Wall-climbing welding robot

Abstract

The invention belongs to the field of welding equipment, and particularly discloses a wall-climbing welding robot which comprises a wall-climbing mechanism and a welding mechanism, and the wall-climbing mechanism is used for driving the welding mechanism to move on a walking surface; the welding mechanism comprises a mounting plate, a welding assembly mounted on the mounting plate and a counterweight assembly, the welding assembly comprises a sliding plate slidably connected to the mounting plate, the sliding direction of the sliding plate is in the walking direction of the wall climbing mechanism, and the counterweight assembly comprises a balancing weight slidably connected to the mounting plate; the sliding direction of the balancing weight is parallel to the sliding direction of the sliding plate, and the balancing weight is provided with an adsorption part used for being adsorbed on a walking surface; a first lead screw and a second lead screw are rotationally connected to the mounting plate. By the adoption of the scheme, the problems that when the wall-climbing robot climbs the walking face, the wall-climbing robot occupies part of space, welding cannot be completed, the walking route and the like of the wall-climbing robot need to be planned, and the welding effect is easily affected can be solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the field of welding equipment, and in particular relates to a wall-climbing welding robot. Background Art

[0002] Wall-climbing robots are a branch of the field of mobile robots and are also the fastest-growing robots in recent years. They are robots that can attach and crawl on vertical or inclined walls such as steel and tanks, and can carry tools to complete certain tasks. They have been widely used in industries such as shipbuilding, petrochemicals, and nuclear power.

[0003] When the wall-climbing robot is in use, it will be equipped with an operation module, such as a welding module, so as to facilitate wall-climbing welding on the vertical or inclined wall surface (i.e., the walking surface) of the steel template. Figure 1 As shown, the wall-climbing robot includes a chassis 1 and walking wheels 3 installed on the chassis 1. In order to ensure the walking balance of the wall-climbing robot, the welding module is arranged in the middle of the chassis 1, and the welding gun 2 is usually arranged at the front end of the walking direction of the wall-climbing robot and cannot be adjusted to ensure that the force on the chassis 1 is uniform, and avoid the situation of skewing and deflection caused by the local unbalanced force of the wall-climbing robot. As the wall-climbing robot walks, the welding gun 2 completes the welding at the front end. However, with such a design, after the wall-climbing robot climbs onto the walking surface, the part of the space occupied by the wall-climbing robot itself cannot be welded. Generally, after the welding at the remaining positions is completed, the wall-climbing robot is driven to turn around to complete the welding of this part of the space, resulting in the need to plan the walking route of the wall-climbing robot, and welding again after turning around may also cause the two sections of welding to be unable to be well combined, which is easy to affect the welding effect. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the present invention provides a wall-climbing welding robot to solve the problem that when the wall-climbing robot climbs up the walking surface, part of the space occupied by the wall-climbing robot itself cannot be welded. Generally, it is necessary to complete the welding of other positions before the wall-climbing robot is driven to turn around and complete the welding of this part of the space, which requires planning of the walking route of the wall-climbing robot, and welding again after turning around may also result in the two sections of welding cannot be well combined, which easily affects the welding effect.

[0005] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention adopts the following technical solution: A wall-climbing welding robot comprises a wall-climbing mechanism and a welding mechanism, wherein the wall-climbing mechanism is used to drive the welding mechanism to move on a walking surface; the welding mechanism comprises a mounting plate and a welding assembly and a counterweight assembly mounted on the mounting plate, wherein the welding assembly comprises a slide plate slidably connected to the mounting plate and a welding gun mounted on the slide plate, wherein the welding gun faces the side of the walking direction of the wall-climbing mechanism, and the sliding direction of the slide plate is along the walking direction of the wall-climbing mechanism; the counterweight assembly comprises a counterweight block slidably connected to the mounting plate, wherein the sliding directions of the counterweight block and the slide plate are parallel to each other, and an adsorption member for adsorbing on the walking surface is mounted on the counterweight block; a first screw rod and a second screw rod are rotatably connected to the mounting plate, the slide plate is threadedly connected to the first screw rod, and the counterweight block is threadedly connected to the second screw rod, the first screw rod and the second screw rod are symmetrically arranged along the center of the mounting plate and have opposite rotation directions, passive gears are fixed to the first screw rod and the second screw rod, an active gear is meshed between the two passive gears, and a driving member for driving the active gear to rotate is mounted on the mounting plate.

[0006] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: 1. The welding gun faces the side of the climbing mechanism's travel direction, and the climbing mechanism travels on the side of the desired weld, so that the welding gun can perform welding. The sliding direction of the slide plate is along the travel direction of the climbing mechanism, so that the welding assembly can be located at the front or rear end of the travel direction of the climbing mechanism, reducing the welding dead angle caused by the occupation of the climbing mechanism itself.

[0007] 2. The welding gun is set on the side of the walking direction of the wall climbing mechanism, and the welding gun will move. Taking the wall climbing mechanism walking on a vertical walking surface as an example, the welding gun may be above or below the side of the wall climbing mechanism, causing the force on one side of the wall climbing mechanism to keep changing, affecting the walking balance of the wall climbing mechanism.

[0008] To this end, in this solution, the first screw and the second screw are driven to rotate in the same direction by the rotation of the active gear, but because the first screw and the second screw have opposite rotation directions, the slide plate and the counterweight block can slide in opposite directions, so that the weight of the welding assembly and the counterweight assembly are kept centrally symmetrically distributed on the mounting plate, thereby preventing the wall-climbing mechanism from being deflected due to unbalanced force. Specifically, when walking on a vertical plane, taking the welding assembly located on the upper right side of the mounting plate as an example, at this time, the upper right side of the wall-climbing mechanism is subjected to downward pulling gravity, and the upper right corner of the wall-climbing mechanism tends to deflect downward, causing the wall-climbing mechanism to tilt when walking. At this time, the counterweight assembly is located on the lower left side of the mounting plate, and the adhesion capacity of the lower left side of the wall-climbing mechanism is increased by the adsorption member, thereby preventing the wall-climbing mechanism from tilting and deflecting, that is, avoiding the problem of unbalanced walking due to large local load-bearing, thereby avoiding the problem of affecting the welding effect due to unbalanced walking.

[0009] Furthermore, the wall-climbing mechanism includes a chassis and a walking member installed on the chassis, and a magnetic attraction member for adsorbing on the walking surface is provided in the walking member.

[0010] Further, the mounting plate is detachably connected to the chassis.

[0011] Furthermore, the welding assembly also includes a rotating shaft rotatably connected to the slide plate, a sliding rod connected to the rotating shaft radially slidingly along the rotating shaft, and a sliding block connected to the sliding rod axially slidingly along the rotating shaft. The welding gun is detachably connected to the sliding block, and the sliding direction of the sliding rod is perpendicular to the sliding direction of the slide plate.

[0012] Furthermore, the welding mechanism also includes a control component, which includes a distance sensor installed on the slider, and the distance sensor is used to detect the distance between the slider and the walking surface.

[0013] Furthermore, the distance sensor and the welding gun are distributed along the walking direction of the wall climbing mechanism, and the distance sensor is located at the front end in the walking direction.

[0014] Furthermore, the control component includes a controller, which is connected to the distance sensor signal. The controller receives the detection signal transmitted by the distance sensor and controls the sliding of the slider.

[0015] Furthermore, the control component also includes a camera installed on the slider, and the camera is used to photograph the walking surface.

[0016] Furthermore, two cameras are provided, and the distance sensor and the welding gun are located between the two cameras.

[0017] Furthermore, the controller is connected to the camera signal, and the controller receives the shooting data transmitted by the camera and controls the sliding of the slider. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the wall-climbing robot in the background technology of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of an embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 3 for Figure 2 Front view of .

[0021] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of an embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 5 for Figure 4 Enlarged view of part A.

[0023] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of a wall-climbing welding robot according to an embodiment of the present invention climbing on a vertical plane.

[0024] In the figure: 1. chassis; 2. welding gun; 3. walking wheel; 4. mounting plate; 5. slide plate; 6. rotating shaft; 7. slide bar; 8. slide block; 9. first screw rod; 10. second screw rod; 11. counterweight; 12. connecting rod; 13. suction cup; 14. camera; 15. distance sensor; 16. driving gear; 17. passive gear. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and specific implementation methods are given. like Figure 2 As shown, the wall-climbing welding robot includes a wall-climbing mechanism and a welding mechanism. The wall-climbing mechanism is used to drive the welding mechanism to move on the walking surface. Specifically, the wall-climbing mechanism includes a chassis 1 and a walking member installed on the chassis 1. The walking member is provided with a magnetic member for adsorbing on the walking surface. Specifically, the walking surface refers to the surface on which the wall-climbing mechanism climbs and attaches. The walking member can be a walking wheel 3 installed on the chassis 1, or it can be a crawler-type walking mechanism. The two design methods are suitable for different walking environments and can be designed according to actual needs. Taking the walking member designed as a walking wheel 3 as an example, in this embodiment, the four corners of the chassis 1 are all equipped with walking wheels 3, and the magnetic member uses the structure of electromagnetic adsorption or permanent magnetic adsorption in the prior art, such as using an electromagnet or a permanent magnetic material to be buried in the walking wheel 3 to improve the adhesion and crawling ability of the walking wheel 3. The driving method of the four walking wheels 3 refers to the linkage driving method of the four-wheel vehicle in the prior art, and will not be repeated in this embodiment.

[0026] The welding mechanism includes a mounting plate 4 detachably connected to the chassis 1, a welding assembly installed on the mounting plate 4, and a counterweight assembly. Specifically, the mounting plate 4 is bolted to the chassis 1, and whether to carry out the welding mechanism on the wall-climbing mechanism for operation can be selected according to actual conditions.

[0027] The welding assembly includes a slide plate 5 slidably connected to the mounting plate 4, a first screw rod 9 is rotatably connected to the mounting plate 4, and a first slide rail is provided on the mounting plate 4 for limiting the sliding track of the slide plate 5, limiting the freedom of movement of the slide plate 5, so that the slide plate 5 can only slide along the direction of the first slide rail. The slide plate 5 is threadedly connected to the first screw rod 9, and the slide plate 5 can be driven to slide by rotating the first screw rod 9. The sliding direction of the slide plate 5 is along the walking direction of the chassis 1, that is, the sliding direction of the slide plate 5 and the axis of the walking wheel 3 are perpendicular to each other, so that the welding assembly can be located at the front end or rear end of the walking direction of the chassis 1, reducing the welding dead angle caused by the occupation of the wall climbing mechanism itself.

[0028] Combination Figure 4 , Figure 5As shown, the welding assembly also includes a rotating shaft 6 rotatably connected to the slide plate 5, a slide bar 7 radially slidingly connected to the rotating shaft 6, a slider 8 axially slidingly connected to the slider 7 along the rotating shaft 6, and a welding gun 2 detachably connected to the slider 8, wherein the sliding direction of the slider 7 is perpendicular to the sliding direction of the slide plate 5, so that the welding gun 2 extends out of the chassis 1 from the side of the walking direction of the wall climbing mechanism. The slide plate 5 is equipped with a motor for driving the rotating shaft 6 to rotate, the rotating shaft 6 is equipped with a cylinder for driving the slider 7 to slide, and the slider 7 is equipped with a cylinder for driving the slider 8 to slide. The position of the welding gun 2 in space can be adjusted by rotating the rotating shaft 6 and sliding the slider 7, and the distance between the welding gun 2 and the walking surface (i.e., the welding surface) can be adjusted by sliding the slider 8 to adapt to the welding requirements. The welding gun 2 is bolted to the slider 8, and different welding guns 2 can be selected and replaced according to actual conditions.

[0029] The counterweight assembly includes a counterweight block 11 slidably connected to the mounting plate 4. The mounting plate 4 is provided with a second slide rail for limiting the sliding track of the counterweight block 11, limiting the freedom of movement of the counterweight block 11, so that the counterweight block 11 can only slide along the direction of the second slide rail. The sliding direction of the counterweight block 11 is parallel to the sliding direction of the slide plate 5. The mounting plate 4 is rotatably connected with a second screw rod 10. The counterweight block 11 is threadedly connected to the second screw rod 10. The first screw rod 9 and the second screw rod 10 are symmetrically arranged along the center line of the mounting plate 4 and have opposite rotation directions. The first screw rod 9 and the second screw rod 10 are both fixed with a passive gear 17. The two passive gears 17 are meshed with a driving gear 16. The driving gear 16 and the passive gear 17 are both rotatably connected to the mounting plate 4. The mounting plate 4 is provided with a driving member for driving the driving gear 16 to rotate. Specifically, the driving member is a motor installed on the mounting plate 4.

[0030] The counterweight 11 is provided with an adsorption member for adsorbing on the walking surface. Specifically, the adsorption member includes a connecting rod 12 installed on the counterweight 11 and a suction cup 13 fixed on the connecting rod 12. The connecting rod 12 is slidably connected to the counterweight 11 or the connecting rod 12 is a telescopic structure. In this embodiment, the connecting rod 12 uses a conventional electric telescopic rod in the prior art. The telescopic direction of the connecting rod 12 and the axis of the rotating shaft 6 are parallel to each other. The distance between the suction cup 13 and the walking surface is adjusted by the telescopic connection of the connecting rod 12, thereby adjusting whether the suction cup 13 and the walking surface produce an adsorption effect. The suction cup 13 uses a conventional electromagnetic suction cup 13 in the prior art or other suction cups 13 with adsorption capacity.

[0031] By the rotation of the driving gear 16, the first screw rod 9 and the second screw rod 10 are driven to rotate in the same direction, but because the first screw rod 9 and the second screw rod 10 rotate in opposite directions, the slide plate 5 and the counterweight block 11 can slide in opposite directions. Taking the welding assembly sliding from bottom to top on the mounting plate 4 as an example, the counterweight assembly slides from top to bottom, so that the weight of the welding assembly and the counterweight assembly are distributed symmetrically on the mounting plate 4. Figure 6 Taking the direction shown in as an example, when walking on a vertical plane, taking the welding assembly being located on the upper right side of the mounting plate 4 as an example, at this time, the upper right side of the chassis 1 is subjected to the downward pulling gravity, and the upper right corner of the chassis 1 is prone to deflect downward, causing the wall-climbing mechanism to tilt when walking. At this time, the counterweight assembly is located on the lower left side of the mounting plate 4, and the adhesion capacity of the lower left side of the wall-climbing mechanism is increased by the adsorption part, making it difficult for the lower left side of the chassis 1 to deflect, thereby avoiding the upper right corner of the chassis 1 from deflecting downward, that is, avoiding the wall-climbing mechanism from tilting, avoiding the problem of unbalanced walking caused by large local load-bearing, and thus avoiding the problem of affecting the welding effect due to unbalanced walking.

[0032] When used specifically, taking walking on a vertical plane as an example, the wall climbing mechanism is located at the bottom of the walking surface, and taking the welding gun 2 as an example, the wall climbing mechanism is located on the right side of the wall climbing mechanism, then the wall climbing mechanism is located on the left side of the desired weld. Adjust the welding gun 2 to be located directly above the desired weld, and then adjust the distance between the welding gun 2 and the walking surface to meet the welding requirements. First slide the slide plate 5 so that the welding gun 2 is located at the bottom of the right side of the mounting plate 4, and the counterweight block 11 is located at the top of the left side of the mounting plate 4, and then drive the active gear 16 to rotate, the welding assembly moves from bottom to top, and the counterweight assembly moves from top to bottom. When the welding gun 2 moves to the top right side of the mounting plate 4, start to drive the wall climbing mechanism to move upward. At this time, the welding assembly and the counterweight assembly stop moving, and the welding gun 2 completes the subsequent welding as the wall climbing mechanism moves.

[0033] In another embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 As shown, the welding mechanism also includes a control component, which includes a controller and a distance sensor 15 installed on the slider 8. The distance sensor 15 is used to detect the distance between the slider 8 and the walking surface, and the distance sensor 15 and the welding gun 2 are distributed along the walking direction of the wall climbing mechanism, and the distance sensor 15 is located at the front end of the walking direction. The distance sensor 15 is connected to the controller signal, and the signal receiving end of the controller is used to receive the detection signal of the distance sensor 15, and the signal output end of the controller is used to control the sliding of the slider 8. Specifically, the controller uses a conventional single-chip microcomputer or a controller controlled by a plc program in the prior art. The controller receives the detection signal transmitted by the distance sensor 15 and controls the cylinder to drive the slider 8 to slide.

[0034] On the one hand, according to the detection of the distance sensor 15, it is convenient to adjust whether the distance between the welding gun 2 and the walking surface meets the welding requirements. On the other hand, during the walking process, when the walking surface is not flat, that is, when the walking surface has ups and downs, the wall climbing mechanism will produce bumps, affecting the welding effect. In this scheme, the distance sensor 15 detects the distance between the slider 8 and the walking surface, and adjusts the distance between the welding gun 2 and the walking surface in real time, so that the distance between the welding gun 2 and the walking surface always maintains a suitable value, and is not affected by whether the walking surface is flat. And the distance sensor 15 is set at the front end of the walking direction, that is, the distance sensor 15 first passes through the unevenness of the walking surface, and after detecting the distance, the controller controls the cylinder to drive the slider 8 to slide, and the welding gun 2 adjusts the distance between the walking surface accordingly. After that, the welding gun 2 passes through the unevenness again, the welding gun 2 can also maintain a suitable distance for welding when passing through the unevenness, leaving time for the welding gun 2 to adjust the distance.

[0035] In another embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 As shown, the control component also includes a camera 14 installed on the slider 8, and the camera 14 is used to shoot the walking surface (i.e., the welding surface). There are two cameras 14, and the distance sensor 15 and the welding gun 2 are located between the two cameras 14. The controller is connected to the camera 14 by signal, and the signal receiving end of the controller is also used to receive the shooting data of the camera 14. The signal output end of the controller is used to control the sliding of the slider 7. Specifically, the two cameras 14 are located at the front and the rear. The camera 14 located at the front end shoots the weld to be welded, and then determines whether there is an error in the walking direction of the wall climbing mechanism, and the camera 14 located at the rear end shoots the weld after welding, and then determines the welding effect. The controller controls the cylinder to drive the slider 7 to slide according to the shooting data transmitted by the camera 14 located at the front end.

[0036] On the one hand, the welding situation can be judged by shooting with two cameras 14, the welding effect can be guaranteed, and it is also convenient for the staff to monitor the welding effect in the background. On the other hand, when the walking direction of the wall climbing mechanism is wrong, that is, the route may be skewed and deviate from the established track, through the shooting of the camera 14 located at the front end, the controller can control the cylinder to drive the slide bar 7 to slide, and then control the welding gun 2 to always be located directly above the weld to be welded to ensure the welding effect.

[0037] In another embodiment of the present invention, the suction cup 13 is an electromagnetic suction cup 13. In the actual design process, the electromagnetic suction cup 13 is connected to a power supply, and generates a magnetic adsorption force after power is turned on, so that it can be attached to the walking surface. The strength of the magnetic adsorption force can be changed by changing the current intensity of the power supply. Therefore, the adsorption component also includes a sliding rheostat connected in series between the electromagnetic suction cup 13 and the power supply. The resistance is adjusted by the sliding rheostat, thereby achieving the purpose of changing the strength of the magnetic adsorption force by adjusting the current intensity.

[0038] In specific use, when the welding assembly moves from bottom to top and the counterweight assembly moves from top to bottom, the force on the wall climbing mechanism is most unstable due to the movement of the welding assembly. At this time, the adsorption force of the electromagnetic chuck 13 is increased to maintain the stability of the movement of the welding gun 2 to avoid affecting the welding effect. After the welding assembly and the counterweight assembly stop moving, the force on the wall climbing mechanism during the wall climbing process remains basically balanced. At this time, the adsorption force of the electromagnetic chuck 13 can be adjusted to be reduced to facilitate the climbing of the wall climbing mechanism on the walking surface.

[0039] In the actual design process, the sliding needle of the sliding rheostat can be designed to slide through a cylinder, and the controller is connected to the cylinder signal, that is, the adjustment of the sliding rheostat is controlled by the controller, and then the adsorption force of the electromagnetic suction cup 13 is controlled, which is convenient for the staff to adjust the adsorption force of the electromagnetic suction cup 13.

[0040] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device.

[0041] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that the technical solution of the present invention can be modified or replaced by equivalents without departing from the purpose and scope of the technical solution of the present invention, which should be included in the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. Wall-climbing welding robot, characterized by: It includes a wall climbing mechanism and a welding mechanism, the wall climbing mechanism is used to drive the welding mechanism to move on the walking surface; the welding mechanism includes a mounting plate and a welding assembly and a counterweight assembly installed on the mounting plate, the welding assembly includes a slide plate slidably connected to the mounting plate and a welding gun installed on the slide plate, the welding gun faces the side of the walking direction of the wall climbing mechanism, and the sliding direction of the slide plate is along the walking direction of the wall climbing mechanism; the counterweight assembly includes a counterweight block slidably connected to the mounting plate, the sliding direction of the counterweight block and the sliding direction of the slide plate are parallel to each other, and the counterweight block is equipped with an adsorption member for adsorbing on the walking surface; the mounting plate is rotatably connected with a first screw rod and a second screw rod, the slide plate is threadedly connected to the first screw rod, and the counterweight block is threadedly connected to the second screw rod, the first screw rod and the second screw rod are symmetrically arranged along the center of the mounting plate and have opposite rotation directions, the first screw rod and the second screw rod are both fixed with passive gears, an active gear is meshed between the two passive gears, and a driving member for driving the active gear to rotate is installed on the mounting plate.

2. The wall-climbing welding robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The wall climbing mechanism comprises a chassis and a walking member installed on the chassis, wherein a magnetic attraction member for adsorbing on a walking surface is arranged inside the walking member.

3. The wall-climbing welding robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The mounting plate is detachably connected to the chassis.

4. The wall-climbing welding robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The welding assembly also includes a rotating shaft rotatably connected to the slide plate, a sliding rod radially connected to the rotating shaft and slidingly connected to the sliding rod axially along the rotating shaft. The welding gun is detachably connected to the sliding rod, and the sliding direction of the sliding rod is perpendicular to the sliding direction of the slide plate.

5. The wall-climbing welding robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The welding mechanism further comprises a control component, which comprises a distance sensor installed on the slider, and the distance sensor is used to detect the distance between the slider and the walking surface.

6. The wall-climbing welding robot according to claim 5, characterized in that: The distance sensor and the welding gun are distributed along the walking direction of the wall climbing mechanism, and the distance sensor is located at the front end in the walking direction.

7. The wall-climbing welding robot according to claim 5, characterized in that: The control component includes a controller, which is connected to the distance sensor signal. The controller receives the detection signal transmitted by the distance sensor and controls the sliding block to slide.

8. The wall-climbing welding robot according to claim 7, characterized in that: The control component also includes a camera installed on the slider, and the camera is used to shoot the walking surface.

9. The wall-climbing welding robot according to claim 8, characterized in that: There are two cameras, and the distance sensor and the welding gun are located between the two cameras.

10. The wall-climbing welding robot according to claim 8, characterized in that: The controller is connected to the camera signal, and the controller receives the shooting data transmitted by the camera and controls the sliding of the slide bar.

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