JPS6273160A - Magnetic wheel type conduit robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to allow a robot main body to smoothly turn the bend part of a conduit, by arranging a spindle to the robot main body through bearings engaged with the grooves provided to both sides of said robot main body and providing a magnet and a wheel having high magnetic permeability to the outer periphery of the spindle. CONSTITUTION:A bush 4 is provided on the spindle 3 supported by bearings 2 and a permanent magnet 11 is engaged with the outer periphery of the bush 4. Magnetic wheels 12 for running a robot are provided to the outer periphery of the bush 4 and a magnetic patch constituted of permanent magnet 11 magnetic wheel 12 magnetic conduit 14 magnetic wheel 12 permanent magnet 11 is formed through the magnetic conduit 14. Therefore, the possibility of generating the propelling force proportional to the attraction force generated between the magnetic wheel 12 and the magnetic conduit 14 is provided without separating a running vehicle 40 from the magnetic conduit 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a magnetic wheel type conduit robot, and more particularly to a magnetic wheel type conduit robot suitable for traveling in straight sections and curved sections of small diameter pipes.

[Background of the invention]

In conventional robots, the running vehicle maintains contact with the pipe wall using running wheels and guides supported by springs to ensure stability of the running vehicle. In this type of robot, especially at curved parts, IIl? There is a possibility that the spring support of the vehicle will hit the protrusion on the wall, making the vehicle unable to travel.

Various devices have been proposed for inspecting the inside of pipes by moving on them.
Examples of such devices include a jointed arm-equipped Shirakitsu 3 IJI tunryo shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 123991/1983.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and its purpose is to provide magnetic wheels that can not only smoothly bend even when a conduit has a curved section, but also enable stable running even on a straight section. There is a shape to provide a conduit robot.

[Summary of the invention]

In the present invention, a spindle is installed perpendicularly to the running direction of the robot through bearings fitted into grooves on both sides of the robot body, a magnet is provided on the outer periphery of the spindle, and at least one magnet is placed on each side of the magnet. The desired purpose is achieved by providing wheels with high magnetic permeability.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be described below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, a bush 4 is provided on a spin 1 heel 3 supported by a bearing 2, and a permanent magnet 11 is fitted into the outer periphery of this bush 4. Further, on the outer periphery of the bushing 4 and on both sides of the permanent magnet 11, a magnetic wheel @12 for robot running is provided. Magnetic conduit 14-Magnetic wheel @
12 - forming a magnetic path of the permanent magnet 11 and the traveling vehicle 40;

without leaving the magnetic conduit 14 and magnetic axle 1
2 and the magnetic conduit 14, it is possible to generate a thrust comparable to the attractive force generated between the magnetic conduit 14 and the magnetic conduit 14.

Furthermore, a gear 9 and a distant piece 10 are provided on the outer periphery of the permanent magnet 11 to convert the circumferential torque driven by the actuator into a direction perpendicular to the rotational direction described above via the worm 8. On the other hand, in order to minimize magnetic resistance, the magnetic wheel]-2 has a shape in which the outer peripheral surface matches the inner diameter of the conduit.

FIG. 2 shows that no matter where the traveling axle (magnetic wheel 12) is located on the circumference of the magnetic conduit 14,
A magnetic flux shaft type conduit robot is shown in which the attraction force and the dimensions of the weight of the running vehicle are taken into consideration so that the magnetic conduit 14 and the magnetic axle 12 can run without separating.

That is, as shown in the figure, the magnetic axle 12 and the magnetic conduit 14
The attraction force F between the magnetic conduit 14 and the magnetic conduit 14 is selected to be a value that allows the traveling vehicle 40 to travel stably no matter where it is positioned on the circumference of the magnetic conduit 14. Now, if the heavy plate of the running car/10 is W, then F>>-W ・・・・・・・・・(
Of course, the center of gravity of the traveling vehicle 40 can be set to 2).
3, the attraction force F, the weight W, the distance between the magnetic wheels 12 MQz, the distance m Q 2 between the center of gravity 23 of the traveling vehicle 40 and the attraction force F of the magnetic axle 12 are set so as to satisfy All the behaviors of the traveling vehicle 40 are taken into consideration so that it can run stably.

3 and 4 show the above-described magnetic ring-shaped conduit robot running inside the magnetic conduit 14. FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 4] indicates a sensor car installed at the tip of the robot, which is provided with a plurality of axles to reduce resistance when the sensor car 41 runs. A visual sensor 46 is provided in the center of this sensor car 41. sensor BIH4
The sensors mounted on 1 may be ultrasonic, eddy current, or gas sensors, either singly or in combination, as required. 4
0 is a group of running vehicles, and here three running vehicles are shown.

or.

44 indicates an actuator wheel. The actuator wheel 44 incorporates an actuator or, if necessary, a reduction gear. Power to the vehicle 40 is provided by a flexible connecting shaft provided inside the flexible connecting body 32. On the outer periphery of this actuator wheel 44,
Similar to the sensor vehicle 41, a plurality of axles 45 are installed to reduce resistance during running. The flexible connector 32 is
Between 40 running cars, 40 running LtE cars and 4 actuator cars.
4, and the flexibility constant and axial length are determined so that the entire robot does not tilt when traveling in a straight line, and only the magnetic axle 12 of the traveling vehicle 40 comes into contact with the magnetic conduit 14. It is formed by a connection body made of a metal or flexible material with a high hardness coating on its surface. There is a magnetic conductor between the sensor car 41 and the traveling car 40!
14, a flexible connection having flexibility and length that allows the sensor wheel 41 to bend easily and transmit the force to the sensor wheel 41 when the sensor wheel 41 is receiving a force in the running direction. connected by a body 43. Note that 47 is a cable connected to the actuator wheel 44.

FIG. 4 shows that the robot shown in FIG.
This figure shows the condition in which the vent part of the machine is operated. The sensor car 41 easily passes through the bend due to the flexibility of the flexible connection body 43, and the traveling car 4o also passes through the bend part due to the flexibility of the flexible connection body 32.
The flexibility of the vehicle 40 and the dimensional design of the traveling vehicle 40 itself, that is, the dimensions are sufficiently smaller than the dimensions of the bend space in the longitudinal direction and the outer diameter direction of the traveling vehicle 40, and on the other hand, magnetic By adopting a structure in which the contact between the body conduit 14 and the traveling vehicle 40 is made only on the magnetic wheel 12 side, the guide (protrusion 16) of the plug-in type joint 15, which has the worst structure for passing through the bend, can be eliminated. The structure is such that it can be easily passed through.

FIG. 5 shows a cross section in the orthogonal direction of FIG. 1. This is an example using a flexible shaft 34 with a small outer diameter.

With this configuration, the power from the actuator wheel 44 is transmitted to the shaft 7 for the worm 8 by the flexible shaft 34 provided on the inner diameter side of the fixed flexible connecting body 32. The worm 8 converts the torque into perpendicular torque through the gear 9 and transmits the torque to the magnetic wheels 12 . The magnetic wheels 12 are on the traveling vehicle 40 during normal times.

As mentioned above, this posture, which constitutes the only contact body with the magnetic conduit 14 and has no other mechanism to contact the magnetic conduit 14, is achieved by the action of the flexible connecting body 32. That's right.

By adopting the configuration of this embodiment as described above, it is possible to contact only the wheel portion with the conduit when traveling in a magnetic pipe, and with this configuration, it is possible to reduce and optimize the size and shape of each traveling vehicle. , and the connecting body between each vehicle is flexible and highly hard,
It is possible to take a configuration with appropriate bending moment rigidity, and it is possible to provide a strong suction force between the wheels and the conduit, so it achieves highly stable straight running and easy passage through 90' bends. I can do it. This results in the most difficult
It is now possible to provide self-propelled robots for plug-in joints.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the magnetic wheel type sensor robot of the present invention as described above, a spindle is installed perpendicularly to the robot's running direction via bearings fitted into grooves on both sides of the robot body, and the spindle is mounted on the outer periphery of the spindle. Since a magnet is provided and at least one axle having high magnetic permeability is provided on each side of the magnet, even if there is a bend in the conduit, it can be bent smoothly.

Stable running is possible even on straight sections, making this type of conduit robot extremely effective.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the magnetic wheel type sensor tube robot of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the robot shown in FIG. 1 rotated 90 degrees within a conduit, and FIG. The figure is a sectional view showing a state in which a large number of magnetic wheel type sensing tube robots of the present invention are connected and running in a conduit, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a state in which the robot of FIG. 3 is running in a bend section. FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of FIG. 1.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A spindle is installed perpendicular to the robot's running direction via bearings fitted into grooves on both sides of the robot body, and a magnet is provided on the outer periphery of the spindle, and a magnet is installed on both sides of the robot body. Magnetic wheeled conduit robot with at least one wheel with high magnetic permeability on each side. 2. The outer periphery of the magnet is provided with a gear and a distant piece that converts the torque in the circumferential direction of the conduit by the actuator into a direction perpendicular to the rotation direction through a worm. The magnetic wheel type conduit robot according to item 1. 3. The wheels of the robot are characterized in that the shape of the wheels is matched to the shape of the running surface so that the magnetic resistance between the running conduit and the wheels is minimized. magnetic wheel-shaped conduit robot.