WHEEL ASSEMBLY OF MOBILE ROBOT

• US 20140145495A1
• Filed: 07/09/2012
• Published: 05/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yujin Robot Co., Ltd. (The Miele Group)
• Original Assignee: Yujin Robot Co., Ltd. (The Miele Group)
• Inventors: Shin, Kyung Chul, Park, Seong Ju, Lee, No Soo
• Granted Patent: US 9,033,079 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 301/6.5
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/00 Robotic cleaning machines, i.e. with automatic control of the travelling movement or the cleaning operation
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 5/007 mounted on wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 17/043 Transmission unit disposed in on near the vehicle wheel, or between the differential gear unit and the wheel
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2007/0061 the motor axle being parallel to the wheel axle
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 7/0007 the motor being electric
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot

Abstract

The present invention relates to a mobile robot, in which a wheel is mounted on a robot body in an elevatable structure.

Claims

1. A wheel assembly of a mobile robot, comprising:

a gear box which accommodates a driving gear driven by a driving motor and a driven gear driven by the driving gear, is installed to be rotatable about a rotation shaft, which is provided at one side of the gear box, in front and rear directions with respect to a robot body, and has a first fixing part;

a wheel which is coupled to a rotary shaft of the driven gear so as to be rotated integrally with the driven gear, and moved up or down with respect to the robot body when the gear box is rotated; and

a pulling member which has one end fixed to the first fixing part, and the other end fixed to a second fixing part a position of which is fixed with respect to the robot body, and pulls the first fixing part toward the second fixing part side so as to rotate the gear box in a direction in which the wheel is moved down with respect to the robot body.

2. The wheel assembly of claim 1, wherein the pulling member is a coil spring.

3. The wheel assembly of claim 1, wherein the pulling member is a flat spring.

4. The wheel assembly of claim 1, wherein at least a part of an outer circumferential surface of the rotation shaft is circular, and the rotation shaft is seated and supported on a rotation shaft seating portion having a shape that matches a shape of the outer circumferential surface of the rotation shaft.

5. The wheel assembly of claim 4, further comprising:

a lower case which accommodates at least a part of the gear box, and at least a part of the wheel, has an opened upper portion, and an opened portion of a lower surface where a route through which the wheel is moved up and down exists, and is coupled and fixed to the robot body,

wherein the rotation shaft seating portion is provided at the lower case.

6. The wheel assembly of claim 5, wherein the second fixing part is provided at the lower case.

7. The wheel assembly of claim 6, further comprising:

an upper case which is coupled to an upper portion of the lower case, and forms an accommodating space which accommodates at least a part of the gear box and at least a part of the wheel.

8. The wheel assembly of claim 7, wherein the upper case includes a rotation shaft cover which is provided at an opposite side to the rotation shaft seating portion with the rotation shaft interposed therebetween so as to prevent the rotation shaft from being moved away from the rotation shaft seating portion.

9. The wheel assembly of claim 1, wherein the rotation shaft is hinge-coupled.

10. The wheel assembly of claim 9, further comprising:

a lower case which accommodates at least a part of the gear box and at least a part of the wheel, has an opened upper portion, and an opened portion of a lower surface where a route through which the wheel is moved up and down exists, and is coupled and fixed to the robot body,

wherein the rotation shaft is hinge-coupled to the lower case.

11. The wheel assembly of claim 1, wherein a protruding portion, which is extended in a lateral direction, is provided on the gear box, and the wheel assembly of the mobile robot further includes a sensor which is a contact sensor and comes into contact with the protruding portion.

12. The wheel assembly of claim 11, wherein the sensor is a micro switch, and is inserted into a sensor fixing part that is provided at the lower case.