JPH07147723A - Control method of cable take-up apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To avoid the dip or excessive tension of a cable while a self-travelling robot is travelling by a method wherein a cable take-up torque calculation table peculiar to a bent route is set up by a cable pay-off/take-up means to control the pay-off and take-up of the cable. CONSTITUTION:When a self-travelling robot 3 travels forward, a cable pay-off length and a cable take-up torque are measured by a cable pay-off length detecting means 6 and a cable take-up torque detecting means 5 respectively and the detected results are transmitted to a cable pay-off/take-up control means 9. Further, a cable tension measured by a cable tension detecting means 8 on the self-travelling robot 3 side and the travelling position datum of a travelling position detecting means 7 which measures the travelling position of the self- travelling robot 3 are respectively transmitted to the cable pay-off/take-up means 9. Then the system control of a cable take-up apparatus 1, a cable 2 and the self-travelling robot 3 is performed in accordance with the informations transmitted from the respective detecting means 5-8. With this constitution, the pulling torque of the cable 2 can be controlled while the self-travelling robot 3 is travelling.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of controlling a cable winding device for winding or unwinding a composite cable connected to a self-propelled robot or the like that runs in a pipeline or on the floor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-281262 discloses a method for controlling a cable winding device including a cable wound around a drum of a self-propelled robot or a cable winding device connected to the self-propelled robot. There is a control method. This control method controls the cable winding and winding of the cable winder so that the cable does not slack when the mobile robot is running, based on the cable feed length measured on the cable winder side and the cable tension value measured on the self-propelled robot side. It is carried out.

[0003]

A self-propelled robot connected to a cable end housed in (or wound up by) a cable winding device runs in synchronization with a cable feeding / winding operation of the cable winding device. A desirable control method in the case of wanting to do so will be described.

When the cable fed out while the self-propelled robot travels on the floor and travels, the weight of the cable causes the cable surface to come into contact with the floor surface, and the surface of the cable is damaged. There is a risk that the coating may break and cause an electric accident such as an electric leakage. Further, since the traveling force is lost due to the contact, the driving unit becomes large, the self-propelled robot becomes large, and the weight increases. For this reason, there has been a demand for a method in which the cable is tensioned by some means while the self-propelled robot is running and the cable is floated from the floor surface for control.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional control system, there is no means on the cable winding device side for detecting the torque of the drive mechanism due to the cable tension at the time of winding and unwinding the cable and controlling the winding and unwinding of the cable. When the cable tension on the running robot side is large and the torque of the drive mechanism on the cable winding device side is small, that is, when the cable on the self-propelled robot side has no slack but the cable on the cable winding device side has slack, etc. However, on the side of the cable winder, there is a problem that the cable slack is increased by continuing the cable feeding.

Further, according to the conventional control method, when the cable winder is driven during traveling of the self-propelled robot, even if there is no abnormality in the torque of the drive mechanism on the side of the cable winder and the cable tension on the side of the self-propelled robot, it is fed out. In addition, when a slack occurs in the middle of the cable, there is a problem that this phenomenon cannot be prevented only by the measured value of the cable payout length and the detected value of the cable tension of the self-propelled robot.

Further, in the case where the self-propelled robot travels on a route having a bend instead of a straight line, and the cable has a bend along the route and is wound out or wound up, the winding-out of the route causes A change occurs in the torque of the winding device drive mechanism required for winding. Moreover, the conventional control method has a drawback in that the torque control of the cable winding device corresponding to the change of the route cannot be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to perform torque control in accordance with the amount of cable feeding and the traveling route of the self-propelled robot without causing slack in the cable when the self-propelled robot is traveling. It is an object of the present invention to provide a control method of a cable winding device capable of performing.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the first aspect of the present invention is to wind or unwind a composite cable connected to a self-propelled robot running in a pipeline or on the floor. In the control method of the take-up device, the cable tension load cell value and the robot traveling position of the self-propelled robot are detected by the cable tension detecting means and the robot traveling position detecting means, respectively, and the cable feeding amount and the cable feeding of the cable winding device are detected. The cable winding torque according to the amount is detected by the cable feeding amount detecting means and the winding torque detecting means, respectively, and transmitted to the cable feeding / winding control means, and the cable winding / winding control means concerned winds the cable. The feeding control is performed, and the self-propelled robot is detected by the robot traveling position detection means. When traveling along a curved path and sequentially feeding and winding the cable along the curved path, the cable feeding / winding control means sets a cable winding torque calculation table specific to the curved path to feed the cable. -Characterized by controlling winding.
Further, a second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a cable feeding amount detecting means for detecting a cable feeding amount by reading a barcode attached to the cable at a constant interval by a barcode reader is provided.

[0010]

According to the control method of the cable winding device of the present invention, the cable feeding amount and the winding torque of the cable winding device are detected by the cable feeding amount detecting means and the winding torque detecting means, respectively, and the cable feeding / winding control is performed. Further, the cable tension load cell value and the traveling position of the self-propelled robot are detected by the cable tension detecting means and the traveling position detecting means, respectively, and transmitted to the cable feeding / winding control means. The self-propelled robot is controlled by controlling the torque of the winding device according to the change in the cable pulling force and the change in the cable pulling force due to the change in the shape of the traveling surface, and by performing the cable payout and winding control to correct it when the cable is slack. It does not cause cable slack or over tension during travel.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the control device of the cable winding device of this embodiment is wound around the cable winding device 1, the self-propelled robot 3, and the drum of the cable winding device 1 and connected to the self-propelled robot 3. And a load cell 4 installed on the self-propelled robot 3 for measuring the tension of the cable 2.

By the way, the winding torque detecting means 5 and the cable feeding amount detecting means 6 are provided on one cable winding device side.
Is provided, and the traveling position detecting means 7 is provided on the other self-propelled robot side.
Further, a cable tension detecting means 8 for processing a cable tension detection amount measured by the load cell 4 is provided, and a cable feeding / winding control means 9 for controlling and controlling these detecting means 5-8 is provided.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
First, when the self-propelled robot 3, that is, the traveling carriage travels forward, the cable feeding amount and the cable winding torque are detected as the cable feeding amount detecting means 6 and the winding torque detecting means 5, respectively.
Is measured and transmitted to the cable feeding / winding control means 9. The cable tension detection means 8 on the self-propelled robot side also transmits the cable tension measured by the load cell 4 installed in the self-propelled robot 3 to the cable feeding / winding control means 9. Further, the traveling position data of the self-propelled robot 3 detected by the traveling position detecting means 7 for measuring the traveling position of the self-propelled robot 3 is also transmitted to the cable feeding / winding control means 9. When the self-propelled robot 3 travels a long distance, the amount of cable unwinding becomes large in the cable unwinding / winding control means, and due to the weight of the cable, the torque of the drive mechanism for the cable unwinding / winding of the cable winding device 1 is increased. Grows larger. For this reason, the cable is slackened, and therefore, in order to prevent the slack, the cable winding / winding torque calculation table corresponding to the amount of the cable feeding out is provided to control the cable winding device. At the same time, the system control of the cable winding device 1, the cable 2 and the self-propelled robot 3 is performed based on the information transmitted from the detection means 5 to 8.

Next, a concrete method of each of the means 5 to 9 will be described. First, the cable feeding amount detection means 6
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the pulley 10 is used as a support for the feeding cable 2, the rotary encoder 11 is directly connected to the pulley 10, and this rotary encoder 11 measures the rotation of the pulley 10 associated with the winding and feeding of the cable. It is carried out by converting the cable feeding amount and winding amount. As another means, a bar code in which the cable feeding length is recorded in advance is attached to the cable 2 at regular constant intervals, and a bar code reader is fixedly installed at the cable winding position of the cable winding device 1 to feed the cable. There is also a method of reading the bar code with a bar code reader at the time of winding and detecting the length of the cable fed out.

Further, the winding torque detecting means 5 converts the load current acting on the drive motor of the winding device at the time of feeding and winding the cable into a winding torque value and detects it. The traveling position detecting means 7 measures, for example, the number of rotations of the wheels of the self-propelled robot 3 by the rotary encoder 11 or the like, converts the rotation number into the traveling position of the self-propelled robot 3, and detects it. In this case, the traveling position of the self-propelled robot 3 indicates the distance from the traveling start position of the self-propelled robot 3 to the traveling position. Also, the cable tension detecting means 8
Detects the cable traction force value measured by the load cell 4 of the self-propelled robot 3 by converting it into a cable tension value. The cable feeding / winding control means 9 inputs the respective detection values detected by the detection means 5 to 8 by a computer such as a microcomputer to control the cable winding device system.

Next, a specific method of controlling the cable winding device 1, the cable 2 and the self-propelled robot 3 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 3, the cable slack 12 is generated on the cable winding device 1 side, and the slack is not generated on the cable on the self-propelled robot 3 side. The torque upper and lower limits and the cable tension upper and lower limits of the self-propelled robot 3 are set as a constant table of a computer such as a microcomputer. The winding torque detecting means 5 detects the winding torque value of the cable winding device 1 in the loosened state of the cable,
It is determined by computer processing that this torque value is lower than the winding torque lower limit value of the constant table of the cable feeding / winding control means 9, and the cable winding processing of the cable winding device 1 is executed, or the winding device and self Stop the running robot. By this process, the extension of the cable slack state is prevented.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, when the cable slack 12 is generated in the cable on the side of the self-propelled robot 3 and there is no abnormality in the cable on the winding device 1 side, the load cell 4 on the side of the self-propelled robot 3 in the slack state of the cable is shown. The cable tension value measured, detected by the cable tension detecting means 8, and transmitted to the cable feeding / winding means 9 is lower than the cable tension lower limit value of the constant table previously input to the computer. Is determined by a computer and the cable winding process of the cable winding device 1 is executed or the stopping process of the cable winding device 1 and the self-propelled robot 3 is executed to prevent the cable slack state from increasing.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, when there is no abnormality in the cable tension on the cable winding device 1 side and the self-propelled robot 3 side, and the cable slack 12 is generated in the intermediate portion,
The cable feeding amount and the traveling position data of the self-propelled robot detected by the cable feeding amount detecting means 6 and the traveling position detecting means 7 are compared in size by the cable feeding / winding control means 9, and the cable feeding amount is calculated from the traveling position data. When the cable is larger than a certain value, it is determined that the cable is slack, and the cable winding device 1 executes the cable winding process or the cable winding device 1 and the self-propelled robot 3 stop process. Prevents cable slack from increasing.

3 and 4, when the cable slack 12 is opposite, that is, when the cable is overtensioned abnormally, the cable feeding / winding control means 9 is opposite to the state shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Then, the computer determines that the winding torque value or the cable tension value is larger than the winding torque upper limit value or the cable tension upper limit value of the constant table, and the cable winding process of the cable winding device 1 is executed or the cable winding process is executed. By executing the stop processing of the device 1 and the self-propelled robot 3, the extension of the cable over tension state is prevented.

Furthermore, when the self-propelled robot 3 travels on a route having a bend and the cable is paid out or wound up along the route, the cable winding in the straight running of the same cable payout length at the bent part of the route. The winding torque value is different from the torque. In this case, by setting a winding torque calculation table corresponding to the cable payout length peculiar to this bending path in the winding torque calculation table section of the cable payout / winding control means 9, the cable winding corresponding to the path having a bend. Torque control of the taker can be performed.

[0021]

As described above, according to the control method of the cable winding device of the present invention, the torque control of the winding device is performed according to the change of the cable drawing amount and the change of the cable pulling force due to the change of the running surface shape. In addition, by performing cable feeding and winding control to correct it when the cable is slack, there is no possibility of causing slack in the cable or excessive tension of the cable while the self-propelled robot is running,
Safe cable feeding and winding control can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a method of measuring a cable feeding amount in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a cable slack condition in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of a cable slack condition in FIG.

5 is a diagram showing still another example of the cable slack condition in FIG. 1. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cable winding device, 2 ... Cable, 3 ... Self-propelled robot, 4 ... Load cell, 5 ... Winding torque detection means, 6 ... Cable feeding amount detection means, 7 ... Running position detection means, 8 ...
Cable tension detecting means, 9 ... Cable feeding / winding control means, 10 ... Pulley, 11 ... Rotary encoder, 12
… Cable slack.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of controlling a cable winding device for winding or unwinding a composite cable connected to a self-propelled robot traveling in a pipeline or on a floor, comprising: a cable tension load cell value and a robot traveling position of the self-propelled robot. Are detected by the cable tension detection means and the robot traveling position detection means, respectively, and the cable winding amount of the cable winding device and the cable winding torque corresponding to the cable winding amount are detected respectively. It is detected by the means and transmitted to the cable feeding / winding control means, the cable winding / winding control is performed by the cable feeding / winding control means, and the self-propelled robot is turned to the curved path by the robot running position detection means. Travel along and follow the cable along the curved route In the case of feeding and winding, control of the cable winding device is characterized in that the cable feeding / winding control means sets a cable winding torque calculation table specific to the bending path to perform cable feeding / winding control. Method. 2. The cable winding device according to claim 1, wherein the cable feed-out amount detecting means detects a cable feed-out amount by reading a bar code attached to the cable at a constant interval with a bar code reader. Control method.