Distributed thermal management system and robot

Abstract

The utility model relates to a distributed heat management system and a robot, the distributed heat management system comprises a liquid storage chamber, a liquid pump, a liquid conveying pipe group and an external discharging device, the external discharging device communicates with the liquid storage chamber through the liquid conveying pipe group, and the liquid pump is arranged in the liquid conveying pipe group so as to convey cooling liquid in the liquid storage chamber to the external discharging device corresponding to each joint motor; the discharging device is communicated with a stator winding of the joint motor, and the cooling liquid can be discharged into an external space through the discharging device so as to take away heat generated by the stator winding. According to the distributed heat management system and the robot, the problems that a heat dissipation system of a joint motor is large in occupied space and difficult to arrange are solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of motor heat dissipation, and in particular to a distributed thermal management system and a robot. Background Art

[0002] As the movements of humanoid robots become more complex, their speeds become faster, and their loads become heavier, the heat dissipation of joint motors also increases dramatically. Humanoid robots have a large number of motors throughout their bodies, and joint motors are mainly distributed in shoulder joints, elbow joints, hip joints, knee joints, and ankle joints. Therefore, the distribution of joint motors is relatively scattered.

[0003] The prior art usually uses centralized cooling to cool the joint motors in various places, that is, the coolant is dispersedly transported to each joint motor through a delivery pipeline, and the coolant after heat exchange is centralized and processed through a recovery pipeline. In this way, the pipelines of the joint motors (including the delivery pipeline and the recovery pipeline) need to occupy a large space when arranged in the arms or legs, and a considerable space is also required to arrange cooling devices such as radiators and fans to process the recovered coolant. This will significantly increase the difficulty of arranging components such as pipelines, radiators, and fans for humanoid robots with high space and volume requirements. Utility Model Content

[0004] Based on this, it is necessary to provide a distributed thermal management system and a robot to solve the problem that the heat dissipation system of the existing joint motor occupies a large space and is difficult to arrange.

[0005] The distributed thermal management system provided in the present application includes a liquid storage chamber, a liquid pump, an infusion tube group and an external discharge device. The external discharge device is connected to the liquid storage chamber through the infusion tube group. The liquid pump is arranged on the infusion tube group to transport the cooling liquid in the liquid storage chamber to the external discharge device corresponding to each joint motor; the external discharge device is connected to the stator winding of the joint motor, and the cooling liquid can be discharged into the external space through the external discharge device to take away the heat generated by the stator winding.

[0006] In one of the embodiments, the external discharge device is provided with a vaporization cavity, and the coolant can be phase-changed from liquid to gas in the vaporization cavity and discharged into the external space to take away the heat generated by the stator winding.

[0007] In one embodiment, the external discharge device includes a housing, a piston, a driving element, a first control valve, a second control valve, and a cooling jacket. The housing is provided with a vaporization chamber. The cooling jacket is disposed outside the stator winding. One end of the cooling jacket communicates with the vaporization chamber through the first control valve, and the other end communicates with the infusion pipe group. The vaporization chamber can communicate with the external space through the second control valve. The driving element is connected to the rod end of the piston, and the piston is movably and sealingly fitted with the inner wall of the vaporization chamber. When the driving element drives the piston to move away from the cooling jacket and the volume of the vaporization chamber expands, the liquid coolant in the cooling jacket can enter the vaporization chamber through the first control valve and be vaporized into gaseous coolant. When the driving element drives the piston to move toward the cooling jacket and the volume of the vaporization chamber shrinks, the gaseous coolant in the vaporization chamber can enter the external space through the second control valve.

[0008] In one embodiment, the external discharge device further includes a liquid supply pipe and a nozzle. The liquid supply pipe is wound around the outer periphery of the cooling jacket. A plurality of nozzles are circumferentially spaced along the inner circle of the liquid supply pipe. The infusion pipe group communicates with the outer circle of the liquid supply pipe. The nozzle is sealingly inserted through the cooling jacket and is used to spray coolant onto the stator winding. The reciprocating movement process of the piston and the spraying action of the nozzle toward the stator winding are arranged in one-to-one correspondence.

[0009] In one embodiment, the first control valve, the second control valve, and the driving element are respectively electrically connected to a controller, and the controller can control the actions of the first control valve, the second control valve, and the driving element in real time.

[0010] In one embodiment, the first control valve is connected to the end of the housing away from the driving element, and the second control valve is connected to the circumferential side of the housing.

[0011] In one embodiment, the number of the second control valves is multiple, and the multiple second control valves are spaced apart on the outer circumferential side of the housing.

[0012] In one embodiment, both the first control valve and the second control valve are one-way valves.

[0013] In one embodiment, the distributed thermal management system further includes an exhaust valve, and the exhaust valve communicates above the liquid storage chamber to discharge the gas in the liquid storage chamber.

[0014] The present application also provides a robot, and the robot includes the distributed thermal management system described in any one of the above embodiments.

[0015] Compared with the prior art, in the distributed heat management system and the robot provided by the present application, since the coolant delivered to the external discharge device can be discharged into the external space, the coolant is directly and unidirectionally delivered from the liquid storage chamber to the external discharge device through the liquid delivery pipe group, and there is no need to arrange a pipeline for the coolant to flow back, thus greatly reducing the number and volume of the pipelines. Moreover, with such an arrangement, there is no need to separately arrange a radiator and a fan to cool the coolant. Therefore, the volume occupied by the distributed heat management system is effectively reduced, and the layout difficulty is lowered. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative efforts.

[0017] Figure 1 Structural schematic diagram of a robot according to an embodiment provided by the present application;

[0018] Figure 2 Pipeline diagram of a distributed heat management system according to an embodiment provided by the present application;

[0019] Figure 3 System control diagram of a distributed heat management system according to an embodiment provided by the present application;

[0020] Figure 4 Assembly cross-sectional view of an external discharge device and a stator winding according to an embodiment provided by the present application.

[0021] Reference numerals: 100, liquid storage chamber; 110, exhaust valve; 200, liquid pump; 300, liquid delivery pipe group; 400, stop valve; 500, external discharge device; 510, housing; 511, vaporization chamber; 520, piston; 530, driving element; 540, first control valve; 550, second control valve; 560, cooling jacket; 570, liquid supply pipe; 580, nozzle; 600, stator winding; 710, shoulder joint motor; 720, elbow joint motor; 730, hip joint motor; 740, knee joint motor; 750, ankle joint motor; 800, controller. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0022] As the movements of humanoid robots become more complex, the movement speed becomes faster, the load becomes larger, and the heat dissipation of the joint motors increases sharply. There are a large number of motors throughout the humanoid robot, and the joint motors are mainly distributed in places such as the shoulder joint, elbow joint, hip joint, knee joint, and ankle joint. Therefore, the distribution of the joint motors is relatively scattered.

[0023] In the prior art, the joint motors everywhere are usually cooled by means of centralized cooling. That is to say, the coolant is dispersed and conveyed to each joint motor through a conveying pipeline, and the coolant after heat exchange is centrally recovered and processed through a recovery pipeline. In this way, the pipelines of the joint motors (including the conveying pipeline and the recovery pipeline) need to occupy a large space when arranged on the arm or leg. Moreover, a quite large space also needs to be set aside to arrange cooling devices such as radiators and fans to process the recovered coolant. This will significantly increase the layout difficulty of components such as pipelines, radiators and fans for a humanoid robot with high requirements for space and volume.

[0024] In order to solve the problems that the existing heat dissipation system of joint motors occupies a large space and is difficult to arrange, the present application provides a distributed thermal management system and a robot.

[0025] Please refer to Figures 1-4 , this distributed thermal management system includes a liquid storage chamber 100, a liquid pump 200, an infusion pipe group 300 and an external discharge device 500. The external discharge device 500 is connected to the liquid storage chamber 100 through the infusion pipe group 300. The liquid pump 200 is arranged in the infusion pipe group 300 to convey the coolant in the liquid storage chamber 100 to the external discharge device 500 corresponding to each joint motor.

[0026] Specifically, as Figure 1 and Figure 2 shown, the shoulder joint motor 710 and its corresponding external discharge device 500 are arranged in the chest cavity, the elbow joint motor 720 and its corresponding external discharge device 500 are arranged in the upper arm, the hip joint motor 730 and its corresponding external discharge device 500 are arranged in the abdominal cavity, the knee joint motor 740 and its corresponding external discharge device 500 are arranged in the thigh, and the ankle joint motor 750 and its corresponding external discharge device 500 are arranged in the lower leg. Moreover, the joint motor can be a coreless motor, or a spherical motor or other types of motors.

[0027] It should be noted that the coolant is an environmentally friendly and pollution-free fluid such as water or alcohol. Moreover, the liquid supplement of the liquid storage chamber 100 is taken in through the mouth by means of the robot drinking water.

[0028] The external discharge device 500 is connected to the stator winding 600 of the joint motor. Moreover, the coolant can be discharged into the external space through the external discharge device 500 to take away the heat generated by the stator winding 600.

[0029] Since the coolant delivered to the external discharge device 500 can be discharged into the external space, the coolant is directly and unidirectionally delivered from the liquid storage chamber 100 to the external discharge device 500 through the infusion pipe group 300, and there is no need to provide a pipeline for the coolant to flow back, thus greatly reducing the number and volume of the pipelines. Moreover, with such an arrangement, there is no need to separately provide a radiator and a fan to cool the coolant. Therefore, the volume occupied by the distributed thermal management system is effectively reduced, and the layout difficulty is lowered.

[0030] In one embodiment, the coolant can change from the liquid phase to the gaseous phase within the external discharge device 500 and be discharged into the external space to carry away the heat generated by the stator winding 600.

[0031] With such an arrangement, through the endothermic phase change of the coolant, the heat dissipation effect of the stator winding 600 is greatly improved. Moreover, discharging the gaseous coolant is beneficial to reducing the pollution to the environment and the robot itself.

[0032] However, it is not limited to this. In other embodiments, the external discharge device 500 can also directly discharge the liquid coolant after heat absorption.

[0033] Furthermore, in one embodiment, as Figure 3 shown, the external discharge device 500 includes a housing 510, a piston 520, a driving element 530, a first control valve 540, a second control valve 550, and a cooling jacket 560. The housing 510 is provided with a vaporization chamber 511. The cooling jacket 560 is sleeved outside the stator winding 600. One end of the cooling jacket 560 is connected to the vaporization chamber 511 through the first control valve 540, and the other end is connected to the infusion pipe group 300.

[0034] The vaporization chamber 511 can be connected to the external space through the second control valve 550. The driving element 530 is connected to the rod end of the piston 520, and the piston 520 is movably and sealingly fitted with the inner wall of the vaporization chamber 511.

[0035] The driving element 530 can drive the piston 520 to move in a direction close to or away from the cooling jacket 560. Specifically, when the driving element 530 drives the piston 520 to move away from the cooling jacket 560 and the volume of the vaporization chamber 511 expands, the liquid coolant in the cooling jacket 560 can enter the vaporization chamber 511 through the first control valve 540 and be vaporized into gaseous coolant.

[0036] When the driving element 530 drives the piston 520 to move towards the cooling jacket 560 and the volume of the vaporization chamber 511 shrinks, the gaseous coolant in the vaporization chamber 511 can enter the external space through the second control valve 550.

[0037] Since the gasification chamber 511 can communicate with the cooling jacket 560 through the first control valve 540, when the volume of the gasification chamber 511 expands, the air pressure on the coolant in the cooling jacket 560 decreases. At this time, the liquid coolant changes into a gas state and takes away a large amount of heat in the stator winding 600. After that, the volume of the gasification chamber 511 decreases, and the gaseous coolant is discharged into the external environment through the second control valve 550.

[0038] With such a setting, the liquid discharge efficiency of the external discharge device 500 is greatly improved.

[0039] Specifically, in one embodiment, the driving element 530 can be a driving motor or a driving cylinder, and the operating noises of both are much lower than that of the compressor. Therefore, with such a setting, the noise volume during the heat dissipation process of the robot is greatly reduced.

[0040] In one embodiment, as Figure 3 shown, the first control valve 540 is connected to the end of the housing 510 away from the driving element 530, and the second control valve 550 is connected to the circumferential side of the housing 510.

[0041] With such a setting, it is beneficial to avoid interference between the first control valve 540 and the second control valve 550, and is beneficial to the arrangement of the first control valve 540 and the second control valve 550.

[0042] However, it is not limited to this. In other embodiments, it may also be that the first control valve 540 is connected to the circumferential side of the housing 510, and the second control valve 550 is connected to the end of the housing 510.

[0043] In one embodiment, as Figure 3 shown, the number of the second control valves 550 is multiple, and the multiple second control valves 550 are spaced apart and distributed on the outer circumferential side of the housing 510.

[0044] With such a setting, it is beneficial to improve the exhaust efficiency.

[0045] In one embodiment, both the first control valve 540 and the second control valve 550 are one-way valves.

[0046] With such a setting, on the one hand, it can prevent the coolant from flowing back, and on the other hand, the one-way valve has a simple structure, which is beneficial to reducing the production cost of the distributed thermal management system.

[0047] However, it is not limited to this. In other embodiments, the first control valve 540 and the second control valve 550 can also be solenoid valves.

[0048] In one embodiment, as Figure 3As shown, the first control valve 540, the second control valve 550, and the driving element 530 are electrically connected to the controller 800 respectively, and the controller 800 can control the actions of the first control valve 540, the second control valve 550, and the driving element 530 in real time.

[0049] In this way, the intelligence level of the gasification heat dissipation device is greatly improved.

[0050] In one embodiment, as Figure 4 shown, the external discharge device 500 further includes a liquid supply pipe 570 and a nozzle 580. The liquid supply pipe 570 is wound around the outer periphery of the cooling jacket 560. A plurality of nozzles 580 are circumferentially spaced along the inner circle of the liquid supply pipe 570. The infusion pipe group 300 is connected to the outer circle of the liquid supply pipe 570. The nozzle 580 is sealed through the cooling jacket 560 and is used to spray the coolant onto the stator winding 600.

[0051] It should be noted that the spraying frequency of the nozzle 580 is set corresponding to the reciprocating stroke of the piston 520, and is controlled by the controller 800 according to the temperature signal of the stator winding 600.

[0052] Specifically, every time the piston 520 reciprocates, the nozzle 580 will spray the coolant onto the stator winding 600 once.

[0053] Specifically, when the nozzle 580 sprays the coolant, the piston 520 of the external discharge device 500 is at the end of the forward stroke (the gasification chamber 511 is in the compressed state), and both the first control valve 540 and the second control valve 550 are in the closed state; when the nozzle 580 stops spraying, the piston 520 starts to draw outwards (the gasification chamber 511 expands), and at the same time the first control valve 540 is opened; when the piston 520 reaches the end of the draw stroke (the gasification chamber 511 is in the expanded state), the first control valve 540 is closed, and at the same time the second control valve 550 is opened, and the piston 520 starts to compress the gasification chamber 511 so that the gaseous coolant is discharged outwards through the second control valve 550; when the piston 520 reaches the end of the forward stroke, the second control valve 550 is closed, completing a spraying gasification and exhaust cycle.

[0054] With such a setting, the heat dissipation uniformity of the stator winding 600 is greatly improved.

[0055] Specifically, the nozzles 580 are evenly distributed along the circumference of the liquid supply pipe 570, and the diameter of the sprayed liquid droplets is between 5 microns and 60 microns, which can cover the outer surface of the stator winding 600.

[0056] However, it is not limited to this. In another embodiment, the liquid supply pipe 570 can also be arranged inside the cooling jacket 560.

[0057] In one embodiment, as Figure 3 and Figure 4As shown, the distributed heat management system further includes a stop valve 400. The stop valve 400 is disposed between the liquid pump 200 and the liquid supply pipe 570 to control the on / off of the infusion pipe group 300 between the liquid pump 200 and the liquid supply pipe 570.

[0058] In one embodiment, as Figure 2 and Figure 3 shown, the distributed heat management system further includes an exhaust valve 110. The exhaust valve 110 is communicated above the liquid storage chamber 100 to discharge the gas (including non-condensable gas and gaseous coolant, etc.) in the liquid storage chamber 100.

[0059] In this way, the air pressure in the liquid storage chamber 100 can be kept stable.

[0060] It should be noted that the stop valve 400 and the exhaust valve 110 are respectively electrically connected to the controller 800, and the controller 800 can control the actions of the stop valve 400 and the exhaust valve 110 in real time.

[0061] This application also provides a robot, which includes the distributed heat management system described in any one of the above embodiments.

[0062] The technical features of the above-described embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. For the sake of brevity of description, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, it should be considered as the scope described in this specification.

[0063] The above-described embodiments only represent several implementation manners of this application. The description is relatively specific and detailed, but it should not be construed as a limitation on the scope of the patent application. It should be noted that for those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the concept of this application, several modifications and improvements can still be made, and these all belong to the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the patent protection scope of this application should be subject to the appended claims.

[0064] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "transverse", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc. indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings. It is only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation on this application.

[0065] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the quantity of the indicated technical features. Thus, features defined with "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of this application, "a plurality of" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise specifically defined.

[0066] In this application, unless otherwise clearly specified and defined, terms such as "mounted", "connected", "coupled", "fixed", etc. shall be construed in a broad sense. For example, it may be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or integrated; it may be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it may be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and it may be the communication inside two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements, unless otherwise clearly defined. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in this application can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0067] In this application, unless otherwise clearly specified and defined, the first feature being "on" or "under" the second feature may be that the first and second features are in direct contact, or the first and second features are in indirect contact through an intermediate medium. Moreover, the first feature being "above", "over" and "on top of" the second feature may mean that the first feature is directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or merely indicates that the first feature has a higher horizontal height than the second feature. The first feature being "under", "beneath" and "underneath" the second feature may be that the first feature is directly below or obliquely below the second feature, or merely indicates that the first feature has a lower horizontal height than the second feature.

[0068] It should be noted that when an element is referred to as "fixed to" or "disposed on" another element, it may be directly on the other element or there may also be an intermediate element. When an element is considered to be "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected to the other element or there may be an intermediate element at the same time. The terms "vertical", "horizontal", "above", "below", "left", "right" and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the only implementation.

[0069] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the technical field to which this application belongs. The terms used in the specification of this application are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit this application. The term "and / or" used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the related listed items.

Claims

1. A distributed thermal management system, characterized in that, The invention comprises a liquid storage chamber (100), a liquid pump (200), a liquid infusion tube group (300) and an external discharge device (500), wherein the external discharge device (500) is connected to the liquid storage chamber (100) through the liquid infusion tube group (300), and the liquid pump (200) is arranged on the liquid infusion tube group (300) to transport the cooling liquid in the liquid storage chamber (100) to the external discharge device (500) corresponding to each joint motor; The external discharge device (500) is connected to the stator winding (600) of the joint motor, and the cooling liquid can be discharged into the external space through the external discharge device (500) to take away the heat generated by the stator winding (600).

2. The distributed thermal management system according to claim 1, wherein The external discharge device (500) is provided with a vaporization cavity (511), and the coolant can be phase-changed from liquid to gas in the vaporization cavity (511) and discharged into the external space to remove the heat generated by the stator winding (600).

3. The distributed thermal management system according to claim 2, wherein The external discharge device (500) comprises a shell (510), a piston (520), a driving element (530), a first control valve (540), a second control valve (550) and a cooling jacket (560); the shell (510) is provided with the gasification chamber (511); the cooling jacket (560) is arranged on the outside of the stator winding (600); one end of the cooling jacket (560) is connected to the gasification chamber (511) through the first control valve (540), and the other end is connected to the infusion tube group (300); the gasification chamber (511) can be connected to the external space through the second control valve (550); the driving element (530) is connected to the rod end of the piston (520), and the piston (520) is movably sealed with the inner wall of the gasification chamber (511); When the driving element (530) drives the piston (520) to move in a direction away from the cooling jacket (560) and expands the volume of the gasification chamber (511), the liquid coolant in the cooling jacket (560) can enter the gasification chamber (511) through the first control valve (540) and be gasified into gaseous coolant; When the driving element (530) drives the piston (520) to move toward the cooling jacket (560) and reduces the volume of the vaporization chamber (511), the gaseous coolant in the vaporization chamber (511) can enter the external space through the second control valve (550).

4. The distributed thermal management system according to claim 3, wherein The external discharge device (500) also includes a liquid supply pipe (570) and a nozzle (580), wherein the liquid supply pipe (570) is arranged around the outer periphery of the cooling jacket (560), and a plurality of the nozzles (580) are circumferentially spaced along the inner circle of the liquid supply pipe (570), and the liquid delivery pipe group (300) is connected to the outer circle of the liquid supply pipe (570), and the nozzle (580) is sealed and penetrated through the cooling jacket (560) and is used to spray coolant toward the stator winding (600), and the reciprocating motion process of the piston (520) and the spraying action of the nozzle (580) toward the stator winding (600) are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence.

5. The distributed thermal management system according to claim 3, characterized in that, The first control valve (540), the second control valve (550) and the drive element (530) are electrically connected to a controller (800) respectively, and the controller (800) can control the actions of the first control valve (540), the second control valve (550) and the drive element (530) in real time.

6. The distributed thermal management system according to claim 3, characterized in that, The first control valve (540) is connected to the end of the housing (510) away from the drive element (530), and the second control valve (550) is connected to the circumferential side of the housing (510).

7. The distributed thermal management system according to claim 3, wherein The number of the second control valves (550) is multiple, and the multiple second control valves (550) are distributed at intervals on the outer peripheral side of the housing (510).

8. The distributed thermal management system according to claim 3, wherein Both the first control valve (540) and the second control valve (550) are one-way valves.

9. The distributed thermal management system according to claim 1, wherein An exhaust valve (110) is further included, and the exhaust valve (110) communicates above the liquid storage chamber (100) for discharging the gas in the liquid storage chamber (100).

10. A robot, characterized in that, It includes the distributed thermal management system according to any one of claims 1-9.

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