Safety drilling equipment for geotechnical engineering investigation
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of geotechnical engineering investigation, in particular to safety drilling equipment for geotechnical engineering investigation.
Background
Various engineering on the ground, underground and in water are collectively called civil engineering, wherein the engineering related to rock, soil, underground and in water is partly called geotechnical engineering, geotechnical engineering investigation refers to the steps of finding out, analyzing and evaluating geology, environmental characteristics and geotechnical engineering conditions of a construction site according to requirements of the construction engineering, compiling activity of an investigation file, and if the investigation work is not in place, the geology problem of poor engineering is revealed, so that drilling equipment is required to be used for carrying out advanced investigation on the constructed geology.
Patent publication number CN217151850U relates to a drilling equipment for geotechnical engineering investigation, including dull and stereotyped in the above-mentioned application, one side fixedly connected with motor of dull and stereotyped, the output fixedly connected with of motor rotates the connecting block, the inside of rotating the connecting block is provided with a middle piece, the inside of middle piece is provided with a drill rod. This patent rotation dead lever can carry out the fixed to ground, just so can maintain the stability of whole equipment, put the support column subaerial, through rotating the handle, can rotate the rotation dead lever to ground direction, can firmly turn into underground with fixed thorn, make the stable subaerial of whole equipment, can not take place the skew and shift, rotate connecting block, intermediate piece and boring bar and can carry out the regulation of length, if need with boring bar regulation more downwards, just can add the intermediate piece between rotation connecting block and boring bar, just can adjust its length.
In the above patent, the drilling operation is performed by rotating the drilling rod by starting the motor, however, broken stone and the like are inevitably encountered in the drilling process, so that the phenomenon that broken stone splashes to the periphery may occur in the working process of the drilling rod, and if the broken stone splashes to the body of a worker, the worker may be injured, and the safety risk exists.
Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the defects of the prior art, the invention provides a safety drilling device for geotechnical engineering investigation, which solves the problems in the prior art.
The safety drilling equipment for geotechnical engineering investigation comprises a bottom plate, wherein a supporting column is fixed at the top of the bottom plate, a top plate is fixed at the top of the supporting column, a supporting plate is slidably mounted on the outer wall of the supporting column, an air cylinder is fixed at the top of the top plate, the bottom output end of the air cylinder is fixedly connected with the top of the supporting plate, a motor is fixed at the bottom of the supporting plate, a drilling rod is fixed at the output end of the motor, when drilling operation is carried out, the drilling rod can be driven to move downwards through starting the air cylinder, the drilling rod is enabled to rotate through starting of the motor, drilling operation is carried out, an elastic switch is arranged at the top of the motor, a protection component for preventing fragments from splashing is arranged on the bottom plate, the safety component and the safety component for preventing fragments from splashing are further arranged, the safety component comprises a connecting plate, a connecting spring, a connecting frame, a hinging block, a protection plate, a moving frame, a reset spring, a squeezing block, a torsion spring, a pressing block, a supporting frame and a fixing plate, and the connecting rod penetrate through the connecting plate, and are fixedly connected with the side wall of the connecting plate, and the side wall of the connecting plate is fixedly hinged to the side wall of the connecting plate, and the side wall of the connecting plate is fixedly connected with the side wall of the connecting plate.
According to the technical scheme, slidable mounting has the removal frame on the hinge piece, the bottom of the protruding department in top of removal frame is fixed with reset spring, reset spring's bottom is fixed at the top of hinge piece, the inboard of removal frame is fixed with the extrusion piece, the top of extrusion piece is laminated with the bottom of guard plate, when cylinder drive backup pad downwardly moving, can make the backup pad drive connecting rod and linking frame downwardly moving, when linking frame downwardly moving, can make the bottom of removal frame contact with the top of bottom plate, and because of linking spring's elastic coefficient is greater than reset spring's elastic coefficient, thereby when removing frame and bottom plate contact, can make the removal frame receive the extrusion force upwards and make the extrusion piece extrude the guard plate, make the guard plate rotatory shelter from the drilling rod, safety protection carries out.
According to the technical scheme, the supporting frame is fixed at the top of backup pad, the inboard briquetting that presses of top of supporting frame is installed in the rotation, press the bottom laminating of briquetting to have the spring leaf, the bottom of spring leaf is fixed at the top of supporting frame, press the top laminating of terminal point and the elastic switch of briquetting, when the backup pad moves down, can make the connecting plate not contact with the briquetting, and the spring leaf is in compression state, and the elastic coefficient of spring leaf is less than the elastic coefficient of connecting spring big than the elastic coefficient of elastic switch, and when the briquetting is not sheltered from by the fixed plate to the spring leaf drives to press the briquetting and rotates, makes to press the briquetting to press the elastic switch, makes the motor start, makes the drilling rod rotate.
According to the technical scheme, the stabilizing component comprises a supporting block, a movable plate, a return spring, an arc plate, balls, an L-shaped connecting rod, a sliding plate and a rubber plate, wherein the supporting block is fixed on the outer wall of the connecting rod, the side wall of the supporting block is in sliding connection with the inner side of the movable plate, the arc plate is fixed on the side wall of the movable plate, the balls roll on the inner side of one side of the arc plate, which is far away from the movable plate, when the protection plate rotates, the protection plate can extrude the movable plate, so that the movable plate drives the arc plate to move, and the balls can be driven by the arc plate to be attached to the outer wall of the drilling rod.
According to the technical scheme, the return spring is fixed on the inner side of the moving plate, one side, far away from the drilling rod, of the return spring is fixed on the outer wall of the connecting rod, and when the moving plate moves, the return spring can be stretched.
According to the technical scheme, the outer wall of movable plate and the extreme point sliding connection of L type connecting rod, the one end that the movable plate was kept away from to L type connecting rod is fixed with the slide, slide slidable mounting is in the inboard of bottom plate, the bottom of slide is fixed with the rubber slab, when the connecting rod moves down, can drive the movable plate and move down to make L type connecting rod drive the slide and move down, thereby can make the bottom of rubber slab laminate with ground.
According to the technical scheme, strike the subassembly and include arc piece, semicircle piece, disc, drive spring, drive plate, articulated seat, stock, strike ball, push rod and fixed block, the top at the movable plate is fixed to the arc piece, the outer wall of connecting rod is fixed with the disc, the top of disc is fixed with drive spring, drive spring's top is fixed with the drive plate, drive plate slidable mounting is at the outer wall of connecting rod, the bottom of drive plate is fixed with semicircle piece, when the movable plate removes, can make arc piece semicircle piece extrude to can make the drive plate upwards move, make drive spring tensile, when the arc piece moves to not contact with semicircle piece, because of drive spring is in tensile state, can drive the drive plate downwardly moving and reset.
According to the technical scheme, the top of drive plate is fixed with the fixed block, the lateral wall of fixed block is fixed with the push rod, the outer wall of connecting rod is fixed with articulated seat, articulated on the articulated seat has the stock, the extreme point of stock is fixed with the batting ball, the inner wall of the outer wall recess of stock and the laminating of the outer wall of push rod, when the drive plate upwards moves, can make the fixed block drive the push rod and extrude the stock, make the stock rotate in articulated department, make the batting ball keep away from the drilling rod.
The invention provides a safety drilling device for geotechnical engineering investigation. The beneficial effects are as follows:
(1) This safety drilling equipment is used in geotechnical engineering reconnaissance when carrying out the cylinder and driving the drilling rod and move down to can drive the connecting rod and move down, make the connecting frame drive the bottom of moving the frame and the top of bottom plate and contact, make the moving frame receive the extrusion force and upwards move on the articulated piece, can make extrusion block extrusion guard plate rotate to the drilling rod, make four sets of guard plates shelter from the drilling rod and protect, prevent when the drilling operation, there is the rubble to splash all around, bring the security risk for the staff, and when the backup pad drives the drilling rod and moves down, can make the pressing block not receive the shielding of fixed plate, and can make according to the briquetting and extrude elastic switch through the spring leaf, make the motor start, and when the drilling is finished, start cylinder drive the drilling rod and extract from the soil in, can make according to briquetting and fixed plate contact, thereby can make the fixed plate apply the extrusion force to the pressing block, make the pressing block rotate and not extrude elastic switch, thereby can make the motor close, prevent to extract the drilling rod from extracting from the soil, still always going on high-speed rotation, the drilling rod has the security risk of throwing out the drilling rod.
(2) This safety drilling equipment is used in geotechnical engineering reconnaissance, and during the guard plate rotates, can make the guard plate extrude the movable plate, thereby can drive the arc to be close to the drilling rod, make the arc drive two sets of balls and the surface of boring the sound pole laminate, thereby can play the effect of stable boring the sound pole, when preventing to bore the sound pole and just begin to bore the hole the operation, when just carrying out the drilling, because of the motor with power transmission to boring the bottom of the sound pole, the bottom of boring the sound pole rocks, thereby just advance the position deviation that leads to the drilling when carrying out the location drilling, and when the movable plate moves down, can make L type connecting rod drive slide and rubber slab downwardly moving, make rubber slab and device place ground carry out in close contact, thereby can increase the frictional force of device, make the stability of device better, during the drilling of preventing, the device takes place violently to shake.
(3) This geotechnical engineering reconnaissance is with safe drilling equipment, and when the movable plate removes, can make the arc piece extrude semicircle piece, and through driving plate, drive spring, fixed block, push rod, articulated seat, stock and the cooperation of striking the ball, can make the striking ball make a round trip to strike the outer wall of boring the probe to make boring the probe when extracting from the soil, can strike impurity such as the earth of boring the surface adhesion of pole and drop, make things convenient for subsequent use.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a portion of the structure of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the structure of the guard assembly, the stabilization assembly and the striking assembly of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a view of the protection of the present invention a schematic diagram of the component part structure;
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a portion of the structure of a stabilization assembly and a tapping assembly of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a partial structure of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a striking assembly according to the present invention;
fig. 9 is an enlarged schematic view of the a structure of fig. 2 according to the present invention.
In the figure, 1, a bottom plate, 2, a support column, 3, a top plate, 4, a support plate, 5, a cylinder, 6, a motor, 7, a drilling rod, 81, a connecting rod, 82, a connecting plate, 83, a connecting spring, 84, a connecting frame, 85, a hinge block, 86, a protection plate, 87, a moving frame, 88, a return spring, 89, a torsion spring, 810, a squeezing block, 811, a support frame, 812, a pressing block, 813, a fixed plate, 814, a spring leaf, 9, an elastic switch, 101, a support block, 102, a moving plate, 103, a return spring, 104, an arc plate, 105, a ball, 106, an L-shaped connecting rod, 107, a sliding plate, 108, a rubber plate, 111, an arc block, 112, a semicircular block, 113, a disc, 114, a transmission spring, 115, a transmission plate, 116, a hinge seat, 117, a long rod, 118, a knocking, 119, a fixed block, 120 and a push rod.
Detailed Description
The following description of the embodiments of the present invention will be made clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is apparent that the embodiments described are only some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the invention.
Referring to fig. 1-9, one embodiment of the invention is a safety drilling device for geotechnical engineering investigation, which comprises a bottom plate 1, wherein a support column 2 is fixed at the top of the bottom plate 1, a top plate 3 is fixed at the top of the support column 2, a support plate 4 is slidably arranged on the outer wall of the support column 2, a cylinder 5 is fixed at the top of the support plate 3, the bottom output end of the cylinder 5 is fixedly connected with the top of the support plate 4, a motor 6 is fixed at the bottom of the support plate 4, a drilling rod 7 is fixed at the output end of the motor 6, an elastic switch 9 is arranged at the top of the motor 6, the elastic switch 9 is electrically connected with the motor 6, and a protection component for preventing fragments from splashing is arranged on the bottom plate 1; the protection component comprises a connecting rod 81, a connecting plate 82, a connecting spring 83, a connecting frame 84, a hinge block 85, a protection plate 86, a movable frame 87, a reset spring 88, an extrusion block 810, a torsion spring 89, a pressing block 812, a spring piece 814, a supporting frame 811 and a fixing plate 813, wherein the connecting rod 81 penetrates through the supporting plate 4 and is in sliding connection with the penetrating part, the connecting plate 82 is fixed at the top of the connecting rod 81, the fixing plate 813 is fixed on the side wall of the connecting plate 82, the connecting spring 83 is fixed at the bottom of the connecting spring 83, the connecting frame 84 is fixed at the bottom of the connecting spring 83, the hinge block 85 is fixed on the outer wall of the connecting frame 84, the protection plate 86 is rotatably arranged at the inner side of the hinge block 85, the torsion spring 89 is fixed on the side wall of the protection plate 86, the torsion spring 89 is fixed on the side wall of the hinge block 85, the movable frame 87 is slidably arranged on the hinge block 85, the reset spring 88 is fixed at the bottom of the protruding part of the top of the movable frame 87, the bottom of the reset spring 88 is fixed at the top of the hinge block 85, the extrusion block 810 is fixed on the inner side of the movable frame 87, the top of extrusion piece 810 is laminated with the bottom of guard plate 86, the top of backup pad 4 is fixed with braced frame 811, the inboard rotation in top of braced frame 811 is installed and is pressed briquetting 812, the bottom laminating of pressing briquetting 812 has spring piece 814, the top at braced frame 811 is fixed to the bottom of spring piece 814, the top laminating of the extreme point of pressing briquetting 812 and elastic switch 9, guard plate 86 is provided with four groups, and four groups of guard plates 86 are the circumference array with the central point of boring bar 7 as the centre of a circle, and shelter from the protection through four groups of guard plates 86 to boring bar 7 department, can prevent that the piece from splashing, cause the injury for the staff.
Because the spring piece 814 is in compression state, when pressing the piece 812 and not shelter from by fixed plate 813, thereby can make pressing the piece 812 reset through the spring piece 814, make pressing the piece 812 press to elastic switch 9, thereby can drive motor 6 start, make boring bar 7 rotate, can carry out the drilling operation through boring bar 7, and when cylinder 5 drives motor 6 and boring bar 7 upward movement and resumes the normal position, thereby can make fixed plate 813 extrude pressing the piece 812 and rotate, can make pressing the piece 812 not press to elastic switch 9, thereby make elastic switch 9 reset, make motor 6 close, thereby boring bar 7 stops rotating, prevent also when boring bar 7 pulls out from the soil, be in high-speed rotatory state, easily throw away boring bar 7 surface impurity, there is the security risk.
The working of this embodiment is: when drilling operation is needed, the equipment is moved to a position to be drilled, the starting cylinder 5 drives the supporting plate 4 to move downwards, and when the supporting plate 4 moves downwards, the supporting plate 4 can drive the connecting rod 81 to move downwards, the connecting rod 81 drives the connecting frame 84 to move downwards, so that the connecting frame 84 can move downwards to be in contact with the top of the bottom plate 1, and as the elastic coefficient of the connecting spring 83 is ten times that of the elastic coefficient of the return spring 88, when the supporting plate 4 continues to drive the connecting frame 84 to move downwards, the moving frame 87 can be pressed by the pressing force to move upwards in the connecting frame 84, the return spring 88 can be stretched, when the moving frame 87 moves upwards, the pressing block 810 can be driven to move upwards, the bottom of the protecting plate 86 can be pressed by the pressing block 810, and the coefficient of the connecting spring 83 is ten times that of the torsion spring 89, so that the extrusion block 810 can extrude the protection plate 86 to rotate, the torsion spring 89 can deform, the torsion spring 89 can give the reaction force to the protection plate 86, and when the protection plate 86 rotates towards the drilling rod 7, four groups of protection plates 86 can shield and protect the drilling rod 7, thereby preventing broken stone from splashing, injury is brought to workers, when the support plate 4 continues to move downwards, the moving frame 87 can not move continuously on the connecting frame 84, when the support plate 4 continues to move downwards, the support plate 4 can pull the connecting spring 83 to move downwards, when the support plate 4 continues to move downwards, the pressing block 812 is far away from the connecting plate 82, the elastic coefficient of the connecting spring 83 is five times of the elastic coefficient of the spring piece 814, when the support plate 4 moves downwards to drive the pressing block 812 to move away from the connecting plate 82, the pressing block 812 is not shielded by the fixing plate 813, and the spring piece 814 is in a compressed state, so that the spring piece 814 drives the pressing block 812 to rotate downwards at the inner side of the supporting frame 811, and because the elastic coefficient of the spring piece 814 is five times that of the elastic switch 9, the pressing block 812 presses the elastic switch 9 downwards, the motor 6 is started, the drilling rod 7 is driven to rotate, and drilling operation can be started.
After the drilling operation is finished, the supporting plate 4 drives the drilling rod 7 to move upwards through the starting cylinder 5, when the supporting plate 4 moves upwards to the connecting spring 83 to restore to the original state, and when the supporting plate 4 continues to move upwards, the supporting plate 4 drives the connecting rod 81 to move upwards, the connecting frame 84 is driven to move upwards, the moving frame 87 is driven to move upwards, when the moving frame 87 does not contact with the bottom plate 1, the restoring spring 88 is in a stretching state, the restoring spring 88 drives the moving frame 87 to move downwards on the connecting frame 84, the pressing block 810 can not press the protecting plate 86, the torsional spring 89 is in a deformation state, the torsional spring 89 can drive the protecting plate 86 to reset, the protecting plate 86 is restored to be in a flush state with the bottom plate 1, the drilling rod 7 is convenient to replace and maintain, and when the supporting plate 4 drives the supporting frame 811 to move upwards to be in contact with the bottom of the pressing block 812 and the fixing plate 813, the pressing block 812 can be pressed to the bottom of the fixing plate 813, the pressing block 812 can be pressed, the pressing block 812 is enabled to rotate away from the elastic switch 9, the pressing block 812 is enabled to be enabled to rotate away from the elastic switch 9, the elastic switch 9 is enabled to not to reset the elastic switch 9, and the drilling rod 6 can be driven to rotate, and the drilling rod 7 can be enabled to be reset.
Referring to fig. 1-9, in another embodiment of the present invention, the stabilizer assembly and the knocking assembly for preventing the drill rod 7 from shaking are further included, where the stabilizer assembly includes a supporting block 101, a moving plate 102, a return spring 103, an arc plate 104, balls 105, an L-shaped connecting rod 106, a sliding plate 107 and a rubber plate 108, the supporting block 101 is fixed on an outer wall of the connecting rod 81, a side wall of the supporting block 101 is slidably connected with an inner side of the moving plate 102, the arc plate 104 is fixed on a side wall of the moving plate 102, the balls 105 roll on an inner side of one side of the arc plate 104 away from the moving plate 102, the return spring 103 is fixed on an inner side of the moving plate 102, one side of the return spring 103 away from the drill rod 7 is fixed on an outer wall of the connecting rod 81, the outer wall of the moving plate 102 is slidably connected with an end point of the L-shaped connecting rod 106, the one end that movable plate 102 was kept away from to L type connecting rod 106 is fixed with slide 107, slide 107 slidable mounting is in the inboard of bottom plate 1, slide 107's bottom is fixed with rubber slab 108, arc 104 is provided with two sets of, and two sets of arcs 104 are symmetrical setting for the symmetry axis with the ascending central line of boring bar 7 vertical direction, and through the mutual being close to of two sets of arcs 104, can make ball 105 laminate with the outer wall of boring bar 7, thereby can restrict boring bar 7's position, when boring bar 7 bottom is transmitted with power to because of motor 6, the bottom of boring bar 7 rocks probably, when just carrying out the location drilling, the position deviation that leads to the drilling easily, and through the setting of ball 105, when boring bar 7 can reduce the frictional force with boring bar 7 when moving down and rotating, prevent that the frictional force is too big, cause boring bar 7 to have wearing and tearing.
The rubber plates 108 are provided with two groups, and the two groups of rubber plates 108 are symmetrically arranged by taking the central line of the bottom plate 1 in the vertical direction as a symmetrical axis, and the two groups of rubber plates 108 are contacted with the ground during drilling operation, so that the friction between the device and the ground can be increased, the shaking of the device during drilling operation is reduced, the device is prevented from shaking severely, and the stability during drilling operation is influenced.
The knocking component comprises an arc block 111, a semicircular block 112, a disc 113, a transmission spring 114, a transmission plate 115, a hinging seat 116, a long rod 117, a knocking ball 118, a push rod 120 and a fixed block 119, wherein the arc block 111 is fixed at the top of the moving plate 102, the disc 113 is fixed on the outer wall of the connecting rod 81, the transmission spring 114 is fixed at the top of the disc 113, the transmission plate 115 is fixedly arranged at the top of the transmission spring 114, the transmission plate 115 is slidably arranged on the outer wall of the connecting rod 81, the semicircular block 112 is fixedly arranged at the bottom of the transmission plate 115, the fixed block 119 is fixedly arranged at the top of the transmission plate 115, the push rod 120 is fixedly arranged on the side wall of the fixed block 119, the hinging seat 116 is hinged with the long rod 117, the end point of the long rod 117 is fixedly provided with the knocking ball 118, the inner wall of an outer wall groove of the long rod 117 is attached to the outer wall of the push rod 120, the top of the arc block 111 is in a cambered shape, and the arc block 111 is provided with a plurality of groups, and is arranged at the top of the moving plate 102 in a linear array.
The striking balls 118 are provided with two groups, and the two groups of striking balls 118 are symmetrically arranged by taking the central line on the vertical direction of the bottom plate 1 as a symmetrical axis, the outer wall of the drilling rod 7 can be struck by the striking balls 118, and when the drilling rod 7 is pulled out from the ground, impurities such as soil attached to the surface of the drilling rod 7 can be struck and dropped, so that the follow-up use is convenient.
When the protection plate 86 rotates, the protection plate 86 can extrude the moving plate 102, the elastic coefficient of the return spring 88 is five times of that of the return spring 103, the protection plate 86 extrudes the moving plate 102 towards the drilling rod 7, the return spring 103 stretches, the arc plate 104 drives the ball 105 towards the drilling rod 7, the ball 105 contacts with the outer wall of the drilling rod 7, the function of limiting the position of the drilling rod 7 can be achieved, the situation that the drilling rod 7 is severely dithered when drilling operation starts can be prevented, deviation of the drilling position is easily caused, the L-shaped connecting rod 106 can be driven to move downwards when the connecting rod 81 drives the moving plate 102 to move downwards, the bottom of the rubber plate 108 is driven by the sliding plate 107 to be closely attached to the placing surface of the device, the stability of the device is improved, when the protection plate 86 does not extrude the moving plate 102, the ball 103 is in a stretching state, the moving plate 102 is driven by the return spring 103 to be far away from the drilling rod 7, the ball 104 is driven by the ball 105, the ball 105 is driven by the sliding plate 4, the connecting rod is driven by the sliding plate 102 to move upwards, and the connecting rod 106 is driven by the connecting rod is not driven to move upwards, and the connecting rod 106 can move upwards, so that the connecting rod is convenient to move the connecting rod 106 is contacted with the moving plate 102.
When the movable plate 102 is far away from the drilling rod 7, the arc-shaped block 111 can be driven to move, when the arc surface of the arc-shaped block 111 is contacted with the arc surface of the semicircular block 112, the elastic coefficient of the reset spring 88 is ten times that of the transmission spring 114, so that the arc-shaped block 111 can extrude the semicircular block 112 to move upwards, the semicircular block 112 can drive the transmission plate 115 to move upwards, the transmission spring 114 stretches, when the transmission plate 115 moves upwards, the fixed block 119 can drive the push rod 120 to extrude in a groove formed in the outer wall of the long rod 117, so that the long rod 117 can be extruded to rotate upwards, the striking ball 118 is far away from the drilling rod 7, when the arc-shaped block 111 is not contacted with the semicircular block 112, the transmission spring 114 is in a stretching state, the transmission plate 115 is driven to move downwards, the fixed block 119 drives the push rod 120 to move downwards, the long rod 117 is pulled to rotate downwards, the striking ball 118 is struck on the outer wall of the drilling rod 7, and when the arc-shaped block 111 moves back and forth on the semicircular block 112, the striking ball 118 can strike the outer wall of the drilling rod 7 to the drilling rod 7, and the impurities are attached to the drilling rod after the striking ball is struck.
Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made therein without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.