Self-adaptive wall-climbing robot for complex environment
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of robots, in particular to a self-adaptive wall-climbing robot for complex environments.
Background
The wall-climbing robot belongs to a special robot and is mainly used for helping people to complete tasks of high-risk operations in high-altitude environments and extreme environments. According to different adsorption modes, the wall-climbing robot can be generally divided into: the bionic adsorption type, the magnetic adsorption type, the thrust adsorption type and the negative pressure adsorption type. The robot mainly adopts an adsorption cavity or a vacuum chuck to realize negative pressure adsorption, and realizes basic actions such as linear movement, steering and the like through a crawler belt, wheels and other traveling mechanisms. Most of robots utilizing the vacuum chuck to realize negative pressure adsorption are combined with the crawler belt, and during use, because the vacuum chuck is far away from the crawler belt, the distance is large, instability exists, and the adsorption area of the vacuum chuck is small, the adsorption capacity is weak, and the vacuum chuck is rough to surfaces such as tunnels and bridges, and has uneven gaps and barrier walls, so that failure is easy to occur, and safety accidents are caused.
Therefore, the crawler-type wall-climbing robot adopting the suction cups adopts an active air distribution scheme, so that the suction cups are always in a state of supplementing vacuum negative pressure and are used for making up for the defects in stability. The prior gas distribution scheme only comprises rotary gas distribution and independent gas distribution, wherein a vacuum generator, an electromagnetic valve, a gas exhaust and the like are arranged in the center of a vehicle body and are supplied to each sucking disc on a track through a guide pipe. The latter vacuum generator, electromagnetic valve, air exhaust, etc. are installed on each sucking disc of the adsorption foot, which brings the increase of the whole mass, volume and manufacturing cost of the robot, and the energy consumption required by the robot during moving will also increase, and the endurance is low.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention provides a self-adaptive wall climbing robot facing a complex environment, which can realize self-adaptive adsorption of various complex surfaces, effectively improve the adsorption capacity and the gas distribution efficiency of a system and reduce the energy consumption in use, and aims to solve the problems that the surfaces of a vacuum sucker on a crawler-type wall climbing robot are rough, the adsorption capacity of the vacuum sucker on a tunnel, a bridge and the like is weak, the stability is poor and the like, and the adsorption capacity of the vacuum sucker on the wall surface with uneven gaps and obstacles are weak, and the gas loss of a rotary gas distribution scheme in the existing active gas distribution scheme is large, the efficiency is low, the energy consumption of an independent gas distribution scheme is large.
The technical scheme adopted by the invention is as follows: the self-adaptive wall-climbing robot for the complex environment comprises a robot body, a multi-hole self-adaptive sucker, a gas distribution mechanism and a vacuum generation mechanism, wherein the robot body comprises a vehicle body, crawler traveling mechanisms arranged on two sides of the vehicle body, a power system and a transmission system for driving the crawler traveling mechanisms, and the multi-hole self-adaptive sucker, the gas distribution mechanism and the vacuum generation mechanism.
The multi-hole self-adaptive suckers are densely distributed on the crawler belt and comprise multi-hole flexible adsorption plates, a bottom plate, a pressure difference one-way valve cavity, a rectangular boss, a vacuum adsorption tube, a fixing plate, a sliding block, a large anti-slip nut, a fixing screw and a small anti-slip nut.
The upper part of the multi-aperture flexible adsorption plate is fixedly connected with the bottom plate, a plurality of bottom plate grid-shaped openings are uniformly distributed on the bottom plate, a plurality of through openings corresponding to the bottom plate grid-shaped openings are formed in the multi-aperture flexible adsorption plate in the vertical direction, the upper part of the bottom plate is fixedly connected with a pressure difference one-way valve cavity, a plurality of independent pressure difference one-way valves corresponding to the bottom plate grid-shaped openings are arranged on the pressure difference one-way valve cavity, each pressure difference one-way valve comprises a pressure difference one-way valve cavity, an in-valve baffle piece movably arranged in the pressure difference one-way valve cavity, and an in-valve air suction opening communicated with the pressure difference one-way valve cavity and penetrating through the upper part of the pressure difference one-way valve cavity, the outer diameter of the in-valve baffle piece is larger than the outer diameter of the bottom plate grid-shaped openings and larger than the outer diameter of the in-valve air suction opening, the upper part of, the vacuum adsorption tube penetrates through the fixing plate and the crawler belt in sequence and then is fixedly connected with the sliding block, the vacuum adsorption tube between the rectangular boss and the fixing plate is connected with the large anti-slip nut in a threaded mode, and two ends of the fixing plate are fixedly connected with the crawler belt through the fixing screws and the small anti-slip nut respectively.
The gas distribution mechanism comprises a gas distribution groove, the gas distribution groove is a through groove with an opening at the lower part, two ends of the gas distribution groove are guide rail grooves which are tightly attached to the inner side surface of the track, a sliding block on the multi-pore self-adaptive sucking disc can slide in the guide rail grooves and penetrate through the gas distribution groove, the length S1 of the guide rail grooves at the two ends of the gas distribution groove and the vertical distance S2 between two adjacent multi-pore self-adaptive sucking discs meet the condition that S1 is not less than S2, the cross section of the sliding block is completely the same as the cross section area of the guide rail groove, so that the two ends of the gas distribution groove are respectively and always provided with the sliding block to dynamically seal the two ends of the gas distribution groove in the running process of the track, the middle part of the gas distribution groove is a gas distribution cavity with the height larger than the height of the guide rail groove;
the vacuum generating mechanism is arranged in the vehicle body and used for vacuumizing so as to generate negative pressure during adsorption.
Furthermore, the upper port of the vacuum adsorption tube is superposed with the upper plane of the sliding block.
Furthermore, a round nut and a gasket are connected on the vacuum adsorption tube between the sliding block and the crawler, and the width of the sliding block is consistent with the outer diameters of the round nut and the gasket.
Furthermore, the inlet and the outlet of the guide rail groove are splayed openings.
Furthermore, the upper side and the lower side of the front end and the rear end of the sliding block are both inclined planes.
Furthermore, a ball bearing is sleeved on a fixing bolt above the crawler and located between the two small anti-skid nuts, the ball bearing can freely rotate on the fixing bolt, two sides of the gas distribution groove are respectively connected with a guide groove corresponding to the ball bearing, and the ball bearing is in rolling contact with the wall of the guide groove.
Further, the vacuum generating mechanism comprises an air source, an electromagnetic valve, a vacuum generator, an air exhaust and an intermediate partition plate, wherein the air source, the electromagnetic valve, the vacuum generator and the air exhaust are fixed on the intermediate partition plate in the vehicle body through screws, the air source can be a built-in direct current air pump or an external air compressor and is used for providing positive pressure air input, the electromagnetic valve is used for switching on and off the air distribution system, the vacuum generator is used for receiving positive pressure air and producing negative pressure during adsorption, and the air exhaust is connected with a conduit and is used for uniformly guiding the negative pressure into the air distribution groove.
Further, the porous flexible adsorption plate is EPDM rubber porous foaming sponge.
Further, still include the operation unit, the operation unit passes through the arm and installs on the automobile body.
The beneficial effects of the invention are as follows:
(1) the porous flexible suction disc is integrated and innovated on the track, on the premise of not increasing additional transmission mechanism and system energy consumption, the soft, strong elasticity and strong wrapping capacity of the porous flexible suction plate are utilized, and the capacity and the advantages of vacuum suction are independently maintained in groups of multiple holes, so that the problem that the traditional vacuum suction disc cannot adapt to a rough wall surface and is easy to lose vacuum due to local gaps between the wall surface and the suction disc is solved, and the effective suction of the porous self-adaptive suction disc on the robot and the uneven and rough wall surface is realized;
(2) the robot can better keep the sealing vacuum performance in the walking process by utilizing the configuration of a high-density sucking disc on a contact surface crawler and the control of an independent small-hole one-way valve;
(3) the dynamic closed space formed by the slide block moving and replacing along with the track in the gas distribution groove can skillfully ensure the local sealing property of the gas distribution system, and the gas distribution scheme of the sucking disc at the part contacting with the ground is distributed at a fixed point, so that the gas loss of the vacuum generator and the energy consumption in the movement of the robot can be effectively reduced, and the adsorption capacity of the device and the overall cruising capacity of the robot are improved.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a side view of the whole device of the adaptive wall-climbing robot.
Fig. 2 is a schematic view of the installation of the porous adaptive chuck.
Fig. 3 is a three-dimensional exploded side view of a porous adaptive chuck.
Fig. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of a porous adaptive chuck.
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the operation state of the pressure difference check valve when the porous adaptive chuck successfully adsorbs.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the operation state of the pressure difference check valve when the porous adaptive chuck is not adsorbing.
FIG. 7 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the connection of the various components of the valve train.
Fig. 8 is a schematic view of the gas distribution groove internal structure and the dynamic sealing principle.
Detailed Description
In order to facilitate an understanding of the invention, the invention will be described more fully and in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and preferred embodiments, but the scope of the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments below.
As shown in fig. 1, the adaptive wall-climbing robot facing a complex environment of the present embodiment includes a robot body, a working unit 3, a porous adaptive chuck 4, a valve actuating mechanism, and a vacuum generating mechanism. The robot body comprises a robot body 1, crawler traveling mechanisms 2 arranged on two sides of the robot body 1, a power system and a transmission system, wherein the power system is used for driving the crawler traveling mechanisms 2.
As shown in fig. 2-4, the porous adaptive suction cups 4 are densely distributed on the caterpillar 201, and the porous adaptive suction cups 4 include a porous flexible suction plate 401, a bottom plate 403, a differential pressure check valve cavity 405, a rectangular boss 407, a vacuum suction pipe 408, a fixing plate 409, a slider 410, a large anti-slip nut 411, a fixing bolt 412, and a small anti-slip nut 413.
The porous flexible adsorption plate in this embodiment adopts the porous foaming sponge of EPDM rubber, has the advantage of matter soft, plasticity and resilience performance is good, can realize climbing wall robot and the abundant contact on uneven surface. The upper part of the multi-aperture flexible adsorption plate 401 is fixedly connected with the bottom plate 403, a plurality of bottom plate grid-shaped openings 404 are uniformly distributed on the bottom plate 403, a plurality of through openings 402 corresponding to the bottom plate grid-shaped openings 404 are vertically arranged on the multi-aperture flexible adsorption plate 401, the upper part of the bottom plate 403 is fixedly connected with a pressure difference check valve cavity 405, a plurality of independent pressure difference check valves 406 corresponding to the bottom plate grid-shaped openings 404 are arranged on the pressure difference check valve cavity 405, each pressure difference check valve 406 comprises a pressure difference check valve cavity 4061, an inner valve baffle 4062 movably arranged in the pressure difference check valve cavity 4061, and an inner valve suction opening 4063 communicated with the pressure difference check valve cavity 4061 and penetrating through the upper part of the pressure difference check valve cavity 405, the outer diameter of the inner valve baffle 4062 is larger than the outer diameter of the bottom plate grid-shaped openings 404 and larger than the outer diameter of the inner valve suction opening 4063, so that when the multi-aperture self-adaptive sucker does not successfully adsorb, the air flow caused by the pressure difference can push, the corresponding differential pressure check valve 406 is closed, so that the porous adaptive suction cup has good sealing performance, otherwise, the air distribution groove is communicated with air, and the air distribution efficiency is reduced.
Fig. 5 and fig. 6 are schematic diagrams illustrating the operating principle of the differential pressure check valve in the porous adaptive chuck, wherein the state of the differential pressure check valve 406 when the adsorption is successful is as shown in fig. 5, at this time, the through port 402 on the porous flexible adsorption plate 401 is blocked by the contact surface, so that the pressure difference between the valve inner pumping port 4063 and the valve inner flap 4062 is not large, the air flow cannot push the valve inner flap 4062 to rise from the bottom plate grid port 404, and at this time, the valve inner pumping port 4063 remains open; the pressure difference check valve 406 is away from the wall surface, and the non-adsorption state is shown in fig. 6, at this time, the air is continuously taken away by the vacuum generating mechanism together with the air through the port 402 of the porous flexible adsorption plate 401 above the valve inner suction port 4063, the pressure is small, a large pressure difference is generated between the air and the lower side of the valve inner baffle 4062, the air flow pushes the valve inner baffle 4062 to rise from the bottom plate grid port 404 to abut against the valve inner suction port 4063, and at this time, the pressure difference check valve 406 is closed.
The upper portion of the pressure difference check valve cavity 405 is hermetically connected with the periphery of the rectangular boss 407, an air cavity is arranged between the interior of the rectangular boss 407 and the pressure difference check valve cavity 405, the vacuum adsorption tube 408 is connected with the rectangular boss 407 and communicated with the air cavity, the vacuum adsorption tube 408 sequentially penetrates through the fixing plate 409 and the crawler 201 and then is fixedly connected with the slider 410, an upper port of the vacuum adsorption tube 408 is overlapped with the upper plane of the slider 410, the vacuum adsorption tube 408 between the rectangular boss 407 and the fixing plate 409 is in threaded connection with a large anti-skid nut 411, the vacuum adsorption tube 408 between the slider 410 and the crawler 201 is connected with a round nut 414 and a gasket, and the gasket is located below the round nut 414.
Two ends of the fixing plate 409 are respectively fastened and connected with the crawler 201 through a fixing bolt 412 and a small anti-slip nut 413. A ball bearing 415 is sleeved on the fixing bolt 412 positioned above the crawler 201, the ball bearing 415 is positioned between two small anti-slip nuts 413, and the ball bearing 415 can freely rotate on the fixing bolt 412.
As shown in fig. 7 and 8, the air distribution mechanism includes an air distribution groove 501, the air distribution groove 501 is a through groove with an opening at the lower part, two ends of the air distribution groove 501 are guide rail grooves 502 tightly attached to the inner side surface of the track 201, so as to ensure that the leakage amount is substantially zero, the height of the rectangular cross section of each guide rail groove 502 is consistent with the stacking height of the slide block 410, the round nut 414 and the gasket, the width of the rectangular cross section of each guide rail groove 502 is consistent with the stacking height of the slide block 410, the round nut 414 and the gasket, and the track is tightly attached to the air distribution groove due to the adsorption force when the air distribution groove works at negative pressure.
The upper side and the lower side of the front end and the lower end of the sliding block 410 are inclined planes, and the inlet and the outlet of the guide rail groove 502 are splayed, so that the sliding block 410 can better enter the air distribution groove 501, and the movement of the crawler belt cannot be interfered; porous structureThe slide block 410 on the self-adaptive sucker 4 can slide in the guide rail groove 502 and pass through the gas distribution groove 501, and the length S of the guide rail groove 502 at the two ends of the gas distribution groove 5011And the vertical distance S between two adjacent multi-pore self-adaptive suckers 42Satisfies S1≥ S2And the two ends of the gas distribution groove 501 of the crawler 201 are respectively and always provided with the sliding blocks 410 for dynamically sealing the two ends of the gas distribution groove 501 in the operation process, so that the gas distribution groove 501 is always in a sealing state, and the crawler 201 is always attached to the bottom of the gas distribution groove 501 due to the negative pressure in the gas distribution groove 501.
The middle part of the gas distribution groove 501 is a gas distribution cavity 503 with a height larger than that of the guide rail groove 502, an air extraction opening 504 is arranged above the gas distribution cavity 503, the air extraction opening 504 is connected with a vacuum generation mechanism through a guide pipe 505, and the multi-pore adaptive suction cup 4 entering the gas distribution cavity 503 enables the multi-pore flexible adsorption plate 401 to generate negative pressure for adsorption through a vacuum adsorption pipe 408, so that a fixed-point active gas distribution mechanism is formed.
The gas distribution groove 501 is fixed to a side plate of the vehicle body 1 by a mounting plate 506. The two sides of the gas distribution groove 501 are respectively connected with a guide groove 507 corresponding to the ball bearing 415, the ball bearing 415 is in rolling contact with the wall of the guide groove 507, the ball bearing 415 can roll in the guide groove 507 to replace sliding, friction is effectively reduced, and even if the crawler 201 is tightly sucked by the gas distribution groove 501, smooth movement of the multi-hole self-adaptive sucker 4 in the gas distribution groove 501 can be realized.
The vacuum generating mechanism is arranged in the vehicle body 1 and used for vacuumizing so as to generate negative pressure during adsorption, and comprises an air source 601, an electromagnetic valve 602, a vacuum generator 603, an air exhaust 604 and a middle partition plate 101, wherein the air source 601, the electromagnetic valve 602, the vacuum generator 603 and the air exhaust 604 are all fixed on the middle partition plate 101 in the vehicle body 1 through screws, the air source 601 can be a built-in direct current air pump or an external air compressor and is used for providing positive pressure gas input, the electromagnetic valve 602 is used for switching on and off a gas distribution system, the electromagnetic valve adopts a one-way valve, so that gas cannot flow back to the air source 601 from the vacuum generator 603 in a reverse flow manner, the vacuum generator 603 is used for receiving positive pressure gas and generating negative pressure during adsorption, the vacuum generator 603 generates strong explosive force after compressed air is released and quickly passes through the inside of the vacuum generator to take away air entering the inside of the vacuum generator from the multi-pore self-adaptive, the air outlet 604 is connected to a conduit 505 for uniformly introducing negative pressure into the air distribution groove 501.
The working unit 3 is mounted on the vehicle body 1 by a robot arm.
When the wall climbing robot is started, the switch of the electromagnetic valve 602 is firstly opened, the air source 601 is electrified, the generated compressed air flow is input into the vacuum generator 603, the air exhaust 604 is used for connecting the negative pressure output port of the vacuum generator 603 and the air exhaust port 504 of the air distribution groove 501, because the compressed air passes through very fast speed, the pressure difference one-way valve 406 in the porous adaptive suction cup 4 which enters the air distribution chamber 503 and is in contact with the wall surface can be automatically opened, air in the porous flexible adsorption plate 401 of the porous adaptive suction cup 4 can be greatly taken away by the vacuum generator 603, meanwhile, the porous flexible adsorption plate 401 can be adaptively deformed according to the shape and the negative pressure of the wall surface, the sealing effect is achieved, and therefore vacuum negative pressure is generated in the through port 402, and the robot is adsorbed on the uneven wall surface. In the moving process of the crawler 201, the crawler 201 is fixed by the negative pressure in the gas distribution groove 501 all the time and is tightly attached to the bottom of the gas distribution groove 501, the multi-hole self-adaptive sucker 4 on the crawler 201 can also move along with the crawler 201, and the ball bearing 415 is used for assisting the sliding of the multi-hole self-adaptive sucker 4 in the gas distribution groove 501.
The self-adaptive wall-climbing robot facing to the complex environment is suitable for walls with rough surfaces, uneven gaps and obstacles such as tunnels, bridges and circular storage tanks.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.