Concrete floor finishing robot

Abstract

We provide a wirelessly controlled concrete floor finishing robot capable of both roughing out poured concrete and finishing concrete floors. [Solution] The robot of the present invention is provided with a motor support plate 5 made of an elastic member on the upper part of the chassis 4 that supports the motor 1, the transmission 2, and the rotating shaft 3. By moving the central part of the motor support plate 5 up and down, the angle of the rotating shaft 3 is changed, and the inclination angle of the metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 fixed to the lower part of the rotating shaft 3 is changed. If the concrete has not hardened sufficiently, the inclination angle of the metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 is increased to smooth out any rough areas. If the concrete has hardened sufficiently, the inclination angle of the metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 is decreased to smooth the concrete surface. The control unit 23 receives control commands from the radio control unit and individually controls the rotation direction and speed of the two motors to make the robot move and rotate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a concrete floor finishing robot for smoothing a concrete floor surface.

Background Art

[0002] Among the serious labor shortages in the entire construction industry, the shortage of plasterers is particularly prominent. In particular, due to the harshness of the work and the shortage of technicians, the automation and unmanned operation by robots are strongly demanded for the finishing work of cast concrete floors.

[0003] In the mechanization at the stage before using robots, a machine that finishes the concrete floor with an engine-driven rotating blade is called a trowel and is active at many construction sites. This trowel has a method of being operated by a person with a long handle and a method of riding and operating, and both methods are engine-driven trowels. However, due to the large weight of the engine, exhaust gas, and large noise, its use is often restricted at construction sites.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

[0005] [Non-Patent Document 1] Ando Hazama Research Annual Report VOL. 8 2020 states that because ride-on trowels are heavy, they are only used for rough shaping and not for finishing work because they can cause surface spalling, suggesting that weight reduction is important for concrete finishing machinery. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0006] The challenge to be solved is to simplify the robot's mechanism to reduce weight and to appropriately change the inclination angle of the concrete floor finishing robot's running finishing member, thereby providing a wirelessly controlled robot that can perform both concrete removal (removing water and air from the concrete to bring the slurry to the surface) and concrete floor finishing functions. The control unit receives control commands from the wireless controller and individually controls the rotation direction and speed of the two motors to control the robot's movement and rotation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] Conventional concrete floor finishing robots used a single power unit to drive two rotary concrete trowels, one on each side, resulting in a complex power transmission mechanism and increased weight. However, in this invention, the robot's direction of travel and rotation can be freely controlled by individually controlling the rotation direction and speed of two power units (electric motors). As a result, the power transmission mechanism can be constructed using only a reduction gear, enabling a significant reduction in weight.

[0008] In this invention, a motor support plate is provided on the upper part of the robot chassis to support a motor, a transmission, and a rotating shaft. The motor support plate is equipped with a mechanism to move the central part up and down. The vertical movement of the center of the motor support plate changes the angle of the rotating shaft, which in turn changes the inclination angle of the running finishing member fixed to the lower part of the rotating shaft. If the concrete has not hardened sufficiently, the inclination angle of the running finishing member is increased to smooth out the surface, and if the concrete has hardened sufficiently, the inclination angle of the running finishing member is decreased to smooth the concrete surface. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] In this invention, the robot increases the inclination angle of the running finishing member when the concrete floor is soft after pouring, thereby increasing the load per unit area by reducing the contact area between the concrete floor and the running finishing member, and provides a rough finishing function. When the concrete floor has hardened, it decreases the inclination angle of the running finishing member, increasing the contact area between the concrete floor and the running finishing member, thereby decreasing the load per unit area and providing a smooth finish, thus achieving the effect of performing optimal work according to the progress of hardening of the concrete floor. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] A concrete floor finishing robot whose moving finishing component is a metal plate disc that moves up and down in the center of a motor support plate using a servo motor. (a) is a front view. (b) is a top view. [Figure 2]A concrete floor finishing robot with a tray-shaped moving finishing component that moves up and down the center of a motor support plate using an actuator. (a) is a front view. (b) is a top view. [Figure 3] A concrete floor finishing robot in which a moving finishing component moves up and down the center of a motor support plate using brushes and screws. (a) is a front view. (b) is a top view. [Figure 4] The relationship between the contact area between the disc of the moving finishing mechanism and the concrete floor, and its movement and rotation: (a) forward. (b) backward. (c) right rotation. (d) left rotation. [Figure 5] This diagram illustrates the relationship between the contact surface between the metal plate disc (traveling finishing member) of a concrete floor finishing robot and the concrete, and the movement trajectory. (a) is the movement trajectory of the chassis when it moves forward, with the outer circumference of the metal plate disc (traveling finishing member) near the longitudinal end of the chassis having a small contact surface. (b) is the movement trajectory of the chassis when it moves forward, with the outer circumference of the metal plate disc (traveling finishing member) near the longitudinal end of the chassis having a large contact surface. (c) is the movement trajectory of the chassis when it moves forward, with the outer circumference of the metal plate disc (traveling finishing member) near the short end of the chassis having a small contact surface. (d) is the movement trajectory of the chassis when it moves forward, with the outer circumference of the metal plate disc (traveling finishing member) near the short end of the chassis having a large contact surface. (e) is the movement trajectory of the chassis when it moves forward, with the combined contact area of ​​the outer circumference of the metal plate disc (traveling finishing member) near the longitudinal end of the chassis and the outer circumference of the metal plate disc (traveling finishing member) near the short end of the chassis being small. (f) This is the trajectory of the chassis's forward movement when the combined contact area between the outer circumference of the metal plate disc (running finish member) near the longitudinal end of the chassis and the outer circumference of the metal plate disc (running finish member) near the short end of the chassis is large. [Figure 6] A cross-sectional view of the rotating shaft section showing the relationship between the gearbox, the rotating shaft, and the thrust bearing. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] In this invention, the upper part of the rotating shaft is tilted away from the center in the longitudinal direction of the chassis, and the outer circumference of the metal plate disc (running finish member) fixed to the lower part of the rotating shaft is in the upward direction at the center of the chassis, while the outer circumference of the metal plate disc (running finish member) near the longitudinal end of the chassis is in contact with the concrete floor. By rotating the metal plate disc (running finish member), thrust is generated by the difference in frictional force between the metal plate disc at the center of the chassis and the metal plate disc at the longitudinal end of the chassis. Since the direction of this thrust changes depending on the rotation direction of the motor, forward, reverse, clockwise, and counterclockwise rotations can be achieved by individually changing the rotation direction of the two motors.

[0012] Two sets of three components—a motor that rotates in both forward and reverse directions, a gearbox that reduces the motor's rotation speed, and a rotating shaft that rotates after being reduced by the gearbox—are fixed symmetrically from the center of the motor support plate. Both ends of the motor support plate are fixed to the chassis, and the center of the elastic motor support plate is moved up and down using a screw, servo motor, or actuator, causing the left and right rotating shafts to tilt evenly relative to the chassis. The running finish member fixed to the lower end of the rotating shafts also tilts evenly in conjunction with the left and right sides. [Examples]

[0013] In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, two sets of three components—a motor 1, a gearbox 2 that reduces the rotational speed, and a rotating shaft 3 that rotates after being reduced by the gearbox 2—are fixed symmetrically from the center of an elastic motor support plate 5. Both ends of the motor support plate 5 are fixed to the chassis 4, and the center of the motor support plate 5 is moved up and down by a servo horn 14 of a servo motor 15, thereby tilting the left and right rotating shafts 3 evenly with respect to the chassis 1. The metal plate disc 6 of the running finishing member, which is fixed perpendicularly to the lower end of the rotating shaft 3, can also be tilted evenly. With respect to the vertical line 11 relative to the chassis 4, the rotation axis centerline 10 is inclined so that its upper part moves away from the center in the longitudinal direction of the chassis. When viewed from the front, the metal plate disc 6, which is the running finishing equipment, appears in a V-shape, and the outer circumference of the metal plate disc 6, which has both ends curved upwards, comes into contact with the poured concrete 7. The control device 23 receives commands from the wireless remote controller through the wireless antenna 24 and controls the motor 1 and the servo motor 15, so that the concrete floor finishing robot can be freely driven by the wireless remote controller to perform floating and finishing operations. Also, even when the concrete floor finishing robot is running, the servo motor 15 is controlled to change the angle of the metal plate disk 6 of the traveling finishing member according to the degree of curing of the concrete. In the embodiment, the angle of the metal plate disk 6 with respect to the concrete floor can exhibit the above functions within the range of 0.5 degrees to 2.0 degrees.

[0014] In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the actuator 25 fixed to the central portion of the motor support plate 5 moves the center of the motor support plate 5 up and down, changes the rotation axis center line 10 of the rotary shaft 3, and changes the inclination angle of the tray (traveling finishing member) 18 fixed to the tray support fitting 19 fixed to the lower end of the rotary shaft 3, so that the concrete floor finishing robot can be freely driven by the wireless remote controller to perform floating and finishing operations.

[0015] In the embodiment of FIG. 3, a brush support disk 23 is fixed to the lower end of the rotary shaft 3, a disk-shaped or donut-shaped brush 16 is attached to the brush support disk 23, and the brush 16 is rotated to freely travel on the concrete 17 for cleaning. The material of the brush 16 can be plastic or metal. Also, if a disk-shaped or donut-shaped and divided grindstone is used instead of the brush 16, the surface of the concrete 17 can be polished.

[0016] In the embodiment of FIG. 4, it shows the relationship between the rotation direction of the chassis 4 of the concrete floor finishing robot and the metal plate disk (traveling finishing member) 6 and the advancing or rotating direction. The hunting portion represents the contact surface 20 between the metal plate disk (traveling finishing member) 6 and the placed concrete 7. (a) The left metal plate disk (traveling finishing member) 6 rotates counterclockwise, the right metal plate disk (traveling finishing member) 6 rotates clockwise, and the chassis 4 moves forward. (b) The left metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 rotates to the right, and the right metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 rotates to the left, causing the chassis 4 to move backward. (c) The left metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 rotates counterclockwise, and the right metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 rotates clockwise, causing the chassis 4 to rotate clockwise. (d) The left metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 rotates to the right, and the right metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 rotates to the left, causing the chassis 4 to move to the left.

[0017] Figure 5 shows the relationship between the contact surface 20 between the metal plate disc (traveling finishing member) 6 of the concrete floor finishing robot and the concrete 7, and the movement trajectory 21. Note that the metal plate disc (traveling finishing member) 6 on the left rotates counterclockwise, and the metal plate disc (traveling finishing member) 6 on the right rotates clockwise. (a) is the forward movement trajectory 21 of the chassis 4 when the contact surface 20 on the outer side of the metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 is small. (b) is the forward movement trajectory 21 of the chassis 4 when the contact surface 20 on the outer side of the metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 is large. (c) When the contact surface 20 at the rear of the metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 is small, the chassis 4 does not move. (d) When the contact surface 20 at the rear of the metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 is large, the chassis 4 does not move. (e) is the forward movement trajectory 21 of the chassis 4 when the combined contact area of ​​the outer side and rear of the metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 is small. (f) is the forward movement trajectory 21 of the chassis 4 when the combined contact area of ​​the outer side and rear of the metal plate disc (running finishing member) 6 is large. As shown in the example above, the area of ​​the movement trajectory 21 can be increased by shifting the center of gravity of chassis 4 in the shorter direction.

[0018] In the embodiment shown in Figure 6, the load of the concrete floor finishing robot is supported by the rotating shaft 3, but a thrust bearing 12 is inserted between the gearbox 2 and the rotating shaft 3, which has an enlarged cross-sectional area at the lower end of the gearbox 2, to reduce frictional resistance due to rotation. [Industrial applicability]

[0019] The robot of the present invention is equipped with a motor, a transmission, and a motor support plate that supports the rotating shaft on the upper part of the chassis, and has a mechanism that moves the center of the motor support plate up and down. By moving the center of the motor support plate up and down, the angle of the rotating shaft is changed, and the inclination angle of the running finishing member fixed to the lower part of the rotating shaft is changed. If the concrete has not hardened sufficiently, the inclination angle of the running finishing member is increased to perform leveling. If the concrete has hardened, the inclination angle of the running finishing member can be reduced, allowing for a smooth finish on the concrete surface. Furthermore, its simple mechanism allows for lightweight construction, making it easy to transport by hand even on uneven construction sites. Furthermore, its lightweight design reduces motor power consumption, allowing for extended operation. This is a significant advantage, as it enables even less skilled plasterers to perform shaping and finishing work wirelessly, making it highly useful on construction sites. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0020] 1 motor 2 gearbox 3 rotation axes 4 Chassis 5. Motor support plate 6. Metal plate disc (running finishing component) 7. Concrete pouring 8 screws 9 nuts 10. Centerline of the rotation axis 11. Perpendicular line to the chassis 12 Thrust Bearings 13 C-type retaining ring 14 Servo Horns 15 Servo motors 16. Brush (running finish component) 17 Concrete 18 Tray (running finish component) 19 Tray support bracket 20 Contact surface 21 Movement trajectory 22 Brush support disc 23 Control device 24 Antennas 25 Actuators

Claims

1. A concrete floor finishing robot characterized by a motor support plate that features two sets of three components: a motor that rotates in forward and reverse directions, a gearbox that reduces the rotation speed of the motor, and a rotating shaft that rotates after being reduced by the gearbox, fixed symmetrically from the center of the motor support plate, both ends of the motor support plate fixed to the chassis, and the center of the motor support plate being moved up and down with a screw, servo motor, or actuator to tilt the left and right motor rotating shafts evenly with respect to the longitudinal direction of the chassis, thereby causing the running finishing member fixed to the lower end of the rotating shaft to tilt evenly to the left and right in conjunction with the motor support plate.

2. The concrete floor finishing robot according to claim 1, characterized in that a thrust bearing is inserted between the gearbox and a rotating shaft whose cross-sectional area is increased at the lower end of the gearbox.

3. The concrete floor finishing robot according to claim 1, characterized in that a traveling and finishing mechanism having both traveling and finishing functions is fixed perpendicularly to the lower end of a rotating shaft, the upper part of which of the rotating shaft is inclined away from the center in the longitudinal direction of the chassis, and the traveling and finishing mechanism is composed of a metal plate disc with both ends curved upward, a disc-shaped brush, or a disc-shaped grinding wheel.

4. The concrete floor finishing robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the center of gravity of the concrete floor finishing robot is shifted in the direction of the shorter side of the chassis.

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