Quick locking mechanism for replacing tail end tool of space mechanical arm
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the technical field of space mechanisms in space engineering, and particularly relates to a quick locking mechanism for replacing a tool at the tail end of a space manipulator.
Background
With the continuous promotion of space exploration activities, the space manipulator technology is more and more widely applied, the space manipulator can autonomously or assist spacemen to complete scientific experiments, load maintenance, on-orbit manufacturing and other works in a cabin, and can also replace the spacemen to complete the works of out-of-cabin inspection, equipment replacement, article carrying and the like, so that the working strength of the spacemen is reduced, and the risks faced by the spacemen when the spacemen are out of the cabin are avoided.
A space station mechanical arm is used for completing work such as glass wiping, sample carrying and equipment surface disinfection by carrying an ultraviolet lamp on a track, and different end tools need to be installed and replaced at the tail end of the space station mechanical arm to adapt to different work tasks. At present, tools at the tail end of a mechanical arm in the industrial field are replaced, and flange type structures are mostly adopted for butt joint installation and external connection of cables or air pipes. According to task requirements, the end tool of the space manipulator needs to be frequently replaced on the track, and the installation precision after replacement needs to be guaranteed, if a traditional replacement mode is adopted, the fact that a spacecraft needs to screw a plurality of screws on a flange every time the tool is replaced means that the operation under the microgravity environment is extremely challenging to the labor intensity and the skill of the spacecraft. Therefore, a tool suitable for frequently replacing the tool at the tail end of the space manipulator needs to be designed, and the tool has the functions of being fast to replace, simple and convenient to operate, safe, efficient, reliable to lock and the like.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a quick locking mechanism for replacing a tool at the end of a space manipulator, which has the functions of quick replacement, simple operation, safety, high efficiency, reliable locking, etc., and achieves the purpose of quickly replacing the tool at the end of the manipulator.
In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:
a quick-locking mechanism for tool replacement at the tail end of a space manipulator comprises a female head and a male head;
the female head comprises a female head base, a steel ball locking mechanism and an electric connector socket, wherein one end of the female head base is of a groove-shaped structure, and the electric connector socket is arranged at the bottom of the groove and is used for being in butt joint with the male head; a plurality of steel balls are arranged on the side wall of the groove along the circumferential direction;
the steel ball locking mechanism is arranged on the outer side of the female head base and used for compressing or releasing the steel ball, and the male head is locked when the steel ball is compressed.
The steel ball locking mechanism comprises a locking sleeve and a locking spring, the locking spring and the locking sleeve are sequentially sleeved on the outer side of the female head base from inside to outside, and two ends of the locking spring are respectively abutted against the female head base and the locking sleeve;
the upper end of the female head base is provided with a limiting structure used for limiting the locking sleeve in the axial direction.
The lower end of the outer circumference of the female head base is provided with a positioning spigot, and the inner wall of the upper end of the locking sleeve is provided with an annular pressing part along the circumferential direction;
and two ends of the locking spring are respectively abutted with the positioning spigot of the female head base and the annular pressing part of the locking sleeve.
The limiting structure comprises a limiting clamp spring, and the limiting clamp spring is accommodated in a clamp spring groove formed in the outer circumference of the female head base.
And a guide positioning key is arranged on the inner wall of the groove of the female head base.
The electric connector socket is provided with a guide rod.
The male head comprises a male head base and an electric connector plug arranged on the male head base;
and a groove used for being matched with the steel ball is arranged on the outer circumference of the male head base.
The male head base is of a stepped shaft structure, and the small-diameter end of the male head base is a plug-in end; the electric connector plug is arranged at the end part of the plugging end; the groove is arranged on the outer circumference of the insertion end.
The electric connector plug is provided with a guide hole.
And a guide positioning groove is arranged on the outer circumference of the insertion end.
The invention has the advantages and beneficial effects that:
the invention has the advantages of quicker and more convenient operation: the astronaut can realize the connection and disconnection of arm and terminal instrument through pulling locking sleeve, has saved operations such as twisting screw, plug electric connector among the traditional mode of change, can be fast, simple and convenient realize the instrument and change.
The invention is safer to work: inside the structure was arranged in to the electric connector, the outside cable that does not have of mechanism, avoided dangerous condition such as cable damage in the work, the system is safer, reliable, and equipment life is more permanent.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a quick lock mechanism for end-of-space robot tool change in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the female head of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the female head of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a male of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the female connector of the present invention;
fig. 6 is a schematic view of a connection structure of a male connector and a female connector according to the present invention.
In the figure: the connector comprises a female connector 1, a female connector base 11, a locking sleeve 12, an annular pressing part 121, a locking spring 13, a steel ball 14, a limiting clamp spring 15, an electric connector socket 16, a guide positioning key 17 and a guide rod 18, wherein the female connector is a female connector, the female connector base 11 is a female connector base, the locking sleeve is a locking sleeve, the annular pressing part is an annular pressing part, the locking spring 13 is a locking spring;
2 is a male head, 21 is a male head base, 22 is an electric connector plug, 23 is a groove, 24 is a guide positioning groove, and 25 is a guide hole.
Detailed Description
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.
As shown in fig. 1-2, the invention provides a quick-lock mechanism for tool replacement at the end of a space manipulator, which comprises a female head 1 and a male head 2;
the female head 1 comprises a female head base 11, a steel ball 14, a steel ball locking mechanism and an electric connector socket 16, wherein one end of the female head base 11 is of a groove-shaped structure, and the electric connector socket 16 is arranged at the bottom of the groove and is used for being in butt joint with the male head 2; a plurality of steel ball holes are uniformly arranged on the upper part of the side wall of the groove along the circumferential direction, and a steel ball 14 is arranged in each steel ball hole. The steel ball locking mechanism is arranged on the outer side of the female head base 11 and used for compressing or releasing the steel ball 14, and locking the male head 2 when the steel ball 14 is compressed.
As shown in fig. 3, in the embodiment of the present invention, the steel ball locking mechanism includes a locking sleeve 12 and a locking spring 13, the locking spring 13 and the locking sleeve 12 are sequentially sleeved outside the female base 11 from inside to outside, and two ends of the locking spring 13 are respectively abutted against the female base 11 and the locking sleeve 12; female first base 11's upper end is equipped with and is used for carrying out the spacing limit structure of axial to locking sleeve 12, makes locking spring 13 have certain pretightning force through limit structure.
Specifically, the lower end of the outer circumference of the female head base 11 is provided with a positioning spigot, and the inner wall of the upper end of the locking sleeve 12 is provided with an annular pressing part 121 along the circumferential direction; two ends of the locking spring 13 are respectively abutted against the positioning spigot of the female base 11 and the annular pressing part of the locking sleeve 12.
In the embodiment of the invention, the limiting structure comprises a limiting clamp spring 15, and the limiting clamp spring 15 is accommodated in a clamp spring groove arranged on the outer circumference of the female head base 11. The limiting clamp spring 15 is located above the annular pressing portion 121 of the locking sleeve 12 and limits the axial direction of the locking sleeve 12.
Further, as shown in fig. 2, a guiding and positioning key 17 is provided on the inner wall of the groove of the female base 11 for guiding and positioning when being abutted with the male head 2, and restricting the rotational freedom between the female head 1 and the male head 2 after the connection is completed, so as to bear a certain rotational moment load.
Further, the electrical connector socket 16 is provided with two guiding rods 18 for guiding the electrical connector when mating, so as to improve the mating accuracy.
As shown in fig. 4, in the embodiment of the present invention, the male connector 2 includes a male connector base 21 and an electrical connector plug 22 disposed on the male connector base 21, a groove 23 for mating with the steel ball 14 is disposed on an outer circumference of the male connector base 21, and the electrical connector plug 22 is used for plugging with the electrical connector socket 16 on the female connector 1.
In this embodiment, the male base 21 has a stepped shaft structure, and the small diameter end thereof is a plug end; an electrical connector plug 22 is provided at the end of the mating end and a groove 23 is provided on the outer circumference of the mating end. The steel ball 14 and the groove 23 are matched to realize the quick locking of the male head 2.
Furthermore, the electrical connector plug 22 is provided with guide holes 25 on both sides thereof, and the outer circumference of the insertion end is provided with guide positioning grooves 24. When the male head 2 and the female head 1 are spliced, the guide positioning groove 24 on the male head 2 is matched with the guide positioning key 17 on the female head 1 for guiding, and the rotary load is borne; meanwhile, the two guide rods 18 on the female head 1 are inserted into the two guide holes 25 on the male head 2, so that the electric connector plug 22 and the electric connector socket 16 are accurately butted. A spring tolerance is provided under the screw mounting location of the electrical connector plug 22 to allow for some radial misalignment during mating between the electrical connector receptacle 16 and the electrical connector plug 22.
In this embodiment, the female head 1 is installed at the end of the space manipulator, and the lower portion of the female head base 11 is provided with an installation interface connected with the end of the manipulator, and is connected with the end of the manipulator through a flange in a high-rigidity structure. Female 1 provides the connection locking function to public head 2, can realize structure and electric being connected simultaneously, retrains six degrees of freedom of motion of public head 2. Male head 2 installs on end tool, provides the butt joint interface with female head 1, can realize end tool and female 1's quick connection and disconnection, provides mechanical constraint and electrical connection for end tool.
As shown in fig. 3, in a state that the female head 1 is disconnected from the male head 2, the locking sleeve 12 is pressed close to the limit clamp spring 15 by the pretightening force of the locking spring 13, so that the locking sleeve 12 is flush with the upper end surface of the female head base 11. The electrical connector socket 16 is installed at the middle position of the female head 1, and is used for the electrical connection of the female head 1 and the male head 2 in butt joint, including power supply and communication signals.
In the embodiment of the invention, the connection process of the female head 1 and the male head 2 of the quick lock mechanism is divided into two steps:
(1) connection preparation: the locking sleeve 12 is pulled and pressed towards the direction of compressing the locking spring 13, and the steel ball 14 is released from being restrained in the radial direction, so that the steel ball 14 can move outwards in the radial direction, as shown in fig. 5.
(2) Connection and locking: aligning the guide positioning groove 24 of the male head 2 with the guide positioning key 17 of the female head 1, and inserting the guide positioning key into the groove of the female head 1; the locking sleeve 12 is released, the steel ball 14 is embedded into the groove 23 of the male head 2 under the pressure of the locking spring 13, connection and locking are realized, and the rotation freedom degree can be restrained due to the matching of the guide positioning key 17 and the guide positioning groove 24. In addition, the male head base 21 is matched with the female head base 11 through a shaft hole, and the overturning motion freedom degree can be restrained, so that the six motion freedom degrees of the male head 2 can be restrained after connection and locking, and reliable connection is realized. At the same time as the mechanical connection is completed, the electrical connector socket 16 and the electrical connector plug 22 are also inserted into each other, and the electrical synchronous connection is realized, as shown in fig. 6.
The disconnection process of the female head 1 and the male head 2 of the quick locking mechanism is also divided into two steps:
(1) preparing for disconnection: the locking sleeve 12 is pulled and pressed towards the direction of compressing the locking spring 13, and the radial restraint of the steel ball 14 is released, so that the steel ball 14 can move outwards in the radial direction.
(2) Disconnecting: the male head 2 is pulled out of the female head 1, and the mechanical and electrical connection is disconnected.
The quick locking mechanism for replacing the tail end tool of the space manipulator is firstly applied to replacing the tail end tool of the space station, and is innovatively designed in a mechanical-electrical integrated butt-joint locking mode, so that the tail end tool of the space station is simple, convenient and quick in replacement process, safe and reliable, the problem of complexity in the replacement process of the tail end tool of the traditional manipulator is solved, the working efficiency is greatly improved, and the labor intensity of on-orbit operation of astronauts is reduced.
The above description is only an embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, extension, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention are included in the protection scope of the present invention.