JPS63203484A - Attitude holding mechanism for irregular ground traveling vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To invariably support the carrier of a vehicle body horizontally by stretching a connecting body on large and small belt winding bodies, connecting the centers of both belt winding bodies with a link mechanism, and adjusting the link mechanism. CONSTITUTION:A pair of the right and left link mechanisms 10 supporting a loaded material are fitted on a travel mechanism 1 provided with the right and left crawlers 5. The link mechanism 10 has a small pulley 11 fixed on the side face of the vehicle body of the travel mechanism 1 and a large pulley 12 fixed on the side face of a carrier, an endless belt 13 is suspended around both pulleys 11, 12, and centers of both pulleys 11, 12 are connected by a link 14. The operation of the link mechanism 10 is automatically controlled by the information obtained from an attitude sensor detecting the longitudinal inclination of the mechanism 1, thereby the carrier can be invariably kept hori zontal.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention provides a mobile robot for inspecting inside a nuclear reactor, which has the function of going up and down stairs and climbing over obstacles, a robot for patrolling inspection inside a chemical plant, The present invention relates to a posture holding mechanism used for vehicles moving on rough terrain, such as vehicles for agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

[Conventional technology]

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, an all-terrain vehicle is known in which a crawler-type or ordinary wheel-type traveling mechanism (1) is loaded with various materials (2).

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

This mobile vehicle can freely travel over rough and uneven terrain due to the excellent running performance of the traveling machine 4M (1), and the yi cargo (2) is directly mounted on the traveling mechanism (1). Due to the structure, there are steep stairs (3) as shown in Figure 7.
When moving up and down the vehicle, the center of gravity (wl) of the entire vehicle moves outside of the crawler support.

It has the disadvantage that it may fall over, or even if it does not fall over, it may cause a significant loss of balance, especially when carrying goods (2) such as manipulators, visual devices, and power sources.

Regarding mobile robots equipped with computers, etc., this is the load! (2) This is a big problem because the heavy basket is heavy and the overall center of gravity is quite high.

To deal with this problem, attempts have been made to improve stability by increasing the length of the crawler and the distance between vehicles relative to the height of the center of gravity. As an example of this, Figure 8 shows a mobile vehicle developed by the Rollsruhe Institute in West Germany, which is equipped with four movable crawlers (5) that swing around an inner pulley (4). It can be seen that even if the height of the center of gravity (W2) is the same, the stability is increased by the length of the crawler. In addition to this, the 9th
As shown in the figure, an attempt has been made to provide a planetary wheel (6) to make the shape of the crawler (5) variable and to extend the length of the lower crawler required to maintain stability when going up and down stairs.

However, since these conventional technologies require relatively long crawlers, they are not necessarily desirable for vehicle configurations that require free mobility in a narrow environment, and they also require relatively long crawlers. (2) is a steep slope (angle of inclination of stairs)
Since it is tilted until it is almost parallel to the object (2), there is a risk of causing functional problems to various precision instruments carried as the object (2).

On the other hand, in the past, a bridge (7) was passed between four crawlers (5) as shown in Fig. 1O.

A mobile vehicle has been developed that is equipped with a 41fl link mechanism (8) on the bridge (7) to keep the goods loaded on the loading platform (9)-H horizontal at all times, but the length of the crawler remains the same. unchanged, and the four-bar linkage mechanism (8) itself,
The problem is that it is a large-scale device and requires a considerable amount of space.

[Means for solving problems]

In view of the above points, it is an object of the present invention to further improve this type of mobile vehicle by providing a link mechanism that has a simpler and more compact structure than a four-bar link mechanism. To achieve this purpose, a pulley, gear, or similar small band wrapping body is provided on the traveling mechanism side, a large band wrapping body is provided on the loaded material side, and a belt, wire, or A link mechanism in which a connecting band such as a chain is stretched, and the centers of the two band wrapped bodies are connected by a link, and a posture sensor.

The link is provided with a driving means such as a motor that swings the link around one end based on information obtained from the attitude sensor, and the link is fixed to the traveling mechanism side or the loaded material side, respectively. We have constructed a holding mechanism for rough terrain vehicles that swings to adjust the center of gravity of loaded materials and maintain a stable posture.

[For production]

In other words, the posture holding mechanism of the present invention maintains the posture of the loaded goods by using the tension of the connecting bands stretched between large and small band wrapping bodies, and when the moving vehicle starts going up and down slopes or stairs, the entire vehicle body begins to tilt. At the same time, this inclination is detected by an attitude sensor, and the drive means is moved as needed to operate the link mechanism according to the increase or decrease in inclination.As the link swings, the center of gravity of the loaded material is moved, Loaded goods are kept horizontal by utilizing the fact that large and small band wrapping bodies with connecting bands stretched thereon rotate at different angles when the link swings.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral (1) indicates a traveling mechanism equipped with left and right crawlers (5), and this traveling mechanism (1) has the following:
A pair of left and right link mechanisms (lO) supporting the ins materials (2) are attached to the frame. Each link! 1J/R
(10) If, as shown in Figure 82, travel 41JJ1 (
1) has a small pulley (11) fixed to the side of the vehicle body and a large pulley (12) fixed to the side of the M loader (2) or the loading platform (not shown), and both pulleys (11) and (12) An endless bell (13) is passed around the outer periphery of the frame, and both pulleys (1
1) The centers of (12) are connected by a link (14).

In other words, the bottle (15) added to the lower end of this link (10) is inserted into the hole (Ha) formed at the center of the small pulley (11).
) inserted into the motor (16) and installed in the vehicle body.
), etc., and the pin (+7) attached to the upper end of the link (eye) is inserted into the hole (12a) formed in the center of the large pulley (12) and is connected to a drive means such as a bearing (not shown). It is rotatably attached to the load* (2) or the loading platform. The large and small pulleys (I+) (12) are arranged vertically as shown in Fig. 3 in the normal running posture, and also rotate around the pin (17) on the L end side of the link (14) and try to fall down. The loaded material (2) is supported in a horizontal position by the tension of the endless bell (13). The operation of this link mechanism (10) is automatically controlled based on information obtained from an attitude sensor (not shown) that detects the longitudinal inclination of the traveling mechanism (1). Taking the case of going up and down the stairs (3) as shown in Fig. 4 as an example, the link (14) moves up and down the stairs (3) by the angular rotation of the motor (16) based on the information obtained from the posture sensor. Swing upward in the clockwise direction in the diagram and shift the center of gravity in the same direction to maintain the overall balance. Also, as the link (14) swings, the loaded object f2 (2) also falls down. However, the inclination angle of the loaded object 'ff (2) supported by the endless belt (13) is corrected by the difference in the rotation angle of the large and small pulleys (11) (+2), and the inclination angle of the traveling mechanism (1) is By appropriately setting various conditions such as the amount of swing of the links (eyes) and the pulley ratio in advance, a substantially horizontal posture can be maintained.

This link mechanism (10) has two fewer links than the conventional four-bar link mechanism, but instead uses large and small pulleys (11
) (12) and an endless belt (13), and has the feature of simplifying the mechanism, reducing the total weight, and reducing the occupied space. The driving means such as the motor (1B) can also be installed on the loaded material (2) side. In this case, the link (1
4) Connect the upper end side bottle (17) to the motor (1B), etc. The lower end side bin (15) is rotatably pivoted to the vehicle body side of the traveling mechanism (1).

FIG. 5 shows the above link mechanism (
The large pulley (12) of 10) is rotatably attached to the loaded material (2) or the loading platform, and the large pulley (12) of the large pulley (!
2) is shown in which an auxiliary pulley (18) attached to the loaded material (2) or the loading platform is rotationally engaged. This auxiliary pulley (18) is a load! (2) or is connected to an auxiliary motor (not shown) installed on the loading platform, and as long as this motor does not move, the large pulley (12) is JIt41L#
! It is indirectly fixed to the J capital (2) side and is the same as the previous embodiment. That is, the link mechanism (lO) further moves the auxiliary motor to L, which has the effect described above, to llx
It is configured so that only the material (2) side (a) can be actively tilted independently. (2) When a manipulator or the like is mounted, its posture can be freely controlled, which is extremely convenient. Since the auxiliary motor is used only for this function, high-speed response is not required, and it is sufficient to use a small motor with a high reduction ratio, and there is no need for a particularly large motor. ) can be incorporated into part of the original operation to maintain the horizontal posture.

The endless belt (+3) can be replaced with a different type of connecting band such as a wire or chain, and in addition to being endless, the connecting band can also be divided into left and right halves; in this case, each end In addition to directly fixing the parts to the pulleys (11) and (12), it is conceivable to fix them to the vehicle body or the load gt (including the loading platform). Also large and small boos 9 (11) (12
) can be replaced by a gear when a chain is used in the connecting band, and is not particularly limited by its name as long as it can involve various connecting bands without slipping within a substantial operating range. .

〔Effect of the invention〕

Disadvantages of the present invention! ! ! As explained above, the posture holding mechanism for ground moving vehicles has a link mechanism in which a connecting body is stretched between large and small band wrapping bodies, and the centers of both band wrapping bodies are connected by a link. It swings to adjust the centering position and always supports the in-s materials horizontally, and by maintaining this posture, it is possible to improve the workability of various equipment loaded as cargo materials. Furthermore, compared to the conventional four-bar link mechanism, the structure is simpler and more compact as described above, and it can be used in a wide range of applications such as mobile robots, mobile vehicles, and 'ttM children.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an all-terrain vehicle equipped with a posture holding mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a link mechanism,
FIG. 3 is a side view of the same rough terrain vehicle, FIG. 4 is a side view showing the same rough terrain vehicle in a stair ascending and descending posture, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the same rough terrain vehicle equipped with a posture holding mechanism according to another embodiment of the present invention. Side Views of Rough Terrain Vehicles FIGS. 6 to 10 are side views of conventional vehicles. (1) Traveling mechanism (2) m! ! Supplies (3) Stairs (
lO) Link mechanism (!l) Small pulley (12) Large pulley (!3) Endless belt (14) Link (+5)
(17) Pin (1B) Motor (18) Auxiliary pulley Patent applicant: New Technology Development Corporation -m=-11譬',I
I"; 5:, i, 1 1: Agent Patent attorney Yo Nogi - Figure 1 + 2 2 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 10

Claims (1)

[Claims] A pulley, gear, or similar small band wrapping body is provided on the traveling mechanism side, a large band wrapping body is provided on the loaded material side, and a connecting band such as a belt, wire, or chain is installed between the two band wrapping bodies. a link mechanism in which the respective centers of the two-band wrapped bodies are connected by a link; a posture sensor; and a motor, etc., that swings the link around one end based on information obtained from the posture sensor. It is characterized by comprising a driving means, and swings the link with the double-band wrapping body fixed to the traveling mechanism side or the loaded material side, respectively, to adjust the center of gravity position of the loaded material and maintain a stable posture. Attitude maintenance mechanism for vehicles traveling on rough terrain.