JP4645724B2 - External power supply connection device for mobile robot - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention provides an external power supply connection device for a mobile robot having an improved configuration for connecting a power receiving electrode provided on the mobile robot and a power supply electrode on the fixed equipment side.

  For example, in a semiconductor manufacturing factory or an automobile parts manufacturing factory, assembly work is performed while moving a mobile robot equipped with a robot arm on an automated guided vehicle (AGV) between work stations (fixed equipment) provided at multiple locations. A system that performs such as has been adopted.

  In such a mobile robot, since it is necessary to run on its own, at least the traveling load is driven by a battery made of a secondary battery, and the battery is supplied from an external AC power source to the battery while stopped at the work station. It is generally performed to be configured to charge.

  Specifically, as schematically shown in FIG. 10, the work station has a power supply including a charger 2 and a power supply terminal unit 3 that generate a relatively low voltage current based on the output of the commercial AC power supply 1. A device 4 is provided. The mobile robot 5 is provided with a power receiving terminal portion 6 connected to the power feeding terminal portion 3 while being stopped at the work station. A constant voltage DC power source received by the power receiving terminal portion 6 is connected to the battery. 7 is charged and supplied to a robot arm that is a load, a drive motor 10 of a self-propelled device, and the like through a controller 9 after being boosted by a DC / DC converter 8.

  FIG. 9 shows a state in which the mobile robot 5 is supplied with power from the power supply device 4. As shown in the figure, the power supply terminal unit 3 is provided on the front surface of the power supply device 4, and the power supply terminal unit 3 has a pair of positive and negative power supply electrodes connected to the output terminal unit of the charger 2. 11 and 12 and a grounded earth electrode 13 are provided. On the other hand, the power receiving terminal portion 6 has a side surface facing the power supply device 4 when the mobile robot 5 stops in front of the power supply device 4 in a direction to approach and leave the power supply device 4 by a driving device (not shown). It is provided to be movable. The power receiving terminal portion 6 is provided with a pair of rod-shaped power receiving electrodes 14 and 15 connected to the battery 7 and the DC / DC converter 8 and a ground electrode 16 connected to the frame of the mobile robot 5.

  Thus, when the power receiving terminal unit 6 is moved to the power supply device 4 in a state where the mobile robot 5 is stopped in front of the work station, the power receiving electrodes 14 and 15 and the ground electrode 16 are connected to the power feeding electrode of the power feeding terminal unit 6. 11 and 12 and the ground electrode 13 are connected.

  A stop marker is provided on the floor in front of the work station, and the mobile robot 5 reads the stop marker and stops at a regular position while maintaining a posture parallel to the front surface of the work station (power supply device 4). However, in reality, there is an error and it stops in a slightly inclined posture instead of being parallel to the front surface of the work station, or there is a slight difference in height between the power receiving terminal portion 6 and the power feeding terminal portion 3. There may be.

  However, in the above-described conventional external power supply connection configuration, particularly when the mobile robot 5 stops in a posture inclined with respect to the front surface of the work station, the directions of the power supply terminal portion 3 and the power receiving terminal portion 6 do not match. The distance between the electrodes varies, and the contact pressure decreases between the electrodes that are far away.

  That is, the power receiving electrodes 14 to 16 on the power receiving terminal portion 6 side are pressed against the power feeding electrodes 11 to 13 by the compression coil spring 17 for applying contact pressure, but the mobile robot 5 is inclined as described above. Then, the amount of compression of the compression coil spring 17 differs in magnitude, and as a result, the force (contact pressure) for pressing the power receiving electrode against the power feeding electrode becomes different. And between electrodes with a small contact pressure, the electrical resistance between them increases, causing a large current to flow, causing a problem that sparks are generated or the electrodes are melted. As a result, an oxide film is formed on the surface of the film, and the electric resistance is further increased.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is not only to absorb the shift of the stop position of the mobile robot, but also to move even if the mobile robot stops in a posture inclined with respect to the fixed equipment. An object of the present invention is to provide an external power supply connection device for a mobile robot capable of bringing all the plurality of power receiving electrodes on the robot side into contact with the plurality of power feeding electrodes on the fixed equipment side with sufficient contact pressure.

  When the mobile robot stops in front of the fixed equipment, the posture may be tilted. In such a case, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the power receiving unit provided in the mobile robot can be moved in the vertical direction and shaken in the horizontal direction to the linear drive device that moves in a direction approaching and moving away from the power feeding unit. Since the mobile robot is provided so as to be movable, it is possible to absorb the positional deviation and the attitude deviation of the mobile robot, and the power feeding electrode and the power receiving electrode can be connected well.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, an external power source is used as an AC power source, and a battery composed of a high voltage battery that can be charged by the mobile robot and a charger that rectifies the AC power source and charges the battery are mounted. Since there is no need to install a step-down transformer that reduces the voltage of the AC power supply to the charging voltage of the mobile robot battery and a rectifier that converts the AC output of the step-down transformer into direct current on the equipment side, the fixed equipment is compact. Can be configured. In addition, since the high-voltage AC power can be supplied as it is from the fixed equipment side to the mobile robot, the current flowing through the power feeding electrode and the power receiving electrode can be reduced. For this reason, both electrodes can be configured to have a small cross-sectional area, and the power feeding unit and the power receiving unit can be configured to be small.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, FIG. 8 shows an external configuration of the mobile robot 21. The mobile robot 21 is arranged on an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) 22 that is formed in a substantially rectangular box shape that is slightly longer in the front-rear direction (left and right in the figure). Further, for example, a robot arm 23 composed of a six-axis arm is mounted.

  Although not shown in detail, the automatic guided vehicle 22 has a traveling mechanism at the bottom of a main body frame 24 (only part of which is shown in FIG. 1). The traveling mechanism includes, for example, four wheels 25 (only two are shown), and two of the driving wheels are driven and steered by a motor. Further, side wall covers 26 are provided on the front, rear, left and right outer wall portions of the main body frame 24, respectively, and obstacle sensors 27 and the like are provided on these side wall covers 26. Although not shown, a pair of front and rear guide sensors for detecting a guideline laid along the traveling path and a stop marker provided in front of a fixed facility (work station) are provided at the bottom of the main body frame 24. A stop marker sensor or the like is provided.

  As a result, the mobile robot 21 travels along the travel path provided along the fixed facility by the travel mechanism, stops at a predetermined work position (work station), and assembles and delivers parts by the robot arm 23. And so on.

  Now, as shown in FIG. 7, the mobile robot 21 includes a battery 28 serving as a power source during travel. The battery 28 is composed of a rechargeable high voltage battery configured such that a large number of unit cells are connected in series and the output is, for example, 288 V. The battery 28 is connected to the controller 30 via a relay switch 29. . The output voltage of the battery 28 is applied to the controller 30 as it is, and the controller 30 is configured to drive the traveling mechanism of the automatic guided vehicle 22 and the drive motor 31 of the robot arm 23 that are loads.

  Further, when the mobile robot 21 stops at the work station, the power source of the controller 30 is switched from the battery 28 to the 200 V three-phase AC power source that is an external power source, and the battery 28 is also charged with the 200 V three-phase AC power source. It is configured as follows. That is, a power supply device 32 is provided on the fixed facility side, and the power supply device 32 includes a three-phase AC power supply 33 and a power supply terminal portion 34 as a power supply portion connected thereto. ing.

  On the other hand, on the mobile robot 21 side, a power receiving terminal portion 35 as a power receiving portion connected to the power feeding terminal portion 34 is provided. The power receiving terminal portion 35 is connected to the controller 30 via a rectifier 36, and The battery 28 is connected via a charger 37 mainly composed of a rectifier. In addition, the charger 37 applies the voltage of the alternating current power supply 33 to the battery 28 as it is, and charges it.

  In the present embodiment, when the mobile robot 21 stops in front of the work station (fixed equipment), the power receiving terminal portion 35 moves to the power supply device 32 side and is connected to the power feeding terminal portion 34. Hereinafter, the connection configuration will be described in detail.

  First, as shown in FIG. 1, the power supply device 32 is provided on a floor portion on the fixed equipment side, and the power supply terminal portion 34 protrudes from a front wall portion (left wall portion in the figure) of the power supply device 32. Is provided. As shown in FIG. 4, the power supply terminal portion 34 mainly includes an insulating housing 38 that is formed of an electrically insulating material such as plastic and has a slightly horizontally long rectangular block shape. Four horizontally long holes 39 opened in the front surface are formed in the vertical direction, which is the vertical direction, and a horizontally long fixed electrode plate is disposed at the back of each hole 39. Among these fixed electrode plates, for example, the upper three are the feed electrodes 40 connected to the three-phase power lines of the AC power source 33, and the lowermost one is the grounded ground wire (not shown). The ground terminal portion 41 is connected to the ground terminal portion 41).

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, a pair of projecting portions 42 are provided on the front surface of the insulating housing 38 so as to be positioned on both upper and lower sides of the four hole 39 groups. The inner surfaces of the pair of vertically projecting portions 42 are inclined surfaces 42a having an inclination angle of about 30 degrees, for example, so that the opposing interval widens toward the tip.

  On the other hand, on the mobile robot 21 side (inside the automatic guided vehicle 22), there is provided a movable unit 44 having the power receiving terminal portion 35 that appears and disappears through an opening 43 formed in the side wall cover 26. It should be noted that the movable unit 44 is actually provided with a pair of symmetrically arranged at positions shifted forward and rearward of the central portion of the automatic guided vehicle 22. This is illustrated and explained as a representative.

  1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the movable unit 44, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the movable unit 44 as viewed from below. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, an attachment frame 45 is fixed to the main body frame 24 of the automatic guided vehicle 22, and a linear drive device 46 as a drive unit is attached to the attachment frame 45. The linear drive device 46 is composed of a rack cylinder 47 that is long in the left-right direction and a pulse motor 48 that is a drive source. As is well known, the rack cylinder 47 includes a rack 49 as a driving member inside, and a rack 49 is linearly moved by rotating a pinion (not shown) engaged with the rack 49 by the pulse motor 48. belongs to.

  The power receiving terminal portion 35 is mainly composed of a circular insulating housing 50 made of an electric insulating material such as plastic, and a base portion 51 also made of an electric insulating material is fixed to the insulating housing 50. Yes. Support portions 51a project from both upper and lower sides of the base 51, and bearing bushes 52 are fitted to the support portions 51a.

  A shaft 53 as a swing center axis is fixed to the front end portion of the rack 49 of the rack cylinder 47 in a vertical axis shape so as to be vertically directed via a bracket 54. The support portions 51 a provided on the base portion 51 of the insulating housing 50 are swingable in the lateral (left and right) directions via the bearing bushes 52 on both the upper and lower sides of the shaft 53 protruding vertically from the rack 49. In addition, it is supported so as to be movable in the vertical (vertical) direction. A portion of the shaft 53 that protrudes upward from the rack 49 is provided with a compression coil spring 55 as a holding spring member positioned between the bracket 54 and the upper support portion 51a. 35 is always held at a substantially central position in the vertical movement range by the elastic force of the compression coil spring 55.

  Now, as shown in FIG. 3, the inside of the insulating housing 50 of the power receiving terminal portion 35 is partitioned into four upper and lower chambers by three partition plates 56 made of an electrical insulating material. The four chambers of the insulating housing 50 are each provided with a conductive member 57 made of a highly conductive material such as copper, and a bush 58 made of a highly conductive material is fitted to each conductive member 57. . A round bar-shaped movable electrode bar is supported by each bush 58 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction. Of these movable electrode rods, the upper three are the power receiving electrodes 59 and the lowest one is the ground electrode 60.

  Tensile coil springs 61 serving as contact pressure applying spring members are respectively provided in the latter half of the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60, and each tension coil spring 61 has both front and rear ends at the rear ends of the electrodes 59, 60. And a rear end portion of the bush 58, and a biasing force is applied to each of the electrodes 59 and 60 in a direction in which the tip portion protrudes forward from the insulating housing 50. In the state of FIG. 3, the tension coil spring 61 is in a contracted state, and the electrodes 59 and 60 are held in a state of protruding most forward from the insulating housing 50.

  A rear end portion of the conductive member 57 in a state of being electrically connected to the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 protrudes from the base portion 51 of the insulating housing 50. Cables 62 are connected to the rear ends of the conductive members 57, and the cables 62 of the conductive members 57 corresponding to the power receiving electrodes 59 are connected to the rectifier 36 and the charger 37, and the ground electrode 60. The cable 62 of the conductive member 57 corresponding to is connected to the main body frame 24 of the automatic guided vehicle 22.

  A head cover 63 as a movable housing made of an electrical insulating material is fitted to the insulating housing 50 of the power receiving terminal portion 35 so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, a recess 64 extending in the front-rear direction is formed in the insulating housing 50, and a tip portion of a pin 65 fixed to the head cover 63 is inserted into the recess 64. Thus, the head cover 63 can slide in the front-rear direction within the range of the recess 64 with respect to the insulating housing 50.

  The head cover 63 constitutes a part of the power receiving terminal portion 35 and has a rectangular outer shape. A hole 66 through which the power receiving electrode 59 and the tip of the ground electrode 60 are inserted is formed in the front surface portion thereof. ing. Further, the front portions of the upper and lower outer surfaces of the head cover 63 are formed on an inclined surface 63a. The inclined surfaces 61a on both the upper and lower sides constitute a power receiving side guide portion, which corresponds to the inclined surface 42a of the protruding portion 42 protruding from the insulating housing 38 of the power supply terminal portion 34, and receives power as described later. When the terminal part 35 moves to the power supply terminal part 34 side, it comes into contact with the inclined surfaces 42a on both the upper and lower sides of the protruding part 42.

  Between the head cover 63 and the insulating housing 50, a tension coil spring 67 is provided as a spacing holding spring member. As a result, the head cover 63 is urged forward, and is always held at the covering position where the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 are hidden in the hole 66. When the head cover 63 receives a force from the front to the rear, the head cover 63 moves rearward against the elastic force of the tension coil spring 67 and moves to an exposed position where the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 protrude from the hole 66. It is supposed to be.

  A detection switch 68 made of a micro switch is provided in the base 51 of the insulating housing 50. The detection switch 68 detects that when the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 are in contact with the power supply electrode 40 and the ground electrode 41 which are the counterparts, these electrodes move rearward relative to the base 51. The signal is input to a control unit (not shown) that controls the pulse motor 48. Thereafter, the control unit rotates the pulse motor 48 at a low speed to control the moving speed of the rack 49 to a low speed. .

  An electrode cover 68 made of an electrical insulating material is provided on the outer periphery of the head cover 63. The electrode cover 68 is formed in a shape that expands toward the tip, and covers the periphery of the power receiving terminal portion 35 and the power feeding terminal portion 34 when they are connected. When the movable unit 44 is immersed in the automatic guided vehicle 22, the periphery of the electrode cover 68 is in contact with the main body frame 24 and closes the opening 43.

  Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. As described above, the mobile robot 21 travels (moves) on the travel path by the travel mechanism of the automatic guided vehicle 22 and stops at a predetermined work position in front of the fixed equipment to perform work. The power of the traveling mechanism during this movement is obtained from the battery 28. Further, during this traveling, as shown in FIG. 1, the power receiving terminal portion 35 is in a position retracted into the automatic guided vehicle 22, and at this time, the head cover 63 covers the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground terminal portion 60. Therefore, the terminal portions 59 and 60 are not exposed to the outside.

  When the mobile robot 21 stops at a predetermined work position in front of the fixed equipment, the front end surface of the head cover 63 that is the front end surface of the power receiving terminal portion 35 and the power supply terminal portion 34 of the power supply device 22 face each other. Thus, by driving the linear driving device 46 (pulse motor 48), the power receiving terminal portion 35 that has been in the retracted position is moved in the protruding (forward) direction (the right direction in FIG. 1 as the connection direction).

  As the power receiving terminal portion 35 moves in the protruding direction, first, the front end portion of the head cover 63 enters the pair of upper and lower protruding portions 42 of the power supply terminal portion 34, and as shown in FIG. 63 a comes into contact with the inclined surfaces 42 a of the upper and lower protrusions 42 of the power supply terminal portion 34. At this time, when the power supply terminal portion 34 on the power supply device 32 side and the power receiving terminal portion 35 on the mobile robot 21 side are displaced up and down, first, one of the two inclined surfaces 63a of the head cover 62 is inclined. The surface is in contact with one inclined surface of both the upper and lower inclined surfaces 42a on the power supply terminal portion 34 side.

  For example, when the power receiving terminal portion 35 is shifted downward with respect to the power feeding terminal portion 34, the lower inclined surface 63 a of the head cover 63 hits the inclined surface 42 a of the lower protruding portion 42 of the power feeding terminal portion 34. Then, the subsequent movement in the connecting direction of the power receiving terminal portion 35 causes the power receiving terminal portion 35 to move upward along the shaft 53 so as to ride on the inclined surface 42a of the projecting portion 42, and finally the upper side of the head cover 63. The inclined surface 63 a also comes into contact with the inclined surface 42 a of the protruding portion 42 on the upper side of the power supply terminal portion 34. As a result, the vertical position of the power receiving terminal portion 35 coincides with the power feeding terminal portion 34.

  When the posture of the mobile robot 21 is shifted, that is, when the mobile robot 21 is not parallel to the front surface of the power supply device 32 and is tilted and stopped, one inclined surface 63a of the head cover 63 as described above. Is in contact with the inclined surface 42a of one protruding portion 42 of the power supply terminal portion 34, or when both the upper and lower inclined surfaces 63a are in contact with the inclined surface 42a of both protruding portions 42, the power receiving terminal portion 35 is pushed by the rack 49. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, it swings laterally around the shaft 53, so that the upper and lower inclined surfaces 63 a of the head cover 63 are in contact with the inclined surfaces 42 a of the upper and lower protruding portions 42 of the power supply terminal portion 34. Become.

  As a result, the front end surface of the head cover 63 and the front end surface of the power supply terminal portion 34 are in a normal orientation that faces each other in a parallel state. As described above, the inclined surface 42a of the projecting portion 42 of the power supply terminal portion 34 and the inclined surface 63a of the head cover 63 function as a guide portion, and by contacting each other, the vertical position of the power receiving terminal portion 35 is set to the power supply terminal portion. Thus, both the vertical position guide portion that is corrected so as to be fitted to 34 and the horizontal position guide portion that is modified so that the lateral direction of the power receiving terminal portion 35 is matched to the power feeding terminal portion 34 are fulfilled.

  The head cover 63 stops when it comes into contact with the upper and lower protrusions 42. However, since the rack 49 of the linear drive device 46 continues to move further in the protruding direction, the insulating housing 50 further moves in the same direction. The power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 supported by the housing 50 protrude forward from the hole 66 of the head cover 63.

  The power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 protruding from the hole 66 reach positions where they contact the power supply electrode 40 and the ground electrode 41 of the power supply terminal portion 34 by the subsequent movement of the insulating housing 50 and stop there. Then, since the detection switch 68 detects the stop of the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60, the rotation of the pulse motor 48 is reduced to a low speed, and the rack 49 and the insulating housing 50 are slowly moved in the protruding direction. Then, the insulating housing 50 moves slowly to a position where the front end surface abuts on the rear surface of the front end portion of the head cover 63.

  When the insulating housing 50 moves in the protruding direction with the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 stopped, the tension coil spring 61 for applying a contact pressure is gradually expanded, and the elastic force applied to the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 is increased. The force gradually increases.

  At this time, as described above, since the front end surface of the head cover 63 and the front end surface of the power feeding terminal portion 34 are in a normal facing state facing each other in a parallel state, the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 are connected to the power feeding electrode 40 and the ground. The electrode 41 is in vertical contact with the electrode 41. Therefore, the elastic force of the tension coil spring 61 effectively acts as a pressure for bringing the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 into contact with the power feeding electrode 40 and the ground electrode 41, and the contact pressure is three power receiving electrodes 59 and 1. The individual ground electrodes 60 are almost the same, and have an appropriate contact pressure. For this reason, the contact resistance between the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 and the power feeding electrode 40 and the ground electrode 41 can be suppressed to a small range, and there is no possibility of causing problems such as the occurrence of sparks and melting of the electrodes.

  Of course, when the stop position of the mobile robot 21 is shifted in the horizontal direction along the front surface of the power supply device 32, that is, in the moving direction of the mobile robot, the shift is caused by the power supply electrode 40 and the ground electrode 41 of the power supply terminal portion 34 being horizontally long. Absorbed by being. In this case, since the feed electrode 40, the ground electrode 41, the power receiving electrode 59, and the ground electrode 60 are arranged in a row in the vertical direction, the lateral length of the feed electrode 40 and the ground electrode 41 can be increased. Even if the stop position of the mobile robot 21 is greatly deviated in the lateral direction, this can be absorbed.

  Further, when the stop position of the mobile robot 21 is orthogonal to the front surface of the power supply device 32, that is, when the mobile robot 21 stops at a position that is too close or too far from the power supply device 32, the positional deviation is caused by the insulation housing. 50 is absorbed by the amount of movement of the rack 49 for moving the tip 50 to a position where the tip face abuts against the back face of the tip portion of the head cover 63.

  When the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 come into contact with the power feeding electrode 40 and the ground electrode 41 with a large contact pressure as described above, power is supplied from the AC power supply 33 side to the mobile robot 21 side, and the power supply is received. The robot arm 23 performs a predetermined assembly operation and the like, and the battery 28 is charged.

  At this time, particularly when the robot arm 23 is activated, a large amount of electric power is required. However, since the voltage of the AC power source is applied to the mobile robot 21 as it is, the AC power source is converted to a DC voltage of about 24 V on the power source side. Unlike the configuration of supplying to the mobile robot side, the current flowing through the power feeding electrode 40 and the power receiving electrode 59 is reduced. For this reason, the power feeding electrode 40 and the power receiving electrode 59 can be configured to have a small cross-sectional area, and the power feeding terminal portion 34 and the power receiving terminal portion 35 can be miniaturized. In particular, the miniaturization of the power receiving terminal part 35 also leads to miniaturization of the linear drive device 46 that moves the power receiving terminal part 35, and can cope with the demand that the parts mounted on the mobile robot 21 are preferably small.

  When the operation by the robot arm 23 is completed, the power receiving terminal portion 35 is moved in the immersing (retracting) direction (the left direction in FIG. 1 which is the detaching direction), which is the immersing / detaching direction, by the linear drive device 46. 34 is disconnected.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and can be expanded or changed as follows.
The power feeding electrode 40 and the ground electrode 41 of the power feeding terminal portion 34 may be rod-shaped, and the power receiving electrode 59 and the ground electrode 60 of the power receiving terminal portion 35 may be horizontally long. Further, the feeding electrode 40, the ground electrode 41, the power receiving electrode 59, and the ground electrode 60 may all be horizontally long.

  The power supply 32 converts 200V AC power into, for example, 24V DC, and the mobile robot 21 charges the battery 28 with 24V DC supplied from the power supply 32 and boosts it to 280V by a DC / DC converter. Then, the configuration may be such that the controller 30 is supplied.

  The electrodes 59 and 60 of the power receiving terminal portion 35 are urged toward the electrodes 40 and 41 of the power feeding terminal portion 34 by the tension coil spring 61 for applying contact pressure, but the electrodes 40 and 41 of the power feeding terminal portion 34 are also in contact with each other. The power receiving terminal portion 35 may be biased toward the electrodes 59 and 60 by a tension coil spring for applying pressure.

1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and is a longitudinal side view of a main part. Bottom view with the main part partially broken Enlarged vertical side view of the power receiving terminal Perspective view of the power supply terminal Side view for explaining the correction operation of the vertical position of the power receiving terminal Transverse plan view for explaining the direction correction operation of the power receiving terminal section Block diagram showing electrical configuration Side view of mobile robot Schematic showing the connection configuration with a conventional external power supply Block diagram showing conventional electrical configuration

Explanation of symbols

  In the figure, 21 is a mobile robot, 24 is a body frame, 26 is a side wall cover, 28 is a battery, 32 is a power supply device, 33 is an AC power supply, 34 is a power supply terminal portion (power supply portion), 35 is a power reception terminal portion (power reception portion). ), 38 is an insulating housing, 40 is a power supply electrode, 41 is a ground electrode, 42 is a protruding portion, 42a is an inclined surface (guide portion, vertical position guide portion, rotation position guide portion), 44 is a movable unit, and 46 is a straight line. Drive device, 47 is a rack cylinder, 48 is a pulse motor, 49 is a rack, 50 is an insulating housing, 51 is a base, 53 is a shaft, 57 is a conductive member, 59 is a power receiving electrode, 60 is a ground electrode, and 63 is a head cover. .

Claims (2)

A power supply unit having a plurality of power supply electrodes connected to an external power source is provided on the fixed equipment side, and a power reception unit having a plurality of power reception electrodes is provided on the mobile robot side, and the mobile robot is placed in front of the fixed equipment. In an external power supply connection device of a mobile robot that feeds power to the mobile robot from the external power source by connecting the power receiving electrode to the power supply electrode in a stopped state,
The power receiving unit includes, in addition to the power receiving electrode, a linear driving device for moving the power receiving electrode in a forward direction approaching the power feeding unit and a backward moving direction away from the power feeding unit, a swing support shaft, and an insulating housing. A position holding compression coil spring, a contact pressure applying spring member, a head cover, a gap holding spring member, and an electrode cover;
The swing support shaft is fixed to the linear drive device so as to be vertically oriented,
The insulating housing is supported by the upper and lower sides of the swing support shaft so as to be swingable in the horizontal direction and movable in the vertical direction.
The position maintaining compression coil spring is wound around the swing support shaft so as to be positioned between a fixed portion to the linear drive device and an upper support portion of the insulating housing. Hold at approximately the center of the movable range in the vertical direction,
The power receiving electrode is arranged in the insulating housing so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and is always in contact with the power feeding unit by the contact pressure applying spring member provided on the side opposite to the side in contact with the power feeding unit. The side is held exposed from the insulating housing,
The head cover is movably connected to the insulating housing so as to cover a surface of the insulating housing opposite to the side supported by the swing support shaft, and is provided between the insulating housing and the insulating housing. The spacing member is always held by the spacing spring member so as to cover the power receiving electrode exposed from the surface of the insulating housing opposite to the side supported by the swing support shaft, and the linear drive device is moved forward. The portion exposed from the insulating housing of the power receiving electrode is exposed to the outside through the hole formed in the head cover by stopping in contact with the power feeding portion when moving,
The electrode cover is attached to the head cover so as to cover the periphery of the head cover, and is formed in a shape that opens toward the forward direction of the linear drive device and expands toward the open tip.
The power feeding unit with respect to the power receiving unit includes a hole and a protrusion outside the power feeding electrode,
The power supply electrode is arranged in the hole portion along the vertical direction,
The protrusions are arranged so as to form a pair above and below the hole in which the power supply electrode is disposed, and the surfaces of the protrusions facing each other are formed in a shape in which the facing interval increases toward the tip.
When the power receiving electrode is connected to the power feeding electrode, the head cover of the power receiving unit is positioned inside the pair of protrusions so that the head cover of the power receiving unit is in contact with the opposing surface of the pair of protrusions, and the pair of protrusions An external power supply connection device for a mobile robot, wherein the protruding portion is accommodated in the electrode cover of the power receiving portion. The external power source is an AC power source,
The external power supply of the mobile robot according to claim 1, wherein the mobile robot is equipped with a battery composed of a rechargeable high voltage battery and a charger for rectifying the AC power supply to charge the battery. Connected device.

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