JPS631226B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a running body capable of moving up and down stairs, overcoming obstacles, and the like. Recently, when performing various types of work such as inspection, monitoring, maintenance, and repair of equipment in environments where it is undesirable for people to enter, such as nuclear reactor containment vessels, robots that can perform these tasks by remote control in place of workers are being used. Attempts are being made to use it. Such robots are generally constructed by mounting work equipment for carrying out various tasks such as inspection and monitoring on a running body that can freely travel within a reactor containment vessel or the like. By the way, a lot of equipment is housed in a narrow space inside the reactor containment vessel.
The road surface on which such a robot must run is complex, and there are many stairs and obstacles along the way. Therefore, in order to put such a robot into practical use, a running body that can freely ascend and descend stairs and freely overcome obstacles is required. Such a traveling body may be equipped with a crawler-type traveling mechanism, but crawler-type vehicles have a limited ability to climb stairs, climb over obstacles, etc. In addition, so-called traveling-type traveling bodies equipped with a plurality of legs have also been developed. Although such a traveling body has great ability to climb stairs and overcome obstacles, the structure of the legs and its drive mechanism are complex, and a lot of information is required to control the operation of the legs. There were other problems, such as the leg control mechanism being extremely complicated. In order to eliminate such problems, the first
Attempts have been made to develop a traveling body as shown in FIGS. That is, 1 in the figure is a vehicle body, and on this vehicle body 1, for example, monitoring equipment such as a television camera 2 is mounted. At the front end and the rear end of this vehicle body 1, there are a pair of left and right, respectively.
A total of four rotating arm bodies 3 are attached. These rotary arm bodies 3 are attached to the vehicle body 1 by rotary shafts 4 so as to be freely rotatable in a vertical plane. Each of these rotating arm bodies 3 is provided with three arm portions 5 that project radially from the center of rotation. Wheels 6 are rotatably attached to the distal ends of the arm portions 5, respectively, by axles 7. Inside the vehicle body 1, there is a drive mechanism that rotationally drives the rotary arm bodies 3 and fixes them at arbitrary positions, and also rotates the wheels 6 independently of the rotation of the rotary arm bodies 3. 8
...is provided. When such a vehicle travels on a flat road surface, each rotating arm body 3 as shown in FIG.
It travels by touching two wheels 6 of... to the ground.
In addition, when climbing stairs, etc., the wheels 6... rotate the rotary arm body 3... that corresponds to the lowest step 9a... of the stairs, and the next wheel 6... is moved to the lowest step 9a... as shown in FIG.
. . , and further rotates the rotary arm body 3 . . . to ride on the lowermost stage 9 a . . . as shown in FIG. 3 b. Then, the wheels 6... are rotated to move forward on the lowermost stage 9a... as shown in Fig. 3c, and the third
As shown in Figure d, when the wheels 6 come into contact with the next step 9b, the rotary arm body 3 is rotated in the same manner as above, and this operation is repeated to ascend the stairs. The combination of the rotational movements of the wheels 6 and the rotary arm body 3 allows the robot to move up and down stairs, climb over obstacles, and the like. This type of device has great ability to overcome obstacles, but since two wheels 6 of each rotating arm body 3 are in contact with the ground, it is simply a matter of changing the rotation speed of the left and right wheels 6. This causes a problem in which smooth steering operation cannot be performed. In order to eliminate such problems, as shown in Fig. 4, the front and rear rotary arm bodies 3...
0a..., 10b..., these trolleys 10a
..., 10b... could be rotated with respect to the vehicle body 1, thereby steering the vehicle. However, in this case, in order to prevent interference between the rotary arm bodies 3 and the vehicle body 1 during steering, it is necessary to increase the distance between the left and right rotary arm bodies 3. As a result, the overall width increases, creating a new problem in that it becomes impossible to enter narrow areas. The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a running body that can obtain smooth steering performance, reduce the width, and enter into narrow spaces. There is a particular thing. That is, the configuration of the present invention is such that a wheel is provided on the arm portion of a rotary arm body that is rotatable, and the rotary arm body and the wheel are separately driven to rotate to increase the ability to overcome obstacles. It is rotatable with the axial direction of the arm part as the rotation center axis,
It is designed to provide smooth steering performance, the gap between the wheels and the vehicle body for wheel steering operation is small, and the overall width is reduced so that it can enter narrow spaces. be. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. This embodiment is for inspecting and monitoring equipment within the reactor containment vessel. 10 in the figure is a car body, and this car body 1
...Monitoring equipment, such as a television camera 102, is mounted on top. And this car body 10
A total of four rotary arm bodies 103 are attached to the front and rear ends of the rotary arms 103, one pair on each side. These rotary arm bodies 103 are attached to the vehicle body 101 by rotary shafts 104 so as to be freely rotatable in a vertical plane. Each of these rotating arm bodies 103 ... has three arms 1 protruding radially from the center of rotation.
05... is provided. Wheels 106 are rotatably attached to the tips of the arms 105, respectively, by axles 107. Inside the vehicle body 1 , there is a rotary arm drive mechanism 108 that can rotate the rotary arm bodies 103 and fix them in any position, and the wheels 6 are driven independently of the rotation of the rotary arm bodies 103 . A wheel drive mechanism 109 that rotationally drives the wheels 106 and a steering mechanism 110 that steers the wheels 106.
is provided. These rotating arm body drive mechanism 108, wheel drive mechanism 109 ... and steering mechanism 1
10... is provided with a similar configuration for each rotary arm body 103 ..., and hereinafter, the seventh
Referring to the figure, a rotating arm body drive mechanism 108 for one rotating arm body 3..., a wheel drive mechanism 1
09... and the configuration of the steering mechanism 110 ... will be explained. 111... is a drive motor of the rotary arm body drive mechanism 108 ..., and a gear 113... is attached to its rotating shaft 112..., and this gear 113...
... are meshed with gears 114 ... attached to the rotation shaft 4 ... of the rotary arm body 3 .... This drive motor 111... is capable of forward and reverse rotation,
It also has a built-in brake mechanism, and is configured to rotate the rotary arm bodies 103 in the normal and reverse directions, and to fix the rotation of the rotary arm bodies 103 at any position. Further, 115... is a drive motor of the wheel drive mechanism 109 ..., and a gear 117... is attached to its rotating shaft 116..., and this gear 117... is meshed with a gear 119... attached to a drive shaft 118... are doing. The drive shafts 118 pass through the rotary shafts 104 of the rotary arm bodies 103 so as to be rotatable concentrically therewith. The drive shaft 118... is connected to the wheel 1 via a drive shaft 120... provided in the arm 105 ... of the rotary arm body 103... and a gear 127...
It is connected to the axle 107... of 06.... The drive motors 115 are capable of forward and reverse rotation, and are configured to be able to rotate the wheels 106 in the forward and reverse directions. Next, the steering mechanism 110 will be explained. That is, the arms 105 have a cylindrical shape, and are rotatably supported by bearings 121 about their central axes. And this arm 1
A gear 122 is provided at the base end of each of the gears 05.... And this gear 122... is the rotary arm body 10
It meshes with intermediate gears 123 rotatably supported by rotating shafts 104 of No. 3. The intermediate gear 123... is the rotating shaft 125 of the drive motor 124.
It meshes with the gear 126 attached to...
Therefore, when the drive motors 124... rotate, the gears 126..., the intermediate gears 123..., the gears 122
The arm 105... rotates via..., and the wheel 106... attached to the tip of this arm 105... rotates around the central axis of this arm 105...
The steering wheel is configured to perform a steering operation. Further, a traveling control mechanism 1 is provided inside the vehicle body 101.
28... are provided, and the rotating arm body 103 ... and the wheels 106... are configured to be rotated and steered by the travel control mechanism 128.... Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained. First, when traveling on a flat road surface, the rotary arm body 103
Two of the wheels 106 are grounded, and the rotation of each rotary arm body 103 is not fixed and is allowed to rotate freely. Then, the wheels 106 are rotated to move forward and backward. In this case, each rotary arm body 103 can rotate freely, so even if there are some unevenness on the road surface, these rotary arm bodies 103 can rotate freely.
By rotating the wheels 3, the two wheels 6 can be kept firmly in contact with the ground at all times, allowing stable running. Further, even if the road surface is inclined, the rotary arm body 3 rotates, and the two wheels 6 can be kept in contact with the ground at all times. Next, the case of going up and down stairs will be explained. First, as shown in FIG. 8a, when the wheels 106... contact the bottom step of the stairs, the wheels 106...
The travel control circuit 12
8... detects and rotates the rotating arm body 103 .... Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8b, the next wheel 10
6... is placed on this bottom stage 129a.... Then, the rotary arm body 103 is further rotated, and the eighth
As shown in Figure c, it rides on top of this bottom step 129a. Next, the wheels 106 are rotated, and the vehicle runs on the lowest stage 129a. Then, as shown in FIG. 8d, when the wheels 106 come into contact with the next step 129b, the rotary arm body 103 is again rotated as described above, and the same operation is repeated to ascend the stairs one step at a time. When going down the stairs, the operation is the reverse of the above. Further, in order to change the direction of the traveling body, the drive motors 124 of the steering mechanisms 110 are rotated to rotate the arms 105. Therefore, the wheels provided at the tips of these arms 105... rotate around the central axes of these arms 105.... Therefore, the wheels 106 that are in contact with the ground
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the wheels 106 fall in the left-right direction, and the running direction of these wheels 106 also changes. Therefore, the traveling body is turned in the direction of these wheels, and a smooth steering operation is performed. Incidentally, the difference between the inner and outer wheels between the left and right wheels 106 due to this steering is adjusted by the traveling control device 128.
In addition, during such steering, the wheels 1
Since the wheels 101... fall down in the left-right direction, the height of the wheels 101... decreases accordingly. In order to prevent such a change in the height of the vehicle body 101, it is sufficient to slightly rotate the rotary arm body 103 , as shown in FIG. 5, and lift the vehicle body 101 by the amount of the decrease in height. Note that in this case, one of the wheels 106 lifts up, but this does not interfere with running. Further, by steering the wheels 106 for all the rotary arm bodies 103 , the vehicle body 101 can be run diagonally or laterally. Since this device rotates the wheels with the axial direction of the arm as the central axis, the amount of vibration of the wheels 106 during steering is small, and the gap between the wheels 106 and the vehicle body 101 is reduced. is possible,
Since the overall width can be reduced, it can easily enter narrow spaces. Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the number of arms of the rotating arm body is not limited to three, but may be four or more. Furthermore, the wheel steering mechanism is not limited to one that rotates an arm; the arm may be fixed to a rotating arm body, and the wheel may be rotated relative to the arm. As described above, in the present invention, a wheel is provided at the tip of the arm of the rotary arm body, and the wheel and the rotary arm body are separately driven to rotate, so that the ability to overcome obstacles is great. In addition, since the wheels are steered by rotating around the axial direction of the arm, the steering performance is good, and the amount of wobbling of the wheels during steering is small, reducing the gap between the wheels and the vehicle body. Since the overall width can be reduced, it is possible to easily enter narrow spaces, which has great effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 a to 3 d show a conventional example, in which FIG. 1 is a side view, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 a to 3 d are schematic diagrams for explaining the operation. FIG. 4 is a plan view of another conventional example. Figures 5 to 8 a~
d shows one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a side view;
FIG. 6 is a plan view, FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line --- in FIG. 5, and FIGS. 8a to 8d are schematic diagrams for explaining the operation. 101...Vehicle body, 103 ...Rotating arm body, 1
05...Arm, 106...Wheel, 108 ...Rotating arm body drive mechanism, 109 ...Wheel drive mechanism,
110...Steering mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle body, a rotary arm body rotatably attached to the vehicle body and having three or more arm portions protruding radially, and a rotary arm body rotatably attached to the tip of each arm of the rotary arm body. A wheel, a rotary arm drive mechanism that rotationally drives the rotary arm, a wheel drive mechanism that rotatably drives the wheel independently of rotation of the rotary arm, and a wheel that rotates the wheel along the axial direction of the arm. It is characterized by comprising a steering mechanism that rotates around a steering axis, and a travel control mechanism that controls the rotation of the rotary arm body and wheels and the steering of the wheels in accordance with the shape of the traveling road surface. A running body.