JPS6260237B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flexible arm device used, for example, in industrial robots.

Prior Art Most of the arms used in industrial robots employ link mechanisms. This link mechanism is not suitable when the work space is narrow and there are obstacles in front. In order to overcome this drawback, an arm was constructed by connecting a large number of discs with varying thicknesses, and by rotating these discs, the arm could be bent in any direction (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58 - Publication No. 59785)
and multi-jointed arm (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 129687/1987)
is proposed.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, although the above-mentioned conventional arm can be bent in any direction, it cannot be expanded and contracted at the same time, which poses a problem when attempting to automate complex processes. Ta.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the flexible arm device of the present invention has three rod-shaped bodies arranged radially at 120° intervals in a first plane and each having one end connected to the other. a sliding body held by each rod-shaped body so as to be slidable in the axial direction thereof, and one end of which is pivotally supported by the other end of each of the rod-shaped bodies, in a second plane perpendicular to the first plane. The first and second
A first swing link that connects each first swing link and a corresponding sliding body to guide the first swing link in one space partitioned by a first plane.
a second swing link that connects each second swing link and its corresponding sliding body and guides the second swing link within the other space partitioned by the first plane;
A plurality of basic units consisting of connecting links are connected via spherical bearings interposed between the other ends of the corresponding swinging links, and the unit is located at the end of the plurality of basic units. The free end of each swing link of the basic unit and the frame are connected via drive swing links, and a spherical bearing is interposed at the connection between each swing link and each drive swing link. In addition, a cylinder device is provided for separately swinging each of the driving swing links. In the above configuration, the cylinder device causes the first and second cylinders provided at one end of the rod-shaped body to be arranged at 120° intervals.
If each set of swing links is swung at the same swing angle, the flexible arm will expand and contract, and if each set of first and second swing links are swung at different swing angles, the flexible arm will expand and contract. The flexible arm bends in a predetermined direction.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. 1 is a flexible arm device,
A plurality of basic units 3 (two in this embodiment) forming the flexible arm 2, a first end unit 4 connected to one end of the basic unit 3, and the other end of the basic unit 3. a second end unit 5 connected to the side;
and a drive device 6 that bends the flexible arm 2 in any direction and extends and contracts it via the second end unit 5. Hereinafter, the flexible arm 2, the first end unit 4, the second end unit 5, and the drive device 6 will be explained in this order. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the flexible arm 2 is composed of a plurality of basic units 3. As shown in FIGS. This basic unit body 3 has a first plane (for example, a first plane).
Three rod-like bodies 8 are arranged radially at 120° intervals in a horizontal plane (in the figure) and are connected at one end to each other via a cylindrical connecting member 7, and each of these rod-like bodies 8 is connected in the axial direction. A sliding body (for example, a linear bearing) 9 that is slidably held on the outside by
A connecting pin (first
(has an axis within a plane and perpendicular to the rod-shaped body 8)
first and second swing links 11 and 12 that are pivotally supported via a first swing link 10 and swingable within a second plane (vertical plane in FIG. 1) perpendicular to the first plane; The middle part of the link 11 and the corresponding sliding body 9 are connected to each other so that the first swing link 11 can swing within one space (the upper space in FIG. 1) divided by the first plane. First connecting link 1 to guide
4, and the middle part of each second swing link 12 and the corresponding sliding body 9 are connected to form the second swing link 12.
the other space separated by the first plane (the first
In the figure, the second connecting link 15 guides the swinging movement within the lower space (in the figure). In addition, the length of each rod-shaped body 8 comrades, each swing link 1
1, 12 comrades length and each connecting link 14, 1
The lengths of the five comrades are equal, and each swing link 11, 12 and each connecting link 1
4 and 15 are provided alternately on both sides of the rod-shaped body 8, and the ends of each of the connecting links 14 and 15 are connected to the other by attachment pins 16 that are parallel to the connecting pin 10, respectively. The flexible arm 2 is made up of two of the basic unit bodies 3 connected together, and a spherical bearing 17 is used at the connecting portion. That is, a spherical bearing is connected to the other end (upper end) of the first swing link 11 of one (for example, lower) basic unit 3A via a mounting pin (having an axis parallel to the connecting pin 10). 17 is attached, and a holding box 19 for holding the spherical bearing 17 is attached to the other end (lower end) of the second swing link 12 of the other (for example, upper) basic unit 3B. Next, the first and second end units 4 and 5 will be explained. As shown in Figure 1,
The first end unit 4 includes the flexible arm 2
It is for connecting the operating part (for example, the wrist part) of the robot, and it has three connecting rod-like bodies 20 that are radially connected like the basic unit body 3, and the same as the second swing link 12. Swing link 21 for connection of
This connecting swing link 21 and the first swing link 11 of the basic unit 3B above the flexible arm 2 are also connected via the same spherical bearing 17 as described above. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the second end unit 5 connects the flexible arm 2 and its drive device 6, and is used for driving similar to the first swing link 11 of the basic unit 3. One end of the swing link 22 is the basic unit 3
The second swing link 12 of the basic unit 3A below the flexible arm 2 is supported on the pedestal 23 via the support pin 24 in the same arrangement as above, and the other end is supported via the same spherical bearing 17 as above. is connected to. Next, to explain the drive device, the mount 2 at the position corresponding to each of the drive swing links 22
A cylinder device (for example, a hydraulic cylinder) 25 is attached to the lower surface of each piston rod 25a, and each piston rod 25a is attached to each drive swing link 2.
2 through a connecting pin 26.

Therefore, when the three cylinder devices 25 disposed on the lower surface of the pedestal 23 are operated with the same stroke amount to swing each driving swing link 22 downward, the second swing of the basic unit 3 is caused. dynamic link 1
2 follows, and the rod-shaped body 8 and this second swing link 12
At the same time as the angle (α) formed between the rod-shaped body 8 and the first swing link 11 becomes smaller, the sliding body 9 moves inward, and the angle (β) formed between the rod-shaped body 8 and the first swing link 11 also becomes smaller (of course, α=β ). Therefore, it will shrink overall. Furthermore, if the stroke amount of, for example, one of the three cylinder devices 25 is increased, the drive swing link 22 connected to that cylinder device 25 will tilt more than the other drive swing links 22. Each of the swing links 11, 12, and 21 connected to the driving swing link 22 also tilts significantly, so that the flexible arm 2 as a whole expands and contracts as well as bends in that direction. In addition, since the spherical bearings 17 are interposed at the connecting portions of the unit bodies 3, 4, and 5, the flexible arm 2 can freely tilt. Furthermore, by appropriately selecting the stroke amounts of the three cylinder devices 25, the length of the flexible arm 2 and its bending direction can be freely adjusted. In addition,
FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of the flexible arm 2 bent in a certain direction.

Effects of the Invention According to the configuration of the present invention described above, the flexible arm includes three rod-shaped bodies arranged at 120° intervals;
Since a plurality of basic units consisting of first and second swing links that swing in opposite directions are connected to each end of each of these rod-like bodies, the cylinder device allows the first and second swing links to be connected to each other. By swinging each set of links at the same angle, the spacing between the rod-like bodies, that is, the flexible arms, can be expanded and contracted.
In addition, since a spherical bearing is interposed in the connecting portion between the basic unit bodies, if each set of the first and second swing links is swung at different angles, the structure formed by each rod-shaped body can be adjusted. The first planes can be inclined with respect to each other, so that the flexible arm can be extended and contracted and also inclined in any direction.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a connecting portion of a rod-like body, FIG. 3 is a view taken along the - arrow in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the swing link portion, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the connecting link portion, FIG. 6 is a side view of the drive device, and FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing the operation. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Flexible arm device, 2... Flexible arm, 3, 3A, 3B... Basic unit body, 5... Second end unit body, 6... Drive device, 8... Rod-shaped body, 9...
Sliding body, 11... First swing link, 12... Second swing link, 14... First connection link, 15... Second connection link, 17... Spherical bearing, 21... Swing link for connection, 22... For driving Swing link, 23... Frame, 25
...Cylinder device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Three rod-shaped bodies arranged radially at 120° intervals in a first plane and connected to each other at one end, and a sliding body held by each rod-shaped body so as to be slidable in its axial direction. , first and second swing links, each of which has one end pivotally supported by the other end of each of the rod-shaped bodies and is swingable in a second plane perpendicular to the first plane; and each first swing link. and a sliding body corresponding thereto, and a first connecting link that guides the first swinging link in one space partitioned by the first plane, and each second swinging link and the sliding body corresponding thereto. and a second connecting link that connects the two and guides the second swinging link in the other space separated by the first plane, between the other ends of the corresponding swinging links. A plurality of swinging links are connected via interposed spherical bearings, and each swinging link free end of the basic unit located at the end of the plurality of basic units is connected to the base. A spherical bearing is interposed in the connecting portion between each swing link and each drive swing link, and a cylinder device is provided for separately swinging each of the drive swing links. A flexible arm device featuring: