JPH106704A - 2-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sphere driving device which is smaller and easier to assemble and adjust and can rotate a sphere in the arbitrary direction at a high speed with precision and to facilitate control of driving, an attitude and the direction at the high speed with precision. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a sphere storing housing 3 having an opening smaller than the diameter of a sphere 1, and a set of driving body 5 for 2-dimensionally driving the sphere by movement of a contact part to be brought into contact with the surface of the sphere in the tangent direction of the sphere, so that the sphere stored in the housing can be rotated in the arbitrary direction. It is preferable that the driving body 5 drives the sphere at a friction face provided at the top of piezo-electric elements combined in the triangular truss state.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for driving a sphere to rotate in an arbitrary direction by swinging a driving unit. The mounting device to which the device is mounted is propelled in an arbitrary direction or connected to the sphere. The present invention relates to a new type of two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device used for changing the direction of a given object in an arbitrary direction. The sphere drive device of the present invention can be used as a drive wheel for all kinds of moving objects such as automobiles, trains, trolleys, carts, airplanes, space shuttles, and their toys. It can be used as a drive unit of a machine, a drive of an object having a rotary movement mechanism such as a mouse for a personal computer that is actively driven. Further, it can be used as a driving body for controlling the posture and direction, such as a laser irradiation device or a driving mechanism for a robot eye.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since a general wheel has a disk shape and rotates in a plane perpendicular to an axle, it is necessary to change the direction of the axle when changing the rotation direction. On the other hand, a ball-shaped wheel using a sphere can rotate in any direction without being restricted by the axle. A movable chair caster or the like is one in which a ball-shaped wheel is attached in place of the disc-shaped wheel to enable movement in an arbitrary direction. However, a special device is required for driving the ball-shaped wheel so as to make use of the characteristic of moving in an arbitrary direction. As a device which solves this problem and moves the sphere by rotating it, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
285519 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 4-72001 are known.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-285519, when a person moves a suction device for floor of a vacuum cleaner back and forth and left and right, a rotating force is applied in the moving direction so that the suction device of the cleaner can be easily operated with a small force. For the purpose of enabling operation, a suction tool with a spherical drive wheel near the end is disclosed. This suction device incorporates a front-rear motor and a left-right motor, and drives the spherical drive wheels to rotate in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction via friction wheels attached to the respective motor shafts. By controlling the movements of the front and rear motors and the left and right motors in accordance with the on / off state of a switch for detecting the direction in which the device is pressed, the suction device moves forward, backward, left, right, or diagonally according to the direction in which the device is pressed.

In the Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-200101, a sphere is attached to the front and rear of a vehicle body, and ball driving means for driving the sphere in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction is provided. There is disclosed a new vehicle named "ball car" that drives and enjoys driving. In the spherical wheels used in these devices, it is necessary to equip a plurality of rotating rollers that come into contact with the surface of the sphere and rotate by friction and motors that drive these rotating rollers so that the rotating direction can be freely selected. There is. As a result, the number of parts of the drive mechanism is large, the structure is complicated, and it has been difficult to reduce the overall shape.

[0005] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-296227 discloses an apparatus for miniaturizing a sphere driving device by eliminating such difficulties. A multi-degree-of-freedom actuator in which a small drive unit that can generate a driving force in a free direction is arranged around a sphere. It can be used to freely change posture and shape in a limited space. This sphere driving device uses at least three vibration units. For example, the driving unit is configured by arranging a vibration element made of piezoelectric ceramic at three ridges centered on the apex of a regular triangular pyramid. Is used. Such a drive unit rotates or swings the apex position by controlling the phases for driving the three vibrating elements.

When at least three drive units are arranged around the sphere such that the apex of each unit abuts on the sphere and the respective drive units are driven to align with each other, the sphere moves in the corresponding direction. To rotate. Since the driving unit can be configured to be small, a sphere driving device that rotates and drives the sphere in an arbitrary direction by using them can be assembled as a small size as a whole. In addition,
By connecting an appropriate object to the sphere itself in the sphere driving device and using the rotation of the sphere, it can also be used as a device for controlling the attitude of the object. In addition, by configuring a small ball joint that bends to an arbitrary angle by the above-described sphere driving device, it becomes possible to transport the inspection device to a bent portion or a branch portion of the thin tube, for example, inside a thin tube of a nuclear power plant. You can now do an inspection.

[0007]

However, since the above-mentioned various sphere driving devices have a plurality of driving sources in common, interference occurs between driving forces, resulting in poor efficiency, and a rotating shaft of the roller. To apply excessive force to the motor, which required extra driving force, and complicated control method for driving so that mutual interference did not occur, and it was necessary to make full use of advanced logic circuits. . Further, when a plurality of drive units are used, there is a disadvantage in that it is difficult to adjust the clearance of each part because the preload for pressing the frictional body against the sphere must be equal for all drive sources. further,
With the development of micromachine technology and the spread of robot work targets, smaller drive devices have been demanded.

An object of the present invention is to provide a smaller two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving apparatus capable of rotating a sphere in an arbitrary direction, and a driving source in such an apparatus. Is to eliminate mutual interference and facilitate assembly adjustment. In addition, it is to obtain a moving object traveling in an arbitrary direction by incorporating such a sphere driving device, and a posture control mechanism for quickly and accurately controlling the posture of the object, and a direction control for freely incorporating a functional device into the sphere. It is to provide a functional device drive mechanism.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present invention comprises a sphere, a sphere storage housing having an opening smaller than the diameter of the sphere,
A sphere is rotated in an arbitrary direction by providing one set of a driving body that drives the sphere two-dimensionally by moving a contact portion in contact with the sphere surface in a tangential direction of the sphere.
Further, the above-mentioned driving body has a friction surface at its apex portion by combining piezoelectric elements in a triangular truss shape, and it is particularly preferable that the driving body is configured to drive the sphere by contacting the sphere with the friction surface. . Further, it is preferable that the housing for accommodating the sphere has an elastic effect at least in the opening, and the sphere is pressed against the driving body to increase the frictional force. Further, it is preferable that the center of the opening of the spherical housing, the center of the spherical body, and the center of the driving body are arranged substantially on a straight line.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a moving body of the present invention is provided with the above-described two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving apparatus of the present invention as driving wheels. Further, a posture control mechanism of the present invention is a posture control mechanism in which a sphere of the above-described two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device is provided with a connecting member and an object is attached to the connecting member, and controls the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device. Controlling the posture of the object attached to the connector. Further, the functional device drive mechanism of the present invention is characterized in that the functional device is incorporated into the sphere of the above-described two-degree-of-freedom sphere drive device, and the orientation of the functional device is controlled by controlling the two-degree-of-freedom sphere drive device. I do.

According to the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present invention,
Since the driver comes into contact with the surface of the sphere and moves in the tangential direction of the sphere, the sphere rotates in the direction of motion of the driver through the frictional force existing between the driver and the sphere. The sphere is driven to rotate in an arbitrary direction by adjusting the movement direction of the driving body. However, the driving force is strong because of the frictional force, so that a large load can be easily driven. In addition, since only one set of driving bodies is provided, not only the whole apparatus becomes small, but also drive control is performed only for one set of driving bodies, and there is no need to move a plurality of driving bodies. Operation is possible with a simple control device. As the driving body, a cylindrical rotating roller is provided so as to rotate around a second axis orthogonal to the rotation axis, and the antinode of the cylindrical roller is pressed against a spherical body. Alternatively, a cylinder having wheels provided at both ends thereof and rotating while pressing the spherical body surface with the wheels can be used.

However, in particular, the above-mentioned driving body is similar to the small driving unit used in the multi-degree-of-freedom actuator disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-297227.
When the piezoelectric element is combined in a triangular truss shape and has only one friction surface at the apex and is used to drive the sphere by contacting the sphere with the friction surface, the driving body is small. Since the number of the sphere driving devices is small, the size of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device can be easily reduced. Also, since the rotation of the sphere can be controlled at high speed and with high accuracy, the rotation and running of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device can be controlled at high speed and accurately. Further, a control circuit for driving the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device is compared with a multi-degree-of-freedom actuator disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-297227 in which at least three types of driving units are operated while adjusting the mutual relation. It is particularly preferable because it is extremely simple.

Further, by appropriately selecting the shape of the opening of the housing for accommodating the sphere or using an appropriate elastic body to give the opening an elastic effect, the sphere is pressed inward to the driving body. When the frictional force is increased by pressing, the frictional force between the driving body and the sphere can be increased and the rotation can be surely performed without incorporating a separate spring body. This is particularly preferable because not only can the size of the device be reduced, but also the number of assembling steps can be reduced. Further, the adjustment of the preload applied between the driving body and the sphere can be performed only by screwing the housing, so that the assembling and maintenance become easy. When the center of the opening of the sphere storage housing, the center of the sphere, and the center of the driving body are arranged in a straight line, the sphere and the driving body are pressed by tightening the sphere storage housing. In addition to the fact that the sphere is reliably rotated, there is an advantage that the assembling process is simple and no special jig is required.

Further, the moving object provided with the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present invention as a driving wheel can be made extremely small as a whole since the driving portion is small, and accurate traveling control can be performed by a simple control device. Can be achieved. Further, the attitude control mechanism, which is provided with a connecting tool on the sphere of the above-described two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device and attached to the connecting tool, attaches an object to the connecting tool because the sphere performs high-speed and precise rotation. Extremely fast and precise attitude control can be received. Therefore, it can be used as a rotating stage that can rapidly change its posture in any direction, or by installing a solar cell panel to maintain the surface direction so that the panel surface always points accurately to the sun. can do. Also, by utilizing the fact that it can be made compact and can be accurately controlled, it can be used for a bending mechanism of an in-pipe mobile robot that inspects and repairs pipes while moving in the pipes. Further, a functional device driving mechanism in which a functional device such as a laser or a visual sensor is incorporated in a sphere of a two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device constitutes an extremely high-performance functional device because the direction of the sphere can be controlled at high speed and accurately. be able to.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments with reference to the drawings.

[0016]

FIG. 1 shows a two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part thereof. In the figure, 1 is a rotor, 3 is a cover, 5 is a drive unit, and 7 is a pedestal. The rotor 1 is mounted on a drive unit 5 and a cylindrical cover 3 covers from above. An opening smaller than the diameter of the rotor is provided in the cover 3 so that a part of the rotor 1 is exposed. The cover 3 has a female screw on the inner wall, and the female screw is screwed to a male screw formed around the pedestal 7 and fixed.

The rotor 1 in this embodiment has a size of about 9.5 mm.
The cover 3 is formed of a resin having self-lubricating properties. The rotor 1 is sandwiched and supported by the cover 3 and the drive unit 5, and is positioned by the opening of the cover 3. The center of the rotor 1, the center of the opening of the cover 3, the center of the drive unit 5, and the center of the pedestal 7 are arranged on a straight line. When assembling, for example, the rotor 1 is placed on the drive unit 5. If the cover 3 is put on and screwed into the pedestal 7, all the parts are naturally put in their respective fixed positions. The opening of the cover 3 has elasticity, and the contact pressure between the rotor 1 and the drive unit 5 can be adjusted according to the amount by which the cover 3 is screwed into the base 7. Further, since the opening of the cover 3 has self-lubricating properties, it is in direct contact with the rotor 1 but has a small frictional force.
The rotor 1 can rotate easily.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the drive unit 5. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a friction plate, and 13 denotes a piezoelectric element. Driving unit 5 serving as a driving source of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present invention
Consists of a friction plate 11 and three piezoelectric elements 13,
Is built on top of. Each of the three piezoelectric elements 13 has one end fixed to the base 7 and the other end fixed to the friction plate 11,
A parallel link structure is formed in which the friction disc 11 is combined in a triangular truncated pyramid shape with the upper end plane and the piezoelectric element 13 as a ridge. A drive signal is supplied to the piezoelectric element 13 of the drive unit 5 from a vibration element driver of a drive device (not shown) via a signal cable.

The piezoelectric element 13 forming the drive unit 5 has a cross section of 2 mm × 3 mm, a length of 5 mm, and 150 mm.
A laminated piezoelectric element whose length changes by 4 μm at a voltage of V and generates a force of 20 kgf was used, and a thermosetting resin was used for assembly. When the voltages applied to the three piezoelectric elements are controlled in a coordinated manner, the length of each piezoelectric element 13 changes.
The friction disk 11, which is assembled and supported in the air, moves in three translational degrees of freedom. Therefore, when the friction disk 11 is caused to perform a high-speed elliptical motion in a predetermined plane, there is a difference between the contact friction force at the time of forward movement and the contact friction force at the time of backward movement, so that the spherical rotor 1 can be rotated in that direction.

The principle of movement of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present embodiment will be described based on the case where the driving unit 5 is driven by a periodic signal to rotate the rotor 1. For example, the first and second vibrating elements 13 expand and contract in the same phase,
When the third vibration element 13 is driven with a delay,
The friction disk 11 performs an elliptical rotation in a plane perpendicular to the pedestal 7 and including the third vibrator 13. During the rotational movement of the friction disk 11, the rotor 1 moves forward together with the friction disk 11 because the force pressing the rotor 1 is strong while moving upward. While the friction disk 11 moves downward, the force for pushing the rotor 1 becomes small, and the driving of the vibration element 13 is performed at a high speed of, for example, about 13 kHz, so that the rotor 1 tends to be left behind on the friction disk 11. Therefore, the rotor 1 rotates in one direction in a plane including the third vibrator by the elliptical rotation of the friction disk 11. Similarly, when the first and third vibrating elements 13 expand and contract in the same phase and the second vibrating element 13 is driven with a delay, the friction plate 11 is perpendicular to the base 7 and the second vibrator is moved. Rotate in a plane containing This movement causes the rotor 1 to rotate in one direction in a plane including the second vibrator.

As described above, by appropriately selecting the phases of the second and third vibrating elements 13 with respect to the movement of the first vibrating element 13, the plane and direction of the rotational motion of the friction disk 11 can be appropriately selected. Can be. For example, the second vibration element is advanced 45 degrees with respect to the first vibration element, and the third vibration element is moved 45 degrees.
When the friction plate 11 is delayed by a degree, the friction plate 11 rotates in a direction perpendicular to the first vibration element, and the rotor 1 rotates in the rotation direction. Since the rotational speed of the rotor 1 depends on the amount of expansion and contraction of the vibration element 13 and the speed of expansion and contraction, it is necessary to control the driving signal with the voltage level and frequency of the driving signal as long as the frequency of the driving signal is within the response frequency range of the piezoelectric element. Can be.

The above-described principle of driving the rotor works similarly as long as it is a periodic signal. It goes without saying that the same result can be obtained by using a triangular wave or a sawtooth wave instead of a sine wave. When each vibrating element 13 is sequentially driven under the same phase difference of 120 degrees, the expansion and contraction direction of the vibrating element 13 includes a horizontal component. Do. At this time, the diameter of the precession generated by the expansion and contraction of the vibration element 13 is small, and the contact point of the rotor 1 is close to the center of the friction plate 11. It is also possible to rotate about an axis perpendicular to 7.

The two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving apparatus of this embodiment has a very small number of components and is very simple. The overall shape is a column having a diameter of 18 mm and a length of 18 mm and a total weight of about 17.5 g. became. The output torque of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of this embodiment is 15 Ncm, and the rotation speed is 500.
deg / s. Note that the output torque increases when the preload that sandwiches the rotor 1, that is, the screwing preload is increased. Also, where the preload is large, the output torque tends to increase as the drive frequency increases,
Adjust the assembly according to the purpose and select the frequency of the drive signal.

In the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving apparatus of this embodiment, when the moving object is mounted on the moving object by using the rotor 1 exposed from the opening of the case 3 as a wheel, the moving object can be moved at a high speed in an arbitrary direction. . The opening angle of the opening was set to 86 degrees as the central angle of the rotor 1. Therefore, apart from the case where the rotor 1 is used as a solid sphere, when the article is attached to the rotor 1 of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present embodiment and used as, for example, a rotary stage or a laser irradiation device, the article is The movable range in the case of projecting from the opening or utilizing the opening is 86 degrees.

The shapes of the components constituting the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present embodiment can be appropriately selected depending on the purpose.
The overall shape of the sphere driving device with degrees of freedom can be expected to be further reduced in size by design. In the present embodiment, a laminated piezoelectric element is used for the drive unit. However, the present invention is not limited to these piezoelectric elements, and a small actuator that expands and contracts may be used, and a shape memory alloy actuator, an electrostatic actuator, An actuator or the like can also be used. Although the material of the rotor is stainless steel, it may be appropriately selected according to the purpose of use. In addition to stainless steel, ceramics, hard-plated metals, and the like can be used in consideration of transmission of rotational force and wear and deformation of contact portions. Further, although the friction plate is flat, the contact area can be increased by forming it into a spherical shape in order to prevent abrasion and breakage. Further, the elasticity of the cover may be appropriately selected depending on the purpose.

Although the drive unit is illustrated as having the vibrating elements arranged on three ridges centered on the vertices of a regular triangular pyramid, the number of vibrating elements is not limited to three, and the mounting angle may be appropriately selected. it can. The point is that a plurality of vibrating elements and a friction disk are integrally connected so that the friction disk rotates by the vibration generated by each vibration element and can change its moving direction. This is to be an effective driving force for the rotational motion with a degree of freedom. Although the rotor is pressed against the drive unit by utilizing the elasticity of the cover opening so that the driving force is transmitted efficiently, the pedestal supporting the drive unit has an elastic effect to move the rotor toward the opening. It goes without saying that a mechanism for pressing can be used.

[0027]

Embodiment 2 FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view showing another embodiment of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view showing another embodiment thereof. In the figure, the same reference numerals are given to the parts having the same functions as those in FIG. 1 to simplify the description. The drive unit of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere drive device of the second embodiment differs from that of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere drive device of the first embodiment in that a friction wheel is used. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 21 denotes a friction wheel, reference numeral 23 denotes a friction wheel motor for rotating the friction wheel 21 in the vertical direction, reference numeral 25 denotes a frame, and reference numeral 27 denotes a horizontal motor for horizontally rotating the frame together. The rotor 1 is sandwiched and supported by the cover 3 and the friction wheel 21, and is positioned by the opening of the cover 3. The center of the rotor 1, the center of the opening of the cover 3, the contact point of the friction wheel 21 with the rotor 1, and the center of the rotating shaft of the horizontal motor 27 are arranged on a straight line.
When assembling, for example, if the cover 3 is turned upside down and the rotor 1 is inserted, and the pedestal 7 to which the drive unit such as the friction wheel 21 is fixed is screwed in from above, all parts are naturally put in their respective fixed positions.

Using the elasticity of the opening of the cover 3, the base 7
By changing the amount of screwing into the cover 3, the rotor 1
The contact pressure between the friction wheel 21 and the friction wheel 21 can be adjusted. The horizontal motor 27 and the friction wheel motor 23 are driven by a signal from a control device (not shown). When the horizontal motor 27 is operated, the frame 25 rotates horizontally and the direction of the rotating surface of the friction wheel 21 changes. Therefore, the operation stops when the rotating surface faces a desired direction. When the friction wheel motor 23 is driven, the friction wheel 21 rotates, and the rotor 1 rotates in the direction of the surface facing the frame 25.
As described above, the direction of the rotation surface of the rotor 1 is
Can be changed freely. Also, rotor 1
Is performed through the frictional force with the friction wheel 21, the transmission efficiency of the force is large, and the ratio of the rotation diameter of the rotor 1 to the friction wheel 21 can be increased. Therefore, the rotation torque of the rotor 1 is increased. be able to.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 31 denotes a friction wheel, 33 denotes a friction wheel motor, 35 denotes a rotating shaft, and 37 denotes a horizontal motor. The rotor 1 is sandwiched and supported by the cover 3 and the two friction wheels 31, and is positioned by the opening of the cover 3. The center of the rotor 1, the center of the opening of the cover 3, the center of the two friction wheels 31, and the center of the rotating shaft 35 are arranged on a straight line, and the pedestal 7 is screwed into the cover 3 during assembly. All parts are set in place. The contact pressure between the rotor 1 and the friction wheel 31 can be adjusted by changing the amount by which the pedestal 7 is screwed into the cover 3. The two friction wheels 31 are respectively supported at both ends of a friction wheel motor 33, and the friction wheel motor 33 is fixed at its center to a rotation shaft 35 of a horizontal motor 37.

When the horizontal motor 37 is driven by a signal from a control device (not shown), the rotating shaft 35 rotates horizontally and the direction of the friction wheel motor 33 changes, so that the rotating surface of the friction wheel 31 faces the desired direction. Stop where you are. When the friction wheel motor 33 is driven, the friction wheel 31 rotates, and the rotor 1 rotates via frictional force. As described above, the direction of the rotating surface of the rotor 1 can be freely changed by the horizontal motor 37. Further, since the rotor 1 rotates in contact with the two friction wheels 31, the rotation state is stabilized. In this embodiment, the horizontal motor is used to change the direction of the friction wheel. However, the horizontal motor is not limited to a direct-acting motor, and may be any motor whose rotational position can be arbitrarily determined. It is also possible to use a structure in which the shaft is rotated via the actuator or a structure in which the rotation is converted by using an actuator that moves linearly.

[0031]

Embodiment 3 A moving object of the present invention is characterized in that the above-described two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present invention is used as a driving wheel. FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing one embodiment of the moving object of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a ball wheel portion of a rabbit toy having a ball wheel in cross section. The rabbit toy 40 has a ball wheel 41 serving as a drive wheel on one of the front and rear sides, and has a plurality of disk-shaped driven wheels 42 supporting the toy 40 main body so as not to be tilted on the other side. In the figure, as the ball wheel 41 attached to the rear side, a wheel configured to be driven in the same manner as the rotor of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the first embodiment is used. The ball wheel 41 is housed in a cylindrical groove 43 provided in the main body of the rabbit toy 40, and is sandwiched and fixed between the opening 45 and the drive unit 47. The drive unit 47 is fixed to the lid 49, and the male screw cut in the lid 49 is screwed and fixed to the female screw of the cylindrical groove 43. The contact pressure of 47 can be adjusted.

Since the moving direction and the rotation speed of the ball wheel 41 can be arbitrarily controlled by a drive control signal from a control device (not shown), the operator can freely control the rabbit toy 40 in a desired direction by remote control. It can be moved at the speed of In this embodiment, a case where a mechanism using a piezoelectric element is used as a drive unit for driving a ball wheel is described. However, it is needless to say that another telescopic function element or a friction wheel can be used as described above. Although the moving object is a rabbit toy in the present embodiment, the moving object of the present invention is not limited to an animal toy, but may be any moving object having wheels to be driven, such as a vehicle, a robot, a towing device, and a transport device. Applicable to

[0033]

Embodiment 4 The attitude control mechanism of the present invention is characterized by using the above-described two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present invention. FIG.
1 is a partial cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the attitude control mechanism of the present invention,
FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view showing another aspect of the attitude control mechanism of the present embodiment. In the figure, the same reference numerals are given to the parts having the same functions as those in FIG. 1 to simplify the description.

FIG. 6 is a drawing showing an example of a posture control mechanism for controlling the posture of the rotary stage. A cylinder 51 is fixed on the surface of the rotor 1 of the same two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device as in the first embodiment, and a male screw cut at the tip of the cylinder 51 is attached to the center of the back side of the disk-shaped stage 53. It is screwed and fixed to the provided female screw. The cylinder 51 penetrates through the opening of the cover 3, and the cylinder 51 fixed to the rotor 1 can be rotated at high speed, precisely and freely within the opening by operating the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device. Column 5
The disk stage 53 fixed to 1 can be changed to a desired posture. In addition, the driving of the rotor 1 is strong because it is based on friction, and the driving device can be made compact using small components. The attitude control mechanism of the rotary stage of the present invention is, for example, a disk stage is formed as a reflection surface so that assembly and adjustment of an optical device can be easily performed, or a solar cell panel is attached to the stage surface to adjust the direction of incident light. The present invention can be applied to the purpose of constructing a solar cell power generation device that can easily follow a change. For example,
The present invention can also be used for a device that controls the directivity of a planar antenna that receives radio waves arriving from a satellite.

FIG. 7 is a drawing showing an example of a posture control mechanism used as a bending mechanism of a pipe moving robot. In the figure, reference numeral 54 denotes a towing unit and a trailer unit, which are half bodies of a pipe moving robot body divided into two parts, front and rear.
Is a connecting rod for connecting the robot units, 57 is an endless track device for transporting the robot, and 59 is a pipe. Robots are used, for example, to inspect and maintain the intricate pipes in nuclear power plants.They are transported by a mother machine that moves through the pipes and are released at the branch point of the target capillary, where The apparatus 57 is configured to run by the device 57 and enter the inside of the thin tube, inspect the inner surface of the pipe 59, and perform a repair work if an abnormality is found. The towing unit and the trailer unit 54 of the robot separately mount a measuring device, a repair tool, or a control device to be transported.

The same two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device as in the first embodiment is formed facing each other at opposite ends of the robot units. A connecting rod 5 is attached to the surface of the rotor 1 of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device formed in one unit.
The other end of the connecting rod 55 is fixed to the surface of the rotor 1 of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device formed at the end of the other unit. In this way, a very small mechanism having the same function as the ball joint could be constructed. The bending mechanism of the pipe moving robot in this embodiment can rotate the connecting rod 55 at high speed, precisely and freely within the opening by operating the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device. By aligning and driving the driving device, the bending angle and the direction of the joint of the robot can be controlled as desired, and the robot can work freely by moving in tight pipes. As described above, the pipe moving robot using the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device as a refraction mechanism can transport the inspection device to a bent portion or a branch portion of the thin tube. Now you can do it.

[0037]

Embodiment 5 A functional device driving mechanism according to the present invention is characterized in that the above-described two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device according to the present invention is used, and a functional device is charged into a rotor and driven to rotate.
FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view showing one embodiment of the functional device drive mechanism of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a partial sectional view showing another embodiment of the functional device drive mechanism of the present embodiment. The reference numbers in the figures are those in FIG.
Portions related to the same functions as those described above are given the same numbers, and the description is simplified.

FIG. 8 is a drawing showing an example of a functional device drive mechanism used as an actuator for controlling the laser irradiation direction. The laser radiation device 61 is embedded inside the rotor 1 of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device as in the first embodiment. By operating the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device, the laser irradiation port of the laser radiation device 61 embedded in the rotor 1 can be rotated at high speed, precisely, and freely within the opening, so that the laser irradiation direction can be changed to a desired direction. Can be changed. The size of the attitude control mechanism depends only on the size of the laser emitting device, and an extremely small irradiation direction variable laser irradiation device capable of precise control can be configured.

FIG. 9 is a drawing showing an example of a functional device driving mechanism used as an actuator for controlling the line of sight of a robot eye. A visual sensor 63 is embedded inside the rotor 1 of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device as in the first embodiment. By operating the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device, the line of sight of the visual sensor 63 embedded in the rotor 1 can be rotated at high speed, precisely, and freely within the opening, so that the line of sight of the robot eye is specified in a desired direction. can do. In addition, since the functional device driving mechanism can be configured to be extremely small, it is possible to configure a prosthetic eye mechanism that adjusts the movement of the line of sight and makes it look natural by a similar configuration.

[0040]

As described in detail above, the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving apparatus of the present invention can rotate a sphere in a desired direction at high speed and with high precision, and furthermore, since there is no mutual interference between the driving sources, the control is achieved. Is easy. For example, if this is used by incorporating it as a drive mechanism of a moving object, used as a posture control mechanism of an object attached to a sphere, or used as a functional device drive mechanism by incorporating a functional device into a sphere, an extremely small device Thus, the movement, posture, or pointing direction can be controlled quickly and precisely.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view showing a first embodiment of a two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of a two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device of the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing one embodiment of the moving object of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view showing one embodiment of the attitude control mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view showing another embodiment of the attitude control mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view showing one embodiment of the functional device drive mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a partial sectional view showing another embodiment of the functional device drive mechanism of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rotor 3 Cover 5 Drive unit 7 Pedestal 11 Friction disc 13 Piezoelectric element 21 Friction wheel 23 Friction wheel motor 25 Frame 27 Horizontal motor 31 Friction wheel 33 Friction wheel motor 35 Rotating shaft 37 Horizontal motor 40 Rabbit toy 41 Ball wheel 42 Disc shape Driven wheel 43 Cylindrical groove 45 Opening 47 Drive unit 49 Lid body 51 Column 53 Disk stage 54 Unit constituting pipe moving robot body 55 Connecting rod 57 Endless track device 59 Pipe 61 Laser radiation device 63 Visual sensor

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A sphere, a housing having an opening smaller than the diameter of the sphere and accommodating the sphere, and a contact portion disposed so as to be in contact with the surface of the sphere, wherein a contact portion moves in a tangential direction of the sphere. It has a set of driving bodies that drives the sphere two-dimensionally,
A two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device that rotates the sphere partially exposed from the opening in an arbitrary direction. 2. The driving body according to claim 1, wherein the driving element is a combination of piezoelectric elements in a triangular truss shape and has a friction surface at an apex thereof.
2. The two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device according to claim 1, wherein the sphere is driven by contacting the sphere with the friction surface. 3. The housing according to claim 1, wherein the housing has an elastic effect at least in an opening, and the sphere is pressed against the driving body at the opening to increase a frictional force. 2 degrees of freedom sphere drive. 4. The center of the housing opening, the center of the sphere,
The two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a center of the driving body is disposed substantially on a straight line. 5. A moving object comprising the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 as driving wheels, and driven by controlling the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device. 6. The attitude control mechanism according to claim 1, further comprising: a connecting member attached to the sphere in the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device according to claim 1; and an object attached to the connecting member. An attitude control mechanism for controlling the attitude of an object attached to the connector by controlling a two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device. 7. A two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device according to claim 1, wherein the sphere has a function device incorporated in the sphere, and the two-degree-of-freedom sphere driving device is controlled. A functional device driving mechanism for controlling the orientation of the functional device by means of the control unit.