JPS61222878A - Wall walking machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a wall walking machine in a simple mechanism and in light weight by coupling together a pair of legs, on the right and left, equipped each with a suction cup through a motion inverting mechanism so that either of the legs travels in the direction of walking while the other is fixed attracted to the wall surface. CONSTITUTION:Support frames 4 for a pair of legs 1a, 1b on the right and left are coupled with their mating mounting frames 5 for suction cup 8 by the use of expansion/contraction mechanisms 6. A liquid pressure actuator 7 to narrow together and move apart each set of such a supporting frame 4 and mounting frame 5 is provided in the middle. The supporting frames 4 are supported slidably through an arm 14 installed at a cylinder 10 of drive mechanism 2. A gear 17 of a motion inverting mechanism 3 is installed on the undersurface of this cylinder 10. The gear 17 is meshed with a rack 18 furnished on the inside of each supporting frame 4. The left and right supporting frames 4 are thus advanced alternately by this motion inverting mechanism 3 to accomplish walking on the wall.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a wall walking machine that moves up and down on a wall by walking motion.

[Prior Art] Wall walking machines that freely move up and down the walls of buildings are expected to be widely used in many fields in the future, such as robots that perform tasks such as cleaning and painting.

Such a wall-walking machine can be realized by using negative-pressure suction cups to alternately attach the left and right legs to the wall. However, this kind of wall-walking machine using negative-pressure suction cups has As the weight of the machine increases, a larger adsorption force is required accordingly, so reducing the weight of the machine as much as possible leads to miniaturization and reduction of energy consumption. It is also possible to work in a narrow space, such as in a groove on a wall, and in such cases it is desirable that the width of the machine be as narrow as possible.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a compact type wall walking machine that has a simplified mechanism as much as possible, is light in weight, and has a narrow width. be.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the wall walking machine according to the present invention has left and right sides that are provided with negative pressure type suction cups at the front and rear, and configured such that the suction cups can move toward and away from the wall surface. A pair of six legs and a drive mechanism for moving these legs are provided, and the drive mechanism is operated in a state where one of the legs is suctioned and fixed to a wall surface. This method uses a means in which the legs, which are not fixed, are connected via a motion reversal mechanism that moves them in the walking direction.

[Function] The wall walking machine according to the present invention has one leg adsorbed to the wall surface by a suction cup, and the other leg is separated from the wall surface, and the drive mechanism is operated in this state. The non-fixed leg is moved forward in the walking direction using the leg as a fulcrum via the motion reversal mechanism.

Next, the legs that have moved forward are suctioned and fixed to the wall surface, the leg on the side that was fixed until now is moved away from the wall surface, and the drive mechanism is operated in this state, so that the interlocking reversal mechanism is activated using the leg on the fixed side as a fulcrum. The leg on the non-fixed side is moved forward in the walking direction.

By repeating this operation, the walking machine moves up and down on the wall surface by walking.

[Description of Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing an embodiment of a wall walking machine according to the present invention. A pair of left and right legs 1a and lb that perform walking movements, and a chain side 1a.

It is provided with a drive mechanism 2 and a motion reversal mechanism 3, which are disposed at the end of the lb and drive these legs in the walking direction.

The above-mentioned sides 1a, lb have a support frame 4 and a suction cup mounting frame 5 made of elongated members, and a telescopic support mechanism 8 at both ends thereof.
．． 6, and the telescopic support mechanism 6
．． A telescopic drive mechanism 7 consisting of a fluid pressure actuator such as a cylinder that drives the frames 4 and 5 toward and away from each other is installed at an intermediate position between the frames 4 and 6, and negative pressure suction cups 8 and 8 are attached to both ends of the suction cup mounting frame 5, respectively. This suction cup 8,
8 is configured to be adsorbed to the wall surface by supplying negative pressure from a vacuum pump.

Further, the drive mechanism 2 is constituted by a double rod type cylinder IO in which piston rods 13 are produced from both ends of the cylinder body 12, and the piston rod 1
Both ends of the cylinder body 12 are connected to both ends of the support member 4 on one leg 1a, and the cylinder body 12 is connected to the support frame 4.4 on the two legs 1a, lb via arms 14.14 extending downward on both sides thereof. They are each supported slidably in the axial direction. In this embodiment, as a structure for supporting the cylinder body 12, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a guide rail 4a provided on the upper surface of the support frame 4 is held at the tip of the arm 14. Although the sliding member 15 is provided with a substantially U-shaped cross section, it goes without saying that other configurations may be used.

The motion reversing mechanism 3 includes a gear 17 rotatably attached to the lower surface of the cylinder body 12 by a shaft 18, and a gear 17 cut into the inner surface of the support frames 4, 4 of the legs 1a, lb. Rack 18.18 that engages simultaneously with
With these, the movement of the cylinder 10 is transmitted so that the fixed leg adsorbed to the wall surface is used as a fulcrum, and the non-fixed leg is caused to perform a walking motion.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cylinder 10 constituting the drive mechanism 2 and the telescopic drive mechanism 7 for separating the suction cup 8 from the wall surface are connected to a pressure fluid supply tube 20 and directional control valves a and bl, respectively. , b2 to a fluid source 21 such as a compressor, and the negative pressure type suction cups 8, 8 are also connected to a predetermined level via a tube 23 and a directional control valve CI lc2, as shown in the figure. It is connected to a vacuum pump 24 that supplies negative pressure at timing.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the M11 configuration of the above-mentioned telescopic drive mechanism. As a, a spring return type single-acting cylinder is used, and as a result, the number of tubes 20 is reduced, and the mechanism can be further simplified and lightened.

Next, the walking process of the wall walking machine will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5.

First, each suction 918 of the wall walking machine is pressed onto the wall under a predetermined pressure, and in this state, the vacuum pump 24
is operated to form a negative pressure in the suction g18, and each suction g is adsorbed onto the wall surface. Thereafter, the directional control valve C1 is switched to the state shown in FIG. 3 to release the negative pressure of the suction cups 8, 8 on the leg la side, and at the same time, the directional control valve b! Switch to the state shown in Figure 3,
The telescopic drive mechanism 7 on the leg la side is operated in the shortening direction to separate the suction cup 8 from the wall surface (FIG. 5A).

In this state, when the directional control valve a is switched to the opposite position to that shown in FIG. 3 and pressure fluid is supplied to the first pressure action chamber 10a of the cylinder 10, the piston 10c moves forward (in the direction of the arrow), so that the piston rod The leg 1a connected to 13 also moves in the same direction, and a walking motion to the position shown in FIG. 5B is performed. As this leg la moves forward, both legs 1a,
The gear 17 meshing with the rack 18.18 of the cylinder moves forward while rotating counterclockwise, and the cylinder body 1
2 also moves forward. At this time, the gear 17 and the cylinder body 1
2 takes an advanced position with respect to the fixed side leg 1b, but takes a relatively retreated position with respect to the movable side leg 1a.

Thereafter, the telescopic drive mechanism 7 of the advanced leg 1a is operated in the extending direction to press the suction cups 8, 8 onto the wall surface, and in this state, the direction switching valve C1 is switched, thereby creating a negative pressure inside the suction cups 8.8. and adsorb it onto the wall.

Next, with the leg 1a suctioned and fixed on the wall surface, the negative pressure in the suction cups 8, 8 of the other leg tb is released by switching the directional control valve C2 to the opposite position to that shown in FIG. 3, and at the same time , the directional control valve b2 is switched to operate the telescopic drive mechanism 7 in the shortening direction, thereby separating the suction cup 8.8 on the chain side 1b from the wall surface (FIG. 5B).

In this state, the directional control valve a is switched, and the second
When pressure fluid is supplied to the pressure action chamber 10b, since the leg 1a on the side connected to the piston rod 13 is suctioned and fixed on the wall surface, the inflow of the pressure fluid causes the cylinder body 1 to
2 moves forward (in the direction of the arrow), and along with this, the gear 17 attached to the cylinder body 12 moves forward while rotating clockwise. Due to this rotation, the leg 1b, which is in an unfixed state, moves forward. It is moved forward relative to the leg 1a.

By controlling and continuously performing the above operations by remote control, it becomes possible to move the object in a linear direction on the wall surface by walking. Note that, of course, the control direction in this case may be manual operation or automatic operation.

FIG. 6 shows the drive mechanism 2 in the wall walking machine described above,
A time chart for controlling the telescoping drive mechanism 7 and the suction cup 8 to perform the desired walking is shown.

In addition to the above-mentioned configuration using gears and racks, the motion reversal mechanism in the wall walking machine may also include a configuration in which links swung by a drive mechanism are used to alternately move the two legs forward. If the suction cups provided on each leg are attached via spherical joints, the user can walk on the wall without any problem even if there are slight differences in level or unevenness on the wall surface.

[Effects] According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, the two wooden legs equipped with negative pressure type suction cups are configured to be driven alternately in the traveling direction by a drive mechanism such as a cylinder and a motion reversal mechanism, so that the effect can be greatly improved. When the mechanism is simplified, its weight is also reduced, and less negative pressure is required for suction, resulting in energy savings. It also has many advantages, such as requiring fewer parts, making production easier and cheaper, and the width of the walking machine itself is narrower, allowing it to be used for work in narrow spaces such as in ditches. There is.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the wall walking machine according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of its main parts, Fig. 3 is a configuration diagram of the drive system of the machine, and Fig. 4 is the drive system. Configuration diagram of simplified form of , No. 5
- A schematic diagram showing the process of walking, and FIG. 6 is a time chart showing the operating procedure for walking. la, lh a ++ legs, 2e fist drive mechanism. 3. Movement reversal mechanism, 8. Suction cup. Figure 2 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pair of left and right legs each having a negative pressure suction cup at the front and rear and configured such that the suction cups can be brought into contact with and separated from a wall surface, and a drive mechanism for causing these legs to perform walking movements; The driving mechanism is connected to the driving mechanism via a movement reversing mechanism that moves the non-fixed leg in the walking direction by operating the drive mechanism when one of the legs is fixed to the wall by suction. Wall walking machine.