 4 is an inner frame that is slidably fitted to the vertical rods 3, 3, and 5 is the vertical rod 3. , 3 are supported by the outer frame 1 and threadedly engaged with the inner frame 4. A screw rod 6 is a motor attached to the outer frame for rotating the screw rod 5 in forward and reverse directions. The outer frame 1 and the inner frame 4 are provided with suction legs having a suction device 7 (eg, electromagnetic type or suction type) and a telescopic actuator 8 . To walk on a wall, for example, to the right in the figure, the actuator 8 is operated to bring the suction device 7 of the outer frame 1 into contact with the wall surface, and the suction device 7 of the inner frame 4 is separated from the wall surface, and the motor 6 is used to move the suction device 7 of the inner frame 4 away from the wall surface. The rod 5 is rotated to move the inner frame 4 to the right with respect to the outer frame 1, and then the actuator 8 is operated to bring the suction device 7 of the inner frame into contact with the wall surface, and the suction device 7 of the outer frame 1 is brought into contact with the wall surface. , and rotate the screw rod 5 to move the outer frame 1 to the right with respect to the inner frame 4. By repeating this, you can walk. The same applies to walking to the left.

However, according to such a walking wall surface traveling device, if the wall surface has a curved shape as shown in FIG. 3, for example, when the walking inner frame 4 moves in the direction of the arrow in the figure, A larger gap g occurs between 7 and the wall surface W than in the case of a flat surface, and there is also a difference in the gap between the front and rear in the direction of travel.
At the same time, the center line of the inner frame 4 for walking becomes deviated from the center of the curved surface. Therefore, if the suction device 7 of the inner frame tries to suction to the wall surface in this state, suction may not be possible on the front side due to insufficient suction stroke, and on the rear side, the suction device will come into contact with the curved surface and create resistance. In addition, the inner frame 4 may be tilted with respect to the outer frame 1 for walking, and a moment may be applied around the contact point between the inner frame and the outer frame. The situation is similar when the outer traveling frame 1 moves. For this reason, it has been difficult for the conventional walking-type wall-traveling device to smoothly and well-balanced walking while following a curved surface.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a walking-type wall surface traveling device that enables balanced and smooth suction travel on curved surfaces.

[Summary of the invention]

In the present invention, an adjustment frame that can adjust the tilt angle between the walking wall traveling device and the outer frame or the inner frame is attached, and suction legs are provided on the adjustment frame and one of the inner frame or the outer frame. , the end of each suction leg is equipped with a sensor that detects the distance between the suction leg and the wall surface, and the adjustment is made according to the output of the sensor so as to maintain the same distance from the wall surface of each suction leg that is apart from the wall surface. By adjusting the tilt angle of the frame, the frame to which the moving suction legs belong always faces the center of the curved wall surface, making it possible to walk smoothly and with good balance.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention. 1 is the cross member 2
and an outer frame consisting of vertical rods 3, 4 an inner frame that can slide freely thereon, 5 a driving threaded rod, 6
is its drive motor, and the construction of these parts is the same as that shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the first frame referred to in the claims is an outer frame, and the second frame is an outer frame.
This is a case where the frame is an inner frame, and an adjustment frame 11 is tiltably supported on the inner frame 4 at a fulcrum 10, and a spring 9 and a telescopic actuator 8' are installed between both frames 4 and 11. By operating these actuators 8', the adjustment frame 11 can be tilted at various different angles with respect to the inner frame 4. A suction device 7 and a telescopic actuator 8 are installed on the adjustment frame 11 and the outer frame 1.
Each suction device 7 is provided with a sensor 15 for detecting a gap 14 with the wall W, as shown in an enlarged view surrounded by a large dotted circle in the figure.

Walking is basically the same as explained in FIG. Then, the suction device 7 of the adjustment frame 11 is brought into contact with the wall surface, and the suction device 7 of the outer frame is separated from the wall surface, and the outer frame is moved relative to the inner frame. In this case, the sensor 1 detects the gap 14 between each suction device 7 and the wall while it is away from the wall.
At the same time, the detection circuit 12 detects this information, and the control circuit 13 controls the gap to be equal, that is, the moving frame 1 or 1.
By calculating and outputting a control command and driving the actuator 8', the inner frame 4
It is configured to control the relative posture between the adjustment frame 11 and the adjustment frame 11.

According to this embodiment, by controlling the posture of the entire frame to which the suction legs are fixed, it is possible to run while maintaining a uniform gap between the curved surface and the legs, and automatically achieve balanced and smooth running. This can be done in a specific manner. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1, by adding an actuator 8'' similar to that described above to each suction leg, the posture of each suction device can also be controlled, and this can be controlled by the sensor 15 and the By functionally integrating it into the attitude control circuit of the entire device, in addition to controlling the attitude of the entire traveling device as described above, it is also possible to better adsorb against undulations on walls, resulting in even higher stability. It becomes possible to control the posture of walking.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the mutual structure between the inner frame 4 and the adjustment frame 11. As shown in FIG. By placing adjustment frame 1 around this position,
1 can be freely rotated while being held relative to the inner frame 4. Therefore, if the actuator 8' is positioned symmetrically in the vertical direction (direction) and the horizontal direction (direction) as shown in FIG.
1 can be controlled at any angle around the fulcrum 10.

As shown in Figure 5 1 or 2, by using a linear actuator such as a piston type or solenoid type actuator 8, 8', 8'', it is possible to obtain a small size and a large stroke.In the case of a piston type By installing the feedback circuit 15 together, controllability can be further improved.

The leg actuator 8 can be a linear actuator as described above, or the linear actuator 8 and a spring 9' may be combined as shown in FIG. 6a to give the suction device 7 vertical movement. This makes it possible to absorb the gap caused by the curved wall surface. In addition, Fig. 6b shows an adsorption device 7 which is rotatable around two axes X and Y, and an actuator 8 is further added to make it possible to deal with not only vertical gaps but also inclinations of the curved surface of the wall. It is. In FIG. 6c, a spherical bearing S is used as a fulcrum instead of the axes X and Y in FIG. 6b, and the same function as in FIG. 6b can be obtained more stably.

In addition, the adjustment frame 11 was attached to the outer frame 1 instead of the inner frame in a manner similar to that described above so as to be adjustable in tilt, and the same legs for wall suction as described above were attached to this adjustment frame and the inner frame, respectively. It goes without saying that an example, that is, an embodiment in which the first frame is the inner frame and the second frame is the outer frame as claimed in the claims is also possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the walking type wall running device of the present invention, it is possible to perform balanced and smooth running even on a curved wall surface.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a walking type wall traveling device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 a and b are a plan view and a side sectional view of a conventional walking type wall traveling device, and FIG. 3 is a side view of a walking type wall traveling device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 4a and 4b are configuration diagrams between the inner frame and the adjustment frame according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 5 1 and 2 are illustrations of the actuator, and FIG. 6a , b, and c are illustrative views of the end configuration of a suction leg including a suction device and its actuator in the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Outer frame, 2...Horizontal member, 3...Connection vertical rod, 4...Inner frame, 5...Screw rod for power transmission, 6...Motor, 7...Adsorption device, 8...Actuator, 9... Spring, 10... Fulcrum, 1
1...adjustment frame, 12...detection circuit, 13...
...control device, 14...gap, 15...gap sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The first part is coupled so as to be movable in parallel relative to each other.
and a second frame, a drive mechanism for causing relative translation of both frames, an adjustment frame attached to the second frame so as to be tiltable relative to the second frame,
a mechanism for adjusting the tilting angle between the second frame and the adjustment frame; a suction leg that is connected to the first frame and the adjustment frame, respectively, and whose ends are attached to and detached from the wall; and a mechanism for adjusting the tilt angle between the second frame and the adjustment frame; a sensor that detects the distance between the suction legs, and a control device that controls the tilting angle adjustment mechanism in accordance with the output of the sensor so as to maintain equal distances between the suction legs and the wall that are separated from the wall. A walking wall running device.