JPH0471745B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a traveling vehicle used for inspecting and monitoring the interior of a nuclear power plant or a general plant, and in particular to an unmanned and remotely operated vehicle. The present invention relates to a traveling vehicle suitable for.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In recent years, there has been a strong desire to relieve humans from work under radiation or dangerous work in nuclear power plants, general plants, etc., and therefore robots and the like are being used to perform such work.

By the way, robots and the like that carry out such work are required to have the ability to move not only on flat ground but also on complicated routes such as obstacles and stairs.

Therefore, as a device that can move on a complicated route, it is being considered that the device can travel in the same way as a human, or the device can use wheels or track pillars.

However, these mechanisms have drawbacks such as being complicated to control, requiring special arrangements for stairs, and being heavy.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of these points,
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a traveling vehicle that has a simple structure, is lightweight, has good controllability, and has a wide range of applications.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention relates to a vehicle body in which a sawtooth locking step portion that engages with stairs, etc. is formed on the lower surface in the traveling direction, a pair of horizontal shafts attached to the front and rear of the vehicle body and perpendicular to the traveling direction, and each horizontal shaft. It has legs attached to both ends and rotatable around a horizontal axis, and wheels attached to the tip of each leg, and each wheel is configured to be driven independently.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a traveling vehicle according to the present invention, in which a plurality of locking steps 2 extending laterally on the lower surface of a vehicle body 1 are arranged in a sawtooth shape in the traveling direction of the vehicle body 1. They are installed consecutively. This locking step portion 2 is engaged with a staircase 10, etc., which will be described later, and is used when the vehicle moves up and down the staircase 10, etc. Further, a pair of legs 3 and 4 are attached to the front and rear parts of the vehicle body 1 on the left and right sides, respectively. The legs 3 and 4 are rotatable around horizontal axes 5 and 6 that are perpendicular to the traveling direction of the vehicle. Furthermore, wheels 7 and 8 are attached to the tips of the legs 3 and 4. The wheels 7, 8 are configured to be driven independently.

Next, the operation of this vehicle will be explained.

FIGS. 2A to 2D show the actions of the vehicle when traveling on flat ground. As shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D, by appropriately rotating the legs 3 and 4, the height of the vehicle body 1 or the angle with respect to the horizontal direction can be changed.

Figures 3A and 3B show the actions of the vehicle during a turn. That is, the front and rear wheel bases are shortened by rotating the legs 3 clockwise and the leg 4 counterclockwise so that the legs 3 and 4 are closed as shown in FIG. 3B. Subsequently, the left and right wheels 7 and 8 are reversed on one side so that they are in the same direction, and the vehicle is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 3A. In this case, if the difference between the rotational speeds of the left and right wheels 7 and 8 can be freely selected, it is possible to turn the vehicle with an arbitrary radius of curvature.

FIGS. 4A to 4F show the action of the vehicle when overcoming an obstacle 9 such as a pipe. In this case, first, the vehicle is moved to a position close to the obstacle 9. Next, as shown in FIG. 4A, the vehicle body 1
Rotate the legs 3 and 4 clockwise so that they protrude forward. By rotating the legs 3 and 4, the height of the vehicle body 1 is gradually lowered, and the locking step 2 on the lower front surface of the vehicle body 1 is brought into contact with the obstacle 9, as shown in FIG. 4B.
Subsequently, only the front leg 3 is rotated in the same direction as in FIG. 4A, that is, clockwise. During this rotation, the vehicle body 1 is supported by the rear legs 4 and the obstacle 9. When the wheels 7 attached to the tips of the front legs 3 touch the ground as shown in FIG. 4C, the legs 3 and 4 are closed clockwise and leg 4 counterclockwise. direction to release the contact between the locking step 2 on the lower surface of the vehicle body 1 and the obstacle 9. Next, as shown in FIG. 4D, the vehicle is moved forward a little. Next, as shown in FIG. 4E, the legs 3 are rotated counterclockwise and the legs 4 are rotated clockwise to bring the locking step 2 on the lower surface of the vehicle body 1 into contact with the obstacle 9. When the locking step portion 2 comes into contact with the obstacle 9,
Only the rear leg 4 is rotated in the same direction as in FIG. 4E, ie clockwise. When the wheels 8 attached to the tips of the rear legs 4 touch the ground as shown in FIG. 4F, the legs 3 and 4 are rotated clockwise.

Figures 5A to 5E show the behavior of the vehicle when climbing stairs. In this case, first, the vehicle is advanced to a position close to the stairs 10. Next, as shown in FIG. 5A, the legs 3 and 4 are rotated clockwise so that the vehicle body 1 projects forward. This leg 3,
4, the height of the vehicle body 1 is gradually lowered, and the locking step portion 2 on the lower front surface of the vehicle body 1 is brought into contact with the first step of the stairs 1. Next, only the front leg 3 is shown in Figure 5A.
The wheel 7 attached to the front leg 3 is brought into contact with the second step of the stairs 10 as shown in FIG. 5B.
Subsequently, the legs 3 are rotated in the same direction as in FIG. 5B, that is, clockwise, and the vehicle is moved forward. As a result, as shown in FIG.
is projected diagonally upward. When the legs 3 are further rotated from this state, the state shown in FIG. 5D is reached, and the locking step 2 on the lower surface of the vehicle body 1 finally engages with the stairs 1 as shown in FIG. 5E. It turns out. That is, the locking step portion 2 is engaged with the stairs 10 as shown in FIG. 6, and as a result, the vehicle body 1 will not slide down even if the stairs 10 have an inclination of 45 degrees or more. By the way, if the lower surface of the vehicle body 1 is flat, it is not possible to climb stairs of 45 degrees or more due to the coefficient of friction. From this state, if the legs 3 and 4 are rotated in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 5E, that is, clockwise,
The running cars will ascend the stairs one by one.

Figures 7A to 7D show the behavior of the vehicle when descending stairs. In this case, first, the vehicle is advanced to a position close to the stairs 10. Then,
As shown in FIG. 7A, the legs 3 and 4 are rotated clockwise so that the vehicle body 1 protrudes forward. By rotating the legs 3 and 4, the height of the vehicle body 1 is lowered to a certain extent, and then only the front leg 3 is rotated in the same direction. This rotation of the legs 3 causes the locking steps 2 on the lower front surface of the vehicle body 1 to engage with the stairs 10, and then, as shown in FIG. 7B, the wheels 7 attached to the front legs 3 are inserted from above. Bring it into contact with the first stage. continue,
The legs 3 are rotated in the same direction to release the engagement between the locking steps 2 of the vehicle body 1 and the stairs 10, as shown in FIG. 7C. Subsequently, the legs 3 and 4 are rotated clockwise to cause the vehicle body 1 to project diagonally downward. Then, the locking step portion 2 of the vehicle body 1 is engaged with the stairs 10 again.
If the legs 3 and 4 are rotated clockwise, the vehicle will descend down the stairs one by one.

As described above, the traveling vehicle of the embodiment is composed of the vehicle body 1, the legs 3 and 4, and the wheels 7 and 8, so that the structure is simple and lightweight. Further, by appropriately controlling the rotation of the legs 3, 4 and wheels 7, 8, the vehicle can freely travel on a complicated traveling path including obstacles 9 and stairs 1. In addition, since only the rotation of the legs 3, 4 and wheels 7, 8 needs to be controlled, the controllability is improved. Further, since the locking step portion 2 is formed on the lower surface of the vehicle body 1, the vehicle can freely ascend and descend even if the staircase 10 is 45° or more.

Incidentally, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and the horizontal shafts 5 and 6 (FIG. 1) may be freely movable in the traveling direction. At this time,
Since the front and rear wheel bases can be further shortened when turning, the turning radius of the vehicle can be made smaller.

Further, the legs 3 and 4 may be extendable and retractable, and in this case, it is possible to improve the performance of getting over the obstacle 9 and the performance of ascending and descending the stairs 1.

Furthermore, the horizontal shafts 5 and 6 may be made movable in the direction of movement, and the legs 3 and 4 may be made extendable and retractable.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the traveling vehicle of the present invention includes a vehicle body in which a sawtooth locking step portion that engages with stairs, etc. is formed on the lower surface in the traveling direction, and a pair of locking steps installed at the front and rear of the vehicle body and perpendicular to the traveling direction. It has a horizontal axis, legs attached to both ends of each horizontal axis and rotatable around the horizontal axis, and wheels attached to the tip of each leg, and each wheel is configured to be driven independently. This makes the structure simple and lightweight. In addition, by appropriately controlling the rotation of the legs and wheels, the vehicle can freely travel on complex routes, so its range of application is wide. Furthermore, since it can be controlled only by the rotation of the legs and wheels, the controllability is also good. In addition, a locking step is formed on the underside of the vehicle, so it can freely go up and down stairs of 45 degrees or more.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an embodiment of the vehicle according to the present invention, FIGS. 2A to 2D are diagrams showing the operating state of the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 when running on flat ground, and FIGS. A diagram showing the turning state of the traveling vehicle in Figure 1, Figure 4A~
F is a diagram showing the state in which the vehicle in FIG. 1 climbs over an obstacle; FIGS. A diagram showing the state of engagement between the locking step formed on the lower surface of the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 and the stairs, and FIGS. 7A to 7D represent the operating state when the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 descends the stairs. It is a diagram. 1... Vehicle body, 2... Locking stepped portion, 3, 4... Legs, 5, 6
...Horizontal axis, 7, 8...wheels.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A vehicle body in which a sawtooth locking step portion that engages with a step or the like is formed in the traveling direction on the lower surface, and a pair of horizontal shafts orthogonal to the traveling direction attached to the front and rear of this vehicle body. , has legs rotatable around the horizontal axis attached to both ends of each horizontal axis, and wheels attached to the tip of each leg, and each wheel is configured to be driven independently. A running car characterized by: 2. The traveling vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the horizontal axis is movable in the traveling direction. 3. The traveling vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the legs are extendable and retractable.