DETECTION OF A COLLISION OF A HANDLING DEVICE WITH AN OBSTACLE

• US 20200130623A1
• Filed: 04/24/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blue Danube Robotics GmbH
• Original Assignee: Blue Danube Robotics GmbH
• Inventors: BALDINGER, Andreas, FERNER, Tobias, WOHLKINGER, Walter, ZILLICH, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 11,364,866 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 13/087 for sensing other physical parameters, e.g. electrical or chemical properties
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 19/0091 Shock absorbers in general F16F
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 19/063 working only upon contact with an outside object
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1676 Avoiding collision or forbidden zones
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 19/483 with obstacle sensors of electric or electronic type
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0136 responsive to actual contact with an obstacle , e.g. to vehicle deformation, bumper displacement or bumper velocity relative to the vehicle monitoring crash strength in combination with passenger seat detection B60R21/01558

Abstract

In an apparatus for detecting a collision of a handling device with an obstacle, comprising at least one gas-filled chamber, which is surrounded by a flexible sheath that is deformable by collision with an obstacle and has a flexible supporting structure, wherein the supporting structure forms a damping element, which, together with the sheath, mechanically damps the forces that act in the event a collision, and also comprising a pressure sensor for measuring the gas pressure inside the chamber, wherein the apparatus is able to be attached to the handling device in a manner covering at least a first and a second region of the handling device, the sheath and the supporting structure are formed in one piece with one another and provide different degrees of damping from one another in the first and the second region.

Claims

1. A collision detection device for detecting a collision of a handling device with an obstacle, comprising at least one gas-filled chamber, which is surrounded by a flexible shell being deformable by collision with an obstacle and comprises a flexible support structure, wherein the support structure forms a damping element, which together with the shell mechanically damps forces acting during a collision, and further comprising a pressure sensor for measuring gas pressure inside the at least one gas-filled chamber, wherein the device is attachable to the handling device so as to cover at least a first and a second portion of the handling device, characterized in that the shell and the support structure are integrally formed with each other and provide a mutually different degree of damping in a first region and in a second region, wherein the shell and the support structure are manufactured by a generative manufacturing process in layers.

3. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the support structure and/or the shell is locally changed such that in the first region and in the second region of a different degree of damping is provided.

4. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the device comprises at least a first gas-filled chamber and a second gas-filled chamber whose shells and support structures are each formed integrally with each other, wherein the shell and the support structure of the first gas-filled chamber provide a different degree of damping than the shell and support structure of the second gas-filled chamber.

5. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the support structure interconnects opposite regions of the shell, the opposite regions of the shell being arranged at a top of the device and at a bottom of the device.

6. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the support structure comprises a plurality of support elements.

7. The collision detection device according to claim 6, characterized in that the support elements (a) form a space grid constructed of cubes, tetrahedrons or truncated octahedrons, or (b) are formed as a honeycomb grid.

8. The collision detection device according to claim 6, characterized in that the support elements are formed by webs and/or bars that cross the at least one gas-filled chamber.

9. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the support structure comprises a tree structure that branches from a bottom towards a top of the device.

10. The collision detection device according to claim 6, characterized in that a number of support elements per unit volume of the at least one gas-filled chamber is selected to be greater in the first region than in the second region.

11. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the support structure is made of stiffer material in the first region than in the second region.

12. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the support structure has a greater thickness in the first region than in the second region.

13. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the thickness of the shell and/or the rigidity of the shell at a top of the device is selected to be greater in the first region than in the second region.

14. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the degree of damping of the shell at a top of the device is selected to be greater in the first region than in the second region and that the degree of damping of the support structure is selected to be greater in the second region than in the first region.

15. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the thickness of the shell and/or the rigidity of the shell at the top of the device is chosen to be lower in an edge region of the at least one gas-filled chamber than in a central region.

16. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the thickness of the shell and/or the rigidity of the shell at a top of the device is selected to be lower in a curved portion of the shell than in a flat region of the shell.

17. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the support structure comprises a material reinforcement, which is arranged on an inside of the shell on an upper side of the device, wherein the material reinforcement has a honeycomb-like pattern.

18. The collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one gas-filled chamber has its own pressure-increasing device in the form of a particularly piezoelectrically driven pump or a blower.

19. The collision detection device according to claim 18, characterized in that the pressure sensor cooperates with the pressure increasing device via a control circuit to establish and maintain a predetermined gas pressure in the at least one gas-filled chamber.

20. Handling device comprising a collision detection device according to claim 1, that covers at least the first region and the second region of the same, wherein the handling device has an emergency shutdown, which is activated in response to signals of the pressure sensor.

21. Method for producing the collision detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the shell and the support structure are made integral with one another by means of a generative manufacturing process.

2. (canceled)