JPH0647376B2 - Traveling roller support mechanism for in-pipe traveling device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention provides a center drum, a plurality of traveling units around the center drum, and a traveling unit in which each traveling unit is held by the center drum. The present invention relates to a traveling roller support mechanism in an apparatus.

[Prior Art and its Problems] Conventionally, an inspector enters the pipe and inspects the inner surface of a pipe such as a water pipe using an inspection device such as an ultrasonic trauma device, a thickness gauge, and a camera. .

However, a scaffold is required when inspecting a large-diameter pipe having a diameter of 2 m or more by such a method, and it takes a lot of time and labor to construct the scaffold especially for a water pipe having a steep slope. There is a problem that it takes time, the efficiency of the whole inspection is in any case, and the inspection work is dangerous.

In the case of steeply inclined water pipes, it is possible to use a large device that suspends the gondola from the top for construction, but a considerable opening is required to carry such a device into the pipe. Yes, it is not suitable for frequent periodic inspections.

In view of such conventional problems, the present inventors have developed an in-pipe traveling device that is capable of self-propelled in a large-diameter pipe and also in an inclined pipe line by mounting inspection equipment.

As shown in FIG. 1, for example, this device includes a center drum (1) that can include an inspection device and a plurality of pairs of traveling units (2) that face each other across the center drum (1). A plurality of pairs of traveling rollers (8) provided in front of and behind the traveling unit (2) and a pair of parallel cylinder devices (9) having rods (91) extending in opposite directions are provided. 9) The traveling units (2) facing each other are connected to each other by the center drum (1).
Telescopic arm (3) that penetrates through and both cylinder devices (9)
(10) provided on the cylinder body (90) of the
And a centering device (5) for the center drum (1), which comprises a pinion (11) provided on the center drum (1) so as to be meshed with both the rack bodies (10). . The traveling roller (8) of the traveling unit (2) is always pressed against the inner surface of the pipe by the action of the telescopic arm (3), so that the correction action can be obtained even when the device such as the inclined pipe is inclined. The center drum (1) is always located between the traveling units (2) facing each other regardless of the distance between the traveling units (2) facing each other by the action of the centering device (5). The center drum (1) is always held at the center of the plurality of traveling units (2), and therefore, the correction and holding actions of these units always maintain the proper posture of the apparatus. If the device is run in a pipe, a good pipe inspection can be performed.

By the way, the correcting action of the in-pipe traveling device is performed by pressing the center of the traveling unit (2) by the cylinder (9) of the telescopic arm (3) to constantly correct the inclination thereof. The holding action is performed by the rack body (10) of the cylinder (9) and the center drum (1).
The pinion (11) is engaged with the pinion (11), and the mechanism for maintaining the posture of the device is maximized when the traveling device is stably spirally traveled.

Therefore, in the traveling device as described above, it is desired that stable spiral traveling, that is, stable steering can be performed, and the present invention intends to provide a traveling roller supporting mechanism having such a steering function. To do.

[Means for Solving the Problem] Therefore, the traveling roller support mechanism in the in-pipe traveling device according to the present invention includes a center drum that can include an inspection device and a plurality of pairs of traveling units that face each other with the center drum interposed therebetween. And a plurality of pairs of traveling rollers provided in front of and behind the traveling unit and a pair of parallel cylinder devices having rods extending in opposite directions. An in-pipe traveling device including a telescopic arm penetrating the center drum, and a center drum centering device including a rack body provided on the cylinder bodies of both cylinder devices and a pinion provided on the center drum so as to mesh with the rack bodies. The support mechanism for the traveling roller in the above, which is rotatably supported by the mounting base of the traveling unit. A held cylinder, a power transmission shaft rotatably held by the cylinder, and a main body fixed to the lower end of the cylinder, and a roller support shaft and a roller support for rotation of the shaft. A bracket portion having a gear mechanism for transmitting to the shaft in its body,
A traveling roller supported on the roller support shaft such that the center in the radial direction and the center in the thickness direction are located on an extension of the cylinder center of the cylinder; and a worm wheel provided on the outer periphery of the cylinder so as to rotate together with the cylinder. A worm that is rotatably supported by the mounting base so as to mesh with the worm wheel,
The basic feature is that the drive sources for the rotation of the cylinder and the rotation of the shaft are separately arranged.

[Operation] The driving force transmitted from the drive unit of each traveling unit, which is one of the driving sources, is transmitted to the shaft body, and is transmitted from this shaft body to the roller support shaft via the gear mechanism of the bracket portion to rotate the traveling roller. .

When the worm is rotated by the driving force transmitted from the steering drive device, which is another drive source, to the drive system of such a traveling roller, the tubular body rotates via the worm wheel and the lower end of the tubular body is rotated. The traveling roller swivels through the provided bracket portion. Such a steering operation is performed irrespective of the traveling roller drive system by using the cylindrical body. Therefore, even when the traveling device is traveling, the steering operation can be freely performed, and stable spiral traveling can be performed.

Further, the traveling roller is supported so that the center in the radial direction and the center in the thickness direction are located on the extension of the cylinder center of the cylindrical body. Therefore, the traveling roller always makes a turning motion with its ground contact point as a fulcrum during steering. In order to stabilize the traveling of the traveling device which is the premise of the present invention, a plurality of traveling units are opposed to each other with the center drum interposed therebetween, and a plurality of traveling rollers are provided in front of and behind the traveling unit. In addition, by the action of pivoting with the grounding point of the traveling roller as a fulcrum,
More stable spiral running is possible.

[Embodiment] FIGS. 1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 3 are overall views of a traveling device, which is a center drum (1) that can include an inspection device, and a plurality of traveling units (2A1) arranged around the center drum (1). ) (2A2) (2B1)
(2B2), the telescopic arms (3A) and (3B) that connect the traveling units that face each other with the center drum interposed therebetween and that penetrate the center drum, the cylinder device (4) that connects the adjacent traveling units, and the center drum. It is composed of centering devices (5A) (5B) for positioning between the traveling units facing each other.

Each traveling unit (2) has two traveling rollers (8XL) (8XR) and (8YL) (8Y) at the front and rear of its traveling direction.
R), and a drive device (12) for this traveling roller
And a steering mechanism.

Explaining the support structure of each traveling roller (8), the tubular body (14) is rotatable and movable in the longitudinal direction in a tubular casing portion (131) forming a part of the mounting base (13) (base body). The shaft body (15) for power transmission is rotatably held in the hollow portion (141) of the cylindrical body (14) via a bearing (16). A bevel gear (17) is attached to one end of the shaft body (15) on the traveling roller side.
Is fixed, and its peripheral body is slidably in contact with the inner surface of the cylindrical body (14).

A bracket portion (18), which supports the roller and is provided with a roller driving force transmission mechanism, is connected to an end of the tubular body (14) on the traveling roller side. This bracket part (1
8) has a casing-like main body (19) having the cylindrical body (1).
4) is fixed to the end of the main body, and a transmission shaft (21) having a bevel gear (20) meshing with the bevel gear (17) and a roller support shaft (22) parallel to the transmission shaft are rotatably provided inside the main body. The traveling roller (8) is fixed to the end of the roller support shaft (22) protruding from the main body (19). Gears (23) and (24) are fixed to the transmission shaft (21) and the roller support shaft (22), respectively.
3) Another gear (25) is rotatably provided in the middle of (24) to rotate the shaft body (15) by the bevel gear (1).
7), (20), transmission shaft (21), gears (23), (2)
5), (24) and the roller support shaft (22) are transmitted in this order to rotate the running roller (8).

In addition, the running roller (8) is smoothly steered,
In order to perform stable traveling, the traveling roller (8) is roller-supported so that its radial direction and widthwise center are located on the extension of the cylinder center of the cylinder body (14) (that is, the shaft center of the shaft body (15)). It is fixed to the shaft (22).

On the mounting base (13) on the side opposite to the traveling rollers, the transmission cylinder (2) is arranged so as to face the end of the cylinder (14).
6) is rotatably provided via a bearing (27), and a sprocket wheel (28) is fixed to an end of the bearing.

The other end (151) of the shaft body (15) has a cylindrical body (14).
And is slidably inserted in the transmission cylinder (26) in the longitudinal direction. The ends of the transmission cylinder (26) and the shaft body (15) are engaged with each other in the circumferential direction by a key and a key groove provided along their longitudinal direction, or with and without a dovetail groove, etc. ), While ensuring the sliding of the shaft body (15) with respect to
It can be transmitted to 5). The cylindrical body (14)
A ring-shaped worm wheel (3
9) is provided. That is, the tubular body (14) is fitted in the worm wheel (39) so as to be slidable in the longitudinal direction, while the worm wheel (39) has its side surface locked to the fixing portion on the side of the mounting base. It is designed to be held in its fixed position regardless of the movement of (14) in the longitudinal direction. The cylindrical body (14) and the worm wheel (39) are engaged with each other in the circumferential direction by a key groove provided along the direction of their cylinder center, or a dovetail groove and a dovetail groove, so that rotation of the worm wheel (39) can be prevented. Body (1
It can be transmitted to 4).

The mounting base (13) has the worm wheel (3
A worm (40) meshing with 9) is rotatably supported. A window hole is formed in the cylindrical casing part (131) for meshing the worm (40) with the worm wheel (39). . The worm (40) is also arranged in the casing part (132) provided so as to be continuous with the casing part (131).

Each traveling unit has a pair of traveling rollers (8XL) (8XR) at the front and a pair of traveling rollers (8Y) at the rear.
L) and (8YR) can be separately steered. For this reason, a drive device (4) (drive motor) for steering drive is provided for each of the front and rear traveling rollers.

This will be described with respect to the front traveling rollers (8XL) (8XR). The worms (40) corresponding to both traveling rollers (8XL) (8XR) are connected by the transmission shaft (42) and rotate in synchronization. It is configured. A sprocket wheel (43) is fixed to the shaft end of the one worm (40). A sprocket wheel (44) is fixed to the main shaft of the drive unit (41), and a sprocket wheel (45) (46) for restraining is interposed between the sprocket wheels (43) (44) in the chain (4).
7) is hung around. According to this structure, the driving force of the drive unit (41) is transmitted to both worms (40) via the chain (47), the sprocket wheel (43), the transmission shaft (42), etc., and each worm (40). Rotation causes the cylindrical body (14) to rotate via the worm gear (39), and the traveling rollers (8XL) (8XR) are steered.

The same structure is adopted for the rear running rollers (8YL) (8YR).

Explaining the other structure, the drive device (12) for the traveling roller is fixed to the mounting base (13) at a substantially central portion thereof, and the bevel gear (32) is attached to its main shaft. Further, a shaft body (35) having a bevel gear (33) meshing with the bevel gear (32) fixed to one end and a sprocket wheel (34) fixed to the other end is mounted on the mounting base (13) via a bearing (36). It is rotatably installed. Then, the sprocket wheel (34) and four sprocket wheels (2
A chain (37) is hung between 8), and the driving force from the driving device side is transmitted to the traveling roller via each sprocket wheel (28) by this chain (37).

In addition, (38) is a sprocket wheel for giving elasticity to the chain.

A buffer coil spring (2
9) is externally inserted, and both ends of the coil spring (29) are attached to a locking portion (30) provided on the outer periphery of the tubular body (14) and a locking portion (31) facing the casing. It is locked, and the coil spring (29) serves to cushion the traveling roller.

In order to connect the telescopic arm, the mounting base (13) of the traveling unit is provided with a mounting plate (49) which is tiltable via the pivot (48) in the traveling unit advancing direction, and the mounting plate (49) is mounted on the mounting plate (49). (3) The rod (91) of the pair of cylinder devices (9) and the cylinder body (9).
0) and are fixed respectively. By adopting such a pivotal structure, even if an unreasonable force is applied to this portion, the traveling unit (2) can be tilted to escape.

In addition, the traveling roller (8) and its bracket portion (18)
The traveling unit constituent members except for are covered with a casing (50). A bellows (51) is mounted between the outer periphery of the mounting plate (49) and the casing (50) to allow the traveling unit (2) to tilt.

Explaining the entire structure of the traveling device, the center drum (1) is provided with a pair of through guide holes (6A) for inserting a pair of cylinder devices constituting one telescopic arm (30). Further, a pair of through guide holes (6B) are formed in the direction orthogonal to the through guide holes (6A) for inserting a cylinder device constituting another telescopic arm (3B).

An appropriate device (7) such as an inspection device is installed on the front surface of the center drum (1).

The traveling units (2A1) (2A2) (2B1) (2B2) are located on substantially the same plane including the center drum (1) and are arranged at intervals of 90 ° centering on the center drum (1). Of these, traveling units (2A1) and (2A1
2), the traveling units (2B1) and (2B2) face each other with the center drum (1) sandwiched therebetween to form a pair of traveling units.

The telescopic arms (3A) and (3B) connect the traveling units facing each other, and the former is the traveling unit (2A).
1) and (2A2), and the latter connects the traveling units (2b1) and (2B2), respectively, and both of these telescopic arms intersect in the center drum.

Each telescopic arm is composed of a pair of parallel cylinder devices (9) with rods (91) extending in opposite directions, and a pair of cylinder devices (9) (cylinders constituting the telescopic arm (3A)). A pair of cylinder devices (9) (cylinder body (90)) in which the body (90)) constitutes the through guide hole (6A) of the center drum (1) and the telescopic arm (3B).
Are inserted into the through guide holes (6B) so that they can move forward and backward.

Each telescopic arm is connected to each traveling unit with the cylinder body (90) of one cylinder device of the pair of cylinder devices (9) constituting the telescopic arm, and thereby faces each other with the center drum interposed therebetween. The traveling unit is connected.

The cylinder device (4) has a cylinder body (40).
To one of the adjacent traveling units and also to the rod (41)
Is pivotally connected to the other traveling unit, and adjacent traveling units are connected to each other. This cylinder device (4) can appropriately prevent left and right runout of adjacent traveling units. By connecting the adjacent traveling units with the cylinder device (4), the outer edge of the device forms a ring.

The centering devices (5A) and (5B) are provided corresponding to the telescopic arms (3A) and (3B), and each centering device is a cylinder body (90) of a pair of cylinder devices (9) constituting the telescopic arms. The rack body (10) attached to each of the opposing surfaces thereof and the pinion (1) provided between the cylinder main bodies (90) and provided at the center of the center drum (1) so as to mesh with the rack bodies (10). 11) and. The telescopic arm expands and contracts by advancing and retracting the load (90) of the pair of cylinder devices (9) forming the telescopic arm, but the pinion (11) meshes with the rack body (10) of both cylinder devices (9). As a result, both cylinder devices (9) are connected to the pinion (1
The lengths of both sides centering on 1) are always equal, and as a result, the center drum (1) is always centered between the traveling units facing each other regardless of the degree of expansion and contraction of the extendable arm.

Further, each traveling unit and the center drum have a built-in control device for controlling each drive mechanism, and these drive mechanism and control device receive a power and a control signal by a cable (52) guided from outside the pipe. Supplied. The cable (52) is connected to the center drum (1) via a rotary connector (53) so as to prevent twisting due to rotation of the device.

Each traveling unit (2) and telescopic arm (3), each telescopic arm (3) and center drum (1), each cylinder device (4) and traveling unit (2) which constitute the apparatus.
The respective connecting portions are detachable, so that disassembling and assembling at the time of carrying in and out of the pipe can be easily performed.

The traveling device is usually disassembled into a traveling unit (2), a telescopic arm (3), a center drum (1), and a cylinder device (4), which are loaded into a pipe to be used and then assembled. The traveling rollers (8) of 2A1) to (2B2) are brought into contact with the inner surface (A) of the pipe. Traveling units (2A that face each other across the center drum (1))
1) The traveling rollers of (2A2), (2B1) and (2B2) are moved by the action of the telescopic arms (3A) (3B) to the inner surface (A)
Are pressed into contact with each other, which provides a holding action of the device on the tilt tube.

When the device is moved, the direction (travel direction) of each traveling roller (8) is tilted from the pipe radial direction to the pipe axis direction (state with steering angle) by the steering mechanism.

Then, when the traveling roller (8) of each traveling unit (2) is driven by the drive device (12) in this state, the device rotates like the one wheel along the pipe inner direction, and the steering angle is adjusted by the above steering angle. Move in the tube axis direction. Looking at the operation of each traveling unit (2), they travel spirally along the pipe inner surface (A).

In such traveling, in the traveling roller support mechanism, the driving force from the drive device (12) causes the bevel gear (32),
(33), shaft (35), sprocket wheel (3
4), chain (37), sprocket wheel (28)
And the shaft (15) via the transmission cylinder (26), and further bevel gears (17), (20), gear (2).
3) It is transmitted to the roller support shaft (22) via (25) and (24) to rotate the traveling roller (8).

On the other hand, the driving force of the steering drive device (41) is
The sprocket wheel (44), the chain (47), the sprocket wheel (43), and the transmission shaft (42) are transmitted to each worm (41), whereby the tubular body (14) is rotated through the worm wheel, Bracket part (1
The running roller (8) is swung via 8).

As described above, since the driving sources of the traveling roller (8) and the steering are provided separately, the steering operation can be freely performed even when the traveling device is traveling, and stable spiral traveling can be performed. Has become.

Further, since the center of the traveling roller (8) in the radial direction and the axial direction is located on the extension of the cylinder center of the cylindrical body (14), the turning operation is always performed with the grounding point of the traveling roller (8) as a fulcrum. .

In the traveling device, the roller is steered during traveling for the purpose of attitude control, speed, adjustment, etc. When the fulcrum for turning the traveling roller is deviated from the center of the traveling roller, the traveling roller is moved during steering. Since the ground contact point of (8) is displaced, accurate posture control and the like cannot be performed. In this respect, in the device of the present invention, since the traveling roller always turns around the ground contact point as a fulcrum, it is possible to appropriately prevent the deviation of the ground contact point during steering. Here, in the traveling device, in order to stabilize traveling, the traveling unit (2) faces two pairs with the center drum (1) in between, and the traveling rollers (8) also pair two before and after the traveling unit (2). Although it is provided, a more stable spiral traveling is possible due to the displacement prevention action by the turning operation with the ground point of the traveling roller (8) as a fulcrum.

[Advantages of the Invention] According to the present invention described above, the direction of the traveling roller included in the traveling unit can be arbitrarily changed irrespective of the traveling drive system, and in addition, such a rotating operation of the traveling roller is always performed. Since the ground contact point can be used as a fulcrum, the position of the ground contact point is not displaced even in the steering during traveling, and therefore the posture control of the device by the steering wheel can be performed accurately.

Therefore, the in-pipe traveling device developed by the inventors of the present invention can perform stable spiral traveling, and thus the work of the in-pipe traveling device can be further optimized.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention.
1 is an overall front view of the traveling device, FIG. 2 is a side view of the same, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a lateral sectional view of the traveling unit, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a similar vertical sectional view. In the figure, (2A1) (2A2) (2B1) (2B2) is a traveling unit, (8XL) (8XR) (8YL) (8YR) is a traveling roller, (13) mounting base, (14) is a cylinder, (15) )
Is a shaft body, (18) is a bracket portion, (22) is a roller support shaft, (39) is a worm wheel, and (40) is a worm.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical indication location G01N 29/26 501 8105-2J (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Aoki 1-8-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Yuji Fujisawa, Marunouchi 1-2-2, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Kokan Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Tomoaki Sato 1-2-1, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. Japan Steel Pipe Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Moriya 1-2 1-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Japan Steel Pipe Co., Ltd. (72) Shunji Kaneko 1-2 1-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Date Inside the Steel Pipe Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP 61-54447 (JP, A) JP 58-217280 (JP, A) JP 58-114761 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A center drum that can include an inspection device, a plurality of pairs of traveling units that face each other across the center drum, a plurality of pairs of traveling rollers that are provided in front of and behind the traveling unit, and rods that are opposite to each other. A pair of parallel cylinder devices extending in the same direction, a telescopic arm that connects the traveling units facing each other by both cylinder devices, and penetrates the center drum, and a rack body provided in the cylinder bodies of both cylinder devices. And a centering device for the center drum, which comprises a pinion provided on the center drum so as to mesh with both racks, and a supporting mechanism for the running roller in the in-pipe running device, which is rotatable on the mounting base of the running unit. And a shaft body for power transmission rotatably held in the cylinder body, A bracket portion fixed to the lower end of the cylindrical body and having a roller support shaft and a gear mechanism for transmitting the rotation of the shaft body to the roller support shaft in its body, and a center in the radial direction and the thickness direction of the roller support shaft. Is supported so as to be positioned on the extension of the cylinder core of the cylinder, a worm wheel provided on the outer periphery of the cylinder so as to rotate together with the cylinder, and a mounting base rotated to mesh with the worm wheel. A traveling roller support mechanism in a pipe traveling device, comprising a worm that is movably supported, and drive sources for rotating the cylinder and rotating the shaft are separately arranged.