JPH08164853A - Automatic traveling device in pipe line - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To display a sufficiently large thrust even in traveling over a long distance while the inspection operation in the pipe line is carried out. CONSTITUTION: An automatic traveling device 30 in a pipe line is constituted connect a front locking part 1 to a rear locking part 2 through a propelling device consisting of a hydraulic pressure cylinder device 33. The front locking part 1 and rear locking part 2 are alternately locked on the pipe wall and a hydraulic pressure cylinder device 33 is alternately expanded and contracted to act like a looper and travel in the pipe line P. A plurality of cylinder chambers of the hydraulic pressure device 30 are provided and pistons fixed to a piston rod common to the respective cylinder chambers are respectively provided, so that a large pressure receiving area as a whole can be obtained to give a large thrust. Also, when existing cables have been laid in the pipe line P, a large thrust is obtained even if the sectional area of the cylinder is lessened relative to an empty space in the pipe line P.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pipeline automatic traveling device, for example, a pipeline for in-pipe inspection which is equipped with an industrial camera and is self-propelled in a cable pipeline for in-pipe inspection. The present invention relates to a pipeline automatic traveling device suitable for application to a road automatic traveling device and the like, and is particularly characterized by a fluid pressure cylinder device for obtaining its propulsion force.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 6, an automatic running device for in-pipe inspection for inspecting the above-mentioned in-pipe is provided in front of and behind the cable pipe (hereinafter simply referred to as pipe) P to be inspected in the pipe axial direction. The front locking part 1 and the rear locking part 2 arranged are connected via a propulsion device composed of a fluid pressure cylinder device 3 in the pipe axis direction, and a working part 4 is provided on the front locking part 1 side, An in-pipe automatic traveling device 6 in which a control unit 5 is provided on the locking unit 2 side is used.

The front locking portion 1 and the rear locking portion 2 are
A hollow cylindrical expansion / contraction body 9 made of synthetic rubber is attached to a shaft 10 and disposed between the front plate 7 and the rear plate 8. The expansion / contraction body 9 is expanded by supplying compressed air thereto. And presses it against the pipe wall, and the frictional force locks the front locking part 1 or the rear locking part 2 to the pipe wall, and prevents the front locking part 1 or the rear locking part 2 from moving. In addition, the expansion / contraction body 9
By releasing the compressed air inside, the front locking part 1 or the rear locking part 2 is unlocked, and the movable state is restored. Reference numeral 15 is a flexible pipe accommodating a control cable and an air pipe, and 16 is a connecting portion between the control unit 5 and the flexible pipe 15. The working unit 4 includes inspection cameras 12, 1
3, the lighting 14 is provided.

The automatic running device 6 in the pipeline is shown in FIG.
It is used in the system shown in. In the figure, 17 is a manhole, 18 is a compressor, and 19 is a flexible pipe 1 containing a control cable and an air pipe.
Reference numeral 5 is a sending-out drum, reference numeral 20 is a control panel, and reference numeral 21 is an inspection television for displaying images taken by the inspection cameras 12 and 13. The in-pipe automatic traveling device 6 is capable of traveling in the pipe P in which the existing cable 22 exists in the pipe P as shown in the figure. ，
The control unit 5, the working unit 4 and the like have a substantially crescent shape so that the existing cable 22 can be avoided.

When the inside of the pipeline is inspected by the above-described pipeline automatic traveling device 6, the air pipe (air hose) for supplying the compressed air from the compressor 18 and the cable 23 from the control panel 20 and the inspection TV 21 are connected. While the flexible tube 15 accommodated therein is sent out from the sending-out drum 19, the in-pipe automatic running device 6 is automatically run to check the camera 1 for inspection.
The inside of the pipe P is inspected at 2 and 13. When the automatic traveling device 6 in the pipeline runs, the expansion / contraction body 9 of the rear locking portion 2 is expanded and pressed against the pipe wall to lock the rear locking portion 2 to prevent the rear locking portion 2 from moving. The pressure cylinder device 3 is extended to move the front locking portion 1 side forward, and then the movement of the front locking portion 1 is suppressed and the rear locking portion 2 is moved by the same operation as described above.
After releasing the lock of the expansion / contraction body 9 by contracting it,
The fluid pressure cylinder device 3 is contracted and the rear locking portion 2 is moved forward to move forward by one stroke. By repeating such a so-called worm-like action, the entire apparatus is advanced. The backward movement is reversed.

The conventional fluid pressure cylinder device 3 in the automatic running device 6 in the pipe is provided with a cylinder 3a having a cylindrical cross section, a piston 3b arranged in the cylinder 3a, and a piston 3b as shown in FIG. It is a single cylindrical cylinder device having a piston rod 3c fixed at one end, and compressed air is alternately applied to the front side and the rear side of the pipe axis of the piston 3b in the cylinder 3a by the air supply pipe 3d. By supplying, the piston 3b is moved in the pipe axis direction, and the device is made to run.

[0007]

In the above-described conventional automatic traveling device 6 in a pipeline, the front locking portion 1 and the like have a substantially crescent shape, and the vehicle runs around the existing cable 22 in the pipeline P. be able to. However, in this fluid pressure cylinder device 3, the empty space of the pipeline becomes small when traveling through a narrow pipeline or when three cables 22 are laid as shown in FIG. Since the fluid pressure cylinder device 3 hits the cable 22 and cannot pass therethrough, the cross-sectional area of the cylinder 3a is restricted, and the pressure receiving area of the piston cannot be efficiently obtained. Therefore, a sufficiently large propulsive force can be obtained. There was a problem that I could not. That is, when traveling a long distance, the resistance due to the friction of the flexible tube 15 which is long becomes large, but the conventional single cylindrical cylinder device 3 as described above can obtain sufficient propulsive force as described above. However, there is a problem that the traction force for pulling the flexible tube 15 is insufficient and the vehicle cannot travel a long distance.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks and is a fluid capable of exerting a sufficiently large propulsive force even when traveling a long distance while inspecting the inside of a pipeline. An object of the present invention is to provide an in-pipe automatic traveling device including a pressure cylinder device.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems, a propulsion device comprising a front locking portion and a rear locking portion, which are arranged in front of and behind in the pipe axis direction, is constituted by a fluid pressure cylinder device in the pipe axis direction. In the in-pipe automatic traveling device connected via a device, the fluid pressure cylinder device includes a plurality of cylinder chambers provided in series in a pipe axis direction and a plurality of pistons provided in the cylinder chambers. , It is characterized by having a common piston rod fixed to these pistons.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that a plurality of the fluid pressure cylinder devices are arranged in parallel with the pipe axis to form a propulsion device.

[0011]

In the above structure, the fluid pressure cylinder device is provided with a plurality of cylinder chambers in series in the axial direction of the pipe, and the pistons fixed to the common piston rod are provided in the respective cylinder chambers. Propulsive force acts by adding the number of pistons. Therefore, even if the cross-sectional area of each cylinder chamber is small and the pressure receiving area of one piston is small, a large propulsive force is generated as a whole.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, if a plurality of fluid pressure cylinder devices are arranged in accordance with the shape of the empty space in the pipeline where the cable has been installed, the empty space in the pipeline can be effectively used. As a result, the pressure receiving area of the piston of the entire propulsion device can be efficiently set, and a large pressure receiving area can be obtained. For example, if three fluid pressure cylinder devices are installed in parallel, the propulsive force will be approximately 3
Double.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an in-pipe automatic traveling device 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. This pipeline automatic traveling device 30
6 is the same as the conventional configuration shown in FIG. 6 except for the fluid pressure cylinder device 33, and a repetitive description will be omitted. Also, it is used in a system as shown in FIG.

The details of the fluid pressure cylinder device 33 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The cylinder 34 has a circular cross section and is divided into two cylinder chambers 34c and 34d in the longitudinal direction. Provided, each cylinder chamber 34c, 3
Pistons 35a and 35b are slidably housed in cylinder chambers 34c and 34d, respectively, and both pistons 35a and 35b are integrally fixed to a common piston rod 36. Reference numerals 37 and 38 denote O-rings. Further, in the cylinder 34, an air passage 34a opening to the front end side (left side in FIG. 2) of each cylinder chamber 34c, 34d and an air passage 34b opening to the rear end side (right side in FIG. 2) of each cylinder chamber 34c, 34d. And are formed. In addition, the coil spring 3 is provided on both sides of the piston 35b on the one cylinder chamber 34d side.
9a and 39b are arranged. Each air passage 34a, 34
b through air pipes 40a and 40b through the respective caps 39
Is connected. Reference numeral 47 is a connecting portion with the front locking portion. Incidentally, a flexible joint is interposed between the piston rod 36 and the front locking portion 1 as necessary for traveling in a curved pipe line or in order to make a curved movement in the pipe line.

In the fluid pressure cylinder device 33,
The compressed air supplied through the air pipe 40a or 40b is supplied into the cylinder chambers 34c and 34d of the cylinder 34 through the air passage 34a or 34b, and the piston 35
The piston rod 36 is retracted by driving a and 35b. In this case, the cylinder 34 has two cylinder chambers 34
Since the pistons 35a and 35b are provided in the cylinder chambers 34c and 34d, respectively, the total pressure receiving area of the pistons is smaller than that of the conventional one having one piston shown in FIG. Since it almost doubles, the propulsive force becomes even greater, enabling long-distance running.

Further, in order to obtain the same propulsive force as the one piston shown in FIG. 8, the cylinder chambers 34c, 3c
The cross-sectional area per 4d can be halved,
Even if the empty space in the pipeline P in which the existing cable is laid is small, it is possible to travel the same distance as in the case of FIG. 8 without the existing cable. The number of cylinder chambers may be two or more.

Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
An example will be described. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the in-pipe automatic traveling device 50 of the second embodiment. This pipeline automatic traveling device 50
Is the same as the first embodiment except for the propulsion device 53. As shown in FIG. 5, the propulsion device 53 has three fluid pressure cylinder devices 54 arranged in a roughly crescent shape along an empty space S of a pipe line P. The configuration of each of the three fluid pressure cylinder devices 54 is basically as shown in FIG.
Each of the fluid pressure cylinder devices 54 is similar to the fluid pressure cylinder device 33 shown in FIG. 1, except that a front crescent-shaped support plate 55 and a support plate 56 connected to the rear locking portion 2 The tube axes are arranged in parallel. The tips of the three piston rods 57 projecting from the fluid pressure cylinder device 54 to the front locking portion 1 side are fixed to a connecting plate 58 formed in a substantially crescent shape similar to the supporting plate 55. The three piston rods 57 operate integrally. The connecting plate 58 is connected to the rear portion of the front locking portion 1 so that the thrust from the connecting plate 58 can be applied to the front locking portion 1.
To communicate. In each fluid pressure cylinder device 54, the piston rod may be projected toward the rear locking portion side of the cylinder chamber, and the end thereof may be fixed to the connecting plate connected to the rear locking portion 2.

Therefore, in the in-pipe automatic traveling device 50 of this embodiment, the fluid pressure cylinder device 54 can be efficiently arranged in the empty space S of the pipe P in which the existing cable 22 is laid. That is, since the total pressure receiving area of the piston of the propulsion device 53 as a whole can be increased almost three times by effectively utilizing the empty space S of the pipe line P, a large propulsive force can be obtained.

The present invention is suitable for traveling in a pipeline where an existing cable exists, but is not necessarily limited to that case. It is applicable when there is or may be some obstacle in the pipeline. Further, the present invention is not limited to the in-pipe automatic traveling device for in-pipe inspection as in the embodiment, and for example, when a cable is laid in a pipe (usually an extension, but a new installation is also conceivable). It is also applicable as an in-pipe automatic traveling device that pulls a cable to travel. Moreover, although a pneumatic cylinder device is normally used as a fluid pressure cylinder device for a propulsion device in an automatic traveling device in a pipeline, a hydraulic cylinder device can also be adopted.

[0020]

According to the present invention, a fluid pressure cylinder device has a structure in which a plurality of cylinder chambers are provided in series in the pipe axis direction, and a piston fixed to a common piston rod is provided in each cylinder chamber. As a result, a large pressure receiving area can be obtained as a whole, a large propulsive force can be obtained, and a long distance can be traveled. Further, since a large propulsive force can be obtained even if the cross-sectional area of the cylinder is made small, it is possible to travel a long distance even in a pipeline where a cable has been installed.

According to claim 2, the total pressure receiving area of the piston as the whole propulsion device can be further increased,
Further, by providing a plurality of fluid pressure cylinder devices in parallel along, for example, an empty space of the pipeline, the empty space of the pipeline can be effectively used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an in-pipe automatic traveling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional explanatory view in the pipe axis direction of a fluid pressure cylinder device portion in the in-pipe automatic traveling device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the flow pressure cylinder device taken along the line AA in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an in-pipe automatic traveling apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of the fluid pressure cylinder device portion of the in-pipe automatic traveling device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional automatic traveling device in a pipeline.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating an in-pipe inspection system for inspecting an inside of a pipe in which a cable has been installed using an automatic traveling device in the pipe (the one shown in the figure is a conventional one).

FIG. 8 is a sectional view in the pipe axis direction of a fluid pressure cylinder device portion in a conventional automatic traveling device in a pipeline.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an empty space of a pipeline in which an existing cable is installed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 P pipe line 33,54 Fluid pressure cylinder device 34 Cylinder 34a, 34b Air passage 34c, 34d Cylinder chamber 35a, 35b Piston 36,57 Piston rod 40a, 40b Air pipe 53 Propulsion device 58 Connecting plate

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Tomohiro Yokoyama 1-3-3 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Within Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (72) Koichi Yokosuka 1-3-1 Uchiyuki-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Tokyo Electric Power Co. In the company

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Automatic running in a pipeline, wherein a front locking portion and a rear locking portion arranged at the front and rear in the pipe axis direction are connected via a propulsion device composed of a fluid pressure cylinder device in the pipe axis direction. In the device, the fluid pressure cylinder device includes a plurality of cylinder chambers provided in series in a pipe axis direction, a plurality of pistons provided in the cylinder chambers, and a common piston rod fixed to the pistons. An automatic traveling device in a pipeline characterized by being provided. 2. The in-pipe automatic traveling device according to claim 1, wherein the propulsion device is configured by arranging a plurality of the fluid pressure cylinder devices in parallel with a pipe axis.