Space on-orbit assembly docking mechanism supporting remote control

Abstract

The invention discloses a space on-orbit assembly docking mechanism supporting remote control, and relates to the technical field of space robot on-orbit service. A cylindrical boss is arranged at the top of the mechanism shell to serve as a butt joint end, a tolerance guide face is arranged, a through hole is formed in the center of the cylindrical boss, six radial notches are machined in the edge of the top end of the cylindrical boss, a driving motor is connected with a transmission sun gear through a worm and worm wheel shaft, three locking claws stretch out through the three radial notches, and opening and grabbing actions are controlled through the sun gear. The gender-free electric connector is placed in the through hole in a limited mode, a tension spring is arranged at the bottom of the gender-free electric connector, the three locking blocks are installed at the other three radial notches, a sliding rod is arranged, and the inner side end of the sliding rod is a jacking slope face. An isomorphic design is adopted, synchronous linkage of a locking action and an electric connection action can be realized during mechanism butt joint, remote control is facilitated by adopting a single motor as a power source, the self-locking characteristic is achieved, continuous power output is not needed, the structure is simple and reliable, miniaturization is facilitated, and the long-time stay requirement in an on-orbit task is met.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of space robot on-orbit service, and in particular relates to a space on-orbit assembly docking mechanism supporting remote control. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the development of space science and technology, there is an increasing demand for large space devices such as space telescopes and space stations. However, due to the influence of the diameter and carrying capacity of rockets, it is difficult to meet the requirements by using the traditional method of integrated transportation by rocket launch. Therefore, space robots are needed to construct space devices through on-orbit assembly. The space robots need to perform tasks such as movement and transportation, and the docking mechanism is needed between the space robots and the truss and designated modules to achieve structural fixation.

[0003] The existing docking mechanism is limited by the separate and independent design of the locking module and the electrical connection module, which tends to be large and difficult to meet the miniaturization requirements of the space robot on-orbit assembly task, which may cause difficulties in docking maintenance (such as the need for multiple astronauts / robot collaboration). In addition, the common male-female design does not conform to the isomorphism design idea, which may cause maintenance to be cumbersome (such as the need for more parts and tools); and the common design of providing power and signals to the docking mechanism through built-in cables may cause maintenance difficulties (such as the inability to unlock due to failure after locking, or the inability to stably provide the required power and signals for unlocking in emergency situations).

[0004] In summary, there is an urgent need to develop a docking mechanism that is conducive to miniaturization, based on the isomorphism design idea, and supports remote control, which has great application value and practical significance for space robot on-orbit assembly tasks. SUMMARY

[0005] To solve the problems in the background art, the present application provides a space on-orbit assembly docking mechanism supporting remote control, which adopts an isomorphic design, can realize synchronous linkage of locking action and electrical connection action during docking of the mechanism, uses a single motor as a power source for remote control, has self-locking characteristics without the need for continuous power output, has a simple and reliable structure conducive to miniaturization, and meets the long-term stay requirements in on-orbit tasks.

[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned purposes, the present application adopts the following technical solution: a space on-orbit assembly docking mechanism supporting remote control, comprising a mechanism shell, a genderless electrical connector, a driving assembly, three locking hooks, and three locking blocks. The mechanism shell top center is provided with a cylindrical boss as a docking end, the cylindrical boss top edge is uniformly provided with three tapered guide heads to form a tolerance guide surface, a through hole is formed in the center of the cylindrical boss, and six radial notches are uniformly processed in the center of the three tapered guide heads and between adjacent tapered guide heads. The driving assembly includes a sun gear, a worm gear shaft, a worm, and a driving motor, the sun gear is coaxially rotated on the center bearing frame, the upper end of the worm gear shaft is connected and driven with the sun gear, and the lower end is rotationally connected with the bottom plate, the driving motor is connected and driven with the worm and is installed on the inner side surface of the bottom plate, and the worm is meshed with the worm gear shaft. The three locking hooks are installed on the inner side surface of the bottom plate and extend through the three evenly distributed radial notches in the mechanism shell, and the opening and grabbing actions of the three locking hooks are controlled by the forward and reverse rotation of the sun gear. The genderless electrical connector is uniformly provided with three overlapping blocks on the edge, three grooves are machined in the center position between the through hole and the remaining three evenly distributed radial notches on the surface of the cylindrical boss at the top of the mechanism shell, so that the genderless electrical connector is placed in the through hole of the mechanism shell, and the genderless electrical connector is connected with the center bearing frame through a tension spring. The three locking blocks are fixedly installed at the remaining three evenly distributed radial notches of the mechanism shell by screws, a slide rod is arranged in the center of the locking block, and a jacking slope surface is arranged at the inner side end to extend into the bottom of the overlapping block in the corresponding groove. During the locking action of the three locking hooks of the docking mechanism grabbing the three locking blocks of another docking mechanism, the slide rods of the three locking blocks can be simultaneously displaced inward to lift the genderless electrical connectors to complete the electrical connection action.

[0007] Further, the driving motor is configured with a wireless transmission module for remote control.

[0008] Further, the docking mechanism adopts a homogeneous design and is divided into an active end and a passive end, the active end completely retains the mechanism shell, the genderless electrical connector, the driving assembly, the three locking hooks, and the three locking blocks, and the passive end omits the driving assembly and only retains the mechanism shell, the genderless electrical connector, and the three locking blocks.

[0009] Further, the passive end can omit the genderless electrical connector and only retain the mechanism shell and the three locking blocks when there is no electrical connection demand.

[0010] Further, the locking hook claw comprises a U-shaped support, a driving bevel gear, a planet wheel, an upper horizontal shaft, a lower horizontal shaft, a driven bevel gear, a lower connecting rod, a hook arm rod and an upper connecting rod, the U-shaped support is fixedly connected with the bottom plate, a rotating shaft is vertically arranged at the middle position of the inner bottom of the U-shaped support, the driving bevel gear and the planet wheel are fixedly installed, the planet wheel is meshed with the sun gear, the upper horizontal shaft and the lower horizontal shaft are rotatably installed at the top of the two side arms of the U-shaped support, the driven bevel gear is fixedly installed on the lower horizontal shaft and is meshed with the driving bevel gear, one end of the lower connecting rod is fixedly integrated with the lower horizontal shaft in the vertical direction, the other end of the lower connecting rod is hingedly connected with the root end of the hook arm rod through a pin shaft, one end of the upper connecting rod is fixedly integrated with the upper horizontal shaft in the vertical direction, the other end of the upper connecting rod is hingedly connected with the middle position of the hook arm rod through a pin shaft, and the top end of the hook arm rod is provided with a grab hook matched with the locking block.

[0011] Further, the end of the lap joint block is provided with a slope surface matched with the inner side end of the slide rod of the locking block.

[0012] Compared with the prior art, the present application has the following advantages: 1. The mechanical locking action of the locking hook claw and the locking block during the docking of the mechanism is synchronized with the plugging action of the genderless electrical connector, that is, the slide rod arranged in the locking block is pushed to move upward by the grabbing of the locking hook claw, the mechanical structure is simple and reliable, the redundant parts are reduced, and the miniaturization is facilitated. 2. The single motor is used as a power source, in addition to the traditional transmission control mode of the built-in cable, the wireless transmission module can be more preferably matched for remote control. 3. The driving assembly of the present application uses a worm and a worm gear shaft to transmit power, and the self-locking characteristic can make the locking action complete without the continuous output of the driving motor, which can prolong the service life of the mechanism and meet the long-time stay requirement in the on-orbit task. 4. The present application adopts the same structure design, the tolerance guide surface is arranged at the top of the mechanism shell to reduce the on-orbit operation difficulty, the active end and the active end docking or the active end and the passive end docking can be selected according to the requirements, the complete docking mechanism of the driving assembly and the locking hook claw is configured as the active end, the driving assembly and the locking hook are omitted and only the genderless electrical connector (which can be further omitted when only used as a mechanical fixed point without electrical connection) and the mechanism shell of the locking block are reserved as the passive end, the limitation that the active and passive of the existing heterogeneous mechanism cannot be interchanged is avoided, the special spare parts are not needed to be distinguished during on-orbit operation, and the manufacturing cost and operation complexity are significantly reduced. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure 1 is the overall axonometric schematic view of the docking mechanism of the present application; Figure 2 is the axonometric schematic view of the docking mechanism of the present application omitting the mechanism shell; Figure 3 is the axonometric view of the genderless electrical connector and driving assembly in the present application; Figure 4 is the axonometric view of the locking hook in the present application; Figure 5 is the axonometric view of the active end and the active end docking of the docking mechanism in the present application; Figure 6 is the axonometric view of the active end and the passive end docking of the docking mechanism in the present application; Figure 7 is the locking action execution view of the locking hook in the present application.

[0014] In the figure: 1, mechanism shell; 2, central bearing frame; 3, sun gear; 4, worm shaft; 5, worm; 6, driving motor; 7, locking hook; 8, genderless electrical connector; 9, locking block; 1-1, conical guide head; 1-2, bottom plate; 7-1, U-shaped support; 7-2, driving bevel gear; 7-3, planet gear; 7-4, upper cross shaft; 7-5, lower cross shaft; 7-6, driven bevel gear; 7-7, lower connecting rod; 7-8, hook arm rod; 7-9, upper connecting rod; 8-1, lapping block. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] The technical solutions in the present application will be described clearly and completely below in combination with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all the other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0016] As shown in Figures 1-7 , a spatial in-orbit assembly docking mechanism supporting remote control comprises a mechanism shell 1, a central bearing frame 2, a sun gear 3, a worm shaft 4, a worm 5, a driving motor 6, a locking hook 7, a genderless electrical connector 8, and a locking block 9.

[0017] As shown in Figure 1 , Figure 2 , the mechanism shell 1 is a cylindrical shell for bearing and protecting other mechanism parts. A cylindrical boss is integrally arranged at the top center of the mechanism shell 1 as a docking end. Three conical guide heads 1-1 are integrally arranged at the top edge of the cylindrical boss. The three conical guide heads 1-1 are uniformly arranged along the circumference to form a tolerance guide surface, so that two docking mechanisms can be docked with tolerance in the coaxial and opposite state, and can be tightly docked after 60° deflection.

[0018] In addition, the housing 1 has a through-hole at the center of the cylindrical boss for mounting a gender-neutral electrical connector 8. Six radial notches are machined into the top edge of the cylindrical boss, evenly spaced circumferentially. Three of these notches correspond to the centers of the three tapered guides 1-1, serving as the extension points for the locking claws 7. The remaining three notches, located between adjacent tapered guides 1-1, serve as mounting points for the locking block 9 and also as the gripping points for the three locking claws 7 of the other docking mechanism.

[0019] Combine Figure 1 、 Figure 3 As shown, the gender-neutral electrical connector 8 is positioned within the through-hole at the center of the cylindrical boss on the top of the mechanism housing 1. Three integrally formed lap blocks 8-1 are positioned along the edge of the gender-neutral electrical connector 8, evenly spaced along the circumference. Three grooves are machined into the surface of the cylindrical boss on the top of the mechanism housing 1, centered between the through-hole and three radial notches for mounting locking blocks 9. The gender-neutral electrical connector 8 is positioned between these three grooves by the three lap blocks 8-1, allowing only axial displacement along the mechanism housing 1 and preventing rotation. A tension spring is positioned at the bottom of the gender-neutral electrical connector 8 to provide elastic tension. In the absence of external forces, the three lap blocks 8-1 rest against the bottoms of the three grooves, ensuring that the gender-neutral electrical connector 8 remains positioned within the through-hole at the center of the cylindrical boss on the top of the mechanism housing 1.

[0020] Furthermore, three locking blocks 9 are fixedly mounted via screws at three radial notches between adjacent conical guide heads 1-1. A slideway and a sliding rod are positioned radially along the center of the locking blocks 9. The inner ends of the sliding rods are provided with a lifting slope that extends into the bottom of the corresponding overlapping blocks 8-1 within the grooves. The outer ends of the sliding rods extend beyond the locking blocks 9. To ensure the natural position of the genderless electrical connector 8 in the absence of external forces, the ends of the three overlapping blocks 8-1 are also machined with slopes that mate with the inner ends of the sliding rods. Based on this design, when the two docking mechanisms are docked, the three locking claws 7 of the docking mechanism grasp the three locking blocks 9 of the other mechanism, pushing the sliding rods of the three locking blocks 9 inward, thereby lifting the three overlapping blocks 8-1 and allowing the genderless electrical connector 8 to extend through the through-hole in the center of the mechanism housing 1, completing the plug-in connection of the genderless electrical connector 8 between the two docking mechanisms.

[0021] Combine Figure 2 、 Figure 3As shown, the center carrier 2 is supported and fixed on the inner surface of the bottom plate 1-2 by three edge columns combined with screws, the center carrier 2 is a double-layer structure, the sun gear 3 is coaxially rotatably installed in the middle region of the center carrier 2, and the tension spring providing elastic tension for the genderless electrical connector 8 can be connected and fixed with the center carrier 2. The worm shaft 4 is vertically arranged between the center carrier 2 and the bottom plate 1-2, the upper end of the worm shaft 4 is coaxially connected and driven with the sun gear 3, and the lower end of the worm shaft 4 is rotatably connected with the center of the bottom plate 1-2 through a bearing. The worm 5 is installed on the inner surface of the bottom plate 1-2 through a bearing support and is arranged in meshing with the worm shaft 4, the driving motor 6 is installed and fixed on the inner surface of the bottom plate 1-2 and its output shaft is connected and driven with the worm 5. The driving assembly composed of the sun gear 3, the worm shaft 4, the worm 5 and the driving motor 6 is used for controlling the action of the locking hook claw 7.

[0022] In combination Figure 2 , Figure 4 As shown, the number of the locking hook claws 7 is three and they are installed on the inner surface of the bottom plate 1-2, the three locking hook claws 7 are uniformly arranged around the sun gear 3 and correspond to the three radial notches at the three conical guide heads 1-1 one by one.

[0023] The locking hook claw 7 comprises a U-shaped support 7-1, a driving bevel gear 7-2, a planet gear 7-3, an upper horizontal shaft 7-4, a lower horizontal shaft 7-5, a driven bevel gear 7-6, a lower connecting rod 7-7, a hook claw arm rod 7-8 and an upper connecting rod 7-9. The U-shaped support 7-1 is connected and fixed with the bottom plate 1-2 through screws, a rotating shaft is vertically arranged at the middle position of the inner bottom of the U-shaped support 7-1 and the driving bevel gear 7-2 and the planet gear 7-3 are fixedly installed, the planet gear 7-3 is arranged in meshing with the sun gear 3. The upper horizontal shaft 7-4 and the lower horizontal shaft 7-5 are rotatably installed at the top between the two side arms of the U-shaped support 7-1, the driven bevel gear 7-6 is fixedly installed with the lower horizontal shaft 7-5 and arranged in meshing with the driving bevel gear 7-2, so that when the sun gear 3 rotates, the driving bevel gear 7-2 on the rotating shaft is driven by the planet gear 7-3, and then the driven bevel gear 7-6 drives the lower horizontal shaft 7-5 to rotate. One end of the lower connecting rod 7-7 is fixedly integrated with the lower horizontal shaft 7-5 in the vertical direction, the other end of the lower connecting rod 7-7 is hinged with the root end of the hook claw arm rod 7-8 through a pin shaft, one end of the upper connecting rod 7-9 is fixedly integrated with the upper horizontal shaft 7-4 in the vertical direction, the other end of the upper connecting rod 7-9 is hinged with the middle position of the hook claw arm rod 7-8 through a pin shaft, the top end of the hook claw arm rod 7-8 is provided with a hook and can extend out through the corresponding radial notch of the output mechanism shell 1, so as to cooperate with the locking block 9 of the other mating mechanism to realize the locking action. By driving the lower connecting rod 7-7 to rotate through the lower horizontal shaft 7-5, the hook claw arm rod 7-8 can be driven to execute the locking action under the action of the connecting rod mechanism, and the locking action trajectory is shown in Figure 7

[0024] ​The docking mechanism of the application can be obtained by the above design, and the isomorphic design can be conveniently replaced. The single docking mechanism only needs to use the driving motor 6 as a power source to realize the grabbing action of the three locking hooks 7. The opening action is realized by reverse rotation. Therefore, in addition to using the traditional built-in cable to realize the transmission of power and signal to achieve control, a wireless transmission module can also be configured for the driving motor 6 to realize remote control. The structure of the tolerance guide surface at the top of the mechanism shell 1 meets the docking requirements and can reduce the end precision requirements of the mechanical arm and other execution mechanisms. In addition, the worm shaft 4 and the worm 5 are used to transmit power, and the self-locking characteristics of the worm shaft 4 and the worm 5 can make the locking action complete without the driving motor 6 continuously outputting power, which helps to prolong the service life of the mechanism and meet the long-time stay requirements in the on-orbit task. The overall structure is simple and stable, and has good application value and practical significance.

[0025] In addition, when the two docking mechanisms perform the docking task, the active end and the passive end can be selected according to the requirements. The complete docking mechanism of the application is used as the active end, and after omitting the driving assembly composed of the sun gear 3, the worm shaft 4, the worm 5, the driving motor 6 and the three locking hooks 7, the mechanism shell 1 (the center bearing frame 2 is fixed with the mechanism shell 1 and is retained, and the tension spring provides tension for the genderless electrical connector 8) installed with the genderless electrical connector 8 and the three locking blocks 9 is used as the passive end. Even in the case of not needing electrical connection, the genderless electrical connector 8 of the passive end can also be omitted (at this time, the center bearing frame 2 and the tension spring are also omitted naturally).

[0026] Active end and active end docking form combination Figure 5 As shown, the three locking hooks 7 of the two docking mechanisms are respectively clamped with the three locking blocks 9 of the other to realize mutual locking, and the genderless electrical connectors 8 of the two docking mechanisms are inserted and matched during the locking.

[0027] Active end and passive end docking form combination Figure 6 As shown, the difference is that only the three locking hooks 7 of the active end clamp the three locking blocks 9 of the passive end to realize locking, and the insertion and matching of the genderless electrical connectors 8 of the two docking mechanisms are not affected. In addition, in the case of not needing electrical connection, the passive end does not need to be provided with the genderless electrical connector 8, and only serves as a locking point. This form is mainly applied to the fixed point in the on-orbit task, and does not need to perform complicated actions. Therefore, only the mechanism shell 1 for tolerance matching and the three locking blocks 9 as the locking point of the active end need to be retained.

[0028] It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the present application is not limited to the details of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but that it can be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the application. Therefore, the embodiments should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the application being defined by the appended claims rather than by the above description, and all changes coming within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein. No reference signs in the claims should be considered as limiting the scope of the claims to the features to which the reference signs are attached.

[0029] Furthermore, it should be understood that although the description is made on embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution, and the description is made in this way only for the sake of clarity, and a person skilled in the art should consider the description as a whole, and the technical solutions in each embodiment can also be combined appropriately to form other embodiments that can be understood by a person skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A space on-orbit assembly and docking mechanism supporting remote control, characterized by: It comprises a mechanism housing (1), a gender-neutral electrical connector (8), a drive assembly, three locking claws (7), and three locking blocks (9); A cylindrical boss is provided at the center of the top of the mechanism housing (1) as a docking end, three conical guide heads (1-1) are evenly provided on the top edge of the cylindrical boss to form a tolerance guide surface, a through hole is provided at the center of the cylindrical boss, and six radial notches are evenly processed at the top edge of the cylindrical boss between the centers of the three conical guide heads (1-1) and adjacent conical guide heads (1-1), the bottom of the mechanism housing (1) is fixedly covered by a bottom plate (1-2), and a center support frame (2) is supported and fixed above the inner surface of the bottom plate (1-2); The driving assembly comprises a sun gear (3), a worm gear shaft (4), a worm (5) and a driving motor (6); the sun gear (3) coaxially rotates on the central carrier (2); the upper end of the worm gear shaft (4) is connected to the sun gear (3) for transmission and the lower end is connected to the base plate (1-2) for rotation; the driving motor (6) is connected to the worm (5) for transmission and is installed on the inner surface of the base plate (1-2); the worm (5) is meshed with the worm gear shaft (4); The three locking claws (7) are mounted on the inner surface of the base plate (1-2) and extend through three evenly distributed radial notches in the mechanism housing (1). The opening and grabbing actions of the three locking claws (7) are controlled by the forward and reverse rotation of the sun gear (3); Three overlap blocks (8-1) are evenly arranged on the edge of the gender-neutral electrical connector (8), and three grooves are machined on the surface of the cylindrical boss on the top of the mechanism housing (1) at the center position between the through hole and the other three evenly distributed radial notches, so that the gender-neutral electrical connector (8) is limitedly placed in the through hole of the mechanism housing (1), and the gender-neutral electrical connector (8) is connected to the central support frame (2) through a tension spring; The three locking blocks (9) are fixedly mounted at the other three evenly distributed radial notches of the mechanism housing (1) by screws. A sliding rod is provided at the center of the locking block (9) and a lifting slope is provided at the inner end thereof to extend into the bottom of the corresponding groove overlap block (8-1). During the locking action, the three locking claws (7) of the docking mechanism grab the three locking blocks (9) of the other docking mechanism and simultaneously push the sliding rods of the three locking blocks (9) to move inwards and lift the genderless electrical connectors (8) to be plugged into each other to complete the electrical connection action.

2. The space on-orbit assembly and docking mechanism supporting remote control according to claim 1, characterized in that: The driving motor (6) is equipped with a wireless transmission module for remote control.

3. The space on-orbit assembly and docking mechanism supporting remote control according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The docking mechanism adopts a homogeneous design and is divided into an active end and a passive end. The active end completely retains the mechanism housing (1), the gender-neutral electrical connector (8), the drive component, the three locking claws (7), and the three locking blocks (9). The passive end omits the drive component and only retains the mechanism housing (1), the gender-neutral electrical connector (8), and the three locking blocks (9).

4. The space on-orbit assembly and docking mechanism supporting remote control according to claim 3, characterized in that: The passive end can omit the gender-neutral electrical connector (8) when there is no need for electrical connection, and only retain the mechanism housing (1) and the three locking blocks (9).

5. The space on-orbit assembly and docking mechanism supporting remote control according to claim 1, characterized in that: The locking hook (7) comprises a U-shaped bracket (7-1), a driving cone gear (7-2), a planetary gear (7-3), an upper transverse shaft (7-4), a lower transverse shaft (7-5), a driven cone gear (7-6), a lower connecting rod (7-7), a hook arm (7-8) and an upper connecting rod (7-9). The U-shaped bracket (7-1) is fixedly connected to the base plate (1-2). A rotating shaft is vertically arranged at the middle position of the bottom inside of the U-shaped bracket (7-1) and fixedly mounted with the driving cone gear (7-2) and the planetary gear (7-3). The planetary gear (7-3) is meshed with the sun gear (3). The top rotating shaft between the two side arms of the U-shaped bracket (7-1) is fixedly arranged. An upper transverse shaft (7-4) and a lower transverse shaft (7-5) are dynamically installed. The lower transverse shaft (7-5) is fixedly installed with a driven cone wheel (7-6) and is meshed with the active cone wheel (7-2). One end of the lower connecting rod (7-7) is fixed to the lower transverse shaft (7-5) in a vertical direction as a whole. The other end of the lower connecting rod (7-7) is hinged to the root end of the hook arm (7-8) through a pin. One end of the upper connecting rod (7-9) is fixed to the upper transverse shaft (7-4) in a vertical direction as a whole. The other end of the upper connecting rod (7-9) is hinged to the middle position of the hook arm (7-8) through a pin. A grab hook that cooperates with a locking block (9) is provided at the top of the hook arm (7-8).

6. The space on-orbit assembly and docking mechanism supporting remote control according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sloped surface processed at the end of the lap block (8-1) is arranged to cooperate with the inner end of the slide rod of the locking block (9).

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