Underwater pipeline robot fault variable foot plate

Abstract

The underwater pipeline robot fault variable foot plate comprises a mounting foot plate, a connecting plate capable of sliding outwards is slidably connected to one side of the mounting foot plate, a connecting sleeve is arranged on the side, away from the mounting foot plate, of the connecting plate, and an inner telescopic sleeve is slidably connected to the inner side of the connecting sleeve; the outer side of the connecting sleeve is slidably connected with an outer telescopic sleeve which alternately stretches out and draws back with the inner telescopic sleeve. An annular electromagnet sleeved with a connecting sleeve is arranged on the side, away from the mounting foot plate, of the connecting plate, the outer telescopic sleeve is provided with an annular iron ring matched with the annular electromagnet, a supporting spring is arranged between the annular magnet and the annular iron ring, a mounting frame is arranged on the side, away from the connecting plate, of the inner telescopic sleeve, and a driving wheel is mounted on the mounting frame. The edge of the outer telescopic sleeve is outwards provided with a plurality of supporting columns, and the free end of each supporting column is rotationally connected with a supporting ball. By improving the structure of the foot plate, friction between the foot plate and the pipe wall is reduced through the balls after power failure, and the robot can be taken out and recycled more easily.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of underwater pipeline robots, and in particular to a fault-variable foot plate of an underwater pipeline robot. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development of marine resources, the role of underwater pipelines in transporting oil, natural gas and fresh water has become increasingly prominent. However, the complex seabed environment has brought many challenges to these pipelines, such as corrosion, sediment blockage and other problems, making regular maintenance particularly important. To solve this problem, underwater pipeline robots came into being. This type of robot can autonomously or semi-autonomously perform internal pipeline inspection and maintenance tasks, greatly improving work efficiency and reducing labor costs.

[0003] Among them, a specially designed underwater pipe-foot robot moves through the friction between its unique foot structure and the pipe wall. This design allows the robot to move stably in pipes of different diameters and adapt to various complex working conditions. To further enhance the flexibility and adaptability of the robot, some advanced models use variable foot technology, which can adjust the foot shape according to the specific conditions of the pipe to optimize the contact area with the pipe wall, thereby improving grip and stability.

[0004] However, in actual applications, underwater pipeline robots often encounter failures due to the harsh underwater environment and the inherent fragility of electronic equipment. When these robots fail, they face a thorny problem: even after losing power, there is still strong friction between the foot plate and the pipe wall. This makes traditional recovery methods (such as direct pulling with a tow cable) difficult to implement, because the strong friction will prevent the robot from being successfully removed. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a fault-variable foot plate for an underwater pipeline robot. By improving the foot plate structure, the friction with the pipe wall can be reduced through balls after power failure, so that the robot can be more easily taken out and recovered.

[0006] The above technical objectives of the present invention are achieved through the following technical solutions:

[0007] A fault-variable footplate of an underwater pipeline robot comprises a mounting footplate, one side of the mounting footplate is slidably connected to a connecting plate that can slide outward, a telescopic hole is provided in the middle of the mounting footplate, one side of the connecting plate is connected to a telescopic connecting shaft that is slidably connected to the telescopic hole, a connecting sleeve is provided on the side of the connecting plate away from the mounting footplate, an inner telescopic sleeve is slidably connected to the inner side of the connecting sleeve, an outer telescopic sleeve is slidably connected to the outer side of the connecting sleeve, a plurality of rotating holes are provided through the middle of the connecting sleeve, an alternating gear is rotatably connected in each rotating hole, a plurality of inner transmission racks that mesh with the alternating gears one-to-one are provided on the outer wall of the inner telescopic sleeve along its length direction, and a plurality of outer transmission racks that mesh with the alternating gears one-to-one are provided on the inner wall of the outer telescopic sleeve along its length direction;

[0008] An annular electromagnet that is sleeved on the connecting sleeve is arranged on the side of the connecting plate away from the mounting foot plate, an annular iron ring that matches the annular electromagnet is arranged outwardly on one end of the outer telescopic sleeve toward the connecting plate, a supporting spring is arranged between the annular magnet and the annular iron ring, a mounting frame is arranged on the side of the inner telescopic sleeve away from the connecting plate, a driving wheel is installed on the mounting frame, a plurality of supporting columns are arranged on the edge of the outer telescopic sleeve away from one end of the connecting plate in a direction away from the connecting plate, and a supporting ball is rotatably connected to the free end of each supporting column, when the annular electromagnet is energized to attract the annular iron ring, the driving wheel extends outward relative to the supporting ball, and when the annular electromagnet is de-energized, the supporting ball extends outward relative to the driving wheel.

[0009] By adopting the above technical solution, when the robot moves, the connecting plate is pushed by the telescopic mechanism inside the robot to drive the driving wheel and the supporting ball to extend outward, and the annular electromagnet is energized to attract the annular iron ring to compress the supporting spring, so that the supporting ball moves toward the robot, and the driving wheel contacts the inner wall of the pipeline outward, so that the driving wheel can drive the robot to move along the pipeline;

[0010] When the robot fails and loses power, the annular electromagnet loses power, causing its magnetism to push the outer telescopic sleeve outward under the action of the supporting spring, and through the connection with the alternating gears, the inner telescopic sleeve is driven inward in the process, so that the supporting balls are outward in contact with the inner wall of the pipe, while the driving wheel retracts and does not contact the pipe wall. At this time, the supporting balls reduce the friction with the inner wall of the pipe, and the pipeline robot can be pulled out and recovered by the towing cable.

[0011] The present invention is further configured as follows: a sliding limit sleeve is provided outwardly on one side of the mounting foot plate and is slidably connected to the connecting plate.

[0012] The present invention is further configured as follows: a limiting ring for blocking the connecting plate is provided inwardly on the free edge of the sliding limiting sleeve.

[0013] The present invention is further configured as follows: the annular electromagnet is provided with a plurality of sliding shafts toward the annular iron ring, the annular iron ring is provided with a plurality of sliding holes corresponding to and slidably connected with the sliding shafts, and one supporting spring is disposed on each sliding shaft.

[0014] The present invention is further configured as follows: a plurality of mounting holes are provided at the edge of the mounting foot plate.

[0015] The present invention is further configured as follows: when the annular electromagnet is energized to attract the annular iron ring, the driving wheel extends outwardly 2-4 mm relative to the supporting ball; when the annular electromagnet is de-energized, the supporting ball extends outwardly 2-4 mm relative to the driving wheel.

[0016] In summary, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0017] When the foot plate designed in the present invention is in normal use, the driving wheel extends outward relative to the supporting ball. At this time, the driving wheel can drive the pipeline robot to move forward normally. If the power generation robot fails and the power is cut off, the electromagnet is de-energized to make it magnetic, so that the supporting ball extends outward relative to the driving wheel and contacts the pipeline wall, and the driving wheel retracts and does not contact the pipeline wall. At this time, the friction between the pipeline robot and the pipeline wall is very small through the supporting ball, so the pipeline robot can be easily pulled out by the tow cable, which effectively solves the problem of the pipeline robot being difficult to recover after a failure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 2 Used to demonstrate the bottom structure of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 3 Used to demonstrate the connection between the connecting sleeve and the inner telescopic sleeve and the outer telescopic sleeve;

[0021] Figure 4 It is a cross-sectional view used to show the connection between the connecting sleeve and the inner telescopic sleeve and the outer telescopic sleeve;

[0022] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the outer telescopic sleeve.

[0023] In the figure: 1. Mounting foot plate; 11. Mounting hole; 12. Sliding limit sleeve; 13. Limit ring; 14. Telescopic hole; 2. Connecting plate; 21. Telescopic connecting shaft; 22. Connecting sleeve; 23. Rotating hole; 24. Alternating gear; 3. Inner telescopic sleeve; 31. Inner transmission rack; 32. Mounting frame; 33. Driving wheel; 4. Outer telescopic sleeve; 41. Outer transmission rack; 42. Annular iron ring; 43. Sliding hole; 44. Support column; 45. Support ball; 5. Annular electromagnet; 51. Sliding shaft; 52. Support spring. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0025] In the description of the present invention, it is necessary to understand that the directions or positional relationships indicated by terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, “front”, “back”, “inside” and “outside” are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description. They do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific direction, be constructed and operated in a specific direction, and therefore should not be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

[0026] In addition, the terms "horizontal", "vertical" and the like do not mean that the components are required to be absolutely horizontal or suspended, but can be slightly tilted. For example, "horizontal" only means that its direction is more horizontal than "vertical", and does not mean that the structure must be completely horizontal, but can be slightly tilted.

[0027] In the description of the present invention, it is also necessary to explain that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "disposed", "connected", and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection, a direct connection, or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two elements. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0028] Example, see Figure 1-5A fault-variable footplate of an underwater pipeline robot comprises a mounting footplate 1, a plurality of mounting holes 11 are provided on the edge of the mounting footplate 1, a circle of sliding limit sleeves 12 are provided outwardly on one side of the mounting footplate 1, the sliding limit sleeves 12 are slidably connected with a connecting plate 2 that can slide outwardly, a circle of limiting rings 13 for blocking the connecting plate 2 and preventing the connecting plate 2 from falling out are provided inwardly on the free edge of the sliding limit sleeves 12, a telescopic hole 14 is provided in the middle of the mounting footplate 1, a telescopic connecting shaft 21 slidably connected to the telescopic hole 14 is connected to one side of the connecting plate 2, and the telescopic connecting shaft 21 is used to be connected to the telescopic mechanism inside the robot. A circle of connecting sleeve 22 is provided on the side of the connecting plate 2 away from the mounting foot plate 1, and a circle of inner telescopic sleeve 3 is slidably connected to the inner side of the connecting sleeve 22, and a circle of outer telescopic sleeve 4 is slidably connected to the outer side of the connecting sleeve 22. Four rotating holes 23 are opened through the middle of the connecting sleeve 22, and an alternating gear 24 is rotatably connected in each rotating hole 23. The outer wall of the inner telescopic sleeve 3 is provided with four inner transmission racks 31 meshing with the alternating gears 24 one by one along its length direction, and the inner wall of the outer telescopic sleeve 4 is provided with four outer transmission racks 41 meshing with the alternating gears 24 one by one along its length direction, so that the inner telescopic sleeve 3 and the outer telescopic sleeve 4 are alternately telescoped up and down through the alternating gears 24.

[0029] A ring-shaped electromagnet 5 with a connecting sleeve 22 is arranged on the side of the connecting plate 2 away from the mounting foot plate 1. A ring-shaped iron ring 42 matching with the ring-shaped electromagnet 5 is arranged outwardly at one end of the outer telescopic sleeve 4 facing the connecting plate 2. The ring-shaped electromagnet 5 is provided with four sliding shafts 51 in the direction of the ring-shaped iron ring 42. The ring-shaped iron ring 42 is provided with four sliding holes 43 corresponding to and slidingly connected with the sliding shafts 51. Each sliding shaft 51 is covered with a supporting spring 52 located between the ring-shaped magnet and the ring-shaped iron ring 42. A mounting frame 32 is arranged on the side of the inner telescopic sleeve 3 away from the connecting plate 2. The mounting frame 32 is equipped with a driving wheel 33. The driving wheel 33 is a power wheel used to drive the robot to move along the pipeline. Four supporting columns 44 are arranged on the edge of the outer telescopic sleeve 4 away from the connecting plate 2 in the direction away from the connecting plate 2. The free end of each supporting column 44 is rotatably connected with a supporting ball 45. When the annular electromagnet 5 is energized to attract the annular iron ring 42, the driving wheel 33 extends outwardly 2-4 mm relative to the supporting balls 45. When the annular electromagnet 5 is de-energized, the supporting balls 45 extend outwardly 2-4 mm relative to the driving wheel 33.

[0030] Working principle: When the robot moves, the connecting plate 2 is pushed by the telescopic mechanism inside to drive the driving wheel 33 and the supporting ball 45 to extend outward, and the annular electromagnet 5 is energized to attract the annular iron ring 42 to compress the supporting spring 52, so that the supporting ball 45 moves toward the robot, and the driving wheel 33 contacts the inner wall of the pipeline outward, so that the driving wheel 33 can drive the robot to move along the pipeline;

[0031] When the robot fails and loses power, the annular electromagnet 5 is de-energized to make it magnetic, and the outer telescopic sleeve 4 is pushed outward by the support spring 52, and through the connection with the alternating gear 24, the inner telescopic sleeve 3 is driven inward in the process, so that the support ball 45 contacts the inner wall of the pipe outward, while the driving wheel 33 retracts and does not contact the pipe wall. At this time, the support ball 45 reduces the friction with the inner wall of the pipe, and the pipeline robot can be pulled out and recovered by the towing cable.

[0032] This specific embodiment is merely an explanation of the present invention and is not a limitation of the present invention. After reading this specification, those skilled in the art may make non-creative modifications to the present embodiment as needed. However, as long as they are within the scope of the claims of the present invention, they are protected by the patent law.

Claims

1. A fault-resistant variable footplate for an underwater pipeline robot, comprising a mounting footplate (1), characterized in that: One side of the mounting foot plate (1) is slidably connected to a connecting plate (2) that can slide outwards; a telescopic hole (14) is provided in the middle of the mounting foot plate (1); one side of the connecting plate (2) is connected to a telescopic connecting shaft (21) that is slidably connected to the telescopic hole (14); a connecting sleeve (22) is provided on the side of the connecting plate (2) away from the mounting foot plate (1); an inner telescopic sleeve (3) is slidably connected to the inner side of the connecting sleeve (22); and an outer telescopic sleeve (22) is slidably connected to the inner side of the connecting sleeve (22). An outer telescopic sleeve (4) is connected, a plurality of rotating holes (23) are opened through the middle of the connecting sleeve (22), an alternating gear (24) is rotatably connected in each rotating hole (23), a plurality of inner transmission racks (31) are arranged along the length direction of the outer wall of the inner telescopic sleeve (3) and mesh with the alternating gears (24) in a one-to-one correspondence, and a plurality of outer transmission racks (41) are arranged along the length direction of the inner wall of the outer telescopic sleeve (4) and mesh with the alternating gears (24) in a one-to-one correspondence; An annular electromagnet (5) which is enclosed by the connecting sleeve (22) is arranged on the side of the connecting plate (2) away from the mounting foot plate (1); an annular iron ring (42) which matches the annular electromagnet (5) is arranged outwardly at one end of the outer telescopic sleeve (4) facing the connecting plate (2); a supporting spring (52) is arranged between the annular magnet and the annular iron ring (42); a mounting frame (32) is arranged on the side of the inner telescopic sleeve (3) away from the connecting plate (2); and a driving spring (52) is arranged on the mounting frame (32). The outer telescopic sleeve (4) is provided with a plurality of support columns (44) at an edge away from one end of the connecting plate (2) in a direction away from the connecting plate (2), and a support ball (45) is rotatably connected to the free end of each support column (44). When the annular electromagnet (5) is energized to attract the annular iron ring (42), the driving wheel (33) extends outward relative to the support ball (45); when the annular electromagnet (5) is de-energized, the support ball (45) extends outward relative to the driving wheel (33).

2. The underwater pipeline robot fault-proof variable foot plate according to claim 1, characterized in that: A sliding limit sleeve (12) is provided outwardly on one side of the mounting foot plate (1) and is slidably connected to the connecting plate (2).

3. The underwater pipeline robot fault-proof variable foot plate according to claim 2, characterized in that: A limiting ring (13) is provided inwardly on the free edge of the sliding limiting sleeve (12) for blocking the connecting plate (2).

4. The underwater pipeline robot fault-proof variable foot plate according to claim 1, characterized in that: The annular electromagnet (5) is provided with a plurality of sliding shafts (51) in the direction of the annular iron ring (42); the annular iron ring (42) is provided with a plurality of sliding holes (43) which are slidably connected to the sliding shafts (51) in a one-to-one correspondence; and each sliding shaft (51) is provided with a supporting spring (52).

5. The underwater pipeline robot fault-proof variable foot plate according to claim 1, characterized in that: A plurality of mounting holes (11) are provided on the edge of the mounting foot plate (1).

6. The underwater pipeline robot fault-proof variable foot plate according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the annular electromagnet (5) is powered on to attract the annular iron ring (42), the driving wheel (33) extends outward by 2-4 mm relative to the supporting ball (45); when the annular electromagnet (5) is powered off, the supporting ball (45) extends outward by 2-4 mm relative to the driving wheel (33).

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