JPH09301274A - Underwater sailing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a maneuvering mechanism which can closely control a position and attitude such as hovering and whirling as the maneuvering mechanism for an underwater sailing device. SOLUTION: An underwater sailing device has a left and right pair of chest fin 1 in a side of a body and also has a drive mechanism 8 of the clxest fin 1 inside the body. This drive mechanism 6 provides pitching motion whirling around a horizontal axis 1, lead rug motion longitudinally reciprocally whirling around a vertical axis 13 according to the pitching motion and feathering motion reciprocally whirling horizontal around the horizontal axis 12 according to the lead rug motion to the left and right pair of chest fin 1 independently to left and right. Forward and rearward whirling motion of the underwater sailing device itself can be controlled by adjusting phase difference of the lead rug motion and the feathering motion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an underwater navigation system used for underwater exploration and underwater work, and more particularly to a steering mechanism therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When exploring a complicated seabed using an underwater exploration robot, it is necessary to perform a fine movement such as hovering or swirling like a fish inhabiting the seabed. Further, when the underwater robot with arms is stopped in a state of being suspended in water to perform work, fine control of the position and posture of the robot body is required.

Conventionally, for example, a wing or a screw type thruster has been used as a control mechanism of an underwater vehicle for controlling the position and attitude of an underwater robot. Of these, the blades cannot generate thrust when the underwater vehicle is stopped, and therefore cannot be used to control the position and attitude in the stopped state. Also, the screw type thruster,
When the underwater vehicle is in a stopped state, it is difficult to switch positive and negative thrusts quickly, so that there is a drawback that sufficient position and attitude maintenance performance in a stopped state cannot be obtained.

From the viewpoint of propulsion, a number of attempts have been made public regarding an underwater navigation system that employs a vibrating wing that imitates the movement of a fish tail fin. However, when the motion mechanism of the caudal fin is applied to the underwater vehicle as a main thruster, there are problems such as vibration of the underwater vehicle itself induced by it, and it is not applicable to control the position and attitude in the stopped state. It's not easy. On the other hand, no attempt has been made so far to apply the motion of the pectoral fin of a fish to the propulsion of an underwater navigation device or the control of the position and posture of the underwater floating device in a floating and stopped state.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a steering mechanism capable of realizing fine control of position and attitude such as hovering and turning, in place of a wing, a screw type thruster and the like which have been conventionally used. An object of the present invention is to provide an underwater vehicle equipped with.

[0006]

An underwater vehicle according to the present invention comprises a body, a pair of left and right pectoral fins provided on the sides of the body, and a drive mechanism provided inside the body. Is a pair of left and right pectoral fins, a pitching motion that pivots about a horizontal axis, a reed lug motion that reciprocates back and forth about a vertical axis along the pitching motion, and a horizontal axis that revolves around the lead lug motion. It is characterized by imparting left and right independent feathering motions that reciprocate in the vertical direction around the periphery.

The inventor of the present application pays attention to the movement of the pectoral fin, which is considered to play an important role in controlling the movement of a fish when it is stopped, from the viewpoint of improving the maneuvering performance of an underwater vehicle such as an underwater robot. Then, the movement was observed in detail and analyzed. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, the pectoral fin movement mainly has two movement modes, that is, a feathering movement that reciprocates vertically around a horizontal axis and a lead-lag movement that reciprocates back and forth around a vertical axis. That these two motion modes exhibit almost sinusoidal motion, and that the motions such as forward, backward, and turning are formed by adjusting the phase difference between these two motion modes. discovered. Based on this knowledge, the underwater vehicle of the present invention was developed.

The underwater vehicle of the present invention uses the drive mechanism disposed inside the body to independently perform the lead-lag motion and the feathering motion on the left and right pectoral fins provided on the left and right sides of the body. In addition to giving, the forward / backward thrust can be generated by adjusting the phase difference between the left and right pectoral fin lead-lag movements and the feathering movement.

Furthermore, by adjusting the turning angle of the pitching motion and inclining the axis of the lead / lag motion from the vertical direction (which is the reference direction), it is possible to add vertical thrust to the above thrust. Become.

As a result, the underwater vehicle of the present invention is
In addition to providing highly accurate position and attitude control performance in the stopped state, it is possible to quickly shift from the stopped state to operations such as forward, backward, turning, ascending, and descending.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the appearance of the underwater vehicle of the present invention. (A) is its plan view and (b) is its side view. The underwater vehicle is provided with a pair of pectoral fins 1 on the left and right of its body 6, and inside the body 6, a pectoral fin drive mechanism described later is incorporated.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of a pectoral fin drive mechanism incorporated in the underwater vehicle, (a) is a plan view thereof,
(B) is a side view thereof. Moreover, the perspective view is shown in FIG.

The drive mechanism for this pectoral fin comprises three motors 4,
It is configured by combining 3 and 2, and the pectoral fin 1 is attached to the tip thereof. That is, the motor 4 having a horizontal reference axis is attached to the pedestal 5 orthogonal to the horizontal axis, the motor 3 having a vertical reference axis is attached to the drive shaft of the motor 4, and the motor 3 has a drive axis. Is attached with a motor 2 having a horizontal reference axis, and the drive shaft of the motor 2 has a pectoral fin 1
Is attached. The motor 4 forms a pitching motion that causes the drive shaft of the motor 3 to swing about a horizontal axis,
The motor 3 forms a reed lug movement that causes the drive shaft of the motor 2 to reciprocate in the anteroposterior direction about an axis in the vertical direction, and the motor 2 reciprocates the pectoral fin 1 in the up-down direction about the axis in the horizontal direction. Form a feathering motion that causes.

The underwater navigation system incorporating this pectoral fin drive mechanism adjusts the phase difference between the lead-lag movement (FIG. 4 (b)) and the feathering movement (FIG. 4 (a)) of the pectoral fin 1. Can generate thrust in forward and backward directions, and by adjusting the turning angle of the pitching motion and tilting the axis of the lead-lag motion from the vertical direction (which is the reference direction), It is possible to add vertical thrust to the thrust.

When an underwater robot provided with a work arm stops in a state of being suspended in water to perform work, if the work arm is moved in the vertical direction, a vertical motion occurs in the underwater robot body due to dynamic interference. By mounting the underwater vehicle according to the present invention on the underwater robot body, it is possible to apply vertical thrust to the underwater robot, and as a result, it is possible to suppress the above-described pitching.

[0016]

Example A running test was carried out in a water tank using the underwater navigation apparatus equipped with the above-mentioned control mechanism. FIG. 5 shows the outer dimensions of the underwater vehicle used for the test. (A) is a plan view thereof, and (b) is a side view thereof. The body 1 is FRP
The NACA0018 airfoil is used as the plan view shape. The pectoral fin drive mechanism was attached to the 1/4 length part from the bow of the underwater vehicle, and the ballast was adjusted so that it would be almost neutral buoyancy in water.

The running test was carried out in a flat water tank with a water depth set to 500 mm. In order to measure the position of the underwater vehicle, draw a grid line at the bottom of the tank at 500mm intervals,
Video shooting was performed from the upper part of the aquarium to observe the relationship between the motion of the pectoral fin and the motion of the underwater vehicle. In addition, the lead-lag motion and the feathering motion were sine motions, and the phase difference between them was 30 ° during forward movement and −120 ° during backward movement. During turning, the phase difference of one pectoral fin was set to the forward state and the phase difference of the other pectoral fin was set to the backward state.

Table 1 shows an example of the measured forward speed and backward speed. Note that K in the table is a parameter called a dimensionless frequency, and is defined by the following equation: K = C × ω / U In the above equation, C is the chord length (m) of the pectoral fin, and ω is the pectoral fin. Angular velocity (rad / s), U is the speed of the underwater vehicle (m
/ S). The pectoral fin used in this test has a chord length of 0.16 m. Within the range of the tests, no significant difference was observed in the speed of the underwater vehicle during the forward movement.

[0019]

[Table 1]

FIG. 6 shows the loci of the head, the 1/4 length from the head, and the tail when the underwater vehicle is turned to the left.
The conditions for propulsion are those corresponding to No. 2 in Table 1, with the right pectoral fin in the forward position and the left side in the backward position. FIG.
As shown in, it can be seen that a stable turning motion is realized. The turning angular velocity at this time was 6.5 ° / s.

[0021]

The underwater navigation system of the present invention has a pair of left and right pectoral fins for performing a feathering movement, a lead-lag movement, and a pitching movement. It is possible to realize control performance and quickly shift from a stopped state to an operation such as forward, backward, turning, ascending, and descending.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the appearance of an underwater vehicle of the present invention, (a)
Shows a plan view and (b) shows a side view.

2A and 2B are views for explaining the structure of a pectoral fin drive mechanism, FIG. 2A is a plan view, and FIG. 2B is a side view.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of a pectoral fin drive mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a pectoral fin motion mode, (a) shows a feathering motion, and (b) shows a lead-lag motion.

5A and 5B are diagrams showing the outer dimensions of the underwater vehicle used for a running test, FIG. 5A is a plan view, and FIG. 5B is a side view.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a trajectory of the underwater vehicle during a left turning motion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Pectoral fin, 2 ... Feathering motor, 3 ... Lead / lug motor, 4 ... Pitching motor, 5 ... Pedestal, 6 ... Body, 8. ..Drive mechanism for pectoral fins

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A torso, a pair of left and right pectoral fins provided on side surfaces of the torso, and a drive mechanism provided inside the torso, wherein the drive mechanism is provided on the pectoral fin in a front-back direction about a vertical axis. An underwater marine vessel characterized by imparting independent reciprocating reed-lug movements and a feathering movement reciprocally reciprocating up and down about a horizontal axis along with the reed-lug movements. 2. A torso, a pair of left and right pectoral fins provided on the sides of the body, and a drive mechanism provided inside the torso, wherein the drive mechanism is provided on the pair of left and right pectoral fins around a horizontal axis. A pitching motion that swivels, a lead-lug motion that swivels back and forth around the vertical axis along the pitching motion, and a feathering motion that swivels vertically around the horizontal axis along the lead-lug motion. An underwater navigation system characterized by being applied independently to the left and right. 3. A control means for controlling forward, backward and turning motions of the underwater vehicle itself by adjusting a phase difference between the lead-lag motion and the feathering motion. The underwater vehicle according to claim 1 or 2.