JPH05254487A - Contact detecting device for moving body in water - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a contact detecting device for a moving body in water which reliably detects an obstacle approaching from a wide range and is suitable for omnidirectional moving body swimming in water. CONSTITUTION:A rotary shaft 15 which is rotatable around an axis C is arranged in a detecting cylinder 13 which is energized toward the tip side through the force of a spring 17 and movable forward and backward. A detecting roller 19 rotatable around a support axle 19a in the direction of the tangential line of a circle with a given radius L centering around the axis C is arranged to the tip part of the rotary shaft 15, and a detecting sensor 20 to detect forward and backward movement of the detecting cylinder 13 is provided. The detection roller is revolved around the axis of the rotary shaft by means of a press force during contact and the support axle is stopped in rear of a press force in an orthogonal position. A component of a force exerted in a direction in which the detection cylinder is bent is absorbed by rotation of the detection roller.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a contact detecting device provided on an underwater moving body such as an underwater cleaning robot for cleaning a wall surface in a water channel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a moving body which moves on land or the like, a contact detecting device for detecting a contact with a side wall or the like is provided with a detection shaft biased toward the tip end in a detecting portion so as to be freely retractable. By providing a sensor for detecting the withdrawal of the detection shaft on the base end side of the detection shaft, the sensor detects that the detection plate is pushed in when the tip comes into contact with the side wall or the like.

[0003]

However, in the detection device described above, the side wall approaching from the axial direction of the detection shaft or the direction close to the axial direction can be easily retracted to reliably detect the contact. As for the side wall approaching the detection shaft in a direction deviated from the axial direction, the force in the bending direction is larger than the force in the direction in which the detection shaft is retracted, so that the detection range is narrow. Therefore, the above-described detection device is not suitable for an omnidirectional moving body in which an obstacle approaches from any direction in water or the like.

The present invention solves the above problems and is capable of reliably detecting an obstacle approaching from a wide range, and is particularly suitable for an omnidirectional moving body such as a swimmer in water. An object is to provide a detection device.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a contact detecting device for an underwater moving body of the present invention has a detection shaft which is biased toward the tip side and which can freely move back and forth, and is rotatable about its axis. A rotary shaft is provided, and at the tip of the rotary shaft is provided a detection roller rotatable about a tangential axis of a circle having a predetermined radius centered on the rotary shaft center, and the detection shaft is retracted and retracted. Is provided with a detector for detecting.

[0006]

In the above structure, when the obstacle comes into contact with the detection roller, the shaft of the detection roller is displaced from the axial center position of the rotation shaft, so that a rotation moment is generated and the detection roller is rotated about the rotation shaft center. Pivoting around, the detection roller is stopped at a position orthogonal to the axis behind the pressure of the obstacle.
As a result, of the pressing force of the obstacle, the component force in the direction of bending the detection shaft is absorbed as the rotational force of the detection roller to roll and move the obstacle backward, and in the axial direction of the detection shaft. The contact force is detected by retracting the detection shaft against the biasing means by the component force along the force and detecting it by the detector. In this way, of the pressing force of obstacles that come into contact, the component force in the direction in which the detection shaft is bent can be absorbed by the detection roller and the detector can be detected from the wide range of directions. The contact can be surely detected corresponding to the obstacles that move, and it is extremely effective as an omnidirectional moving body detection device.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an underwater cleaning robot using a contact detection device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

This underwater cleaning robot is for cleaning the wall surface of a water channel such as a water intake channel or a drainage channel of a power plant, for example. As shown in FIGS. A propulsion device having traveling wheels 2A, 2B and a plurality of thrusters 3a to 3c; a cleaning device having a plurality of rotating cleaning brushes 4a to 4c;
An attitude control device 6 for tilting the robot body 1 about a horizontal axis passing through the center of gravity, and a contact detection device 7 for detecting contact between the robot body 1 and a side wall are provided. The contact detection devices 7 are arranged outward at four corners of the robot body 1 on both sides of a front bumper 8 and a rear bumper 9 provided at the front and rear portions of the robot body 1.

That is, in this contact detecting device 7, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, two bearing bodies 12A and 12B are attached to a mounting plate 11 with a predetermined space therebetween.
A detection cylinder 13 is slidably held in the shaft center C direction via shoes on 2A and 12B. A cylindrical detection block 14 is externally fitted and fixed to the base end of the detection cylinder 13, and a rotary shaft 15 is rotatably fitted in the detection cylinder 13 at the same axial center position. In addition, the bearing bodies 12A, 12
A stopper ring 16 is externally fitted and fixed to the tip end side of the detection tube 13 between B, and a spring 17 is interposed between the stopper ring 16 and the base end side bearing body 12B so that the detection tube 13 is attached to the tip end side. Is urged by.

A roller fork 18 is attached to the tip of the rotary shaft 15, and a tangential support shaft 19a of a circle having a predetermined radius L centered on the axis C of the rotary shaft 15 is attached to the roller fork 18. Detection roller 1 that can be rotated via
9 are supported. A non-contact detection sensor 20 is provided on the mounting plate 11 so as to face the detection plane 14a on the side of the detection block 14 via a mounting member 21, and the flat portions 14b and 14c of the detection block 14 are provided. An L-shaped detent plate 22 that is slidably in contact with the detection block 14 to detent it is attached.

According to the above configuration, while the robot body 1 is moving or changing direction by the traveling wheels 2A, 2B and the thrusters 3a to 3c, the side wall approaches the contact detector 7 with an inclination angle and contacts the detection roller 19. Then, the detection roller 1
Since the support shaft 19a of 9 is displaced from the shaft center C of the rotating shaft 15 by L, a rotational moment about the shaft center C is generated by the pressing force and the detection roller 19 is swung to move the pressing force. The support shaft 19a of the detection roller 19 is stopped at a position orthogonal to the direction of the pressing force. This allows
Of the pressing force, the component force acting in the direction in which the rotary shaft 15 and the detection cylinder 13 are bent is absorbed as the rotational force for rotating the detection roller 19, and the detection roller 19 rolls to move the side wall rearward. With the component force along the axial center C direction, the rotation shaft 15 and the detection cylinder 13 are retracted by the predetermined stroke S against the spring 17, and the detection sensor 20 can detect the backward movement of the detection block 14.

[0012]

As described above, according to the contact detecting apparatus of the present invention, the rotating shaft of the detecting roller is arranged in the tangential direction deviated from the axial center position of the rotating shaft, so that the pressing force at the time of contact causes First, a rotation moment about the axis of the rotation axis is generated in the detection roller to rotate the detection roller around the axis of the rotation axis, and the axis of the detection roller is at a rear position orthogonal to the pressing force direction. Can be stopped. As a result, the component force of the pressing force acting in the direction of bending the detection shaft can be absorbed as the rotational force of the detection roller, and the component force along the axial direction of the detection shaft resists the detection shaft against the biasing means. The contact is detected by retracting the contact and detecting it with a detector. Therefore, even if a contact force that tries to bend the detection shaft approaches from a direction different from the axial center and the component force is large, the component force in the bending direction is absorbed and only the component force in the axial direction of the detection shaft is extracted. Since it can be detected by the detector, it is possible to detect contact with high accuracy when an obstacle approaches from a wide range of directions, and it is ideal as a contact detection device for omnidirectional moving bodies such as underwater floating bodies. ..

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing an embodiment of a contact detection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the contact detection device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the contact detection device.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an underwater cleaning robot that employs the contact detection device.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the submersible cleaning robot.

FIG. 6 is a rear view of the submersible cleaning robot.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Robot body 2A, 2B Traveling wheels 3a-3c Thruster 4a-4c Rotating cleaning brush 5 Loading / unloading device 6 Attitude control device 7 Contact detection device 8 Front bumper 9 Rear bumper 11 Mounting plate 12A, 12B Bearing body 13 Detection tube 14 Detection block 14a Detection plane 15 Rotating shaft 16 Stopper ring 17 Spring 18 Roller fork 19 Detection roller 20 Detection sensor 21 Detection sensor mounting member 22 Rotation stop plate

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Akira Sakai 1 Higashishinmachi, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (72) Inventor Yutaka Yamada 5-3 28, Nishikujo, Konohana-ku, Osaka, Osaka Within Hitachi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuhito Miwa 5-3 28 Nishi-Kujo, Konohana-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture Inside Hitachi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (72) Manabu Miura, 5-3 Nishi-Kujo, Konohana-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture No. 28 in Hitachi Zosen Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A detection shaft that is biased toward the front end side and that can freely move back and forth is provided with a rotary shaft that is rotatable around its axis, and the front end portion of this rotary shaft is centered on the rotary shaft axis. A contact detection device for an underwater vehicle, comprising a detection roller rotatable about a tangential axis of a circle having a predetermined radius, and a detector for detecting whether the detection axis is retracted or retracted.