A low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots

Abstract

This invention relates to a low-energy, self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots, comprising a cable holder, a cutting drive cylinder, and a control cylinder connected in sequence. The cable holder has a cable cavity for the cable to pass through. The cutting drive cylinder has a movable cutting piston, and the front end of the cutting piston has a cutter that can extend into the cable cavity. A water inlet chamber is formed inside the cutting drive cylinder on the side of the cutting piston away from the cable holder. The rear end of the cutting drive cylinder has a trigger channel and a seawater inlet, and the seawater inlet, trigger channel, and water inlet chamber are sequentially connected. The control cylinder includes a movable trigger piston rod, the front end of which is inserted into the trigger channel. The seawater inlet is controlled to open or close via the trigger piston rod. This invention significantly reduces energy consumption and offers simple and flexible control.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of underwater robot auxiliary tools, specifically a low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots. Background Technology

[0002] Underwater robots are one of the key pieces of equipment for marine engineering construction and marine scientific research, and many underwater robots are required to have underwater shearing capabilities. The underwater shearing function of underwater robots is generally used to cut deep-sea cables, steel cables, etc. The traditional shearing operation is mostly carried out by the underwater robot using a robotic arm to hold the shearing device. However, this method has two problems: (1) the shearing device relies on the hydraulic or electrical power provided by the underwater robot to drive the blade to cut, which consumes a lot of energy; (2) the shearing operation cannot be carried out when the underwater robot is recovered or far away. In order to reduce energy consumption, some underwater shearing devices with different structures have also appeared in the prior art. For example, the patent with authorization announcement number CN2743102Y discloses an underwater micro-powered cutting knife, which has an energy storage spring and an electric explosion separation bolt between the upper and lower pressure plates. When the cutting knife needs to work, the device needs to provide power to the electric explosion separation bolt to make it explode and then the cutting knife cuts the cable under the action of the energy storage spring. However, the device needs to replace the electric explosion separation bolt after each cable cutting, which is relatively cumbersome and also increases the cost of using the device. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to provide a low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots. It only requires a short-distance drive of the trigger piston rod to open or close the seawater inlet located at the rear end of the cutting drive cylinder, thereby enabling the start or stop of the cable cutting function of the cutting drive cylinder. The cable cutting action of the cutter is mainly driven by the seawater entering the water inlet chamber inside the cutting drive cylinder, which no longer consumes additional energy of the underwater robot. Therefore, the energy consumption of this invention is greatly reduced.

[0004] The objective of this invention is achieved through the following technical solution:

[0005] A low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for an underwater robot includes a cable holder, a cutting drive cylinder, and a control cylinder connected in sequence. The cable holder has a cable cavity for the cable to pass through. The cutting drive cylinder has a movable cutting piston, and the front end of the cutting piston has a cutter that can extend into the cable cavity. A water inlet cavity is formed inside the cutting drive cylinder on the side of the cutting piston away from the cable holder. The rear end of the cutting drive cylinder has a trigger channel and a seawater inlet, and the seawater inlet, trigger channel, and water inlet cavity are connected in sequence. The control cylinder includes a movable trigger piston rod, and the front end of the trigger piston rod is inserted into the trigger channel. The seawater inlet is controlled to open or close by the trigger piston rod.

[0006] The cutting drive cylinder includes a drive cylinder body and an end cap, and the end cap is located at the front end of the drive cylinder body and is fixedly connected to the cable seat. The cutting piston is movably located in the drive cylinder body and includes a piston disc and a piston shaft. The interior of the drive cylinder body is divided into a driven chamber and a water inlet chamber by the piston disc. The cable seat has a piston channel on the side near the cutting drive cylinder, and the piston shaft is inserted into the piston channel.

[0007] The end cover is provided with an end cover flange on its outer edge, and the end cover flange is located between the drive cylinder and the cable seat. A first sealing element is provided between the end cover flange and the end face of the drive cylinder. An end cover sealing surface is provided on the outer surface of the end cover, and a second sealing element is provided between the end cover sealing surface and the inner wall of the drive cylinder.

[0008] The end cap has an end cap groove on the side away from the cable seat, and a sealing cover is provided in the end cap groove. The sealing cover includes a sealing flange and a sealing guide. The sealing guide is located in the end cap groove. The sealing guide has a sealing guide through hole for the piston shaft to pass through. A sliding seal is provided on the inner wall of the sealing guide through hole to contact the piston shaft. A third seal is provided between the outer wall of the sealing guide and the groove wall of the end cap groove. The sealing flange is fitted with the end face of the end cap away from the cable seat, and a fourth seal is provided between the sealing flange and the end cap.

[0009] The piston disc has a piston disc seal on its outer edge that contacts the inner wall of the drive cylinder.

[0010] A seawater seal is provided on the inner wall of the connection end between the trigger channel and the seawater inlet.

[0011] The cable holder has a pad on the side away from the cutting drive cylinder. The pad is fixed to the cable holder by a pad fixing pin. The pad has a pad through hole that communicates with the seat body through hole on the cable holder. The pad through hole and the seat body through hole form a blade channel for the cutting blade to be inserted.

[0012] The control cylinder is equipped with a piston rod drive device and a control module. The trigger piston rod is driven to move by the piston rod drive device, and the piston rod drive device is controlled to start and stop by the control module.

[0013] An acoustic transducer is provided at the end of the control cylinder away from the cut-off drive cylinder, and the acoustic transducer is connected to the control module via a circuit.

[0014] The advantages and positive effects of this invention are as follows:

[0015] 1. This invention only requires driving the trigger piston rod to move a short distance to close or open the seawater inlet located at the rear end of the cutting drive cylinder, thereby realizing the start or stop of the cable cutting function of the cutting drive cylinder. The cable cutting action of the cutter is mainly driven by the seawater entering the water inlet chamber inside the cutting drive cylinder, which no longer consumes additional energy of the underwater robot. Therefore, the energy consumption of this invention is greatly reduced. Compared with the existing technology of cutter drives at least at the kW level, the cutter drive of this invention is at the W level.

[0016] 2. This invention only requires a short-distance drive of the trigger piston rod to open the seawater inlet located at the rear end of the cutting drive cylinder to start the cable cutting function, which greatly simplifies the control. Furthermore, this invention can adopt various control methods such as timed cutting and acoustic signal cutting according to actual needs, making the control more flexible. Among them, acoustic signal cutting can meet the needs of long-distance control of underwater robots.

[0017] 3. After returning to the ship or shore, this invention only requires draining the seawater from the inlet chamber and then pushing the cutter back to complete the reset. There is no need to replace new parts (such as the electric explosion separation bolt), which also reduces the cost of using this invention.

[0018] 4. The invention has a compact overall structure, which reduces the space occupied on the underwater robot and makes it easy to carry. Attached Figure Description

[0019] Figure 1 This is a cross-sectional view of the structure of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 2 This is a cross-sectional view of the structure under another working state of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 3 for Figure 2 Enlarged view of point A in the image.

[0022] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the appearance of the present invention.

[0023] Among them, 1 is the cable holder, 101 is the cable cavity, 102 is the cutter, 103 is the pad, 104 is the pad fixing pin, 105 is the blade channel, 2 is the cutting drive cylinder, 201 is the drive cylinder body, 202 is the end cap, 2021 is the end cap flange, 2022 is the end cap sealing surface, 2023 is the end cap groove, 203 is the cutting piston, 2031 is the piston disc, 2032 is the piston shaft, 2033 is the piston disc seal, 2034 is the piston channel, 204 is the water inlet chamber, and 205 is the sea... Water inlet, 2051 seawater seal, 206 trigger channel, 207 sealing cover, 2071 sealing flange, 2072 sealing guide, 208 driven cavity, 209 first seal, 210 fourth seal, 211 third seal, 212 sliding seal, 213 second seal, 3 control cylinder, 301 trigger piston rod, 302 piston rod drive device, 303 control module, 304 acoustic transducer, 305 control cylinder body. Detailed Implementation

[0024] The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0025] like Figures 1-4 As shown, the present invention includes a cable holder 1, a cutting drive cylinder 2, and a control cylinder 3 connected in sequence. The cable holder 1 has a cable cavity 101 for the cable to pass through. The cutting drive cylinder 2 has a movable cutting piston 203, and the front end of the cutting piston 203 has a cutter 102 that can extend into the cable cavity 101, through which the cable is cut. The cutting drive cylinder 2 has a water inlet cavity 204 on the side of the cutting piston 203 away from the cable holder 1. The rear end of the cutting drive cylinder 2 has a trigger channel 206 and a seawater inlet 205, and the seawater inlet 205, the trigger channel 206, and the water inlet cavity 204 are connected in sequence. The control cylinder 3 includes a movable trigger piston rod 301, and the front end of the trigger piston rod 301 is inserted into the trigger channel 206. The seawater inlet 205 is controlled to open or close by the trigger piston rod 301.

[0026] Before the operation of this invention, it is in Figure 2 The state shown is the pending trigger state. At this time, the seawater inlet 205 is blocked by the trigger piston rod 301. When a cable cutting operation is required, such as... Figure 1As shown, the trigger piston rod 301 retracts and no longer blocks the seawater inlet 205. At this time, seawater enters the water inlet chamber 204 through the seawater inlet 205 and drives the cutting piston 203 to move towards the cable holder 1 to complete the cable cutting operation. Compared with the prior art that relies on the hydraulic or electric power provided by the underwater robot to drive the cutter, the present invention only needs to drive the trigger piston rod 301 to open the seawater inlet 205 by a short distance to start the cable cutting function. The cable cutting action of the cutter 102 is mainly driven by the seawater entering the water inlet chamber 204, which no longer consumes additional energy from the underwater robot. Therefore, the energy consumption of the present invention is greatly reduced. Compared with the cutter drive of the prior art which is at least at the kW level, the cutter drive of the present invention is at the W level. In addition, after returning to the ship or shore, the present invention only requires draining the seawater in the water inlet chamber 204 and then pushing the cutter 102 back to its original position. No other operations are required. Compared with the existing technology, such as replacing the electric explosion separation bolt (e.g., patent CN2743102Y), the operation of the present invention is greatly simplified and the cost of use is reduced.

[0027] like Figures 1-3 As shown, in this embodiment, the cutting drive cylinder 2 includes a drive cylinder body 201 and an end cap 202. The end cap 202 is located at the front end of the drive cylinder body 201 and is fixedly connected to the cable holder 1. The cutting piston 203 is movably located in the drive cylinder body 201 and includes a piston disc 2031 and a piston shaft 2032. The interior of the drive cylinder body 201 is divided into a driven chamber 208 and a water inlet chamber 204 by the piston disc 2031. The cable holder 1 has a piston channel 2034 on the side near the cutting drive cylinder 2, and the piston shaft 2032 is inserted into the piston channel 2034.

[0028] In this embodiment, the driven chamber 208 is an air chamber, which can be at normal pressure or filled with air and the air pressure can be controlled. The drive cylinder 201 is provided with an air inlet for filling the driven chamber 208 with air. This invention needs to ensure that after seawater enters the water inlet chamber 204, it can quickly drive the piston disc 2031 to compress the driven chamber 208 to complete the cable cutting. Furthermore, when the invention is in a ready-to-trigger state, the air pressure inside the driven chamber 208 can be... Figure 2 The piston disc 2031 is positioned close to the rear end of the drive cylinder 201 without moving arbitrarily, causing the cutter 102 to protrude.

[0029] To achieve the above functions, the driven cavity 208 needs to be sealed, such as... Figure 3As shown, in this embodiment, the outer edge of the end cap 202 is provided with an end cap flange 2021, and the end cap flange 2021 is located between the drive cylinder 201 and the cable holder 1. A first sealing element 213 is provided between the end cap flange 2021 and the end face of the drive cylinder 201. An end cap sealing surface 2022 is provided on the outer surface of the end cap 202, and a second sealing element 209 is provided between the end cap sealing surface 2022 and the inner wall of the drive cylinder 201. In addition, an end cap groove 2023 is provided on the side of the end cap 202 away from the cable holder 1, and a sealing cover 207 is provided in the end cap groove 2023 to ensure sealing. The front end of the piston shaft 2031 passes through the sealing cover 207 and the end cap 202 in sequence and is inserted into the piston channel 2034. In this embodiment, the sealing cover 207 includes a sealing flange 2071 and a sealing guide portion 2072. The sealing guide portion 2072 is disposed in the end cover groove 2023. The sealing guide portion 2072 has a sealing guide through hole through which the piston shaft 2032 passes. A sliding seal 212 is provided on the inner wall of the sealing guide through hole to contact the piston shaft 2032. A third seal 211 is provided between the outer wall of the sealing guide portion 2072 and the groove wall of the end cover groove 2023. The sealing flange 2071 is fitted with the end face of the end cover 202 away from the cable holder 1. A fourth seal 210 is provided between the sealing flange 2071 and the end cover 202. The above-mentioned seals can be selected from structures such as sealing rings and sealing gaskets as needed.

[0030] like Figure 2 As shown, in this embodiment, the outer edge of the piston disc 2031 is provided with a piston disc seal 2033 (such as a sealing ring, sealing gasket, etc.) that contacts the inner wall of the drive cylinder 201, thereby ensuring the separation and sealing between the water inlet chamber 204 and the driven chamber 208.

[0031] like Figure 2 As shown, in this embodiment, a seawater seal 2051 is provided on the inner wall of the connecting end of the trigger channel 206 and the seawater inlet 205, and two seawater seals 2051 are respectively provided on both sides of the seawater inlet 205. The seawater seal 2051 is used to ensure sealing and prevent seawater from entering the control cylinder 3 and affecting the use of electrical components.

[0032] like Figure 1 As shown, in this embodiment, a pad 103 is provided on the side of the cable holder 1 away from the cutting drive cylinder 2. The pad 103 is fixed on the cable holder 1 by a pad fixing pin 104. The pad 103 is provided with a pad through hole that communicates with the seat through hole provided on the cable holder 1. The pad through hole and the seat through hole form a blade channel 105 for the cutting blade 102 to be inserted.

[0033] like Figure 1 As shown, in this embodiment, the control cylinder 3 is equipped with a piston rod drive device 302 and a control module 303. The trigger piston rod 301 is driven to move by the piston rod drive device 302, and the piston rod drive device 302 is controlled to start and stop by the control module 303. An acoustic transducer 304 is provided at the end of the control cylinder 3 away from the cut-off drive cylinder 2, and the acoustic transducer 304 is connected to the control module 303 through a circuit. This invention includes two control methods: one is to use the control module 303 to periodically control the piston rod drive device 302 to start; the other is that the acoustic signal emitted from the water surface is transmitted to the acoustic transducer 304, and the acoustic transducer 304 converts the acoustic signal into an electrical signal and sends it to the control module 303, thereby controlling the piston rod drive device 302 to drive. The control module 303, acoustic transducer 304, and piston rod drive device 302 are all technologies known in the art and are commercially available products. In addition, the control cylinder 3 is equipped with a power module to supply power to each component.

[0034] The working principle of this invention is as follows:

[0035] Before the operation of this invention, it is in Figure 2 The state shown is the pending trigger state. At this time, the seawater inlet 205 is blocked by the trigger piston rod 301. When a cable cutting operation is required, such as... Figure 1 As shown, when the trigger piston rod 301 retracts and no longer blocks the seawater inlet 205, seawater enters the water inlet chamber 204 through the seawater inlet 205 and drives the cutting piston 203 to move toward the cable holder 1 to complete the cable cutting operation.

[0036] This invention only requires a short-distance drive of the trigger piston rod 301 to open the seawater inlet 205 to activate the cable-cutting function. The cable-cutting action of the cutter 102 is mainly driven by the seawater entering the inlet chamber 204, which does not consume additional energy from the underwater robot. Therefore, the energy consumption of this invention is greatly reduced. In addition, after returning to the ship, this invention only requires manual pushing of the cutter 102 back to its original position, without the need for other operations. Compared with the operation of replacing the electro-explosive separation bolt in the prior art (such as CN2743102Y patent), the operation of this invention is also greatly simplified and the cost of use is reduced.

Claims

1. A low-energy, self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots, characterized in that: The device includes a cable holder (1), a cutting drive cylinder (2), and a control cylinder (3) connected in sequence. The cable holder (1) has a cable cavity (101) for the cable to pass through. The cutting drive cylinder (2) has a movable cutting piston (203) and a cutter (102) that can extend into the cable cavity (101) is provided at the front end of the cutting piston (203). The cutting drive cylinder (2) has a water inlet cavity (204) on the side of the cutting piston (203) away from the cable holder (1). The cutting drive cylinder (2) has a trigger channel (206) and a seawater inlet (205) at the rear end. The seawater inlet (205), the trigger channel (206), and the water inlet cavity (204) are connected in sequence. The control cylinder (3) includes a movable trigger piston rod (301) and the front end of the trigger piston rod (301) is inserted into the trigger channel (206). The seawater inlet (205) is controlled to open or close by the trigger piston rod (301). The control cylinder (3) is equipped with a piston rod drive device (302) and a control module (303). The trigger piston rod (301) is driven to move by the piston rod drive device (302), and the piston rod drive device (302) is controlled to start and stop by the control module (303).

2. The low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cutting drive cylinder (2) includes a drive cylinder body (201) and an end cap (202). The end cap (202) is located at the front end of the drive cylinder body (201) and is fixedly connected to the cable holder (1). The cutting piston (203) is movably located in the drive cylinder body (201) and includes a piston disc (2031) and a piston shaft (2032). The interior of the drive cylinder body (201) is divided into a driven chamber (208) and a water inlet chamber (204) by the piston disc (2031). The cable holder (1) is provided with a piston channel (2034) on the side near the cutting drive cylinder (2). The piston shaft (2032) is inserted into the piston channel (2034).

3. The low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots according to claim 2, characterized in that: The end cap (202) is provided with an end cap flange (2021) on its outer edge, and the end cap flange (2021) is located between the drive cylinder (201) and the cable holder (1). A first sealing element (213) is provided between the end cap flange (2021) and the end face of the drive cylinder (201). An end cap sealing surface (2022) is provided on the outer surface of the end cap (202), and a second sealing element (209) is provided between the end cap sealing surface (2022) and the inner wall of the drive cylinder (201).

4. The low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots according to claim 2, characterized in that: The end cap (202) has an end cap groove (2023) on the side away from the cable holder (1), and a sealing cap (207) is provided in the end cap groove (2023). The sealing cap (207) includes a sealing flange (2071) and a sealing guide (2072), wherein the sealing guide (2072) is located in the end cap groove (2023), and the sealing guide (2072) has a sealing guide through hole for the piston shaft (2032) to pass through. Furthermore, a sliding seal (212) is provided on the inner wall of the sealing guide hole to contact the piston shaft (2032), a third seal (211) is provided between the outer wall of the sealing guide part (2072) and the groove wall of the end cover groove (2023), the sealing flange (2071) is fitted with the end face of the end cover (202) away from the cable seat (1), and a fourth seal (210) is provided between the sealing flange (2071) and the end cover (202).

5. The low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots according to claim 2, characterized in that: The piston disc (2031) has a piston disc seal (2033) on its outer edge that contacts the inner wall of the drive cylinder (201).

6. The low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots according to claim 1, characterized in that: The trigger channel (206) and the seawater inlet (205) are connected by a seawater seal (2051) on the inner wall.

7. The low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cable holder (1) is provided with a pad (103) on the side away from the cutting drive cylinder (2). The pad (103) is fixed on the cable holder (1) by a pad fixing pin (104). The pad (103) is provided with a pad through hole that communicates with the seat through hole provided on the cable holder (1). The pad through hole and the seat through hole form a blade channel (105) for the blade of the cutter (102) to be inserted.

8. The low-energy self-contained deep-sea shear for underwater robots according to claim 1, characterized in that: An acoustic transducer (304) is provided at the end of the control cylinder (3) away from the cut-off drive cylinder (2), and the acoustic transducer (304) is connected to the control module (303) through a line.

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