An autonomous towing system for an unmanned surface vehicle

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides an unmanned ship autonomous traction system. The system comprises a launching device and a receiving device; the launching device is arranged on the side of the unmanned ship and comprises a launching servo turntable, a cable winch, a guide, a launching tube, a driving motor, an infrared sighting instrument and a control module; the receiving device is arranged on the fixed side and comprises a shielding plate, a locking groove, a limiting groove and a guide plate; the ball is accurately launched to the receiving end, the cable winch is controlled after locking, the cable is pulled back, and the effect of long-distance traction is achieved.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of unmanned ship recovery, and in particular to an unmanned ship autonomous traction system. BACKGROUND

[0002] An unmanned ship is an intelligent water surface ship with autonomous navigation and path planning capabilities, which carries different task loads to complete set tasks. The unmanned ship has the characteristics of fast speed, strong maneuverability, and unmanned. The unmanned ship can be applied to underwater detection, patrol and guard, emergency rescue, intelligence collection and other tasks, and is flexibly deployed on rivers, lakes and seas, and is a widely used new type of intelligent water surface combat force. With the maturity of navigation positioning, automatic control, image recognition and other technologies, the intelligent level of the unmanned ship is improving, and the application of intelligent systems is becoming more and more widespread.

[0003] However, the recovery technology of the unmanned ship is currently in a relatively backward state. When the unmanned ship is docked, it generally needs to rely on the mother ship or human power on the shore to get on and off the unmanned ship to participate in the operation of throwing and tying the cable, which is low in efficiency, difficult to control the distance, and dangerous, and is only suitable for low sea conditions. Therefore, how to ensure that the unmanned ship is flexibly pulled to the mother ship or the shore end quickly and stably is of great significance for efficient recovery work. SUMMARY

[0004] The present application provides an unmanned ship autonomous traction system for realizing efficient docking of the unmanned ship within a safe distance. The scheme can better adapt to the stable connection of the unmanned ship and the mother ship or the shore end under high sea conditions, realize intelligent "throwing and tying of the cable", and provide convenience for the landing, berthing and recovery of the unmanned ship.

[0005] The present application provides an unmanned ship autonomous traction system, which comprises a launching device and a receiving device.

[0006] The launching device is arranged on the side of the unmanned ship and comprises a launching servo turntable, a cable winch, a guide, a launching tube, a driving motor, an infrared sighting instrument and a control module. The launching servo turntable is used to realize the motion control of two degrees of freedom of azimuth and pitch. The cable winch is used to wind and unwind the cable. The guide plays a guiding and limiting role. The cable is transferred from the cable winch to the guide before launching, and the guide can accommodate only one cable. The launching tube is used to launch the cable small ball, and the tail is equipped with a cylinder to provide launching power. The driving motor is used to control the winding and unwinding speed of the cable winch, control the self-locking and back pulling operation of the cable winch, and control the state information returned to the control module by the infrared sighting instrument.

[0007] The receiving device is arranged on the fixed side and comprises a shielding plate, a locking groove, a limiting groove and a guide plate; the shielding plate is used for shielding the small balls and adopting an inner bias angle to ensure the reflection of the small balls downward, and a striking mark is arranged on the surface for aiming; the locking groove is used for locking the small balls falling due to gravity; the limiting groove is used for limiting the direction of the sliding cable, so that the cable tension in the traction process is gradually guided in the direction; the guide plate is inclined from the periphery to the locking groove opening, and is used for guiding the small balls to the locking groove; the opening of the locking groove at the front end of the guide plate is consistent in height with the opening of the limiting groove, so that the small balls are guided and the cable is guided to the limiting groove at the same time.

[0008] In some embodiments, the winch is provided with a sensor for monitoring the cable length, winding and unwinding speed and tension data.

[0009] In some embodiments, the opening of the locking groove is provided with a one-way limiting structure.

[0010] In some embodiments, the working process of the unmanned ship autonomous traction system comprises the following steps:

[0011] Step 1: the unmanned ship positions the receiving device, and the distance is within the length of the launching cable;

[0012] Step 2: the control module of the launching device calculates according to the platform motion response, the identification and tracking state information of the infrared aiming instrument, and adjusts the rotation of the launching servo turntable;

[0013] Step 3: when the stable tracking reaches the launching criterion, the driving motor drives the winch to send the cable, controls the cylinder to open, launches the small ball, and returns the launching rate to the control module to adjust the motor speed;

[0014] Step 4: when the receiving device receives and locks to the small ball, a state signal is sent to the launching device, the control module controls the driving motor to pull back the cable, and adjusts the driving motor torque according to the received tension data;

[0015] Step 5: when the cable length or tension reaches the set value, the control module controls the driving motor to make the winch self-lock, and completes the unmanned ship traction process.

[0016] The above-mentioned embodiments of the present application have at least the following beneficial effects:

[0017] The autonomous traction of the unmanned ship is realized, and the unmanned operation of the cable is realized. A solution is provided for the difficulty of recovering the unmanned ship in high sea conditions, which is safe, stable and fast. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0018] The accompanying drawings generally illustrate various embodiments discussed herein.

[0019] Figure 1 Structure diagram of the transmitting device;

[0020] Figure 2 Structure diagram of the receiving device.

[0021] Explanation of symbols:

[0022] 11-transmitting servo turntable; 12-cable winch; 13-guide; 14-launching tube; 15-driving motor; 16-infrared sighting device; 17-cylinder; 18-shielding plate; 19-locking groove; 20-limiting groove; 21-guide plate; 22-receiving servo turntable. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] In order to enable persons skilled in the art to more fully understand the features and technical contents of the embodiments of the present application, the implementation of the embodiments of the present application is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are only used for reference and do not limit the embodiments of the present application.

[0024] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, it should be noted that unless otherwise stated and limited, the term "connection" should be understood broadly, for example, it can be an electrical connection, or a connection between two elements, or a direct connection, or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above-mentioned term according to the specific circumstances.

[0025] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", "third" involved in the embodiments of the present application are only to distinguish similar objects, and do not represent a specific order of the objects. Understandably, "first", "second", "third" can be interchanged in a specific order or sequence as allowed. It should be understood that the objects distinguished by "first", "second", "third" can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances, so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein.

[0026] The present scheme designs a set of autonomous traction system, which accurately launches the small ball to the receiving end, locks it, and then controls the cable winch to pull back the cable, achieving the effect of long-distance traction.

[0027] The transmitting device is arranged on the side of the unmanned ship, such as Figure 1As shown, it comprises: a launch servo turntable 11, a cable winch 12, a guide 13, a launch tube 14, a drive motor 15, an infrared sighting device 16 and a control module. The launch servo turntable 11 is used to realize the motion control of two degrees of freedom of azimuth and elevation. The cable winch 12 is used to reel in and out the cable, and can monitor the data of cable length, reeling speed, tension, etc. through the attached sensor. The guide 13 plays a guiding and limiting role. The cable is transferred from the cable winch 12 to the guide 13 before launching, and the guide 13 can accommodate only one cable. The launch tube 14 is used to launch the cable-equipped small ball, and the tail is equipped with a cylinder 17 to provide launching power. The drive motor 15 is used to control the cable reeling speed of the cable winch 12, control the self-locking and back-pulling operation of the cable winch 12, and the infrared sighting device 16 is used to identify the target mark of the receiving end and return the state information to the control module.

[0028] The receiving device is arranged on the fixed side, such as Figure 2 As shown, it comprises: a receiving servo turntable 22, a shielding plate 18, a locking groove 19, a limiting groove 20 and a guide plate 21. Here, the fixed side may be, for example, a mother ship or a shore end. The receiving servo turntable 22 is used to realize the motion control of two degrees of freedom of azimuth and elevation. The shielding plate 18 is used to shield the small ball, adopt an inside bias angle to ensure the reflection of the small ball downward, and is additionally provided with a mark for aiming. The locking groove 19 is used to lock the small ball falling due to gravity, and the groove opening can be provided with a one-way limiting structure. The limiting groove 20 is used to limit the direction of the cable sliding in, so that the cable tension in the pulling process is gradually guided in this direction. The guide plate 21 is inclined to the locking groove 19 around, and is used to guide the small ball to the locking groove 19. The groove opening of the locking groove 19 at the front end of the guide plate 21 is consistent in height with the groove opening of the limiting groove 20, so as to guide the small ball and the cable to the limiting groove 20 at the same time.

[0029] The working process of the autonomous traction system is as follows:

[0030] Step 1: The unmanned ship positions the receiving device according to the laser radar / camera and other means, and keeps the distance within the length range of the launch cable.

[0031] Step 2: The launch device control module calculates according to the platform motion response, infrared sighting device identification and follow-sighting state information, and adjusts the rotation of the launch servo turntable.

[0032] Step 3: When the stable follow-sighting reaches the launch criterion, the drive motor drives the cable winch to send the cable, controls the cylinder to open, launches the small ball, and returns the launch rate to the control module to adjust the motor speed.

[0033] Step 4: After the receiving device receives and locks the small ball, a state signal is sent to the launch device, the control module controls the motor to pull back the cable, and adjusts the motor torque according to the received tension data.

[0034] Step 5, when the cable length or tension reaches the set value, the control module controls the motor to make the winch self-locking, and the unmanned ship traction process is completed.

[0035] The above embodiments of the present application can realize autonomous traction of the unmanned ship and unmanned throwing and tying of the cable. The present application provides a solution for the difficulty in recovering the unmanned ship in high sea conditions, and is safe, stable and fast.

[0036] The above description is merely preferred embodiments of the present application and a description of the principles of the technology used. Those skilled in the art should understand that the disclosed range of the present application is not limited to the technical solutions formed by the specific combinations of the above technical features, and should also cover other technical solutions formed by any combination of the above technical features or equivalent features without departing from the disclosed concept. For example, the above features are replaced with each other to form the present application, but are not limited to the technical features disclosed in the present application with similar functions.

Claims

1. An unmanned surface vehicle autonomous towing system, characterized by, The unmanned ship autonomous traction system comprises a launching device and a receiving device; The launching device is arranged on the side of the unmanned ship and comprises a launching servo turret, a cable winch, a guide, a launching tube, a driving motor, an infrared sighting device and a control module; the launching servo turret is used to realize the motion control of two degrees of freedom of azimuth and pitch; the cable winch is used to wind and unwind the cable; the guide is used to guide and limit the position, and the cable is transferred from the cable winch to the guide before launching, and the guide only accommodates one cable; the launching tube is used to launch the cable ball, and a cylinder is arranged at the tail to provide launching power; the driving motor is used to control the winding and unwinding speed of the cable winch, control the self-locking and back pulling operation of the cable winch; the infrared sighting device is used to identify the target identification of the receiving device and return the state information to the control module; The receiving device is arranged on the fixed side and comprises a shielding plate, a locking groove, a limiting groove and a guide plate; the shielding plate is used to shield the ball, and an inner bias angle is arranged on the surface to ensure that the ball is reflected downward, and a target identification is arranged on the surface for aiming; the locking groove is used to lock the ball falling due to gravity; the limiting groove is used to limit the direction of the sliding cable, so that the cable tension in the traction process is gradually guided in this direction; the guide plate is inclined from the periphery to the locking groove opening, and is used to guide the ball to the locking groove; the opening of the locking groove is provided with a one-way limiting structure; The cable winch is provided with a sensor for monitoring the cable length, winding and unwinding speed and tension data; The opening of the locking groove is provided with a one-way limiting structure; The working process of the unmanned ship autonomous traction system comprises the following steps: Step 1: The unmanned ship positions the receiving device, and the distance is within the length of the launching cable; Step 2: The control module of the launching device calculates according to the platform motion response, the infrared sighting device identification and the sighting state information, and adjusts the rotation of the launching servo turret; Step 3: When the stable sighting reaches the launching criterion, the driving motor drives the cable winch to send the cable, controls the cylinder to open, launches the ball, and returns the launching speed to the control module to adjust the motor speed; Step 4: After the receiving device receives and locks the ball, a state signal is sent to the launching device, the driving motor is controlled to pull back the cable, and the driving motor torque is adjusted according to the received tension data; Step 5: When the cable length or tension reaches the set value, the control module controls the driving motor to make the cable winch self-locking, and completes the unmanned ship traction process.

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