KR20220001792A - Towed type unmanned underwater vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a towing type underwater robot capable of more quickly performing an underwater exploration mission by enabling stable swimming through towing while enabling high-speed communication. The towing type underwater robot includes: an underwater robot body formed to be flat by a predetermined height; and a composite cable connected to the front of the underwater robot body to perform towing, power supply and communication. A lateral side of the front of the underwater robot body constitutes a first inclined side inclined backward by a first inclination angle while becoming closer from an upper side to a lower side, an upper side of the rear of the underwater robot body constitutes a second inclined side inclined from an upper side to a lower side by a second inclination angle while becoming closer to a rear side, and a lower side of the rear of the underwater robot body constitutes a third inclined side inclined from a lower side to an upper side by a third inclination angle while becoming closer to a rear side. In accordance with the present invention, various devices can be mounted due to efficient spatial placement, stable swimming can be performed through towing in spite of a bulky body, and an influence from a towing cable onto a posture of the robot can be minimized to prevent the posture of the robot from being easily twisted while enabling high-speed communication by using an optical cable through a response mechanism for protecting the optical cable, thereby bringing about an effect of more quickly performing an underwater exploration mission.

Description

Towed type unmanned underwater vehicle

The present invention relates to a towing-type underwater robot, and more particularly, to a towing-type underwater robot capable of performing a faster underwater exploration mission by enabling stable swimming and high-speed communication by towing.

In the marine environment where it is difficult for humans to directly access, the underwater robot technology is used to perform exploration missions. A representative underwater robot used for this purpose is a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) or an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). And other driving methods for the same purpose include towing type underwater equipment.

AUV is an underwater robot that has a built-in battery, thruster, sensor and controller, and can independently perform high-speed autonomous swimming and mission in the water by controlling the wing plate on the outside of the body. However, since it operates on its own battery, the operating time is limited. In order to have longer operating time and cruising range specifications, the platform is designed in the shape of an elongated cylinder with a low flow resistance. In addition, there is a disadvantage that the degree of freedom of motion is small because a large number of thrusters cannot be mounted.

ROV is an underwater robot that can perform missions such as swimming, exploration, and simple tasks in the water through remote operation. Since power is supplied through a cable from a remote location, the burden on operating time is relatively low. It is designed to be equipped with multiple thrusters for higher freedom of motion, and is equipped with a robotic arm and various sensors. Because it is precisely remote operated at low speed underwater, it has a rather dull shape such as a rectangular parallelepiped. For this reason, the flow resistance is high, which makes it difficult to operate in an environment with severe currents and at high speed.

Towing type underwater equipment is equipment that performs underwater exploration missions by connecting the stern of a ship capable of high-speed operation and a towing cable by wire. However, since there is no separate propeller, independent operation is impossible without the towing force of the ship.

A representative example of towing type underwater equipment is an underwater equipment called TowFish. It acquires underwater and sea floor information through various sensors and information collection devices built into this underwater equipment and transmits the information to the ship through the power/communication cable inside the towing cable. Because it swims in water at high speed, it has an elongated cylindrical shape similar to an AUV. Such equipment is connected to a ship that can move at high speed in the sea with a towing cable, and performs exploration missions through the towing force of the ship. It can swim passively depending on the length of the towed cable and the speed of the vessel, or it can swim with varying operating depths through the control of an externally mounted wing plate. Because there is no separate thruster, its own power consumption is very low, so it can efficiently perform exploration missions. However, as it uses the towing force of the ship, it cannot swim in the water alone, and it is difficult to use it for precise underwater exploration.

To complement the manual operation of towing type underwater equipment, it is possible to develop a towing type underwater robot equipped with individually controllable wing plates and multiple self-propelling units. To this end, the body needs to be enlarged in order to mount various devices such as thrusters, actuators and sensors, and high-speed communication is required to remotely control all the devices inside the underwater robot through a ship.

In general, when the towing cable is connected to the underwater equipment, the motion of the underwater equipment can be easily affected by the behavior of the towing cable because the cable is fixedly connected in the middle of the bow of the equipment. In addition, since the communication cable inside the cable, which is an existing example, is a copper wire, it cannot transmit and receive a lot of information at high speed. This can be solved by using the optical cable as an internal communication cable of the towed cable to enable high-speed and long-distance communication. Therefore, it is necessary to apply a countermeasure mechanism to protect the optical cable while the robot's posture is not easily changed by the towing cable.

Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1283417 (Registration Date: 2013.07.02.)

The present invention has been made in accordance with the above requirements and needs, and an object of the present invention is to provide a towing type underwater robot capable of performing a more rapid underwater exploration mission by enabling stable swimming by towing even in an enlarged body there is

Another object of the present invention is to provide a towing-type underwater robot capable of performing more rapid underwater exploration missions by enabling high-speed communication through a countermeasure mechanism for protecting the optical cable without easily changing the robot's posture by the towing cable is to do

The towing type underwater robot according to the present invention for achieving the above object includes an underwater robot body formed flat to a certain height, and a composite cable connected to the front of the underwater robot body to supply power and communicate with the towing, the underwater robot The front side of the body forms a first inclined surface inclined at a first inclination angle toward the rear from the upper side to the lower side, and the rear upper surface of the underwater robot body forms a second inclined surface inclined at a second inclination angle from the upper side to the lower side toward the rear, The rear bottom surface of the underwater robot body forms a third inclined surface inclined at a third inclination angle from the lower side to the upper side toward the rear.

The first inclination angle is smaller than the third inclination angle, and the second inclination angle is smaller than the first inclination angle.

The front of the underwater robot body is equipped with a strain termination connected by a oscillating rotation joint, and the composite cable is inserted into an external cable for towing, and is inserted into the external cable and protected by the external cable. It consists of an inner cable for the purpose, the composite cable is connected to the front of the strain termination, and the inner cable in the composite cable is drawn out from the middle of the strain termination and inserted into the underwater robot body.

A cable drum on which an inner cable is wound is provided inside the underwater robot body, and the inner cable is drawn into the underwater robot body through the cable lead-in guide, wound around the cable drum, and connected to the pressure-resistant box of the underwater robot through the main connector. .

The cable drum has a space between the minimum diameter allowed within the allowable limit and the maximum diameter allowable in the internal space to accommodate the inner cable of the lead-in length, which is variable according to the swing angle of the strain termination, and to be bent while being wound.

According to the towing type underwater robot according to the present invention, various devices can be mounted with efficient spatial arrangement, stable swimming by towing is possible even with an enlarged body, and the effect on the posture of the robot by the towing cable is minimized. High-speed communication using the optical cable is possible through the countermeasure mechanism to protect the optical cable without being easily distorted, which has the effect of performing more rapid underwater exploration missions.

1 is a configuration diagram showing a towing-type underwater robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 (a) to (c) are a plan view, an elevation view, and a front view viewed from the front of the towing-type underwater robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3a and 3b are enlarged views showing the front end and the rear end (rear) of the underwater robot body in Fig. 2 (b).
4 is a perspective view showing the inside (skeleton) of the front part of the underwater robot body in FIG. 1 .
FIG. 5 is a view showing an operating state of the strain termination in FIG. 4 .
FIG. 6 is a view showing a cable entry guide in FIG. 4 .
7a and 7b are views showing the arrangement and winding state of the inner cable in the towing type underwater robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this case, it should be noted that in the accompanying drawings, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible. In addition, detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may obscure the gist of the present invention will be omitted. For the same reason, some components are exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram showing a towing-type underwater robot according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. This is the front view. As shown, the towing type underwater robot 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an underwater robot body 110 , a composite cable 120 , a strain termination 130 , and a cable drum 140 . .

The underwater robot body 110 has a flat and long shape with a certain height, and this shape can receive less horizontal flow resistance, and can arrange a plurality of thrusters for various degrees of freedom of motion at low speeds, and there are many planes. It is possible to place the device efficiently in the space. In this embodiment, the thruster is provided with two main thrusters 151 for advancing at the rear of the underwater robot body 110, and three auxiliary thrusters 152 and 152' are installed in front of the underwater robot body 110. . The front two 152 of the auxiliary thrusters 152 are for vertical (for vertical movement) and the rear one 152' is for the side (for lateral movement).

Front horizontal wings 153 are disposed on both sides of the front portion of the underwater robot body 110, rear horizontal wings 154 are disposed on both sides of the rear portion of the underwater robot body 110, and the rear surface of the underwater robot body 110 and The rear vertical wings 155 are disposed on the bottom, respectively. The horizontal blades 153 and 154 and the vertical blade 155 are each controlled in inclination by a control motor.

3a and 3b are enlarged views showing the front end and the rear end (rear) of the underwater robot body 110 in (b) of FIG. As shown, the front side of the underwater robot body 110 forms a first inclined surface 111a that is inclined at a first inclination angle a rearward from the upper side to the lower side. The first inclination angle (a) is preferably formed to be about 15 degrees. The first inclined surface 111a inclined in this way is a monocular camera (156, see FIG. 1) installed in the front or a scan sonar (157, see FIG. 1), etc. This makes it possible to perform the exploration mission without tilting the posture of the underwater robot body 110 .

And, the rear upper surface of the underwater robot body 110 forms a second inclined surface 111b inclined at a second inclination angle b from the upper side to the lower side toward the rear, and the rear bottom surface of the underwater robot body 110 is toward the rear. It forms a third inclined surface inclined at a third inclination angle c from the lower side to the upper side. Preferably, the second inclination angle (b) is formed at about 14 degrees, and the third inclination angle (c) is formed at about 26 degrees. The first inclination angle a is smaller than the third inclination angle c, and the second inclination angle b is smaller than the first inclination angle a. As described above, the inclined second inclined surface 111b and the third inclined surface 111c are the first inclined surface 111a of the front part, and when they have a non-symmetrical top and bottom, the pitching direction due to flow resistance during high-speed swimming Moment forces may be generated and negatively affect posture control, which serves to offset this.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the inside (skeleton) of the front part of the underwater robot body in Figure 1, Figure 5 is a view showing the operating state of the strain termination in Figure 4, Figure 6 is a view showing the cable entry guide in Figure 4, 7a and 7b are views showing the arrangement and winding state of the inner cable in the towing type underwater robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown, the composite cable 120 is a cable that is connected to the front of the underwater robot body 110 to supply power and communicate with the towing, and an external cable 121 with rigidity for towing, and an external cable 121 ) is inserted into the inside and protected by an external cable 121, and consists of an internal cable 122 such as an optical cable for power supply and communication. The strain termination 130 is connected to the underwater robot body 110 by a rotation joint 131 that can be oscillated from the front of the underwater robot body 110 . The cable drum 140 is installed in the middle of the underwater robot body 110 , and the inner cable 122 is wound around the cable drum 140 .

The composite cable 120 is connected to the ship from the front of the strain termination 130, and the inner cable 122 in the composite cable 120 is drawn out from the middle of the strain termination 130 to the underwater robot body 110 of inserted inside. The inner cable 122 is introduced into the underwater robot body 110 through the cable lead-in guide 161, is wound around the cable drum 140, and then is connected to the pressure-resistant box 163 of the robot through the main connector 162. do.

The cable drum 140 has a minimum diameter (D1) within an allowable limit in which the inner cable 122 of a varying lead-in length depending on the swing angle of the strain termination 130 is accommodated and can be bent while winding, and the maximum allowable in the internal space. A space S between the diameters D2 is provided. The space S is partially covered by the cover part 141 along the circumferential direction to guide the inner cable 122 .

The ship (not shown) and the towing type underwater robot 100 are connected by wire through a complex cable 120 capable of towing, power supply, and communication with each other. The angle of rotation of the strain termination 130 is adjusted in order to prevent the posture from being easily changed and the optical cable (internal cable: 122) inside not being damaged. That is, the strain termination 130 is connected to the underwater robot body 110 through the rotation joint 131 and is rocked, so that the inner cable 122 of the composite cable 120 behaves underwater. It minimizes the influence on the pitching direction of

A rotation joint limiter 164 for limiting the rotation angle is installed at the rotation joint position of the strain termination 130 . Since the rotation joint limiter 164 may be damaged while the inner cable 122 of the composite cable 120 is also bent when the strain termination 130 is too bent through the rotation joint 131, as shown in FIG. It serves to limit the angle of rotation.

The inner cable 122 from the strain termination 130 enters the inside of the underwater robot body 110 through the cable lead-in guide 161, and is installed to be inclined at a certain basic angle to smoothly guide the inner cable 122. . At this time, the portion to which the cable lead-in guide 161 is connected is provided with a guide cushioning material 165 as shown in FIG.

7A and 7B, the inner cable 122 introduced into the underwater robot body 110 is wound once in the space S of the cable drum 140, and then through the main connector 162. It is connected to the pressure-resistant box 163 installed inside the underwater robot body 110 .

As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B , the cable drum 140 is exposed and varied according to the angular state by the rotation joint 131 of the strain termination 130 , and is introduced into the interior of the underwater robot body 110 . It is a drum for keeping the remaining length compared to the maximum length for the incoming length of the cable 122 (the length from the strain termination to the main connector through the cable drum) inside the underwater robot body 110 .

When the lead-in length of the inner cable 122 is maximized (when the strain termination is erected), the lead-in length of the inner cable 122 is arranged to the maximum allowable diameter (D2) in the inner space of the cable drum 140 ( 7b), when the lead-in length of the inner cable 122 is minimized (when the strain termination is laid down), the lead-in length of the inner cable 122 is arranged to the minimum diameter D1 of the cable drum 140 (Fig. 7a).

On the other hand, the embodiments of the present invention disclosed in the present specification and drawings are merely presented as specific examples to easily explain the technical contents of the present invention and help the understanding of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains that other modifications based on the technical spirit of the present invention can be implemented in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein.

100: towing type underwater robot 110: underwater robot body
120: composite cable 121: external cable
122: inner cable 130: strain termination
131: rotary joint 140: cable drum
151: main thruster 152: auxiliary thruster
153: front horizontal blade 154: rear horizontal blade
155: rear vertical wing 156: monocular camera
157: scan sona 161: cable entry guide
162: main connector 163: pressure box
164: rotation joint limiter 165: guide cushioning material

Claims (5)

It includes an underwater robot body formed flat to a certain height, and a composite cable connected to the front of the underwater robot body to supply power and communicate with a towing,
The front side of the underwater robot body forms a first inclined surface inclined at a first inclination angle rearward from the upper side to the lower side,
The rear upper surface of the underwater robot body forms a second inclined surface inclined at a second inclination angle from the upper side to the lower side toward the rear,
A towing type underwater robot, characterized in that the rear bottom surface of the underwater robot body forms a third inclined surface inclined at a third inclination angle from the lower side to the upper side toward the rear. The method of claim 1,
The first inclination angle is smaller than the third inclination angle, and the second inclination angle is smaller than the first inclination angle. The method of claim 1,
The front of the underwater robot body is provided with a strain termination connected by a pivotable rotary joint,
The composite cable consists of an external cable for towing, and an internal cable inserted into the external cable and protected by the external cable for power supply and communication,
The composite cable is connected to the front of the strain termination, and the inner cable in the composite cable is drawn out from the middle of the strain termination and inserted into the underwater robot body. 4. The method of claim 3,
A cable drum on which the inner cable is wound is provided inside the underwater robot body,
The inner cable is introduced into the underwater robot body through a cable lead-in guide, is wound around the cable drum, and then is connected to the pressure-resistant box of the underwater robot through a main connector. 5. The method of claim 4,
The cable drum has a space between a minimum diameter that is an allowable limit in which the inner cable of a lead-in length variable according to the swing angle of the strain termination can be accommodated and bent while being wound and a maximum allowable diameter in the internal space. A towing type underwater robot.

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