A wave-propelled biomimetic surface robot

Abstract

The utility model relates to a water surface robot, especially involve a kind of bionic water surface robot based on wave propulsion, including hull, the two sides of the hull are connected with flexible drive wing respectively, flexible drive wing includes main wing bone, several auxiliary wing bones and flexible wing piece, main wing bone includes piezoelectric bimorph, sealing connection module, upper extension wing bone and lower extension wing bone, the inside of hull is equipped with engine room, controller and power supply are equipped in engine room, piezoelectric bimorph is connected with controller.The hull is shaped like a ray, the power output system is the flexible drive wing arranged symmetrically in the two sides of hull, the piezoelectric bimorph vibration of main wing bone in controller control flexible drive wing, the vibration of piezoelectric bimorph converts electric energy into mechanical energy, exports the sine wave vibration with specific frequency, drives auxiliary wing bone and flexible wing piece to form sine wave and realizes wave propulsion, through the reaction force between liquid medium, and then generates the power of driving bionic water surface robot movement.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to a water surface robot, and more particularly to a biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion. Background Technology

[0002] Unmanned surface vessels (USVs), as autonomous waterborne platforms, play a crucial role in marine monitoring, environmental protection, and emergency rescue. Biomimetic propulsion systems, mimicking the propulsion patterns of fish, integrate multiple technologies and offer numerous advantages. Currently, biomimetic propulsion technologies mainly include wave propulsion, jet propulsion, and hybrid propulsion. Among them, wave propulsion mimics the tail and pectoral fins of fish, generating propulsion force through the periodic undulation or swaying of fins or body parts, offering advantages such as high energy efficiency and low noise.

[0003] Existing biomimetic propulsion systems based on pectoral fins suffer from low propulsion speed and poor endurance. Furthermore, research is largely limited to theoretical studies and miniaturized simplified prototype testing, with insufficient exploration of high speed, high efficiency, and multiple motion modes, making it difficult to meet the demands of engineering applications. Therefore, there is a need to design a novel biomimetic surface robot based on wave propulsion to address these issues. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This invention aims to solve the problems of low propulsion speed and poor endurance of existing pectoral fin-driven bionic propulsion systems, which are difficult to meet engineering applications. It provides a bionic water surface robot based on wave propulsion, comprising a hull with flexible drive wings connected to both sides. Each flexible drive wing includes a main wing bone, several auxiliary wing bones, and flexible winglets. The main and auxiliary wing bones are arranged sequentially from front to back along the side of the hull, and the flexible winglets cover the main and auxiliary wing bones. The main wing bone includes a piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer, a sealed connection module, an upper extended wing bone, and a lower extended wing bone. The piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer is elongated, and its wire ends are connected to the sealed connection module. The piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer is connected to the hull through the sealed connection module. The upper and lower extended wing bones are fixed to the upper and lower ends of the piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer, respectively. An engine room is located inside the hull, containing a controller and a power supply. The controller is connected to the power supply, and the wires of the piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer pass through the sealed connection module and are connected to the controller.

[0005] Furthermore, the hull (in the shape of a ray) is a symmetrical spindle-shaped structure, with the thickness in the middle being greater than the thickness on the left and right sides and at both ends, and the outer surface is streamlined; two parallel vertical tails are provided below the stern.

[0006] Furthermore, the left and right sides of the hull are respectively provided with drive wing mounting slots, which sequentially include main wing bone mounting slots and several auxiliary wing bone mounting slots. The main wing bone mounting slots are connected to the engine room of the hull. The main wing bone of the flexible drive wing is fixed to the main wing bone mounting slot through a sealing connection module, and one end of the auxiliary wing bone is fixed to the auxiliary wing bone mounting slot. The drive wing mounting slot is provided with a mounting slot cover, which is fastened to the drive wing mounting slot.

[0007] Furthermore, the upper part of the engine room of the hull is provided with a top cover, which is detachably and sealed to the hull.

[0008] Furthermore, the flexible winglet of the flexible drive wing includes an upper winglet film and a lower winglet film, which are respectively sealed and attached to the upper and lower surfaces of the main wing bone and the auxiliary wing bone.

[0009] Furthermore, the front of the hull is provided with an expansion module connector, which is connected to a controller inside the engine room via wires.

[0010] Furthermore, the upper part of the hull is provided with several lifting rings.

[0011] The working principle of this utility model:

[0012] This utility model provides a biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion. The robot has a fish-shaped appearance and moves by mimicking the sinusoidal wave propulsion of the pectoral fins of a ray, based on the wave propulsion principle in bionics.

[0013] The robot's hull serves to provide buoyancy for the robot and support electrical components. Its design requires low drag, employing a streamlined, spindle-shaped hull for low drag while maintaining good lateral stability and load-bearing capacity. A twin-tail design further enhances lateral stability.

[0014] The power output system consists of flexible drive wings symmetrically arranged on both sides of the hull. The controller controls the vibration of the piezoelectric bicrystalline wafers in the main wing bone of the flexible drive wing. The vibration of the piezoelectric bicrystalline wafers converts electrical energy into mechanical energy and outputs a sinusoidal waveform vibration with a specific frequency. This drives the auxiliary wing bone and flexible winglets to form a sinusoidal wave to achieve wave propulsion. Through the reaction force between the wing bone and the liquid medium, the power to drive the biomimetic water surface robot is generated.

[0015] The beneficial effects of this utility model are:

[0016] 1) Low-noise drive: The piezoelectric dual-crystal brake is used instead of the traditional motor, which significantly reduces motion noise and environmental interference.

[0017] 2) High energy efficiency: The piezoelectric dual-chip drive has the characteristic of small-amplitude high-frequency vibration, which can effectively reduce energy consumption while achieving precise driving, and has good environmental adaptability and battery life advantage.

[0018] 3) High energy conversion rate: Compared with traditional propellers, wave propulsion has a higher energy conversion efficiency, reaching 70% to 80%.

[0019] 4) Modular design: The ship adopts a modular structure. The expansion module connector at the front of the hull supports rapid functional expansion and mission customization. It has reserved interfaces for replacing mission modules, enabling the addition of remote sensing systems. It can carry cameras, water quality sensors, robotic arms, or sampling containers to further meet the needs of multiple scenarios such as marine exploration and pipeline inspection.

[0020] 5) Rapid deployment design: The whole machine is lightweight and compact. The lifting ring on the upper part of the hull supports drone airdrop or robotic arm grabbing and hoisting, which significantly improves emergency response efficiency and promotes the transformation of biomimetic robots from the laboratory to engineering application.

[0021] 6) Eco-friendly: Through precise control of the frequency and amplitude of the biomimetic fin oscillation, the intensity of water flow disturbance can be significantly reduced, making it suitable for ecologically sensitive scenarios such as coral reef monitoring; drawing on the biomimetic locomotion of rays, it balances structural simplification and propulsion performance without completely replicating the shape of rays. Attached Figure Description

[0022] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of this utility model;

[0023] Figure 2 This is an exploded view of the flexible drive wing structure of this utility model;

[0024] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the exploded structure of the main wing bone of this utility model;

[0025] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the hull structure of this utility model;

[0026] 1. Hull, 2. Flexible drive wing, 3. Main wing bone, 4. Secondary wing bone, 5. Flexible winglet, 6. Piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer, 7. Sealed connection module, 8. Upper extension wing bone, 9. Lower extension wing bone, 10. Engine room, 11. Vertical tail, 12. Main wing bone mounting slot, 13. Secondary wing bone mounting slot, 14. Mounting slot cover, 15. Top cover, 16. Upper winglet membrane, 17. Lower winglet membrane, 18. Extension module connector, 19. Lifting ring. Detailed Implementation

[0027] The following is in conjunction with the appendix Figure 1-4 Some embodiments of this utility model will be described.

[0028] Example 1

[0029] like Figure 1-4As shown, this embodiment provides a biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion, including a hull 1. Flexible drive wings 2 are symmetrically connected to both sides of the hull 1. Each flexible drive wing 2 includes a main wing bone 3, three auxiliary wing bones 4, and flexible winglets 5. The main wing bone 3 and auxiliary wing bones 4 are arranged sequentially from front to back along the side of the hull 1, and the flexible winglets 5 cover the main wing bone 3 and auxiliary wing bones 4. The main wing bone 3 includes a piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer 6, a sealing connection module 7, an upper extension wing bone 8, and a lower extension wing bone 9. The piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer 6 is elongated, and the wire ends of the piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer 6 are connected to the sealing connection module 7. The piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer 6 is connected to the hull 1 through the sealing connection module 7. The upper extension wing bone 8 and the lower extension wing bone 9 are fixed to the upper and lower ends of the piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer 6, respectively. The hull 1 has an engine room 10 inside, which contains a controller and a power supply. The controller is connected to the power supply, and the wires of the piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer 6 pass through the sealing connection module 7 and are connected to the controller. The upper extension wing bone 8 and lower extension wing bone 9 of the main wing bone 3, as well as the auxiliary wing bone 4, are made of iron composite material with high elasticity, low wave attenuation coefficient and low metal fatigue, to ensure that the wave transmission direction and stability are highly controllable.

[0030] The hull 1 is modeled after a ray, with a symmetrical spindle-shaped structure. The thickness in the middle is greater than the thickness on the left and right sides and at both ends. The tail is flat and the outer surface is streamlined. Two parallel vertical tails 11 are provided below the tail.

[0031] The hull 1 has drive wing mounting slots on its left and right sides, and the drive wing mounting slots include a main wing bone mounting slot 12 and three auxiliary wing bone mounting slots 13. The main wing bone mounting slot 12 is connected to the engine room 10 of the hull 1. The main wing bone 3 of the flexible drive wing 2 is sealed and fixedly connected to the main wing bone mounting slot 12 through a sealing connection module 7, and one end of the auxiliary wing bone 4 is fixedly connected to the auxiliary wing bone mounting slot 13. The drive wing mounting slot is provided with a mounting slot cover 14, which is fastened to the drive wing mounting slot to fix the connection end of the main wing bone 3 and the auxiliary wing bone 4. The upper surface of the mounting slot cover 14 is streamlined and connects with the surface of the hull 1 to reduce resistance.

[0032] The engine room 10 of the hull 1 is provided with a top cover 15, which is sealed to the hull 1 to seal the engine room 10.

[0033] The flexible wing 5 of the flexible drive wing 2 includes an upper wing film 16 and a lower wing film 17. The upper wing film 16 and the lower wing film 17 are respectively sealed and attached to the upper and lower surfaces of the main wing bone 3 and the auxiliary wing bone 4 to reduce drag.

[0034] In this embodiment, the lengths of the main wing bone 3 and the last auxiliary wing bone 4 are shorter than those of the two middle auxiliary wing bones 4. The outer edges of the upper wing membrane 16 and the lower wing membrane 17 are arc-shaped, forming an arc-shaped flexible drive wing 2 to reduce flow resistance.

[0035] The working principle of this utility model:

[0036] This utility model provides a biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion. The robot has a fish-shaped appearance and moves by mimicking the sinusoidal wave propulsion of the pectoral fins of a ray, based on the wave propulsion principle in bionics.

[0037] The robot hull 1 serves to provide buoyancy for the robot and support electrical components. Designed to have low drag, hull 1 adopts a streamlined, spindle-shaped design for low drag, while also possessing good lateral stability and load-bearing capacity. It also employs a twin-tail design 11 to further enhance lateral stability.

[0038] The power output system consists of flexible drive wings 2 symmetrically arranged on both sides of the hull 1. The piezoelectric bicrystalline wafers 6 of the main wing bone 3 in the flexible drive wing 2 convert electrical energy into mechanical energy under the excitation control of the periodic sinusoidal voltage output by the controller, and output a sinusoidal waveform with a specific frequency that vibrates up and down. Through the upper extended wing bone 8 and the lower extended wing bone 9, the flexible wing plate 5 is driven to form a sinusoidal wave. The auxiliary wing bone 4 fluctuates with the flexible wing plate 5. Through the reaction force between the wing bone and the liquid medium, the power to drive the biomimetic water surface robot is generated.

[0039] Example 2

[0040] This embodiment provides a biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion. Building upon Embodiment 1, the front end of the hull 1 is equipped with an expansion module connector 18, which is connected to a controller inside the engine room 10 via wires. External devices such as cameras, water quality sensors, robotic arms, or sampling containers can be connected to the expansion module connector 18 to further meet the needs of various scenarios, including ocean exploration and pipeline inspection.

[0041] Example 3

[0042] This embodiment provides a biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion. Based on embodiment 1, the upper part of the hull 1 is provided with three lifting rings, which are distributed on the left and right sides and the stern of the upper part of the hull 1. These rings support drone airdrop or robotic arm grasping and hoisting, thereby improving the robot's multi-scenario carrying performance.

[0043] Example 4

[0044] This embodiment provides a biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion. Based on any of the above embodiments, the controller includes a microcontroller, an isolation and signal amplification circuit, a half-bridge inverter circuit, a boost circuit, and an impedance matching circuit. The microcontroller, the isolation and signal amplification circuit, the half-bridge inverter circuit, the boost circuit, and the impedance matching circuit are connected in sequence. The impedance matching circuit is connected to the piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer 6.

Claims

1. A biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion, characterized in that: The vessel includes a hull, with flexible drive wings connected to both sides. Each flexible drive wing comprises a main wing rib, several auxiliary wing ribs, and flexible winglets. The main and auxiliary wing ribs are arranged sequentially from front to back along the sides of the hull, and the flexible winglets cover the main and auxiliary wing ribs. The main wing rib includes a piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer, a sealed connection module, an upper extension wing rib, and a lower extension wing rib. The piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer is elongated, and its wire ends are connected to the sealed connection module. The piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer is connected to the hull through the sealed connection module. The upper and lower extension wing ribs are fixed to the upper and lower ends of the piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer, respectively. The hull contains an engine room, which houses a controller and a power supply. The controller is connected to the power supply, and the wires of the piezoelectric bicrystalline wafer pass through the sealed connection module and are connected to the controller.

2. The biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion according to claim 1, characterized in that: The hull is a symmetrical spindle-shaped structure, with the thickness in the middle being greater than that on the left and right sides and at both ends, and the outer surface is streamlined; two parallel vertical tails are provided below the stern.

3. The biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion according to claim 1, characterized in that: The hull has drive wing mounting slots on its left and right sides respectively. The drive wing mounting slots include a main wing bone mounting slot and several auxiliary wing bone mounting slots. The main wing bone mounting slot is connected to the engine room of the hull. The main wing bone of the flexible drive wing is fixed to the main wing bone mounting slot through a sealing connection module, and one end of the auxiliary wing bone is fixed to the auxiliary wing bone mounting slot. The drive wing mounting slot is provided with a mounting slot cover, which is fastened to the drive wing mounting slot.

4. The biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion according to claim 1, characterized in that: The engine room of the ship is equipped with a top cover, which is sealed to the hull.

5. A biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion according to claim 1, characterized in that: The flexible winglet of the flexible drive wing includes an upper winglet membrane and a lower winglet membrane, which are respectively sealed and attached to the upper and lower surfaces of the main wing bone and the auxiliary wing bone.

6. A biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bow of the hull is equipped with an expansion module connector, which is connected to the controller inside the engine room via wires.

7. A biomimetic water surface robot based on wave propulsion according to claim 1, characterized in that: The upper part of the hull is equipped with several lifting rings.

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