JP2013199260A - Posture control device, and load moving device mounting the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a posture control device that can change an inclination of a carrier to a base without the need of high power.SOLUTION: A posture control device 30 includes a carrier 32 for supporting a load; a base 31 installed with facing the carrier 32; links 35L, 35R whose both ends are rotatably connected to the base 31 and the carrier 32; a lever 38 fixed to the carrier 32 while projecting to a side of the base 31; and a shifter 41 installed on the base 31 in a slidable manner parallel to a main plane of the base 31 and with which the lever 38 is connected in a relative rotatable manner and a relative movable manner in a projection direction, where the sliding of the shifter 41 causes an inclination of the carrier 32 to be controlled.

Description

  The present invention relates to an attitude control device and a load moving device on which the posture control device is mounted.

  Attitude control devices are used in various devices and devices. For example, a posture control device is indispensable for a flying object tracking device, an astronomical observation device, and the like, and a posture control device may also be used for an electric wheelchair in a familiar place.

  Taking an electric wheelchair as an example, the electric wheelchair basically runs on a horizontal plane, but in some cases, it may have to run on an inclined surface. When traveling on an inclined surface, if the seat surface of the seat is parallel to the inclined surface, the occupant cannot sit down stably and may fall from the seat depending on the situation. Therefore, an electric wheelchair that can keep the seat surface horizontal even when the traveling path is inclined has been proposed. An example of this can be seen in US Pat.

  The electric wheelchair described in Patent Document 1 is pivotally mounted so that the chair portion can be rotated in the front-rear and left-right directions with respect to the vehicle body portion by the front-rear direction rotation shaft and the left-right direction rotation shaft. Is detected by the left / right tilt detection rotary encoder and the front / rear tilt detection rotary encoder, and the angle between the chair part and the vehicle body part is adjusted by the left / right swing actuator and the front / rear swing actuator to level the seat surface. It has a mechanism to keep.

  FIG. 11 shows the mechanism of the chair portion posture control device described in Patent Document 1. The chair portion 100 is rotatably supported by a rotating shaft 101, and the angle of the chair portion 100 is adjusted by a swing actuator 102. The posture of the chair portion described in Patent Document 1 is provided with another rotation shaft perpendicular to the rotation shaft 101 and another swing actuator that rotates the chair portion 100 around the rotation shaft. This is a control device.

Japanese Patent No. 3688656

  There is also an electric wheelchair in which a rotation shaft attached to a lower portion of the seat is rotated by a motor and a gear in order to automatically keep the seat angle horizontal. Such a mechanism requires a large gear to ensure strength.

  In the mechanism for supporting the chair portion described in Patent Document 1, an actuator with a long stroke is required to move the end portion of the chair portion up and down with a swing actuator, and a large space is required between the vehicle body portion and the chair portion. Become. For this reason, a chair part must be made high, inevitably the center of gravity of the whole wheelchair also becomes high, and the balance deteriorates. Further, since the actuator exerts a direct force on the chair portion to tilt the chair portion, the left and right direction swing actuator and the front and rear direction swing actuator can tilt the chair portion on which the passenger's weight is applied, Something with a large output was necessary. In addition, the distance between the rotation axis of the chair portion and the center of gravity of the occupant is long, and the occupant is greatly shaken to reduce the ride comfort. In addition, the electric wheelchair has restrictions on the height, width, and length, and the mechanism is required to save space. However, the mechanism described in Patent Document 1 becomes larger and requires space saving. It was difficult to meet.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and in a posture control device including a carrier for supporting a load and a base installed opposite to the carrier, the carrier with respect to the base without requiring a large output It is an object of the present invention to provide an attitude control device that can change the inclination of the vehicle, reduce the degree to which the load is shaken, and easily realize space saving. It is another object of the present invention to provide a load moving device equipped with such a posture control device.

  In order to achieve the above object, an attitude control device according to the present invention includes a carrier for supporting a load, a base installed opposite to the carrier, and both ends rotatable on the base and the carrier. A plurality of linked links, a lever fixed to the carrier protruding from the base side, and a slidable installation on the base parallel to the main plane of the base, and the lever rotating relative to each other And a shifter coupled so as to be capable of relative movement in the protruding direction, and the tilt of the carrier is controlled by sliding the shifter.

  In the attitude control device having the above-described configuration, it is preferable that the shifter is slid in one axial direction.

  In the attitude control device having the above-described configuration, it is preferable that the shifter slides in two orthogonal directions.

  In the attitude control device having the above-described configuration, it is preferable that the link is disposed on both sides of the shifter.

  In the attitude control device having the above configuration, it is preferable that the shifter slides on a screw shaft.

  In the posture control device having the above configuration, it is preferable that the screw shaft is rotated by a motor.

  In addition, the present invention is characterized in that it is a load moving device equipped with the attitude control device.

  In the load moving device having the above-described configuration, the control unit of the load moving device has an output signal from an inclination sensor attached to the vehicle body of the load moving device including the base of the posture control device. It is preferable to know the inclination and control the motor so that the inclination of the carrier with respect to the vehicle body part cancels the inclination of the vehicle body part.

  According to the present invention, since the carrier for supporting the load is supported by a plurality of links, the carrier can be tilted without using a mechanism in which the carrier rotates around the rotation axis. Since the rotation axis is separated from the center of gravity, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the load is greatly shaken, which adversely affects the load. In addition, since the actuator controls the tilt of the carrier by sliding the shifter instead of tilting the carrier directly, the tilt of the carrier relative to the base can be changed without using a high-output power source. Further, the mechanism for tilting the carrier can be made smaller than the mechanism for rotating the carrier around the rotation axis.

It is a schematic rear view of the load movement apparatus which mounts the attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of a posture control device. It is a perspective view of the attitude | position control apparatus which shows a state different from FIG. It is a side view of the carrier contained in the attitude | position control apparatus, and the lever fixed to it. It is the 1st explanatory view explaining how a posture control device moves. It is the 2nd explanatory view explaining how a posture control device moves. It is the 3rd explanatory view explaining how a posture control device moves. It is a 1st perspective view explaining the structure of the attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a 2nd perspective view explaining the structure of the attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of embodiment using the attitude | position control apparatus for another use. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the conventional attitude | position control apparatus.

<First Embodiment>
The title “first embodiment” placed at the beginning of this paragraph is shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 in the first embodiment of the attitude control device according to the present invention. It is based on the point that it is 1st Embodiment of the load moving apparatus carrying a control apparatus. The first embodiment of the load transfer device is embodied as an electric wheelchair 1.

  The structure of the electric wheelchair 1 will be described. The electric wheelchair 1 includes a vehicle body portion 10 and a seat 20 supported by the vehicle body portion 10 via an attitude control device 30. The attitude control device 30 is a seat support device.

  The vehicle body 10 is supported at four points on a traveling road such as a floor surface or a road surface by a pair of left and right rear wheels 11 and a pair of left and right front wheels (not shown). The rotational force of the traveling motor 12 is transmitted to the rear wheel 11 via the gear box 13, and the rear wheel 11 functions as a driving wheel. The course of the electric wheelchair 1 can be changed by changing the angle of the front wheel (not shown) with respect to the vehicle body 10.

  A battery 14 serving as a power source for the traveling motor 12 and a charger 15 for the battery 14 are mounted on the vehicle body 10. The vehicle body 10 is further provided with a handle 16 for steering the front wheel (not shown). A pair of left and right rearview mirrors 17 are attached to the handle 16.

  Next, the structure of the attitude control device 30 will be described. In the drawings from FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, the left side of the drawing is also the left side of the electric wheelchair 1, and the right side of the drawing is also the right side of the electric wheelchair 1.

  The attitude control device 30 includes a base 31 supported by the vehicle body unit 10 and a carrier 32 to which the seat 20 is fixed. Here, the seat 20 is a load supported by the carrier 32. The base 31 is installed facing the carrier 32.

  The base 31 is a planar rectangular shape having rising walls at both left and right ends. The carrier 32 is also rectangular in plan shape, but this is configured as a single frame.

  In the base 31, two horizontal rotation shafts extending in the front-rear direction are arranged in parallel with a space left and right. The left one is the rotation shaft 33L, and the right one is the rotation shaft 33R. The rotary shafts 33L and 33R are rotatably supported by a bearing 34 fixed to the base 31. In order to support the rotating shaft 33L and the rotating shaft 33R at both ends thereof, two bearings 34 are provided for each shaft. A pillow type bearing is used as the bearing 34.

  One end of the two links 35L is fixed to the rotating shaft 33L, and one end of the two links 35R is fixed to the rotating shaft 33R. The two links 35L are fixed to the rotation shaft 33L at a distance from each other and at the same angle with respect to the rotation shaft 33L. The two links 35R are fixed to the rotary shaft 33R so as to be spaced from each other and to have the same angle with respect to the rotary shaft 33R.

  In the carrier 32, two horizontal rotation shafts extending in the front-rear direction are arranged in parallel with a space left and right. The left one is the rotation shaft 36L, and the right one is the rotation shaft 36R. The ends of the two links 35L opposite to those fixed to the rotating shaft 33L are fixed to the rotating shaft 36L. The opposite ends of the two links 35R fixed to the rotating shaft 33R are fixed to the rotating shaft 36R.

  The rotary shafts 36L and 36R are rotatably supported by a bearing 37 fixed to the carrier 32. In order to support the rotating shaft 36L and the rotating shaft 36R at both ends thereof, two bearings 37 are provided for each shaft. As the bearing 37, a diamond flange bearing is used.

  The interval between the rotation shafts 36L and 36R is narrower than the interval between the rotation shafts 33L and 33R. For this reason, the links 35L and 35R have an arrangement in which the upper part is narrowed and the lower part is expanded.

  As described above, the carrier 32 is supported on the base 31 by the two links 35L and the two links 35R. The link 35L is rotatable in a vertical plane around the axis of the electric wheelchair 1 about the rotary shaft 33L, and the link 35R is a vertical plane about the axis of the electric wheelchair 1 around the axis of rotation 33R. The inclination of the carrier 32 with respect to the base 31 changes according to the angles of the links 35L and 35R. In this embodiment, the inclination of the carrier 32 changes in the left-right direction.

  In this embodiment, the number of links 35L and links 35R is two, but the number of two does not limit the invention. The number can be three or more. If the widths of the link 35L and the link 35R are sufficiently wide, it is possible to use only one each. In short, it is sufficient that the structure has sufficient rigidity to support the moment in the front-rear direction applied to the carrier 32.

  The change of the inclination of the carrier 32 with respect to the base 31 is a shifter that is slid by a motor, and the mechanism is as follows.

  A beam 32 a extending in the front-rear direction is provided at the center of the carrier 32. A lever 38 is fixed to the beam 32a. The lever 38 protrudes downward so as to be perpendicular to the carrier 32. As shown in FIG. 4, a long hole 38 a is formed near the tip of the lever 38. The long axis direction of the long hole 38a coincides with the direction in which the lever 38 protrudes.

  A horizontal screw shaft 39 extending in the left-right direction is disposed on the upper surface of the base 31 at a position between the rotation shafts 33L and 33R. The screw shaft 39 is rotatably supported by a bearing 40 fixed to the base 31. Two bearings 40 are provided to support the screw shaft 39 at both ends. A pillow type bearing is used as the bearing 40.

  The screw shaft 39 supports the shifter 41. The links 35L and 35R exist on both sides of the shifter 41. The shifter 41 functions as a nut, and slides in the horizontal direction when the screw shaft 39 rotates, and in parallel with the main plane of the base 31 (here, the upper surface of the base 31) if another expression is used. The shifter 41 slides in one axial direction along the axis of the screw shaft 39, and whether to slide left or right is determined by the rotational direction of the screw shaft 39.

  A motor for rotating the screw shaft 39 is a tilt motor 42 shown in FIG. The tilt motor 42 meshes its own gear with a gear 43 fixed to the screw shaft 39 and transmits the rotation to the screw shaft 39. A motor driver 44 is combined with the tilt motor 42.

  A pair of front and rear bearings 45 are fixed to the upper surface of the shifter 41. The bearing 45 is a pillow type and supports both ends of a shaft 46 extending in the front-rear direction. The intermediate portion of the shaft 46 passes through the long hole 38 a of the lever 38. Thereby, the lever 38 and the shifter 41 are connected so as to be rotatable relative to each other. Further, the middle portion of the shaft 46 passes through not the simple circular hole but the long hole 38a, and the long axis direction of the long hole 38a coincides with the direction in which the lever 38 protrudes. Relative movement in the protruding direction of 38 is also possible.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a tilt sensor 18 is attached to the vehicle body portion 10. An output signal from the tilt sensor 18 is input to the control unit 50. The control unit 50 is configured by a PLC (programmable logic controller) and outputs a control signal to the motor driver 44 of the tilt motor 42.

  The operation of the electric wheelchair 1 is as follows. The passenger sits on the seat 20 and operates an operation switch and a brake lever (not shown) provided on the handle 16 and also operates the handle 16 itself to drive the electric wheelchair 1.

When the traveling path of the electric wheelchair 1 is inclined in the left-right direction, the vehicle body 10 is inclined. If the vehicle body 10 is tilted, the tilt sensor 18 is tilted, and the tilt sensor 18 outputs a signal corresponding to the tilt angle. The control unit 50, which knows the inclination of the vehicle body 10 from the signal, calculates the rotation direction and rotation angle of the tilt motor 42 necessary to keep the seat 20 horizontal, and outputs it to the motor driver 44 as a control signal. . The motor driver 44 drives the tilt motor 42 according to the control signal.

  When the tilt motor 42 rotates, the screw shaft 39 rotates, and the shifter 41 slides to the left or right. When the vehicle body unit 10 is tilted downward, the control unit 50 slides the shifter 41 in the right direction. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the angle of the lever 38 changes, and the carrier 32 fixed to the lever 38 tilts to the left. The right-down inclination of the vehicle body 10 and the inclination of the carrier 32 falling to the left with respect to the vehicle body 10 are offset, and the carrier 32 and the seat 20 fixed thereto are kept almost horizontal. As a result, the passenger can continue to sit on the seat 20 without losing balance.

  When the vehicle body unit 10 is tilted downward to the left, the control unit 50 slides the shifter 41 leftward. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the angle of the lever 38 changes, and the carrier 32 fixed to the lever 38 tilts downward to the right. The downward tilt of the vehicle body 10 and the tilt of the carrier 32 that is downwardly tilted with respect to the vehicle body 10 are offset, so that the carrier 32 and the seat 20 fixed thereto are kept almost horizontal. As a result, the passenger can continue to sit on the seat 20 without losing balance.

  As the carrier 32 tilts, the lever 38 moves up and down relatively with respect to the shaft 36. However, the movement of the lever 38 and the carrier 32 is absorbed by the fact that the shaft 36 passes through the elongated hole 38a. Is not constrained.

  Since the shifter 41 slides with the rotation of the screw shaft 39, the tilt motor 42 does not have to be a large motor with high output. This contributes to space saving of the attitude control device 30. The tilt motor 42 slides the shifter 41 in the horizontal direction, and the vertical stroke of the shifter 41 is not necessary, which contributes to space saving of the attitude control device 30.

  If the links 35L and 35R having different lengths are used, the movement of the carrier 32 can be changed. That is, the posture control device 30 can be made to correspond to different types of electric wheelchairs by simply replacing the links 35L and 35R with ones having different lengths.

  The posture control device 30 of the present embodiment absorbs the inclination in the left-right direction of the traveling road. However, if the orientation of the posture control device 30 is changed by 90 °, the inclination in the front-rear direction of the traveling road can be absorbed. . If the posture control device that absorbs the inclination in the left-right direction and the posture control device that absorbs the inclination in the front-rear direction are used in combination, the seat 20 can be kept level regardless of how the travel path is inclined forward, backward, left-right.

Second Embodiment
The title “Second Embodiment” placed at the beginning of this paragraph is based on the fact that what is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is the second embodiment of the attitude control device according to the present invention. . The second embodiment of the attitude control device is also embodied as a seat support device for an electric wheelchair. Constituent elements that are functionally common to the attitude control device of the first embodiment are assigned the same reference numerals used in the description of the first embodiment.

  In the attitude control device 30 </ b> M shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the four corners of the base 31 and the four corners of the carrier 32 are connected by a total of four links 60. Each link 60 is connected to the base 31 and the carrier 32 by a universal joint 61.

  A lever 38 protrudes downward from the center of the lower surface of the carrier 32 so as to be perpendicular to the carrier 32. The lever 38 is fixed to the carrier 32 and does not change the angle with respect to the carrier 32.

  The shifter 41 that changes the angle of the lever 38 is connected to the lever 38 via the universal joint 62. The lever 38 is slidable in the axial direction with respect to the universal joint 62. That is, the lever 38 and the universal joint 62 can move relative to each other in the protruding direction of the lever 38.

  In the posture control device 30 of the first embodiment, one screw shaft 39 penetrates the shifter 41. However, in the posture control device 30M of the second embodiment, the screw shaft 39A and the screw shaft 39B penetrate the shifter 41. The screw shaft 39A extends in the left-right direction in the same manner as the screw shaft 39 of the attitude control device 30 of the first embodiment. The screw shaft 39B extends in the front-rear direction. The screw shaft 39A is not movable relative to the base 31 in the left-right direction and is relatively movable in the front-rear direction. The screw shaft 39B can move relative to the base 31 in the left-right direction and cannot move in the front-rear direction. With this structure, the shifter 41 can slide in two orthogonal directions.

  If the screw shaft 39A and the screw shaft 39B are rotated manually or by a motor, the shifter 41 slides two-dimensionally in the front-rear and left-right directions. As a result, the inclination of the carrier 32 can be controlled not only in the left-right direction but also in the front-rear direction.

  If the attitude control device 30M of the second embodiment is mounted on the electric wheelchair 1 and the screw shaft 39A and the screw shaft 39B are rotated by separate tilt motors, the left and right inclinations and the front and rear inclinations of the traveling path will be described. Both can be absorbed by a single attitude control device 30M.

<Third Embodiment>
The title “third embodiment” placed at the beginning of this paragraph is based on the fact that the attitude control device of the first embodiment is used for a new application. The attitude control device 30 of the first embodiment is used to support the solar cell panel 70 in FIG.

  Needless to say, the altitude of the sun varies from season to season. In the winter when the altitude of the sun is low, power generation efficiency can be increased by tilting the solar panel (solar cell panel) 70 so as to face the sun. The shifter 41 may be slid manually with, for example, a hand-held screw shaft. It is not necessary to change the angle of the solar panel 70 frequently. Even changing it about four times a year has a considerable effect on improving power generation efficiency.

  Since the attitude control device 30 is structured to support the carrier 32 with a plurality of links, it has strength and can receive the weight of the solar panel 70 without any problem. Further, since the attitude of the solar panel 70 can be controlled by only one slide, ie, the slide of the shifter 41, the operation is simple.

  In FIG. 10, a separate solar panel 70 is attached to the carrier 32, but the carrier 32 and the solar panel 70 may be integrated. Further, instead of the attitude control device 30 of the first embodiment, the attitude control device 30M of the second embodiment may be used.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  The present invention is widely applicable to attitude control devices.

1 Electric wheelchair (loading device)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Car body part 18 Inclination sensor 20 Seat 30 Attitude control apparatus 31 Base 32 Carrier 35L, 35R Link 38 Lever 39 Screw shaft 41 Shifter 42 Tilt motor 50 Control part 30M Attitude control apparatus 60 Link 61, 62 Universal joint 70 Solar panel

Claims (9)

A carrier to support the load,
A base installed opposite the carrier;
A plurality of links rotatably connected at both ends to the base and the carrier;
A lever fixed to the carrier in a form protruding to the base side;
The base is provided with a shifter that is slidably installed in parallel with the main plane of the base, and that is coupled so that the lever is capable of relative rotation and relative movement in the protruding direction,
An attitude control device that controls the inclination of the carrier by sliding the shifter.   The attitude control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shifter slides in one axis direction.   The attitude control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shifter slides in two orthogonal axes.   The attitude control device according to claim 1, wherein the link is disposed on both sides of the shifter.   The attitude control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shifter slides on a screw shaft.   The posture control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the screw shaft is rotated by a motor.   A load moving apparatus on which the posture control apparatus according to claim 1 is mounted.   A load moving apparatus on which the posture control apparatus according to claim 6 is mounted.   The control unit of the load movement device knows the inclination of the vehicle body portion from an output signal from an inclination sensor attached to the vehicle body portion of the load movement device including the base of the attitude control device, and the vehicle body of the carrier The load moving apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the motor is controlled such that an inclination with respect to a part cancels an inclination of the vehicle body part.