Robot variable stiffness joint based on SMA spring driving blade spring
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of variable stiffness joints of robots, in particular to a variable stiffness joint of a robot based on an SMA spring driving blade spring.
Background
With the continuous development of robot technology, the application range of robots is also wider and wider, and the scenes of man-machine interaction are also more and more. In order to ensure the safety of workers and reduce accidents in the process of man-machine cooperative work, a robot system which can be applied to a man-machine cooperative environment, is environment-friendly and safe to the workers is urgently needed.
However, since the robot body and each joint are rigid, the rigidity is very high and the increase speed is very high when the collision occurs, which is obvious to the damage of the robot or the person. In order to reduce impact attenuation and man-machine injury when collision occurs, soft media are usually added on a robot body to buffer the collision, but the buffer of the method is limited, the mass and the volume of a machine body are increased, and the efficient operation of the robot is not facilitated. The rigidity-variable elastic joint can enable the robot system to be bent properly like human muscles when encountering impact, so that energy generated by collision is buffered, and the effects of protecting and eliminating mechanical shock and reducing mechanical damage of parts are achieved. The Chinese patent application with publication number of CN111376306A discloses a 'robot variable stiffness joint', when the adapter is loaded, the side covers relatively rotate and enable the side cover pressing columns to press corresponding blade springs to realize force balance, and the joint flexibility requirement is met. However, the buffering effect of the structure is limited, and as the robot is in contact with human beings more and more closely, the improvement of the safety of human-computer interaction becomes a primary factor of the design of future robots, so that the rigidity-variable joints of the robots cannot be limited to the above structural forms, and another structural form of the rigidity-variable elastic joints needs to be designed to absorb external impact, so that the smoothness and stability of the movements of the robots are enhanced, and the environmental adaptability is stronger.
Disclosure of Invention
According to the technical problem, the robot variable stiffness joint based on the SMA spring driving blade spring is provided according to the principle that the length of the spring made of the SMA material can change along with the temperature change, and the active variable stiffness of the blade spring is realized through the change of the length of the SMA spring in the SMA spring assembly, so that the smoothness and the flexibility of the movement of the robot are improved.
In order to achieve the technical purpose, the technical scheme of the invention provides a variable stiffness joint of a robot based on an SMA spring driving blade spring, which comprises the following components:
the driving wheel is connected with the driven wheel through a fixed shaft, one end of the fixed shaft, which is close to the driving wheel, is sleeved with a shaft sleeve, the side end face of the shaft sleeve is fixedly connected with the driving wheel, a plurality of first sliding grooves are formed in the driving wheel, a guide rail is arranged in each first sliding groove, and two ends of the guide rail are fixed on the driving wheel;
One end of each sliding block assembly is in sliding connection with the guide rail, the other end of each sliding block assembly penetrates through the first sliding groove and is arranged between the driving wheel and the driven wheel, and a second sliding groove is formed in the end face of each sliding block assembly;
The structure comprises a plurality of SMA spring assemblies and blade springs, wherein one end of each blade spring is fixed on the inner side wall of a driven wheel, the other end of each blade spring is slidably connected in a second chute, two ends of each SMA spring assembly are fixedly connected to a sliding block assembly and a shaft sleeve respectively, heating elements are arranged on the SMA spring assemblies, the length of the SMA springs in the SMA spring assemblies is controlled by heating the heating elements, so that the distance of the sliding block assemblies moving up and down in the first chute is controlled, the position of each blade spring in the second chute is changed, the blade springs are bent at different positions, and the purpose of changing stiffness is achieved.
Further, the SMA spring assembly comprises an SMA spring and a spring base, two ends of the spring base are respectively fixed on the sliding block assembly and the shaft sleeve, the SMA spring is embedded in the spring base in a spiral mode, and the heating element is wound on the SMA spring.
Further, a conductive assembly is included for providing electrical energy for heating the heating element.
Further, the conductive assembly comprises a first electric brush, a second electric brush and two plastic cups with copper foils, wherein the two plastic cups with copper foils are sleeved on the fixed shaft at intervals, the copper foils of the two plastic cups are respectively connected with an external power supply through wires, one ends of the first electric brush and the second electric brush are respectively contacted with the copper foils of the two plastic cups, and the other ends of the first electric brush and the second electric brush are respectively fixed on the shaft sleeve and are respectively electrically connected with the heating element.
Further, one end of the fixed shaft, which is connected with the driven wheel, is hollow, a wire outlet is formed in the fixed shaft between the two plastic cups, and a wire penetrates through the hollow end of the fixed shaft, penetrates through the wire outlet, and is connected with copper foils on the two plastic cups for conducting electricity.
Further, two annular grooves are formed in the outer circumference of the fixed shaft at intervals, and the two plastic cups are respectively arranged in the two annular grooves.
Further, the heating element is a resistance wire.
Further, the sliding block assembly comprises a first sliding block and a second sliding block, the first sliding block is connected to one end of the second sliding block through a screw, and the second sliding groove is formed in the other end face of the second sliding block.
Further, a bearing is sleeved on one side of the fixed shaft connected with the driven wheel, a motor steering wheel is fixed on the outer side of the driven wheel, the driven wheel is connected with a rear motor through the motor steering wheel, and the driving wheel is connected with a front motor.
Further, the guide rail is a dovetail guide rail.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the beneficial effects that:
The invention provides a variable stiffness joint of a robot based on an SMA spring driving blade spring, which is characterized in that an SMA spring assembly, a sliding block assembly and the blade spring are arranged between a driving wheel and a driven wheel, a heating element is arranged on the SMA spring assembly, the temperature of the SMA spring is controlled by heating the heating element to control the change of the length of the SMA spring, and then the sliding block assembly is controlled to move up and down in a first chute of the driving wheel so as to change the position of the blade spring in a second chute, so that the blade spring is bent at different positions, the aim of changing stiffness is fulfilled, and the smoothness and the flexibility of the movement of the robot are improved. The robot variable stiffness joint provided by the invention is similar to a muscle flexible joint of a human body, can provide better impact absorption and vibration energy absorption, so that the whole robot has good stability, is suitable for more complex working conditions, reduces external impact, and can protect parts and workers of the robot. Meanwhile, the SMA spring is adopted as a driving element, so that the robot joint is small in size, compact in structure and light in weight, and the original maneuvering performance of the whole robot is not affected.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a front view of a robot variable stiffness joint of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a rear view of a robot variable stiffness joint of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is an internal block diagram of a robot variable stiffness joint of the present invention (heating elements not shown);
fig. 4 is a top view of the robot variable stiffness joint of the present invention (with the driven wheel, second slider and SMA spring assembly omitted).
The specific marks in the drawings are as follows:
1-driving wheel, 11-first sliding groove, 12-guide rail, 13-second sliding groove, 2-driven wheel, 21-motor steering wheel, 3-sliding block assembly, 31-first sliding block, 32-second sliding block, 4-SMA spring assembly, 41-SMA spring, 42-spring base, 5-leaf spring, 6-fixed shaft, 61-wire outlet, 7-shaft sleeve, 8-heating element, 9-conductive assembly, 91-first electric brush, 92-second electric brush and 93-plastic cup.
Detailed Description
The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings and examples, in order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
Before describing the specific embodiments of the present invention in detail, the principles on which the present invention is based will be explained, as it is well known that a memory alloy material is a novel engine oil functional material developed and developed in the 60 s, abbreviated as SMA. The alloy is characterized in that the transformation of a phase body of the material from austenite to martensite can be realized at a certain temperature, the martensite of the memory alloy in an initial state can be plastically deformed, the temperature is raised to be higher than a certain balance or critical temperature, and the initial state can be restored, so that the capacity of restoring to the initial state is called a memory effect, the deformation amount of the alloy is more than 20 times that of a general elastic material, the maximum restoring strain is 8%, and the restoring stress is 300-600 MPa. The SMA mainly comprises three major types of nickel-titanium base, copper base and iron base, wherein the nickel-titanium base is the one with the best shape memory effect discovered at present, the tensile strength is more than 1000MPa, the elongation is more than 20%, the restoring stress can be correspondingly increased, the stability is good, the recycling property is realized, and the corrosion and friction resistance capability is also very excellent, so that the SMA is a very excellent functional material.
The invention designs a robot variable stiffness joint based on an SMA spring driving blade spring based on the principle that a spring made of an SMA material can change along with the change of temperature, and the structure of the robot edge stiffness joint is shown in figures 1-4, and mainly comprises a driving wheel 1, a driven wheel 2, a plurality of sliding block assemblies 3, a plurality of SMA spring assemblies 4, a plurality of blade springs 5 and a fixed shaft 6.
The driving wheel 1 and the driven wheel 2 are connected through a fixed shaft 6, a shaft sleeve 7 is sleeved at one end, close to the driving wheel 1, of the fixed shaft 6, the side end face of the shaft sleeve 7 is fixedly connected with the driving wheel 1, a plurality of first sliding grooves 11 are formed in the driving wheel 1, guide rails 12 are arranged in each first sliding groove 11, and two ends of each guide rail 12 are fixed on the driving wheel 1.
One end of each sliding block component 3 is slidably connected with the guide rail 12, the other end of each sliding block component passes through the first sliding groove 11 and is arranged between the driving wheel 1 and the driven wheel 2, and a second sliding groove 13 is formed in the end face.
One end of each leaf spring 5 is fixed on the inner side wall of the driven wheel 2, the other end of each leaf spring is slidably connected in the second chute 13, two ends of each SMA spring assembly 4 are fixedly connected to the slider assembly 3 and the shaft sleeve 7 respectively, each SMA spring assembly 4 is provided with a heating element 8, the length of the SMA spring 41 in the SMA spring assembly 4 is controlled by heating the heating element 8, so that the distance of the slider assembly 3 moving up and down in the first chute 11 is controlled, the position of the leaf spring 5 in the second chute 13 is changed, the leaf spring 5 is bent at different positions, and the purpose of variable stiffness is achieved.
In the above technical scheme, the SMA spring assembly 4 is fixed on the slider assembly 3 and the shaft sleeve 7, and the heating element 8 is wound on the SMA spring 41 of the SMA spring assembly 4, the heating element 8 is electrified to heat the SMA spring 41, so that the length of the SMA spring 41 is changed, and then the slider assembly 3 is controlled to move up and down in the first chute 11, so that the positions of the slider assembly 3 and the blade spring 5 are changed, and then when the current motor drives the driving wheel 1 to rotate, the blade spring 5 bends at different positions in the second chute 13, so as to achieve the purpose of changing stiffness.
When the heating element 8 is electrified, the SMA spring 41 is heated to the maximum temperature, the SMA spring 41 stretches, the whole robot joint is approximately rigid, the heating degree of the SMA spring 41 is controlled by adjusting the temperature of the heating element 8, the length change value of the SMA spring 41 is affected, the rigidity of the blade spring 5 is adjusted between minimum and approximately rigid, and the purpose of changing the rigidity of the robot is achieved.
It can be appreciated that the length of the first sliding groove 11 and the temperature affect the length change value of the SMA spring 41, and in practical application, the set length of the first sliding groove 11 may be specifically set according to the requirement of the length change value of the SMA spring 41.
In some specific embodiments, as shown in fig. 3, the SMA spring assembly 4 includes an SMA spring 41 and a spring base 42, two ends of the spring base 42 are fixed on the slider assembly 3 and the sleeve 7, respectively, the SMA spring 41 is embedded in the spring base 42 in a spiral rotation, and the heating element 8 is wound on the SMA spring 41.
Optionally, the robot variable stiffness joint further comprises an electrically conductive assembly 9 for providing electrical energy for heating the heating element 8.
In some specific embodiments, the conductive assembly 9 includes a first brush 91, a second brush 92, and two plastic cups 93 with copper foil, the two plastic cups 93 with copper foil are sleeved on the fixed shaft 6 at intervals, the copper foil of the two plastic cups 93 is connected with an external power source through wires, one ends of the first brush 91 and the second brush 92 are respectively contacted with the copper foil of the two plastic cups 93, and the other ends of the first brush 91 and the second brush 92 are respectively fixed on the shaft sleeve 7 and are respectively electrically connected with the heating element 8.
Further, one end of the fixed shaft 6 connected with the driven wheel 2 is hollow, and the fixed shaft 6 between the two plastic cups 93 is provided with a wire outlet 61, and the wire penetrates from the hollow end of the fixed shaft 6, then penetrates from the wire outlet 61, and is connected with copper foils on the two plastic cups 93 for conducting electricity.
Further, two annular grooves are provided at intervals on the outer circumference of the fixed shaft 6, and the two plastic cups 93 are respectively provided in the two annular grooves.
In some specific embodiments, the heating element 8 is a resistance wire.
In some specific embodiments, the slider assembly 3 includes a first slider 31 and a second slider 32, the first slider 31 is connected to one end of the second slider 32 by a screw, and the second chute 13 is disposed on the other end face of the second slider 32.
In some specific embodiments, a bearing is further sleeved on the side, connected to the driven wheel 2, of the fixed shaft 6, a motor steering wheel 21 is fixed on the outer side of the driven wheel 2, the driven wheel 2 is connected with a rear motor through the motor steering wheel 21, and the driving wheel 1 is connected with a front motor.
In some specific embodiments, the guide rail 12 is a dovetail guide rail, and the first slider 31 slides up and down along the guide rail 12.
In summary, the invention provides a variable stiffness joint of a robot based on an SMA spring driving blade spring, which is characterized in that an SMA spring assembly 4, a sliding block assembly 3 and a blade spring 5 are arranged between a driving wheel 1 and a driven wheel 2, a heating element 8 is arranged on the SMA spring assembly 4, the temperature of the SMA spring 41 is controlled by heating the heating element 8 to control the change of the length of the SMA spring 41, and then the sliding block assembly 3 is controlled to move up and down in a first chute 11 of the driving wheel so as to change the position of the blade spring 5 in a second chute 13, so that the blade spring 5 is bent at different positions to achieve the aim of variable stiffness, and the smoothness and flexibility of the movement of the robot are improved.
The above-described embodiments of the present invention do not limit the scope of the present invention. Any other corresponding changes and modifications made in accordance with the technical idea of the present invention shall be included in the scope of the claims of the present invention.