Patent Application
20240108925
The present invention relates to the technical field of fire-fighting robots, and particularly to a high temperature-resistant fire-fighting robot and a working method thereof.
As a tool to assist firemen to perform dangerous tasks, a fire-fighting robot should be brought to a fire site along with the firemen after the occurrence of a fire, and assist or replace the firemen to carry out operations such as information acquisition, fire-extinguishing, and personnel search and rescue on the fire site.
For the firemen's work, the most urgent and dangerous task is the personnel search and rescue and fire-extinguishing on the fire site. The persons trapped in the fire site have the highest safety risk, and should be found, rescued and transferred immediately. For most fire scenes, especially for fire scenes in large-span spaces, underground fires, petrochemical fires, etc., it is impossible to effectively extinguish the fire without going deep into the fire site.
The main functions of many existing fire-fighting robots are assistance works outside the fire site, such as extinguishing fire remotely or hauling water hoses. Owing to the existing robots cannot achieve the protection function to go deep into a fire site, it is difficult for those robots to provide substantial help to the firemen in the tasks such as acquiring on-site information, extinguishing fire sources and searching for and rescuing persons.
Although some relevant techniques have been applied in industrial applications for protection against high-temperature environments, it is necessary to cover the robots entirely with a thermal protection enclosure. Therefore, at present, it is difficult to provide reliable protection for the auxiliary transmission mechanisms used by existing high-mobility fire-fighting robots, such as the track chassis. At present, the thermal protection form for robots in the fire-fighting industry is mainly provided by self-spraying of water mist for cooling. Although that approach has certain cooling effect, it is difficult to use such a cooling theme to ensure that the robots will not be damaged at large-scale fire sites, where the ambient temperature is almost 1,000° C.
In addition, for robots intended for on-site operations, it is also necessary to properly protect the operating parts of the robots, such as the water cannons. However, since there is no high-temperature-resistant water cannon available on the market at present, no existing water cannon fire-fighting robot is capable of going deep into any fire site.
For the above reasons, at present, there is no fire-fighting robot on the market capable of going deep into a high-temperature fire site while working on the fire site.
In order to overcome the drawbacks in the prior art, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a high-temperature-resistant fire-fighting robot, which can move and conduct extinguishing fire work in a high-temperature environment.
In order to attain the above object, the high-temperature-resistant fire-fighting robot provided by the present invention comprises a high-temperature-resistant robot chassis system and a high-temperature-resistant turret system, wherein,
Furthermore, the thermal protection structure for the water cannon comprises an open-close type protection door and a main protection enclosure for the turret.
Furthermore, the high-temperature-resistant turret system further comprises a water cannon camera or a thermal imager.
Furthermore, the thermal protection system comprises a thermal protection enclosure, a high-temperature-resistant electrical and refrigeration interface assembly, and a high-temperature-resistant hose interface assembly.
Furthermore, the high-temperature-resistant electrical and refrigeration interface assembly comprises a seal cap locker, a high-temperature-resistant sealing gasket, a heat-insulating panel, a power switch, a charging interface, a refrigeration interface, and a heat-insulating sealing cap.
Furthermore, the refrigeration interface comprises a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet.
Furthermore, the high-temperature-resistant hose interface assembly comprises a hose interface, a heat-insulating end cap, a high-temperature-resistant fiber braided tube and an end cap holder.
Furthermore, the high-temperature-resistant fire-fighting robot further comprises a cold source and a cooling circulation system for cooling the interior of the thermal protection enclosure.
Furthermore, the control and sensing system comprises a main control system, a communication system, a power management system, a high-temperature-resistant camera system, a high-temperature-resistant lighting assembly, and a high-temperature-resistant antenna.
Furthermore, partial structures of the high-temperature-resistant camera system, the high-temperature-resistant lighting assembly and the high-temperature-resistant antenna penetrate through the thermal protection enclosure for acquiring information and transmitting information to the external environment.
Furthermore, the high-temperature-resistant fire-fighting robot further comprises a radar assembly and an optical sensor assembly on the chassis.
In order to attain the above object, the present invention further provides a working method of a high-temperature-resistant fire-fighting robot, comprising the following steps:
Furthermore, the method further comprises a step of regulating the temperature of the cold source to a predetermined temperature before the thermal protection structure for the water cannon is closed in the step 1): refrigerating the cold source by means of an external cooling system, replacing a coolant of the cold source, or replacing the cold source; cutting off the external cooling system when the temperature of the cold source reaches the predetermined temperature.
Furthermore, after the fire-extinguishing operation is completed, the high-temperature-resistant fire-fighting robot is switched to the high-temperature protection state and exits the fire site.
The high-temperature-resistant fire-fighting robot and the working method thereof in the present invention attain the following beneficial effects:
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be detailed in the following description, and will become apparent partially from the description, or be understood through implementation of the present invention.
The accompanying drawings are provided for further understanding of the present invention, and constitute a part of the specification. These drawings are used in conjunction with the embodiments of the present invention to interpret the present invention, but don't constitute any limitation to the present invention. In the figures:
Hereunder some preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the preferred embodiments described herein are only intended to describe and explain the present invention, but don't constitute any limitation to the present invention.
Specifically, the high-temperature-resistant and heat-insulating transmission system mainly comprises a rigid shaft for transmission and a heat-insulating layer outside the rigid shaft.
Specifically, the driver is a servo driver, used as a controller for controlling one or more parameters of motor position, speed and torque.
The thermal protection system is configured to protect the robot to perform fire-extinguishing operation in a high-temperature environment. The thermal protection system mainly comprises a thermal protection enclosure 302, a high-temperature-resistant electrical and refrigeration interface assembly 301 and a high-temperature-resistant hose interface assembly 303.
Specifically, the thermal protection system further comprises a cold source 503 and a cooling circulation system 504 for cooling the interior of the thermal protection enclosure 302 (the main body of the cold source is a coolant, which is initially at a low temperature, and absorbs heat through temperature rise, phase change or a combination of them).
The control and sensing system comprises a main control system 505, a power management system 506, a communication system 501, a high-temperature-resistant camera system 403, a high-temperature-resistant lighting assembly 402, and a high-temperature-resistant antenna 404, etc.
Specifically, the high-temperature-resistant camera system 403 comprises a camera, a high-temperature-resistant lens, and a lens cooling device.
Specifically, the control and sensing system further comprises a radar assembly 401 and a high-temperature-resistant camera system 403.
Specifically, the radar assembly 401 can be a millimeter-wave radar, which is configured to detect the positions and distances of obstacles around the robot, so as to provide ambient information for obstacle avoidance and navigation of the robot.
Preferably, the robot further comprises an emergency stop switch not shown in the figures, which is configured to stop the robot quickly, and has the same function as the emergency stop switch found in conventional production equipment.
Preferably, the robot further comprises a battery status display not shown in the figures, which is configured to displaying the remaining capacity of the battery, and the battery status display may be an LCD or multi-color LED display. The display mode can be percentage direct display, ladder display or indicator warning for low battery.
Preferably, the refrigeration interface comprises a coolant inlet 315 and a coolant outlet 316.
Specifically, the high-temperature-resistant hose interface assembly further comprises a high-temperature-resistant fiber braided tube 333 and an end cap holder 334.
The high-temperature-resistant turret system 2 comprises a thermal protection structure for water cannon, a cooling circulation system 504, a water cannon 203, and a spraying system, etc., and is configured to protect the water cannon system and perform fire extinguishing operation by spraying water.
Specifically, the spraying system comprises a sprinkler, a pipeline for connecting the sprinkler and a water supply system for the water cannon, and a valve for controlling the on-off of the pipeline.
Preferably, the thermal protection structure for the water cannon of the high-temperature-resistant turret system 2 has an open-close type or dynamic protection structure matching the movement range of the water cannon 203, which is configured to adjust the spraying angle and position of the water cannon 203 in a wide range in the working process.
Both the high-temperature-resistant robot chassis system 1 and the high-temperature-resistant turret system 2 have a thermal protection structure and a cooling system to protect the fire-fighting robot from being damaged or affected by the high temperature during travel or operation in a high-temperature environment.
In the high-temperature protection state, the high-temperature-resistant robot chassis system 1 and the high-temperature-resistant turret system 2 should jointly or respectively ensure good thermal sealing performance to prevent a large amount of external heat from being transferred into the thermal protection enclosure and damaging the internal components.
By designing the fire-fighting robot with combined high-temperature-resistant turret and high-temperature-resistant chassis, the problem of thermal protection for the water cannon and the chassis is broken down and solved respectively; thus the technical difficulties in solving the thermal protection problem as a whole are reduced, and water cannons with different performances and specifications can be matched and integrated with power chassis as required.
The fire-fighting robot needs to employ different working flows, according to the different protection form of the turret and the interface. Taking the open-close type turret as an example, the fire-fighting robot will have two different structural states: a high-temperature protection state and a fire-extinguishing state.
In the high-temperature protection state, the turret is closed, the external interfaces such as the hose and the switch are closed, and the entire robot has a higher thermal protection performance. In that state, it is necessary to ensure that the chassis and some sensors and electronic control systems used to control the traveling of the robot work normally. The robot moves to a designated working location in this state.
In the fire-extinguishing state, the thermal protection enclosure of the water hose interface is opened or removed, a water hose is connected, and the water cannon is capable of spraying water. Then, the thermal protection enclosure that blocks the movement and spraying range of the water cannon is moved away or removed, and the water cannon starts to work. In this state, the robot is cooled not only by its own internal cooling system but also by the water mist sprayed from the water cannon and the sprinkler.
After the fire-extinguishing work of the fire-fighting robot is completed, if the ambient temperature is still high or the robot has to pass through a high-temperature area in the exiting process, the water cannon and the turret can be reset. The robot can be switched to the high-temperature protection state to safely exit the fire site.
Hereunder the high-temperature-resistant fire-fighting robot and the working method thereof in the present invention will be further described in a specific embodiment. Taking an open-close type turret as an example, the working flow of the high-temperature-resistant fire-fighting robot is as follows:
Those skilled in the art can understand: the embodiments described above are only some preferred embodiments of the present invention, and should not be deemed as constituting any limitation to the present invention. Although the present invention is described and illustrated above in detail with respect to the embodiments, those skilled in the art can easily make modifications to the technical solutions described in the above embodiments or make equivalent replacements of some technical features. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and the principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of protection of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202010218057.4 | Mar 2020 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2021/081194 | 3/17/2021 | WO |
