JPH064414B2 - Center drum centering mechanism in in-pipe traveling device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention has a center drum and a plurality of traveling units around the center drum, and each traveling unit is held in the center drum by a telescopic arm. In a traveling device, the present invention relates to a centering mechanism for always positioning the center drum at the center of the device regardless of the expansion and contraction of the telescopic arm.

[Prior Art and Problems Thereof] Conventionally, an inspector enters an inside of a pipe such as a water pipe by using an inspection device such as an ultrasonic flaw detector, a thickness gauge, and a camera.

However, a scaffold is required when inspecting a large-diameter pipe having a diameter of 2 m or more by such a method. Especially, for a water pipe having a steep slope, it takes a lot of time and effort to construct the scaffold. However, there is a problem in that the efficiency of the entire inspection is poor and the inspection work is dangerous in any case.

In the case of steeply inclined water pipes, it is possible to use a large device that suspends the gondola from the top for construction, but a considerable opening is required to carry such a device into the pipe. Yes, it is not suitable for frequent periodic inspections.

In view of such conventional problems, the present inventors have developed an in-pipe traveling device that is capable of self-propelled in a large-diameter pipe and also in an inclined pipe line by mounting inspection equipment. This device has a center drum that can include an inspection device and the like, and a plurality of traveling units arranged around the center drum, and has a basic structure in which each traveling unit is held by the center drum by a telescopic arm. Each traveling unit has a traveling roller with a steering mechanism that comes into contact with the inner surface of the pipe, and by imparting a steering angle to the traveling roller, the device is rotated on the inner surface of the pipe like a wheel. It is to move in the axial direction. In such a device, the expansion and contraction of the telescopic arm allows the outer diameter of the entire device to be changed according to the pipe diameter, device passage area, etc., and the traveling rollers of each traveling unit are pressed against the inner surface of the pipe by the telescopic arm. The holding action of the device in the inclined pipe is obtained.

By the way, when performing a pipe inner surface inspection with such a traveling device, it is preferable that the mounted inspection device is always kept at an equal distance to the pipe inner surface. For this purpose, the center drum to which the inspection device is attached is Regardless of the degree of expansion / contraction of the telescopic arm, it should always be located in the center of the device. In addition, in the case of this device that travels while rotating like a wheel in the pipe, the center of gravity must always be kept at the center of the device to ensure stable running. It is desirable to let

Based on such a demand, the present invention provides a mechanism capable of always positioning the center drum at the center of the apparatus regardless of the degree of expansion and contraction of the expandable arm.

[Means for Solving the Problem] Therefore, according to the present invention, the telescopic arm has a pair of cylinder devices in which the rod extends in the opposite direction and is slidably inserted into the through guide hole provided in the center drum. The traveling units that are opposed to each other with the center drum interposed therebetween are connected by the telescopic arm, the rack bodies are provided on the cylinder bodies of the two cylinder devices that form the telescopic arm, and both sides of the center drum have the cylinders. The basic feature is that a pinion that meshes with the rack portion of the device is provided.

[Operation] The traveling rollers of the traveling unit that face each other across the center drum are pressed against the inner surface of the pipe by the action of the telescopic arm,
As a result, the device holding action in the inclined pipe or the like can be obtained.

The distance between the traveling units facing each other can be changed by the expansion and contraction of the expansion and contraction arm, and thereby the diameter of the device is changed according to the pipe diameter, the passage portion, and the like. The expansion and contraction of the expansion and contraction arm is carried out by operating a pair of cylinder devices constituting the expansion and contraction mechanism in synchronization with each other. However, due to the function of the centering mechanism, the center drum always opposes the traveling unit regardless of the distance between the traveling units facing each other. Located in between, as a result of which the device is held in a shape in which the center drum is always in the center of the travel units.

[Embodiment] FIGS. 1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention.

The in-pipe traveling device includes a center drum (1) that can include an inspection device, and a plurality of traveling units (2A1) (2A2) arranged around the center drum.
(2B1) and (2B2) are provided with telescopic arms (3A) and (3B) that hold each traveling unit with respect to the center drum.

The traveling units (2A1) (2A2) (2B1) (2B2) are located on substantially the same plane including the center drum (1), and are arranged at intervals of 90 ° with the center drum (1) as the center. Of these, traveling units (2A1) and (2A1
2), the traveling units (2B1) and (2B2) face each other with the center drum (1) sandwiched therebetween to form a pair of traveling units.

In the above structure, the center drum (1) is formed with a pair of through guide holes (6A) for inserting a pair of cylinder devices constituting one telescopic arm (3A). A pair of penetrating guide holes (6B) are formed in the direction orthogonal to (6A) for inserting a cylinder device constituting another telescopic arm (3B).

The telescopic arms (3A) and (3B) connect the traveling units facing each other, and the former is the traveling unit (2A).
1) and (2A2), and the latter connects the traveling units (2B1) and (2B2), respectively, and both of these telescopic arms intersect in the center drum.

Each telescopic arm is composed of a pair of parallel cylinder devices (9) having rods (91) extending in opposite directions, and a pair of cylinder devices (9) (cylinders) constituting the telescopic arm (3A). A pair of cylinder devices (9) (cylinder body (90)) in which the main body (90) constitutes the through guide hole (6A) of the center drum (1) and the telescopic arm (3B).
Are respectively inserted into the through guide holes (6B) so as to be able to move forward and backward.

In each telescopic arm, the cylinder body (90) of one cylinder device and the rod (91) of the other cylinder device of the pair of cylinder devices (9) constituting the telescopic arm are connected to each traveling unit, This connects the traveling units that face each other with the center drum interposed therebetween.

Centering devices (5A) and (5B) are provided corresponding to the telescopic arms (3A) and (3B). This centering device (5) has a structure in which a cylinder body (90) of a pair of cylinder devices (9) constituting an expandable arm is provided between a rack body (10) attached to each of the opposing surfaces and both cylinder body (90). And a pinion (11) provided at the center of the center drum (1) so as to mesh with both rack bodies (10).

The telescopic arm is composed of a pair of cylinder devices (9).
It expands and contracts by moving the rod (90) of
Since the pinion (11) meshes with the rack body (10) of both cylinder devices (9), both cylinder devices (9) always have the same length on both sides of the pinion (11), which results in the center position. The drum (1) is always centered in the center between the traveling units facing each other, regardless of the extent of the telescopic arm.

Explaining other configurations of the traveling device, each traveling unit has traveling rollers (8) at four positions on the front, rear, left, and right sides on the side facing the inner surface of the pipe. These running rollers (8)
Has a steering mechanism and its direction of travel is variable. Further, each traveling unit has a traveling roller driving device (not shown), which drives each traveling roller (8).

Adjacent traveling units are connected by a cylinder device (4). In each cylinder device (4), its cylinder body (40) is pivotally connected to one of the adjoining traveling units, and the rod (41) is pivotally connected to the other traveling unit to connect the adjoining traveling units. There is. By providing a pair of the cylinder devices (4) between the adjacent traveling units, it is possible to appropriately prevent left and right runout of the traveling units. By connecting the adjacent traveling units with the cylinder device (4), the outer edge of the device forms a ring.

An appropriate device (7) such as an inspection device is installed on the front surface of the center drum (1).

Further, each traveling unit and the center drum have a built-in control device for controlling each drive mechanism, and these drive mechanism and control device are powered and controlled by a cable (12) guided from outside the pipe. Signal is supplied. The cable (12) has a rotary connector (1
It is connected to the center drum (1) via 3).

It should be noted that each traveling unit (2) and telescopic arm (3) constituting the device, each telescopic arm (3) and center drum (1), each cylinder device (4) and traveling unit (2).
The respective connecting portions are detachable so that they can be carried in and out of the pipe, and disassembled and assembled at the time of carrying out.

The in-pipe traveling device as described above is usually disassembled into the traveling unit (2), the telescopic arm (3), the center drum (1), the cylinder device (4), etc., and these are carried into the pipe to be used and then assembled. Each traveling unit (2A
The traveling rollers (8) of (1) to (2B2) are brought into contact with the pipe inner surface (A). The traveling rollers of the traveling units (2A1) (2A2), (2B1) (2B2) facing each other across the center drum (1) are pressed against the inner surface (A) of the pipe by the action of the telescopic arms (3A) (3B). This provides a holding action for the device in the tilt tube.

When moving the device, the steering mechanism causes the direction (travel direction) of each traveling roller to be tilted from the pipe radial direction to the pipe axis direction (state with steering angle), and in this state, each traveling unit is driven by the drive device. When the traveling roller (8) of (2) is driven, the device shifts in the pipe axis direction by the steering angle while rotating like a wheel along the pipe inner direction. Looking at the operation of each traveling unit (2), they travel spirally along the inner surface of the pipe.

The traveling device extends and retracts the telescopic arms (3A) and (3B) during traveling according to the pipe diameter of the passage portion and the like to change the outer diameter thereof. The expansion and contraction of the expansion and contraction arms (3A) and (3B) is performed by synchronously operating a pair of cylinder devices (9) constituting the expansion and contraction arms (3A) and (3B). , The center drum (1) is always located between the traveling units facing each other, and as a result, the device is held in a shape in which the center drum (1) is always located at the center of the traveling units.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention described above, the center drum equipped with the inspection device and the like can always be positioned in the center of the device regardless of the expansion and contraction of the telescopic arm, and as a result, the inspection device and the inner surface of the pipe are It is possible to carry out stable inspections by keeping the distances at equal distances and to perform accurate inspection, and because the center of gravity of the device is always in the center.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of a traveling device in a pipe to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 1 is a front view, FIG. 2 is a side view, and FIG. 3 is III-III in FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the line. In the figure, (1) is a center drum, (2A1) (2A
2) (2B1) (2B2) is a traveling unit, (3A) (3
B) is a telescopic arm, (5A) and (5B) are centering devices, (6A) and (6B) are through guide holes, (9) is a cylinder device, (10) is a rack body, and (11) is a pinion.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical indication location G01N 29/26 501 501-5105J (72) Inventor Fumiaki Arai 1-8 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. 2 Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yuji Fujisawa 1-1-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Kokan Co., Ltd. (72) Tomoaki Sato 1-1-Chome, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. 2 Japan Steel Pipe Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Moriya 1-2 1-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Japan Steel Pipe Co., Ltd. (72) Shunji Kaneko 1-2 1-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Steel Tube Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An in-pipe traveling device comprising a center drum that can include an inspection device and the like, a plurality of traveling units arranged around the center drum, and a telescopic arm that holds the traveling unit with respect to the center drum. In the centering mechanism of the center drum in, the telescopic arm is composed of a pair of shilling devices in which the rod extends in the opposite direction and is slidably inserted into a through guide hole provided in the center drum. , The traveling units that face each other across the center drum are connected to each other, and the rack bodies are provided on the cylinder bodies of the two cylinder devices that form the telescopic arm, and both sides of the center drum mesh with the rack bodies of the two cylinder devices. A center in a traveling device in a pipe characterized by being provided with a pinion Lamb of centering mechanism.