Smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism

The present disclosure belongs to the technical field of walking mechanisms, and provides a smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism, which can provide strong smooth obstacle crossing capability, meanwhile, maintains lower friction loss and higher efficiency, and is suitable for most daily use situations. A smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism includes a driving wheel and a contact wheel. The driving wheel has a wheel diameter lower than that of the contact wheel. The driving wheel compresses an inner edge of the contact wheel under gravity. The contact wheel is in contact with the ground surface. When the driving wheel rotates actively, it walks along the inner edge of the contact wheel under the frictional force with the contact wheel. The contact wheel rolls forwards under a pressure and the frictional force of the driving wheel, so as to enable the smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism to walk.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 202110039103.9, entitled “smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism” filed with the Chinese Patent Office on Jan. 12, 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure belongs to the technical field of walking mechanisms, and particularly relates to a smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism.

BACKGROUND ART

At present, walking mechanisms existing on the market are mainly divided into two types, namely a wheel type and a track type. Among them, the wheel type walking mechanisms are the mainstream, for example, four-wheel vehicles, four-wheel electric vehicles, two-wheel balance vehicles, and two-wheel electric vehicles. The wheel type walking mechanisms have the advantages of low loss of friction with the ground and high efficiency, and are suitable for traveling on relatively flat road surfaces. However, the performance of the wheel type walking mechanisms is not ideal when encountering obstacles, for example, a step. Their obstacle crossing capability depends on wheel diameters and drive capability. Sudden change of height is easily caused when the wheel type walking mechanisms cross the obstacles, for example, the sudden change of height makes the riding experience poor when the wheel type walking mechanisms go up and down stairs. The track type walking mechanisms have strong obstacle crossing capability. However, such mechanisms have great frictional forces with the ground and very low efficiency, so they are not suitable for daily use. In addition, sudden change of height is also easily caused when the track type walking mechanisms cross the obstacles, for example, sudden change of height will be caused when the track type walking mechanisms start to go down steps from flat ground, or go up to the top end of the steps and start to walk on the flat ground, so the riding experience is very poor.

SUMMARY

The objective of the embodiments is to provide a smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism, which can provide strong smooth obstacle crossing capability, meanwhile, maintains lower friction loss and higher efficiency, and is suitable for most daily use situations.

The technical solution of the present disclosure:

A smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism includes a driving wheel1and a contact wheel2. The driving wheel1has a wheel diameter lower than that of the contact wheel2. The driving wheel1rotates around its own axle under a driving force. The driving wheel1compresses an inner side of the contact wheel2under a gravity of a vehicle body. The contact wheel2is in contact with the ground surface. When the driving wheel1rotates actively, and in turn walks along an inner edge of the contact wheel2under a frictional force with the contact wheel2. The contact wheel2rolls forwards under a pressure and the frictional force of the driving wheel1, so as to enable the smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism to walk.

The axle of the driving wheel1may be connected and fixed to an axle of the contact wheel2via a connecting piece3. The connecting piece3may be connected to the axle of the driving wheel1via a bearing or a bearing bush. The connecting piece3may be connected to the axle of the contact wheel2via a bearing or a bearing bush. The connecting piece3may allow the axle of the driving wheel1and the axle of the contact wheel2to be parallel to each other and the relative distance therebetween to be maintained unchanged, and may allow good contact between the driving wheel1and the contact wheel2under conditions of traveling, steering, obstacle crossing, bumping and the like.

The smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism may be provided with multiple auxiliary wheels4. The multiple auxiliary wheels4may be connected to the driving wheel1through fixing pieces5. The fixing pieces5are connected to the axle of the driving wheel1via bearings or bearing bushes. The fixing pieces5may fix the relative positions between the multiple auxiliary wheels4and the driving wheel1. The auxiliary wheels4may rotate freely or have an active driving capability. The auxiliary wheels4may be used for assisting in strengthening a structural strength of the contact wheel2. The active driving capability of the auxiliary wheels4may increase frictional forces between the auxiliary wheels4and the contact wheel2, and in turn may increase whole driving capability.

The axle of the driving wheel1, the auxiliary wheels4, the fixing pieces5, and the axle of the contact wheel2may be connected together through the connecting piece3. The connecting piece3is connected to the axle of the driving wheel1via a bearing or a bearing bush. The connecting piece3is connected to the axle of the contact wheel2via a bearing or a bearing bush. The connecting piece3allows the axle of the driving wheel1and the axle of the contact wheel2to be parallel to each other and the relative distance therebetween to be maintained unchanged.

The driving wheel1may be engaged with the contact wheel2through a first gear structure.

The auxiliary wheels4may be engaged with the contact wheel2through a second gear structures.

The embodiments has the effects and the benefits that the contact wheel with the relatively large wheel diameter achieves an effect of “bridging” when contacting an obstacle, and the driving wheel with the relatively small wheel diameter actually travels on a “bridge” built by the contact wheel with the relatively large wheel diameter, so as to avoid the sudden change of the height, and realize smooth obstacle crossing. For example, when the smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism walking on the flat ground encounters steps and needs to go down the steps, and when the driving wheel walks forwards until the center of the driving wheel deviates from the center of the contact wheel, the contact wheel performs downward inclined movement under the downward pressure of the driving wheel, and the contact wheel stops moving until being in contact with the next step, so as to complete the “bridging” to the next step. During the process, the height of the contact wheel changes suddenly, but the height of the driving wheel does not change suddenly. The driving wheel continues walking and smoothly descends to the height of the next step along the “bridge” that is built by the contact wheel, so as to complete smooth obstacle crossing. When the smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism walking on the flat ground encounters steps and needs to go up the steps, the contact wheel first contacts an upper step and then stops moving to complete “bridging”, while the driving wheel continues performing rotating movement and smoothly walking to the height of the upper step along the “bridge” built by the contact wheel, and the contact wheel moves upwards in an inclined manner to the height of the plane of the upper step under the downward pressure of the driving wheel. During the process, the height of the contact wheel changes suddenly, but the height of the driving wheel is not changed. The driving wheel drives the contact wheel to continue walking normally, so as to complete smooth obstacle crossing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in detail with reference to technical solutions and accompanying drawings.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference toFIG.1. A driving wheel1has a relatively small wheel diameter, and a contact wheel2has a relatively large wheel diameter. The driving wheel1may rotate around its own axle under a driving force. The driving wheel1compresses an inner side of the contact wheel2under the gravity of a vehicle body. The contact wheel2is in contact with the ground surface. When the driving wheel1rotates actively, it walks along the inner edge of the contact wheel2under the frictional force with the contact wheel2. The contact wheel2rolls forwards under the actions of the pressure and the frictional force of the driving wheel1, so as to realize the walking of the smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference toFIG.3. The axle of the driving wheel1is connected and fixed to the axle of the contact wheel2via a connecting piece3. The connecting piece3is connected to the axle of the driving wheel1via a bearing or a bearing bush. The connecting piece3is connected to the axle of the contact wheel2via a bearing or a bearing bush. The connecting piece3ensures that the axle of the driving wheel1and the axle of the contact wheel2are parallel to each other and the relative distance therebetween is maintained unchanged, and ensures good contact between the driving wheel1and the contact wheel2under the conditions of traveling, steering, obstacle crossing, bumping and the like.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference toFIG.5. The smooth obstacle-crossing walking mechanism may be provided with multiple auxiliary wheels4. The multiple auxiliary wheels4are connected to the driving wheel1through fixing pieces5. The fixing pieces5are connected to the axle of the driving wheel1via bearings or bearing bushes. The fixing pieces5fix the relative positions between the multiple auxiliary wheels4and the driving wheel1. The auxiliary wheels4may rotate freely or may have the active driving capability. The multiple auxiliary wheels4have the main effect of assisting in strengthening the structural strength of the contact wheel2. If the multiple auxiliary wheels4have the active driving capability, then the multiple auxiliary wheels4may also have the effects of increasing the frictional force with the contact wheel2, thereby increasing the driving capability.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference toFIG.6. The axle of the driving wheel1, the multiple auxiliary wheels4, the fixing pieces5, and the axle of the contact wheel2are connected together through the connecting piece3. The connecting piece3is connected to the axle of the driving wheel1via a bearing or a bearing bush. The connecting piece3is connected to the axle of the contact wheel2via a bearing or a bearing bush. The connecting piece3ensures that the axle of the driving wheel1and the axle of the contact wheel2are parallel to each other and the relative distance is maintained unchanged.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference toFIG.7. The driving wheel1may be engaged with the contact wheel2through a gear structure.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference toFIG.3,FIG.5, andFIG.6. The multiple auxiliary wheels4may be engaged with the contact wheel2through gear structures.