JPH07224543A - Fall prevention mechanism of wall mobile robot in lower hemisphere of spherical building - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] In a wall surface moving robot that moves on the wall surface of a spherical building while supporting itself by suction means, it is prevented from falling from the lower hemisphere of the spherical building. [Structure] A pair of support frames (4, 5) are connected to each other so that they can move relative to each other, and each support frame is provided with an extension / contraction drive leg (7) equipped with a suction means (8) for adhering to a wall surface (2). A wall moving robot capable of moving along the wall surface by performing relative movement of the support frame on the other side while adhering to the wall surface of the spherical building 1 by the suction means of the drive legs, and alternately performing this movement. 3, and a pair of left and right upper winding devices 1 around the equator of the spherical building or around the equator.
2 is installed so as to be movable in the circumferential direction, a lower winding device 14 is installed in the lower part of the spherical building, and the pair of left and right upper winding device ropes 13 and lower winding device ropes 17 are moved to the wall surface. Fixed and supported by the robot. [Effect] When the robot dropped from the wall surface is supported by the rope, the robot can be stably supported without pendulum-like or swing-like motion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention prevents a wall robot that moves while sticking to the wall surface of a spherical building such as a spherical gas holder to perform work such as flaw detection of a welding bead in the lower hemisphere of a spherical building. It is related to the mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, as a wall surface moving robot used for ultrasonic flaw detection of a spherical gas holder, there is a wall surface moving robot that uses a vacuum suction cup as a suction means for a wall surface. This wall surface moving robot connects, for example, a pair of support frames to each other so that they can move relative to each other, and each support frame is provided with a telescopic drive leg provided with a vacuum suction cup, and the vacuum suction cups of the telescopic drive legs of either one of the support frames are provided. The relative movement of the support frame on the other side is performed in a state of being attached to the wall surface of the building, and the movement is performed alternately to move along the wall surface.
In this way, the welding bead is moved while sticking to the wall surface of the building, and the flaw detection operation of the welding bead is performed by the flaw detection device installed on the support frame.

In the work of the wall surface moving robot in such a spherical building, in order to prevent the robot from dropping from the building when the vacuum suction cup cannot be sucked and is peeled off from the wall surface due to a malfunction or the like, the robot is dropped. A fall prevention mechanism such as a lifeline device must be installed.

As a conventional example of such a fall prevention mechanism, a mechanism for suspending and supporting a robot only from the upper part by a winch rope provided on the upper part of a spherical building, or provided on both the upper and lower parts of the building There is a mechanism that supports the robot from the top and bottom with a winch rope.

[0005]

In the mechanism for suspending and supporting the robot only with the rope from above, the robot detached from the wall is dangerous because it makes a pendulum motion. In particular, when the robot is working in the lower hemisphere, the dropped robot makes a large pendulum motion in the front-back and left-right directions, which is very dangerous.

Further, even in the mechanism for supporting the robot from above and below by the rope from the upper part and the rope from the lower part, each rope is loosened to some extent so as not to hinder the mobility of the robot. Can not stop the movement of. Therefore, the present invention aims to solve such a problem.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, a pair of support frames are connected so that they can move relative to each other, and each support frame is provided with a telescopic drive leg provided with a suction means to a wall surface. Is provided, the relative movement of the support frame on the other side is performed in a state in which the support frame on one side is attached to the wall surface of the building by the suction means of the expansion / contraction drive leg, and this movement is alternately performed on the wall surface. A wall-mounting robot that can move along the wall is constructed, and a pair of left and right upper winding devices are installed movably in the circumferential direction on or near the equator of the spherical building, and at the bottom of the spherical building. A drop prevention mechanism is proposed in which a lower take-up device is installed in the above, and the pair of left and right upper take-up devices and the lower take-up device are fixed to and supported by the wall surface moving robot.

Further, the present invention proposes that, in the above-mentioned structure, the upper winding device is provided in plural pairs in the circumferential direction of the building or is movable.

Further, in the present invention, it is proposed in the present invention that a plurality of lower winding devices are provided or movable in the circumferential direction of a building.

In the present invention, it is proposed that the upper winding device is constituted by a hoist, and the lower winding device is constituted by a winch or an emergency lock type winding device.

[0011]

[Operation] Since the robot that has separated from the wall surface in the lower hemisphere of a spherical building is supported at three points by a pair of ropes from above and a rope from below, even if each rope is slack before it separates, It is stably supported in a position determined by its length and therefore does not have a pendulum or swing motion.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an example in which the fall prevention mechanism of the present invention is applied to ultrasonic flaw detection of a wall surface 2 of a spherical gas holder 1. FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 1 conceptually shows an example of a robot 3. First, the wall surface moving robot 3 will be described. Reference numeral 4 is an outer support frame formed in an annular shape, and 5 is an inner support frame, which are connected so as to be capable of relative movement. In this case, the relative movement means the support frame 4,
5 relative movement in one direction and their relative turning. Reference numeral 6 conceptually shows a drive mechanism for performing these relative movements. Specifically, the drive mechanism 6 is, for example, a linear movement mechanism using a ball screw, a turning mechanism using a gear, or the like as appropriate. Can be configured to. Each support frame 4 and 5 is provided with a telescopic drive leg 7 using a cylinder device or the like, and a vacuum suction cup 8 is provided at the tip end side thereof. An ultrasonic flaw detector 9 is installed on the inner support frame 5.

FIG. 3 shows a telescopic drive leg 7 of both supporting frames 4 and 5.
The vacuum sucker 8 of FIG.
In this state, when only the telescopic drive leg 7 of the inner support frame 5 is shortened and the vacuum suction cup 8 is separated from the wall surface 2, the robot 3 moves the telescopic drive leg 7 of the outer support frame 4. It is adsorbed and supported on the wall surface 2 only by the vacuum suction cup 8 of
The inner support frame 5 becomes movable. In this state, the inner support frame 5 can be moved upward in the figure by the movement mechanism 6 as shown in FIG.

In this way, the inner support frame 5 is moved by a predetermined distance, and after the movement, the extension / contraction drive leg 7 is extended and the vacuum suction cup 8 is brought into contact with the wall surface 2 to be attracted thereto, whereby the vacuum of the extension / contraction drive leg 7 of the inner support frame 5 is obtained. The suction cup 8 is also in a state of supporting the robot 3. In this state, when only the telescopic drive leg 7 of the inner support frame 4 is shortened and the vacuum suction cup 8 is separated from the wall surface 2,
The robot 3 has a vacuum suction cup 8 of the telescopic drive leg 7 of the inner support frame 5.
It is adsorbed and supported on the wall surface 2 by itself, and the outer support frame 4 becomes movable. In this state, the outer support frame 4 is moved upward in the figure by the movement mechanism 6, and then the outer support frame 4
3 can be brought into the state shown in FIG. 3 by extending the extension / contraction drive leg 7 to bring the vacuum suction cup 8 into contact with the wall surface 2 and performing vacuum suction. By alternately performing the relative movement of the outer support frame 4 and the inner support frame 5 as described above, the robot 3 can be moved along the wall surface 2. In this example,
Although the suction means is the vacuum suction cup 8, a magnet can also be used.

As described above, reference numeral 1 is a spherical gas holder, and a guide rail 11 is provided at the lower part of the corridor 10 installed in the circumferential direction slightly above the equator, and a pair of left and right as upper winding devices is provided on this. Hoist 12 (12a, 12
b) is movably installed. These hoists 12
Is configured such that only one pair is moved over the entire circumference of the spherical gas holder 1, and a plurality of pairs are installed so as to correspond to a range divided in the circumferential direction of the gas holder 1 and move within that range. It can also be configured to. Code 1
3 (13a, 13b) are ropes fed from the respective hoists 12.

On the other hand, below the gas holder 1, a winch 14 is installed as a lower winding device. As shown in FIG. 2, one winch 14 is installed below the center of the bottom of the gas holder 1, and one winch 14 is configured to be movable in the circumferential direction outside the bottom of the center of the bottom or in the circumferential direction. Multiple units can be installed. In addition, instead of the winch, the lower winding device may use an emergency locking type winding device having an emergency locking mechanism similar to that used in a seat belt winding device of an automobile. In this emergency lock type winding device, the rope is freely drawn out in a normal pulling operation, but when a shock occurs, the retractor inside is locked and the rope cannot be taken out.

In the above configuration, when the lower hemisphere of the gas holder 1 is to be inspected by the robot 3, the robot 3 is first held by the holder 16 of the work vehicle 15 such as a full-rotation forklift truck and the predetermined position of the lower hemisphere. The vacuum suction cup 8 is brought into contact with the wall surface 2 with the telescopic drive leg 7 side facing upward. In this state, the vacuum suction cup 8 is attracted to the wall surface 2 and the robot 3 is attached to the wall surface 2. Next, the ends of the ropes 13a and 13b hung from the hoists 12a and 12b are attached to the robot 3
Connect to.

Next, the rope 17 is unwound from the winch 14 below the point where the robot 3 is attached, and these are connected to the connecting cord 18 of the robot 3. In this way, the robot 3 is attached to the ropes 13a, 13
It is configured to be supported by b and the rope 17 from the lower part.

In the above structure, when the robot 3 is moved along the wall surface 2 by alternately performing the above-mentioned relative movements, the hoists 12a, 12b are arranged so that the ropes 13a, 13b, 17 do not hinder the movement of the robot 3. , Winch 1
Adjust the length by 4. By this adjustment, the robot 3
Can move along the wall surface 2 without being obstructed by the ropes 13a, 13b, 17 to perform a predetermined flaw detection.

In the above operation, when the robot 3 is peeled off from the wall surface 2 and dropped due to the suction failure of the vacuum suction cup 8, the hoists 12a and 12b and the winch 14 are the lengths of the respective ropes 13a, 13b and 17 at present. The robot 3 is supported by. Therefore, when the robot 3 slightly drops, it is supported at three points by the ropes 12a and 12b from the upper part and the rope 17 from the lower part, so that the robot 3 is stably supported at this position, and the pendulum generated by the conventional supporting mechanism is used. There is no movement like a swing or a swing.

Reference numeral 19 indicates that the robot 3 is a spherical building 1.
The winch is a winch for preventing falling when it is in the upper hemisphere, and the winch 19 is movably installed along a guide rail 20 provided on the upper part of the spherical building 1. Also,
Reference numeral 21 is a cable for connecting the robot 3 and the equipment in the control room 22. The cable 21 is an air hose for operating the vacuum suction cup 8, a water hose for supplying water as a contact medium, and a cable for power supply and control. Is included.

[0022]

As described above, the present invention provides a wall surface moving robot that moves while adhering to a wall surface of a spherical building such as a spherical gas holder to perform work such as flaw detection of a welding bead.
When falling from the wall surface in the lower hemisphere of a spherical building, there is an effect that it can be stably supported by a rope without making a pendulum-like or swing-like movement.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an example in which a fall prevention mechanism of the present invention is applied to ultrasonic flaw detection on a wall surface of a spherical gas holder.

FIG. 2 is a view on arrow A in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual explanatory diagram showing an example of a wall surface moving robot.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual explanatory view showing a state where the inner frame is moved from the state of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 spherical gas holder 2 wall surface 3 wall surface moving robot 4 outer support frame 5 inner support frame 6 drive mechanism 7 telescopic drive leg 8 vacuum suction cup 9 ultrasonic flaw detector 10 corridor 11 guide rail 12 (12a, 12b) hoist (upper winding device) ) 13 (13a, 13b) rope 14 winch (lower winding device) 15 work vehicle 16 retainer 17 rope 18 connecting cord 19 winch 20 guide rail 21 cable 22 control room

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A pair of support frames are movably connected to each other, and each of the support frames is provided with a telescopic drive leg having a suction means for adhering to a wall surface, and the telescopic drive leg of one of the support frames is attracted. By performing relative movement of the support frame on the other side while being attached to the wall surface of the building by means, a wall movement robot that can move along the wall surface by alternately performing this movement is constructed, and spherical construction A pair of left and right upper take-up devices are installed movably in the circumferential direction on or near the equator of the object, and a lower take-up device is installed under the spherical building. A fall prevention mechanism for a wall moving robot in the lower hemisphere of a spherical building, characterized in that the rope of the device and the rope of the lower winding device are fixedly supported by the wall moving robot. 2. The fall prevention mechanism for a wall surface moving robot in the lower hemisphere of a spherical building according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of pairs of upper winding devices are installed so as to be movable in a circumferential direction of the spherical building. 3. The fall prevention mechanism for a wall surface moving robot in the lower hemisphere of a spherical building according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the upper winding device comprises a hoist. 4. The fall prevention mechanism for a wall surface moving robot in the lower hemisphere of a spherical building according to claim 1, wherein the lower winding device is configured to be movable in the circumferential direction of the spherical building. 5. The fall prevention mechanism for a wall surface moving robot in the lower hemisphere of a spherical building according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of lower winding devices are installed in a circumferential direction of the spherical building. 6. A fall prevention mechanism for a wall surface moving robot in the lower hemisphere of a spherical building according to claim 1, wherein the lower winding device is constituted by a winch. 7. The fall prevention mechanism for a wall surface moving robot in the lower hemisphere of a spherical building according to claim 1, wherein the lower winding device is an emergency locking type winding device.