Explosion-Proof Legged Robot With Overpressure and Flame-Proof Actuators
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing legged robots designed for hazardous environments, particularly explosive gas or dust, face challenges in preventing explosions when exposed to such conditions due to the need for heavy, hermetically sealed full body shells.
Innovation Solution
A legged robot design featuring an explosion-proof torso with overpressure and explosion-proof actuators with flame-proof gaps, combined with a gas-tight cable gland to prevent environmental gas or dust from entering critical components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a full body shell hermetically sealed against the ambient environment is used, then explosion protection is improved, but the robot weight increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The robot is divided into two functional zones: an explosion-proof zone containing actuators with sealed housings, and a non-explosion-proof zone containing the torso with electronics. This segmentation allows only critical components to have heavy protective housing, reducing overall weight while maintaining explosion protection where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of uniformly sealing the entire robot body, explosion-proof features are applied locally only to actuator housings that require protection from explosive atmospheres. The torso and electronics remain unprotected, eliminating unnecessary weight while maintaining safety in critical areas.
2Reliability
If flame proof gaps are designed with sufficient length to prevent flame propagation, then explosion protection is improved, but the actuator housing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flame proof gap dimensions are optimized to specific parameter ranges (length of 6-10mm, width less than 0.5mm) that provide adequate flame propagation prevention while maintaining manufacturing feasibility. These parameter specifications balance safety requirements with practical housing design simplicity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design effectively prevents ignition of the environment by maintaining overpressure within the robot torso and using explosion-proof actuators, while allowing for a lightweight construction that is not compromised by the need for heavy, hermetically sealed components.
Implementation Method 1
The housing is constructed to have flame proof gaps that are big enough that air or gas can circulate from the environment into the housing, but are small enough to prohibit that potential fires that are released by an explosion within the housing can get to the outside of the housing and ignite the environment
Implementation Method 2
An absolute pressure pc within the cavity is higher than an ambient pressure pa. To achieve this overpressure, the cavity is advantageously filled with nitrogen gas. The technical effect of the overpressure is to avoid any penetration of environmental gas or dust into the cavity
Data Source
AI summary
The invention refers to a legged robot (1000) comprising a torso (1) with a cavity (10) enclosing at least one robot component (11) and at least one leg with at least one actuator (100) that comprises an explosion proof housing. An absolute pressure (Pc) within the cavity (10) is higher than an ambient pressure (Pa), and wherein the explosion proof housing of the actuator (100) comprises at least one flame proof gap (105).