JPS6061380A - Tetra-wheel moving body for travelling over rough land - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable travelling even over cracks in the ground or a drain, in a tetra-wheel moving body, by making two front and rear wheels slidable inwardly while making each wheel holdable at upper/lower two positions. CONSTITUTION:Front/rear wheels 11, 12 and 13, 14 of travel wheels 11-14 in a moving body are made slidable inwardly. Each wheel is made holdable at upper/ lower two positions. In order to pass over an obstacle such as a drain, it is advanced while moving each wheel up and down to traverse each wheel one by one over the obstacle thus to pass over the drain.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a four-wheeled vehicle having the function of safely and stably passing over uneven terrain with grooves, protrusions, steps, etc.

Four-wheeled moving bodies, typified by conventional automobiles, are intended for running on level ground, and are not suitable for running on uneven ground with grooves, protrusions, steps, and the like.

In order to make this car suitable for driving on rough terrain, it is necessary to control the suspension length of each wheel so that each wheel can be held in two positions, high and low, relative to the car body, and to avoid obstacles such as grooves and bumps. It is conceivable to raise and hold only the wheels immediately in front of the obstacle in a high position when crossing the obstacle, but depending on where the center of gravity of the vehicle is located, when any one wheel is raised, the vehicle body may The vehicle may lose support from its wheels and tilt, so simply making each wheel capable of holding two positions, high and low, is not suitable for running on rough terrain.

Therefore, it can be used as a conventionally known wheel-type vehicle with a suspension length that can be controlled. There are those that control the suspension length, and those that control the length of the suspension for passenger cars to keep the vehicle body horizontal against rolling and road gradients when turning, but these types of vehicles only support the vehicle body with four wheels. Although the wheels may momentarily come off the road due to an impact, it is not possible to drive with some of the wheels still off the road. Therefore, the width of the groove and the step that this type of moving body can overcome is about the radius of a wheel, as in a normal automobile, and the overcoming is accompanied by a severe impact.

The present invention aims to provide a wheel-type mobile body that is capable of traveling in areas where it is normally impossible to travel, such as drainage ditches, cracks in the ground in disaster areas, scattered wood, fallen utility poles, etc. , an object of the present invention is to provide a four-wheeled moving body in which the length of the suspension can be controlled so that even when one of the wheels is held at a high position, the vehicle body does not lose support from the wheels and tilt. be.

The four-wheel moving body of the present invention is characterized in that it is equipped with four running wheels, the two front and rear wheels can be slid inward, and each wheel can be held in two positions, upper and lower. It is something to do.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, 10 is a vehicle body of a moving body, and 11 to 14 are wheels provided on the moving body. In the following, when these wheels 11 to 14 are distinguished,
They are called the first to fourth wheels in the order of the numbers.

In the above mobile body, each of the two front and rear wheels 11.12 and 13.14 of the four running wheels 11 to 14 is made slidable inwardly, and each wheel 11
-14 can be held in two positions, upper and lower.

Conventional automobiles have stoppers on the top and bottom that limit the vertical movement of the wheels, so the mechanism for keeping the wheels in two positions, the upper retracted position and the lower extended position, is to hold the wheels in the positions of these stoppers. You can add a device that moves the suspension up and down, or you can add a device that moves the suspension directly up and down. In addition, two wheels 11, 12 and 13 in the front and rear
．． As for the mechanism for sliding the 14 inward, it is sufficient that the two front and rear wheels can be paired and slid inward, for example, by attaching a guide rail to the vehicle body frame,
It is possible to employ a mechanism in which the entire assembly including the suspensions of the first and second wheels and the third and fourth wheels is fitted into a guide rail and slid by an arbitrary drive source. In addition, the front sides of the two front and rear wheels can be turned slightly inward or outward from each other, and by running the moving object with these wheels turned inward, the pair of wheels can gradually slide inward and reverse. A mechanism can be adopted in which the pair of wheels is slid outward by causing the moving body to travel with the pair of wheels turned outward.

Furthermore, if each wheel is provided with a wheel drive device and configured to drive them independently, there is no need to provide a power transmission device that is compatible with the movement of the wheels from side to side and up and down, simplifying the structure of the drive system. can do.

In the four-wheeled moving body having the above configuration, as shown in Fig. 2(a)
As shown in the figure, when the first wheel 11 is stored in the upper position with the first wheel 11 and the second wheel 12 slid inward, the stability of the 4F vehicle body 10 is ensured if the center of gravity is within the shaded area in the figure. When the second wheel 12 is stored in the upper position, if the center of gravity is within the shaded area in FIG. 2(b), the vehicle body 1
The stability of 0 is maintained. Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 2(C) and 2(d), when the third wheel 13 and the fourth wheel 14 are slid inward, the third wheel 13 and the fourth wheel 14 are retracted, respectively. The stability of the vehicle body is maintained when the center of gravity is within the illustrated hatched area.

Therefore, if the center of gravity of the moving body is maintained within the shaded area in Figure 3, which is the common area of the shaded areas in Figures 2(a) to (d), the two front wheels 11 and 12 will slide inward. The vehicle body stores the first wheel 11 and the second wheel 12 in the upper position when the rear wheels 13 and 14 are in the upper position, and the third wheel 13 and the fourth wheel 14 in the upper position after the two rear wheels 13 and 14 slide inward. 10 can be carried out in a state where it is held stably.

In order for the four-wheeled moving body to pass over an obstacle such as a groove, it is sufficient to have each wheel cross the obstacle one by one. If there is an obstacle 15 as shown, the direction of the moving body is directed diagonally to the obstacle 15 as shown, and the first to fourth wheels 11 to 14 are moved toward the obstacle as described later with reference to FIG. Lift up objects one after another when they are in position. In addition, if it is necessary to run at right angles to the obstacle 15 in order to cross the obstacle 15, as shown in FIG. The vehicle may be driven by steering the vehicle so that the wheels face the obstacle 15 at right angles, and lifting each wheel in sequence. In any case, by crossing the obstacle 15 diagonally, each wheel can be lifted one by one to cross the obstacle.

When crossing an obstacle as shown in Figure 4(a),
When the moving object reaches just in front of the obstacle 15 as shown in FIG. 5(a), the front two wheels 11 as shown in FIG. 5(b)
．． 12 inward, the first wheel 11 and the second wheel 1
By moving the vehicle body forward in the direction of the arrow while sequentially repeating the retracting and extending steps 2, as shown in Fig. 5(c),
First, the two front wheels 11.12 pass the obstacle 15, and then, as shown in FIG. 5(d), the two rear wheels 13.1 pass through the obstacle 15.
4 inward, the third wheel 13 and the fourth wheel 14
If you move forward while sequentially retracting and extending the
As shown in Figure (e), the two rear wheels 13.14 are facing an obstacle 15.
If the wheels 13 and 14 are then slid outward as shown in FIG. 5(f), the vehicle returns to its original state before passing the obstacle 15.

Also, in the case of FIG. 4(b), the obstacle 15 can be overcome in substantially the same manner as in the case of FIG. 5 above.

FIGS. 6(a) to 6(d) schematically show the situation in which the moving body passes over the groove according to FIGS. 5(a) to 5(f). Even if the obstacle is a protrusion, it can be passed through in the same way as in the case of the groove. In the case of a step, as shown in FIGS. 7(a) and 7(b), the vehicle can pass by raising the wheels to that height when climbing on it, and lowering the wheels to that position when descending. The height of the step that can be passed through at this time is limited to within the vertical stroke of the wheel, but this value can be arbitrarily designed. Further, it is desirable to not only be able to hold the wheel at the vertical stroke end, but also to be able to lift it to an appropriate height within the stroke range depending on the level difference.

When the above-mentioned moving body generally runs on flat ground, it can run with all four wheels stored in the upper position or with all four wheels extended in the lower position. During such normal driving, it is desirable to be able to steer the two front wheels 11 and 12 as a unit by operating the steering wheel, as in a normal automobile. Also, Fig. 4(b)
In order to cross an obstacle in the situation shown in Figure 2, it is necessary to be able to steer all wheels as one by operating the /\ steering wheel.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2(a)
〜(d) is an explanatory diagram of the support of the center of gravity by the remaining wheels when some wheels are retracted, and FIG. 3 is FIG. 2(a)〜
An explanatory diagram of the common area within the shaded area in (d), FIGS. 4(a) and (b) are plan views showing the postures of the vehicle body and wheels when passing obstacles in different ways, and FIG. 5 (a
) to (f) are plan views showing how the wheels slide and move up and down relative to obstacles; FIGS. 6(a) to (d) are schematic side views when the mobile body crosses a groove; and FIG. Figures (a), (b)
is a schematic side view of the moving body when it crosses a step. 10...Vehicle body, 11-14.e wheels. Figure 1 Figure 3 -2r8 Muscle 5 plate (a) Cb) (C) (G) Cd) n Figure 1 (b 0

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A four-wheeled vehicle for running on rough terrain, comprising four running wheels, the two front and rear wheels being able to slide inward, and each wheel being able to be held in two positions, upper and lower.