Underwater wet-mate connector with two-stage propulsion guard mechanism

Abstract

The application discloses a kind of underwater wet plug-in and pull-out docking devices with secondary propulsion protection mechanism, belong to underwater robot technical field, it is in to solve the problem of poor underwater docking ability, low alignment accuracy of plug-in mechanism, insufficient protection of watertight connector in prior art.The application includes: underwater robot shell, underwater robot shell is provided with power interface, communication interface and the limit slot that is symmetrically distributed about the position of communication interface on the both sides of underwater robot shell;Bearing frame;Plug-in mechanism is carried on bearing frame, plug-in mechanism at least includes and the wire light pipe that bearing frame moves up and down oppositely;Secondary propulsion protection mechanism is arranged at the end of wire light pipe, wire light pipe end and underwater robot shell are protected and secondary propulsion docking during plug-in process by secondary propulsion protection mechanism;And hold mechanism is carried on bearing frame, hold mechanism opens and closes movement and hold underwater robot shell to realize the limit alignment of wire light pipe.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The application belongs to the technical field of underwater robots, and particularly relates to an underwater wet plug-in and plug-out docking device with a two-stage propulsion protection mechanism. BACKGROUND

[0002] An underwater submerged vehicle (an autonomous underwater vehicle) is an important tool for detecting the ocean and has important application value in the fields of ocean resource detection, hydrological environment monitoring, underwater intelligence reconnaissance, etc. The recovery docking technology is a key supporting technology for realizing long-term operation of the underwater submerged vehicle, which can guide the underwater submerged vehicle into the docking device, so that it establishes physical connection with the charging device located in the docking device, and further realizes energy supply and data interaction.

[0003] The traditional recovery mode of the water surface mother ship is that the underwater submerged vehicle returns to the vicinity of the water surface support ship through autonomous navigation, and then is hoisted up by the technical personnel on the ship using a crane or other devices for recovery. This technology is relatively mature, but has problems such as high operation cost, great safety risk for the operator during the recovery process, and unsuitability for special operation requirements of covert navigation, which greatly limits the wide application of the underwater submerged vehicle recovery technology. In order to improve the automation level of the recovery process, improve the concealment of the underwater submerged vehicle, and enhance the flexibility of the recovery docking process, it has important practical application value to explore the unmanned autonomous deployment underwater recovery docking technology.

[0004] The connection plug-in transmission technology provides theoretical feasibility for underwater high-power energy supply, and the key is to realize accurate and firm connection between the underwater submerged vehicle and the docking device. However, the specific structural design and execution mechanism of the existing technology have significant bottlenecks in actual application, mainly in three aspects of insufficient underwater docking capability, low alignment accuracy of the plug-in mechanism, and weak protection of the watertight plug-in.

[0005] Poor underwater docking capability (high structural rigidity / control dependency): The existing docking device usually adopts a rigid guide structure (such as a fixed guide groove or a simple conical funnel), which lacks effective dynamic compensation capability under the disturbance of the underwater complex flow field. This structure highly depends on the high-precision attitude control system of the water surface control terminal and the underwater submerged vehicle itself for collaborative adjustment. However, the water disturbance, communication delay, and limitations of visual auxiliary positioning make the real-time path correction and end pose fine adjustment capability of this kind of rigid structure insufficient, which makes it difficult for the submerged vehicle to stably and reliably enter and remain in the preset docking position, resulting in a high docking failure rate.

[0006] Low alignment accuracy of the plug-in mechanism: the successful coupling of the wet plug-in connector requires very high axial and angular alignment accuracy. The prior art generally lacks precise guide structure and closed-loop feedback control. Common mechanical guide structures have poor fault tolerance and are prone to jamming when the submarine has a small yaw or pitch deviation, resulting in plug-in failure or damage to the connector pins.

[0007] Insufficient protection of the water-tight connector (lack of buffer / seal / collision protection structure): as a key and expensive component, the physical protection structure of the water-tight connector is often overlooked or insufficiently designed in existing docking solutions. The relative movement of the submarine and the docking device, water flow impact or accidental collision during docking can easily cause the connector to bear excessive instantaneous impact load or lateral shear force. The existing structure generally lacks an effective multi-stage buffer energy absorption mechanism to attenuate these loads, making the connector prone to seal failure, pin deformation or electrical performance degradation under repeated plug-in operations or harsh sea conditions, seriously affecting its reliability and service life. SUMMARY

[0008] The purpose of the present application is to provide an underwater wet plug-in docking device with a two-stage propulsion protection mechanism to solve the problems of poor underwater docking capability, low alignment accuracy of the plug-in mechanism and insufficient protection of the water-tight connector in the prior art.

[0009] To achieve the above purpose, an underwater wet plug-in docking device with a two-stage propulsion protection mechanism comprises:

[0010] An underwater robot shell is provided with a power supply interface, a communication interface and a limiting slot symmetrically distributed on both sides of the underwater robot shell relative to the position of the communication interface;

[0011] A carrier frame;

[0012] A plug-in mechanism carried on the carrier frame, the plug-in mechanism at least comprising a wire light pipe moving up and down relative to the carrier frame, the end of the wire light pipe carrying an underwater wet plug-in connector, the wire being guided by the wire light pipe inside and extending out of the top end to connect with an external power supply or shore base to realize power supply or communication;

[0013] A two-stage propulsion protection mechanism is provided at the end of the wire light pipe to protect the wire light pipe end and the underwater robot shell during the plug-in process and to perform two-stage propulsion docking;

[0014] And a clamping mechanism carried on the carrier frame, the clamping mechanism opening and closing to make the end gripper of the clamping mechanism cooperate with the limiting slot of the underwater robot shell to clamp and realize the limiting alignment of the wire light pipe.

[0015] The carrier frame comprises:

[0016] Front end carrier frame;

[0017] And the rear end carrier frame is arranged opposite to the front end carrier frame, and the front end carrier frame and the rear end carrier frame are fixedly connected through a rod;

[0018] And a screw nut pair is arranged on the front end carrier frame in the vertical direction, a screw of the screw nut pair is driven to rotate by the clamping driving motor, and the opening and closing of the clamping mechanism are driven by the up and down movement of a nut of the screw nut pair.

[0019] The clamping mechanism comprises two groups of connecting rod mechanisms arranged symmetrically, and each group of connecting rod mechanisms comprises:

[0020] A long straight rod, one end of the long straight rod is hingedly connected to the nut of the screw nut pair;

[0021] A bent guide rod, the middle bent part of the guide rod is hingedly connected and installed on a first pin seat through pin connection, the first pin seat is fixed on the front end carrier frame of the carrier frame, and one end of the guide rod is hingedly connected to the other end of the long straight rod through pin connection;

[0022] A short straight rod, one end of the short straight rod is hingedly connected to the other end of the guide rod through pin connection;

[0023] A diameter adjusting rod, one end of the diameter adjusting rod is hingedly connected and installed on a second pin seat through pin connection, the second pin seat is fixed on the front end carrier frame of the carrier frame, and the other end of the diameter adjusting rod is hingedly connected to the other end of the short straight rod through pin connection;

[0024] A clamping straight rod, one end of the clamping straight rod is fixed on the diameter adjusting rod through bolt connection, and the other end is hingedly connected to a third pin seat through pin connection;

[0025] And an end gripper, the third pin seat is fixed on the back of the end gripper through bolt connection; the end grippers of the two groups of connecting rod mechanisms are matched with the underwater robot shell to clamp or release.

[0026] The matching surface of the end gripper and the underwater robot shell is an inner arc surface, and a boss matched with a limiting slot on the underwater robot shell is arranged on the inner arc surface.

[0027] The plug-in mechanism further comprises:

[0028] A ball screw, the ball screw is arranged on the rear end carrier frame in the vertical direction, and the plug-in driving motor drives the ball screw to rotate;

[0029] And a clamp seat, the clamp seat is fixedly connected with a nut matched with the ball screw, and the top end of the wire light pipe is fixed on the clamp seat.

[0030] The secondary pushing protection mechanism comprises:

[0031] Upper hinge support, the upper hinge support is located below the ball screw and is coaxially and fixedly connected to the optical tube;

[0032] A lower end hinge support is provided at the end of the optical fiber tube, and the lower end hinge support and the optical fiber tube are fitted with a clearance.

[0033] A spring fitted onto the optical guide tube and located between the upper and lower hinge supports;

[0034] And multiple sets of connecting rods evenly distributed around the circumference between the upper hinge support and the lower hinge support. Each set of connecting rods includes an upper short rod and a lower short rod. One end of the upper short rod is hinged to the upper hinge support, and the other end is hinged to one end of the lower short rod. The other end of the lower short rod is hinged to the lower hinge support.

[0035] When the spring is in its natural state, the end of the wire tube is located inside the lower hinge support.

[0036] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows:

[0037] 1. This invention employs a two-stage propulsion and protection mechanism, which effectively improves the safety and reliability of underwater docking. By setting up a two-stage buffer structure consisting of an upper hinge support, a lower hinge support, a connecting rod, and a spring, the lower hinge support first contacts and limits contact with the underwater robot's shell during docking. Subsequently, the internal wire guide tube is precisely inserted under the buffering effect of the spring. This staged propulsion method avoids damage to watertight connectors due to instantaneous impact. Simultaneously, the spring's buffering effect effectively absorbs vibration interference from the underwater environment, reducing docking impact and significantly extending the service life of expensive watertight connectors.

[0038] 2. This invention employs an adaptive clamping mechanism, which significantly improves compatibility with different specifications of underwater vehicles. Through the coordinated design of the diameter adjustment rod and the adjustable clamping rod, simply adjusting the fixed position of the clamping rod on the diameter adjustment rod is sufficient to accommodate underwater vehicles with varying diameters. The protrusion of the end effector engages with the limiting slot of the underwater robot's shell, and combined with the amplification effect of the four-bar linkage, high-precision positioning can be achieved. Compared to traditional fixed clamping mechanisms, this improves alignment accuracy and ensures precise docking of wet-plug interfaces.

[0039] 3. The modular design of this invention significantly improves the deployment flexibility of the device. The support frame can be quickly installed on different underwater platforms, and by changing the length of the wire guide tube and adjusting the position of the clamp, it can adapt to different operating distance requirements. Each functional module adopts a standardized interface design, suitable for long-term deployment applications in the open ocean.

[0040] 4、The mechanical limiting of the holding mechanism and the secondary propulsion of the plug-in mechanism form spatial double guidance, and the high-precision transmission of the ball screw is matched, so that the docking success rate in complex sea conditions can be significantly improved even under the interference of the ocean current;

[0041] 5、The wire light pipe not only serves as a transmission channel, but also provides all-round protection for the internal cable with its rigid structure; the combination design of the spring and the upper end hinge support and the lower end hinge support enables the docking process to have self-adaptive compensation capability, thereby reducing the precision requirement of the attitude control of the underwater vehicle. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0042] Figure 1 It is a whole schematic view of the underwater wet plug-in docking device with the secondary propulsion protection mechanism of the application;

[0043] Figure 2 It is a schematic view of the underwater robot shell structure in the application;

[0044] Figure 3 It is a schematic view of the bearing frame structure in the application;

[0045] Figure 4 It is a schematic view of the holding mechanism structure in the application;

[0046] Figure 5 It is a schematic view of the plug-in mechanism in the application;

[0047] Figure 6 It is a schematic view of the clamp seat of the plug-in mechanism in the application;

[0048] Figure 7 It is a schematic view of the secondary propulsion protection mechanism in the application;

[0049] Among them:

[0050] 1、Underwater robot shell, 101、Limiting notch, 102、Communication interface, 103、Power interface;

[0051] 2、Bearing frame, 201、Front end bearing frame, 202、Screw nut pair, 203、First pin seat, 204、Second pin seat, 205、Rear end bearing frame;

[0052] 3、Holding mechanism, 301、Long straight rod, 302、Guide rod, 303、Short straight rod, 304、Diameter adjusting rod, 305、Holding straight rod, 306、Third pin seat, 307、End gripper;

[0053] 4、Plug-in mechanism, 401、Clamp seat, 402、Wire light pipe, 403、Ball screw;

[0054] 5, secondary push protection mechanism, 501, upper end hinge support, 502, upper short rod, 503, lower short rod, 504, spring, 505, lower end hinge support. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] The embodiments of the present application will be further described below with reference to the drawings.

[0056] Reference Figures 1-7 The underwater wet plug-in and plug-out docking device with a secondary push protection mechanism comprises:

[0057] An underwater robot shell 1 is provided with a power supply interface 103, a communication interface 102, and a limiting slot 101 symmetrically distributed on both sides of the underwater robot shell 1 relative to the position of the communication interface 102;

[0058] A bearing frame 2;

[0059] A plug-in mechanism 4 carried on the bearing frame 2, the plug-in mechanism 4 at least comprising a wire light pipe 402 moving up and down relative to the bearing frame 2, the wire light pipe 402 carrying an underwater wet plug-in plug at the end, the wire being guided inside the wire light pipe 402 and extending out of the top end to be connected with an external power supply or a shore base to realize power supply or communication;

[0060] A secondary push protection mechanism 5 arranged at the end of the wire light pipe 402, the secondary push protection mechanism 5 protecting the process of the end of the wire light pipe 402 and the underwater robot shell 1 being plugged in and secondarily pushing the docking;

[0061] And a clamping mechanism 3 carried on the bearing frame 2, the clamping mechanism 3 opening and closing to make the end gripper 307 of the clamping mechanism 3 cooperate with the limiting slot 101 of the underwater robot shell 1 to clamp and realize the limiting alignment of the wire light pipe 402.

[0062] The bearing frame 2 comprises:

[0063] A front end bearing frame 201;

[0064] A rear end bearing frame 205 arranged opposite to the front end bearing frame 201, the front end bearing frame 201 and the rear end bearing frame 205 being fixedly connected through a rod;

[0065] And a lead screw nut pair 202 arranged in a vertical direction on the front end bearing frame 201, the lead screw of the lead screw nut pair 202 being driven to rotate by a clamping drive motor; the nut of the lead screw nut pair 202 being driven to move up and down to drive the opening and closing of the clamping mechanism 3.

[0066] The clamping mechanism 3 comprises two groups of link mechanisms arranged symmetrically, each group of link mechanisms comprising:

[0067] long straight rod 301, one end of which is hingedly connected with the nut of the screw-nut pair 202 through a pin;

[0068] bent guide rod 302, the middle of which is hingedly connected with the first pin seat 203 through a pin, the first pin seat 203 being fixed on the front end carrier 201 of the carrier 2, one end of the guide rod 302 being hingedly connected with the other end of the long straight rod 301 through a pin;

[0069] short straight rod 303, one end of which is hingedly connected with the other end of the guide rod 302 through a pin;

[0070] diameter adjustment rod 304, one end of which is hingedly connected with the second pin seat 204 through a pin, the second pin seat 204 being fixed on the front end carrier 201 of the carrier 2, the other end of the diameter adjustment rod 304 being hingedly connected with the other end of the short straight rod 303 through a pin;

[0071] hugging straight rod 305, one end of which is fixed on the diameter adjustment rod 304 through a bolt, the other end of which is hingedly connected with the third pin seat 306 through a pin;

[0072] and end gripper 307, the third pin seat 306 being fixed on the back of the end gripper 307 through a bolt; the end gripper 307 of the two sets of linkage mechanisms cooperates with the underwater robot shell 1 to hug or release.

[0073] The end gripper 307 cooperates with the underwater robot shell 1 to form an inner arc surface; the inner arc surface is provided with a boss cooperating with the limiting slot 101 on the underwater robot shell 1 to realize the limiting alignment of the plug-in device and the underwater vehicle.

[0074] The plug-in mechanism 4 further comprises:

[0075] ball screw 403, which is arranged on the rear end carrier 205 in the vertical direction, and is driven to rotate by the plug-in drive motor;

[0076] and jaw seat 401, which is fixedly connected with the nut cooperating with the ball screw 403, and the top end of the wire light pipe 402 is fixed on the jaw seat 401. The outer frame of the jaw seat 401 and the ball screw 403 is slidingly fitted along the length direction of the ball screw 403 to limit rotation.

[0077] The secondary push protection mechanism 5 comprises:

[0078] Upper hinge support 501, which is located below ball screw 403 and is coaxially and fixedly connected to optical fiber tube 402.

[0079] A lower end hinge support 505 is provided at the end of the optical fiber tube 402, and the lower end hinge support 505 and the optical fiber tube 402 are in clearance fit.

[0080] A spring 504 is sleeved on the optical tube 402 and located between the upper hinge support 501 and the lower hinge support 505;

[0081] Multiple sets of connecting rods are evenly distributed around the circumference between the upper hinge support 501 and the lower hinge support 505. Each set of connecting rods includes an upper short rod 502 and a lower short rod 503. One end of the upper short rod 502 is hinged to the upper hinge support 501, and the other end is hinged to one end of the lower short rod 503. The other end of the lower short rod 503 is hinged to the lower hinge support 505. When the insertion mechanism 4 is running, the lower hinge support 505 first engages with the communication interface 102 on the underwater robot shell 1. After being limited, the internal wire optical tube 402 carrying the wet-plug connector is inserted to achieve a two-stage push docking.

[0082] When the spring 504 is in its natural state, the end of the wire tube 402 is located inside the lower hinge support 505.

[0083] When the underwater wet plug-in docking device of the present invention docks with underwater robots of different specifications, the position of the clamping rod 305 in the clamping mechanism 3 on the diameter adjustment rod 304 needs to be adjusted according to the outer diameter of the underwater robot shell 1; the underwater robot shell 1 needs to be provided with a limiting slot 101 that cooperates with the boss on the end gripper 307 in the clamping mechanism 3 according to the position of the interface.

[0084] The insertion depth of the interlocking device can be adjusted by adjusting the position of the wire light tube 402 on the clamp seat 401 after the clamping mechanism 3 is limited.

[0085] The watertight connector is carried at the end of the wire tube 402, and the wire is led out from inside the wire tube 402. When performing the docking task, the lower hinge support 505 first intervenes in the underwater robot shell 1, and then the internal wire tube 402 carrying the watertight connector is inserted under its protection to achieve secondary push docking.

[0086] This invention adopts a modular design, which can design the underwater robot shell 1, clamping mechanism 3, and mating mechanism 4 according to requirements to ensure their precise fit; the support frame 2 can be installed on platforms such as docking docks and underwater base stations to cooperate with the underwater robot to complete underwater docking tasks.

Claims

1. An underwater wet mateable docking device with a two-stage propulsion guard mechanism, characterized in that, The underwater robot shell (1) is provided with a power supply interface (103), a communication interface (102), and a limiting slot (101) symmetrically distributed on both sides of the underwater robot shell (1) relative to the position of the communication interface (102); The bearing frame (2); The plug-in mechanism (4) carried on the bearing frame (2) at least includes a wire light pipe (402) moving up and down relative to the bearing frame (2), the end of the wire light pipe (402) carries an underwater wet plug-in plug, the wire is guided inside the wire light pipe (402) and extends out of the top end, and is connected with an external power supply or a shore base to realize power supply or communication; The secondary push protection mechanism (5) provided at the end of the wire light pipe (402) protects and secondarily pushes the plug-in process of the end of the wire light pipe (402) and the underwater robot shell (1); And the clamping mechanism (3) carried on the bearing frame (2), the opening and closing movement of the clamping mechanism (3) makes the end gripper (307) of the clamping mechanism (3) cooperate with the limiting slot (101) of the underwater robot shell (1) to clamp and realize the limiting alignment of the wire light pipe (402). The bearing frame (2) comprises:

2. The underwater wet mateable docking device with secondary propulsion guard mechanism according to claim 1, wherein, The front end bearing frame (201); The rear end bearing frame (205) is arranged opposite to the front end bearing frame (201), and the front end bearing frame (201) and the rear end bearing frame (205) are fixedly connected through a rod; And a lead screw nut pair (202) arranged on the front end bearing frame (201) in the vertical direction, the lead screw of the lead screw nut pair (202) is driven to rotate by a clamping drive motor; the opening and closing of the clamping mechanism (3) is driven by the up and down movement of the nut of the lead screw nut pair (202). The clamping mechanism (3) comprises two groups of connecting rod mechanisms arranged symmetrically, each group of connecting rod mechanisms comprising:

3. An underwater wet mateable docking device with a secondary propulsion shield according to claim 2, wherein, A long straight rod (301), one end of the long straight rod (301) is hinged to the nut of the lead screw nut pair (202); A bent guide rod (302), the middle bent part of the guide rod (302) is hingedly installed on a first pin seat (203) through pin connection, the first pin seat (203) is fixed on the front end bearing frame (201) of the bearing frame (2), and one end of the guide rod (302) is hingedly connected to the other end of the long straight rod (301); A short straight rod (303), one end of the short straight rod (303) is hingedly connected to the other end of the guide rod (302); A diameter adjusting rod (304), one end of the diameter adjusting rod (304) is hingedly installed on a second pin seat (204) through pin connection, the second pin seat (204) is fixed on the front end bearing frame (201) of the bearing frame (2), and the other end of the diameter adjusting rod (304) is hingedly connected to the other end of the short straight rod (303); A clamping straight rod (305), one end of the clamping straight rod (305) is fixed on the diameter adjusting rod (304) through bolt connection, and the other end is hingedly connected to a third pin seat (306). ​ And the end gripper (307), the third pin seat (306) is fixed on the back of the end gripper (307) by bolt connection; the end grippers (307) of the two sets of linkage mechanisms are matched with the underwater robot shell (1) to be gripped or released.

4. The underwater wet mateable docking device with secondary propulsion guard mechanism according to claim 3, wherein, The end gripper (307) is matched with the inner arc surface of the underwater robot shell (1); the inner arc surface is provided with a boss matched with the limiting notch (101) on the underwater robot shell (1).

5. The underwater wet mateable docking device with secondary propulsion guard mechanism of claim 2, wherein, The plug-in mechanism (4) further comprises: A ball screw (403) is arranged on the rear end carrier (205) in the vertical direction, and the plug-in drive motor drives the ball screw (403) to rotate; And a clamp seat (401) is fixedly connected with the nut matched with the ball screw (403), and the top end of the wire light pipe (402) is fixed on the clamp seat (401).

6. An underwater wet mateable docking device with a secondary propulsion shield according to claim 5, wherein, The secondary push protection mechanism (5) comprises: An upper end hinge support (501) is arranged below the ball screw (403) and is fixedly connected with the wire light pipe (402) coaxially; A lower end hinge support (505) is arranged at the end of the wire light pipe (402), and the lower end hinge support (505) is gap matched with the wire light pipe (402); A spring (504) is sleeved on the wire light pipe (402) and located between the upper end hinge support (501) and the lower end hinge support (505); And a plurality of groups of connecting rods are connected between the upper end hinge support (501) and the lower end hinge support (505) and are uniformly distributed in a circle, each group of connecting rods comprising an upper short rod (502) and a lower short rod (503), one end of the upper short rod (502) being hingedly connected with the upper end hinge support (501), the other end of the upper short rod (502) being hingedly connected with one end of the lower short rod (503), and the other end of the lower short rod (503) being hingedly connected with the lower end hinge support (505).

7. An underwater wet mateable docking device with a secondary propulsion shield according to claim 6, wherein, In the natural state of the spring (504), the end of the wire light pipe (402) is located in the lower end hinge support (505).

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