JPH0423166B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a robot device that moves along a vertical wall surface, and particularly to a robot device that can effectively clean a boiler furnace wall.

For example, boilers for thermal power plants are required to be inspected periodically based on the law (Electricity Business Law). Since it is necessary to stop the operation of the boiler when carrying out periodic inspections, it is common to carry out inspections and repairs other than inspection items at the same time as this inspection period. Of this inspection,
Inspection and repair of the inner surface of the boiler furnace is carried out manually by erecting scaffolding inside the boiler furnace and having workers enter the furnace. However, the scaffold assembly members must be brought in from a limited space such as a boiler hopper, and it is difficult to bring machinery into the furnace, so everything must be carried out manually. In addition, due to the recent increase in the capacity of boilers and the switch to coal as fuel, boiler furnaces have become larger, with furnace heights ranging from 40 to 100 m.
It has become extremely high. For this reason, it takes a long time to assemble and remove scaffolding, and
It takes 10 to 20 days, and 5 to 10 days for removal, and in addition to this, inspection and repair periods are required, so the boiler will be out of operation for a considerable period of time. By the way, the electrical energy that one boiler for a power plant can generate in a day ranges from tens of millions of yen to 1,000 yen in terms of electricity consumption.
The loss due to the boiler shutdown would be a huge amount, amounting to about 100 million yen.

For this reason, the inventors moved the boiler furnace wall,
We separately proposed a device that can automatically inspect and repair furnace walls, eliminating the need for manual inspection and repair work. This eliminates the need for assembling and dismantling scaffolding, eliminates worker fall accidents, and significantly reduces boiler shutdown time.

The present invention relates to a wall moving robot device that can move a vertical wall surface such as a boiler furnace wall, and in particular can be effectively used for cleaning the wall surface as part of the above-mentioned apparatus for inspecting, repairing, etc. the boiler wall surface.

In short, this invention provides a hollow rod that is inserted through the body of the device and a cylinder provided inside the device and is displaced in the direction of its own axis, and a dust absorbing portion is connected to each end of the rod. Electromagnets are provided in close proximity to the center of the body of each dust absorption part to enable movement of the device by inchworm motion, and an electromagnet for holding the body is provided at the center of the body, and the center of this electromagnet is set as an axis. This is a wall surface cleaning robot device characterized by being provided with means for rotating the body portion as a center.

First, the furnace wall inspection, which is separately proposed by the inventors,
An overview of the cleaning and repair equipment will be explained.

In FIG. 1, symbols 5a and 5b are the boiler 1
It is a working robot attached to a vertical wall 6 of
It is configured to move in close contact with the vertical wall surface of the boiler by magnetic force (electromagnet or permanent magnet in addition to electromagnet). Reference numeral 7 denotes a control/power unit (hereinafter simply referred to as "power unit"), which is placed on a gondola 30 suspended by a wire 8 attached to the top of the boiler. These robots 5a, 5
b and the power unit 7 are connected by cable hoses 9a and 9b for transmitting and receiving various signals and for suctioning dust. 12 is a main cable hose, which is connected to a service vehicle and a dust collection vehicle located outside the boiler.

2 and 3 show an embodiment of the invention.
In the figure, reference numeral 13 is a body part, and 16 is two rods inserted through the body part so as to be movable relative to the body part. Reference numeral 17 denotes a first suction section attached to one end of each rod 16, and numeral 18 denotes an electromagnet attached to the first suction section 17. On the other hand, a second suction part 20 is formed at the other end of each rod 16, and 19 is an electromagnet attached to this second suction part 20. The suction parts 17 and 20 are connected by support members 17' and 20', respectively, and the rod 16
In addition, the entire structure is formed in the shape of a parallel grid.

Next, reference numerals 23 and 24 are dust absorbing parts attached to the first suction part 17 and the second suction part 20, respectively. The dust absorbing parts 23 and 24 are in communication with each other through two hollow rods 16, and the dust D collected in the dust absorbing part 23 is transferred to another dust absorbing part 2 through each rod 16.
4 and is further sucked into the dust collector vehicle via the cable hose 9. In this case, the ventilation resistance of the dust absorption port in the dust absorption part 24 to which the cable hose 9 is directly connected is configured to be larger than the ventilation resistance of the dust absorption part 23.
It is a good idea to keep the suction power high.
Further, in order to effectively remove dust, it is preferable to attach brushes 23' and 24' to the absorption port side of each dust absorption section.

On the other hand, a rotary plate 21 is rotatably attached to the body portion 13, and an electromagnet 22 is further attached to this rotary plate. Reference numeral 14 denotes a manipulator attached to the body, and is configured to perform various operations by changing the tool 15 attached to the chuck 14a at the tip. Reference numeral 50 is a television camera attached to the manipulator so that the condition of the wall surface can be monitored by a service vehicle or the like.

Next, the drive device of this robot device will be explained. Reference numeral 25 is a cylinder disposed within the body portion 13 and fixed to this body portion. Each rod 16
is inserted through the cylinder 25 so that its center axis is equal to that of the cylinder 25, and a piston 26 is fitted and fixed to this rod. By pressurizing a working medium such as oil or air into one of the compartments of the cylinder partitioned by the piston 26, the body 13 and the rod 16 are moved relative to each other in the X direction or the Y direction. In the case shown, the cylinder 25 is hydraulically operated, and 31 is a hydraulic pump which presses oil into one of the compartments of each cylinder 25 to move the rod 16 relatively. Command signal 33 for the drive device
passes through the cable buried in the cable hose 9,
It enters the amplifier 32 from the cable 34 and operates each device. In this case, the rotating plate 21 may be configured to be rotated by another hydraulic servo 35.

Next, the operating state of this device will be explained. First, to explain the case of climbing up a wall surface, each electromagnet 18, 1 is
9 and 22 are in close contact with the furnace wall 6, which is a water pipe wall. Next, the magnets 18 and 19 are demagnetized, and at the same time, both magnets are pulled back slightly toward the attraction part by using the repulsive force of a spring (not shown), etc., so that the load of the robot is supported only by the electromagnet 22. Next, the rod 16 and its attached adsorption section and dust absorption section are moved upward by a drive device disposed inside the body section 13.
Electromagnets 18 and 19 are excited at predetermined positions and brought into close contact with the wall surface. Further, the magnet 22 is demagnetized and pulled back slightly toward the rotary plate 21, and the body itself is raised along the rod 16 using the drive device inside the body. By repeating this action, the robot climbs up the vertical wall like an inchworm.
Lowering is performed by performing the operation opposite to the above.
Further, the movement in the lateral direction is performed by rotating the robot main body in a predetermined direction with the rotating plate 21 in close contact with the wall surface.

In this case, the main body should be fixed to the wall and the rod 1
6, each dust absorbing section 2
If the dust on the wall surface is removed in steps 3 and 24, each magnet will come into close contact with the wall surface from which the dust has been removed, so that magnetic force can be applied effectively and the magnets can be strongly attached to the wall surface. Also, the manipulator 14
When operating the magnet, it is desirable that all the magnets 18, 19, and 22 are in close contact with the wall surface. The drive device is not limited to the above-mentioned cylinder type, but may be of any type, such as a worm and a rack, a male screw and a female screw, etc., as long as it can perform relative displacement between the rod and the body.

By implementing this invention, vertical walls such as boiler walls can be freely moved unmanned.
In particular, wall surfaces can be cleaned effectively.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a boiler furnace wall showing the working state of an apparatus for inspecting the boiler wall surface, FIG. 2 is a side view of a robotic device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the same device. 13... body part, 16... rod, 18,1
9, 22... Electromagnet, 23, 24... Dust absorption section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A hollow rod is provided that is inserted through the body of the device and a cylinder provided inside the device and is displaced in the direction of its own axis, and a dust absorbing portion is connected to each end of the rod, and the dust absorbing portion is Electromagnets are provided close to the center of the body so that the device can be moved by an inchworm action, and an electromagnet for holding the body is provided at the center of the body, and the body is moved around the center of the electromagnet as the axis. 1. A wall surface cleaning robot device, characterized in that it is provided with a means for rotating the robot.