JPH1120756A - Traveling vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate providing such a provision that, in conventional traveling vehicles, where it was difficult to provide a high traveling capability even on rough road surfaces and also provide a small radius turning capability whereby traveling in restricted roads is enabled. SOLUTION: In a traveling vehicle of which wheel arrangement on a plane is rhombus, a steering motor 27 rotates a gear 17 to which a sprocket 19 is coaxially fixed, and rotates a gear 16 which is engaged with a gear 17 and fixed to a shaft 24 for supporting front steering wheels 14 so as to steer the front steering wheels 14. At the same time, it rotates a sprocket 20 fixed to a shaft 26 for supporting rear steering wheels through a chain 21 applied to the sprocket 19 so as to steer the rear steering wheels 15 in the reverse phase to that of the front steering wheels 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traveling vehicle on which a TV camera or the like for monitoring plant equipment is mounted and moved.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are generally two-dimensional arrangements of wheels of a traveling vehicle which are practically used for transportation and the like, such as a quadrilateral like an automobile, a triangular like a tricycle, and a rhombus. Among them, the diamond-shaped wheel arrangement has left and right wheels as running wheels and front and rear wheels as steering wheels. The reason why this diamond-shaped wheel arrangement is relatively well adopted is as follows. (1) Since the running wheels are located at the center of the vehicle, the load on the running wheels can be increased. It is especially effective for climbing when the road surface is wet. (2) It is easy to reduce the minimum turning radius. (3) Forward traveling and reverse traveling are equivalent, and route guidance is easy during turning traveling.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a traveling vehicle having a diamond-shaped wheel arrangement that has been conventionally proposed. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional diamond-shaped wheel arrangement. Left and right running wheels 53,
54 is driven by independent traveling motors 51 and 52, respectively. The front steered wheels 55 and the rear steered wheels 56 are free casters. In this mechanism, the steering is performed by the difference in the number of revolutions of the traveling motors 51 and 52, and the front steered wheels 55 and the rear steered wheels 56 only perform the steering operation following the steering. By rotating the traveling motors 51 and 52 at the same speed in the opposite direction (one in the forward direction and the other in the backward direction), a spin-turn operation can be performed on the spot, which is suitable for traveling in a narrow passage. .

However, since the front steered wheels 55 and the rear steered wheels 56 are swivel casters, there are foreign objects and steps on the traveling route, and the swivel casters swing when contacting or trying to get over them. As a result, there is a disadvantage that the vehicle goes off the running track. For this reason, the place where the traveling vehicle of the above-mentioned mechanism is operated is limited to a very controlled place where there is no foreign matter or step on the road surface, for example, an indoor factory facility.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a traveling vehicle employing a conventional diamond-shaped wheel arrangement. In the traveling vehicle of FIG. 4, one traveling motor 58 drives left and right traveling wheels 60 and 61 via a differential gear 59. Also, the front and rear steered wheels 62, 63
Are connected by a Z-shaped link mechanism 64. A sprocket 68 is attached to the shaft of the steering motor 57, and a sprocket 67 is also attached to the front steering wheel 62. A chain 69 is hung on the sprockets 67 and 68. When the steering motor 57 rotates, the front and rear steered wheels 62 and 63 are steered through the chain mechanism and the Z-shaped link mechanism 64.

Since the traveling vehicle shown in FIG. 4 does not use a swivel caster, there is no inconvenience of the mechanism shown in FIG. However, since the running wheels 60 and 61 are driven by the differential gear 59, the minimum turning radius is limited, and in particular, the spin-turn operation is impossible in principle.

[0007] The running wheels 60 and 61 may be driven by left and right independent motors as in the conventional example shown in FIG. 3, but in order to perform turning traveling, the front and rear steering wheels 62 and 63 are required.
Must be steered in the opposite direction by the same angle (hereinafter referred to as opposite phase). In particular, to perform a spin turn,
The driver must steer at an angle of 90 degrees when traveling straight. However, the Z-shaped link mechanism 64 is not capable of achieving accurate opposite-phase steering, but is intended only to approximately achieve this. That is, when the vehicle is steered within a certain range from the straight traveling state, almost accurate anti-phase is realized, but as the steering angle is further increased, the relative error of the steering angles of the front and rear steered wheels 62 and 63 is increased. Becomes large, an accurate reverse phase cannot be realized, and traveling itself in a small turn becomes difficult. For this reason, the conventional traveling vehicle shown in FIG. 4 can travel on a rough road surface having a foreign object or a step on the road surface such as outdoors, but there is a limit in small turning performance including a spin turn, and the narrow traveling path is limited. Traveling was difficult.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a traveling vehicle having a high running performance even on a rough road surface and a small turning performance capable of traveling in a narrow passage. It is.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a planar wheel arrangement is rhombic, left and right wheels are used as running wheels, and front and rear wheels are used as steering wheels. In a traveling vehicle, the steering motor steers the front steered wheels by gear transmission, and simultaneously sets the rear steered wheels in the opposite direction to the front steered wheels via power transmission means linearly linked to the rotation of the gears. It is characterized by equi-angle steering.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a traveling vehicle in which the wheels are arranged in a diamond shape, the left and right wheels are used as traveling wheels, and the front and rear wheels are used as steering wheels, the sprocket is fixed with the steering motor coaxial. By rotating the gears, meshing with the gears, and rotating the gears fixed to the shaft supporting the front steered wheels, the front steered wheels are steered, and at the same time, the rear wheels A sprocket fixed to a shaft supporting the steered wheels is rotated to steer the rear steered wheels in a direction opposite to the front steered wheels and at an equal angle.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the traveling vehicle according to the second aspect, the two sprockets meshed with each other have the same number of teeth and are connected via the chain. The number of teeth is made equal.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the traveling vehicle according to the first, second, or third aspect, the left and right traveling wheels are driven by separate motors.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the embodiment.

The left and right running wheels 12, 13 are driven by independent running motors 10, 11, respectively. Hereinafter, the configuration of the embodiment will be described based on FIG. Front steering wheel 1
4 is supported by a bearing 35 and a bearing (not shown) on the opposite side, and the bearing 35 is attached to the wheel support plate 3.
1 is attached. The shaft 24 is attached to the wheel support plate 31, and the spur gear 16 is further attached to the shaft 24. The shaft 24 is supported by a bearing 28 and a lower bearing (not shown).

Wheel support plate 32 for supporting rear steered wheels 15
, A shaft 26 is attached thereto, and the sprocket 20 is further attached to the shaft 26. 34 is an axle,
36 is a bearing. The shaft 26 is supported by a bearing 30 and a lower bearing (not shown).

The shaft 25 provided in parallel with the shaft 24 described above includes:
A spur gear 17 and a sprocket 19 are mounted.
The shaft 25 is supported by a bearing 29 and a lower bearing (not shown). The spur gear 18 is attached to the shaft of the steering motor 27. A chain 21 is hung on the sprocket 19 and the sprocket 20. Two turnbuckles 22 and 23 are connected to the chain 21. The spur gear 18 meshes with the spur gear 17, and the spur gear 17 meshes with the spur gear 16. Here, the number of teeth of the spur gear 17 and the number of teeth of the spur gear 16 are set to be equal. Further, the number of teeth of the sprocket 19 and the number of teeth of the sprocket 20 are set to be equal.

The steering mechanism described above is mounted on an upper frame 37, and the traveling motors 10, 11 are mounted on a lower frame 38 as shown in FIG. The upper frame 37 and the lower frame 38 are rotatably connected by a shaft 39.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described.
2, when the spur gear 18 rotates clockwise (clockwise) by the steering motor 27, the spur gear 17 rotates counterclockwise (counterclockwise), and the spur gear 16 rotates clockwise. Here, the rotation directions of the spur gear 17 and the spur gear 16 are opposite, and the rotation angles are equal. In addition, the spur gear 18
This is for reducing the output shaft of the steering motor 27 and increasing the torque.

When the spur gear 17 rotates, the coaxially fixed sprocket 19 also rotates, and the chain 21
, The sprocket 20 rotates in the same direction as the rotation direction of the spur gear 17 and at the same rotation angle. As a result, the front steered wheels 14 and the rear steered wheels 15 are steered by exactly the same angle in the opposite directions (ie, in opposite phases).

The turnbuckles 22 and 23 are connected to the chain 2
1 to adjust the tension and adjust the relative steering angle of the front and rear steered wheels 14 and 15. In the embodiment, the chain 21 is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a power transmission unit linearly linked to the rotation of the gear 17, for example, a belt or a gear is also included in the equivalent range.

The traveling motors 10, 11 (see FIG. 1)
The number of revolutions is controlled independently according to the steering angle, and the traveling vehicle is appropriately driven.

The upper frame 37 having the steering mechanism and the lower frame 38 having the traveling wheels 12 and 13 and the traveling motors 10 and 11 are rotatably connected by the shaft 39, so that the entire frame can be completely formed even on a rough road surface. The wheels can contact the road surface, improving running performance.

Although the speed reducing spur gear 18 is provided in the embodiment, it is also possible to omit the spur gear 18 and attach a steering motor 27 to the shaft of the spur gear 17 via a coupling. Further, in the embodiment, the number of teeth of the spur gear 17 and the number of teeth of the spur gear 16 are made equal, and the number of teeth of the sprocket 19 is made equal to the number of teeth of the sprocket 20, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, by setting the ratio of the number of teeth of the spur gear 17 to the number of teeth of the spur gear 16 to 1: 2 and the ratio of the number of teeth of the sprocket 19 to the number of teeth of the sprocket 20 to 1: 2, It is possible to steer 14 and the rear steered wheels 15 in opposite phases.

[0024]

As described above, according to the first, second, third, or fourth aspect of the present invention, since no free casters are used, there is no run-out of the steered wheels, and the vehicle can travel on a rough road surface. Becomes Further, since the front steered wheels and the rear steered wheels can be accurately steered in opposite phases, a small turn (spin turn) is possible, and traveling in a narrow passage is facilitated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional diamond-shaped wheel arrangement.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a conventional traveling vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 11 Running motor 12, 13 Running wheel 14 Front steering wheel 15 Rear steering wheel 16 Spur gear 17 Spur gear 18 Spur gear 19 Sprocket 20 Sprocket 21 Chain 22, 23 Turnbuckle 24, 25, 26 Shaft 37 Upper frame 38 Lower frame 39 axes

Claims (4)

[Claims] When a steering motor steers a front steering wheel by gear transmission in a traveling vehicle in which a planar wheel arrangement is rhombic, left and right wheels are running wheels, and front and rear wheels are steering wheels. At the same time, the traveling vehicle is characterized in that the rear steered wheels are steered in the opposite direction and at the same angle to the front steered wheels via power transmission means linearly interlocked with the rotation of the gears. 2. A traveling vehicle in which a planar wheel arrangement has a rhombic shape, left and right wheels are used as running wheels, and front and rear wheels are used as steering wheels, wherein a steering motor rotates a coaxially fixed sprocket gear. At the same time, the front steering wheel is steered by rotating the gear fixed to the shaft that supports the front steering wheel by meshing with the gear, and at the same time, the rear steering wheel is connected via the chain hung on the sprocket. A traveling vehicle characterized by rotating a sprocket fixed to a supporting shaft and steering a rear steering wheel in a direction opposite to the front steering wheel and at an equal angle. 3. The traveling vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the two gears meshing with each other have the same number of teeth, and
A traveling vehicle wherein two sprockets connected via the chain have the same number of teeth. 4. The traveling vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the left and right traveling wheels are respectively driven by separate motors.