Multi-purpose planet rover

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12234040-B2
Application number	US-202017629418-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2020
Priority date	Aug 20, 2019
Publication date	Feb 25, 2025
Grant date	Feb 25, 2025

Abstract

A multi-purpose planet planetary exploration rover is provided in this invention, which relates to the field of planet exploration. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover includes a case body, mounted with a first wheel at left and right sides respectively; and a cantilever, having a front end connected to the case body, a rear end of the cantilever being mounted with a second wheel; wherein the cantilever is rotated or fixed relative to the case body, the second wheel is steered relative to the cantilever, and the first wheel and the second wheel are used to drive the multi-purpose planetary exploration rover. Compared with the prior art, the multi-purpose planetary exploration rover of this invention can effectively explore special geographic locations such as cliffs, volcanic craters, craters and lava caves on alien planets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multi-purpose planetary exploration rover, comprising:
a case body, mounted with a first wheel at left and right sides respectively; and
a cantilever, having a front end connected to the case body, a rear end of the cantilever being mounted with a second wheel;
wherein the cantilever is rotated or fixed relative to the case body, the second wheel is steered relative to the cantilever, and the first wheel and the second wheel are used to drive the multi-purpose planetary exploration rover;
the cantilever is mounted with a first locking mechanism, and the first locking mechanism enables the cantilever to remain fixed relative to the case body;
the multi-purpose planetary exploration rover is mounted with a detection device;
the detection device comprises a plurality of multi-dimensional force sensors, and the plurality of multi-dimensional force sensors are mounted at shafts of the first wheel and the second wheel respectively.

2. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 1 , wherein the two first wheels enable the multi-purpose planetary rover to be steered through differential steering.

3. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 1 , wherein the second wheel is connected to the cantilever through a steering mechanism, and the steering mechanism comprises:
a horizontal arm, connected to the second wheel;
a vertical arm, having a lower end connected to the horizontal arm, the vertical arm being located on one side of the second wheel; and
a connecting plate, having one end connected to an upper end of the vertical arm, the other end of the connecting plate being hingedly connected to the cantilever.

4. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 1 , wherein the cantilever is mounted with a second locking mechanism, and the second locking mechanism prevents the second wheel from steering relative to the cantilever.

5. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 4 , wherein the second wheel is connected to the cantilever through the steering mechanism, the steering mechanism is mounted with a second drive motor, and the second drive motor is used to drive the second wheel to be steered relative to the cantilever.

6. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 5 , wherein the second drive motor is mounted with an encoder, and the encoder is used to detect a steering angle of the second wheel relative to the cantilever.

7. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 5 , wherein:
the second wheel is mounted with a first drive motor, and the first drive motor is used to drive the second wheel to rotate; and
the multi-purpose planetary exploration rover is mounted with a controller, and the controller is connected to the first locking mechanism, the second locking mechanism, the first drive motor and the second drive motor respectively.

8. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 7 , wherein the second wheel drives the cantilever to rotate relative to the case body.

9. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 1 , wherein the cantilever has a rectangular plate-shaped structure, and front and rear ends of the cantilever are two ends in a length direction of the cantilever.

10. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 1 , wherein the first wheel and the second wheel have cylindrical structures, outer round surfaces of the first wheel and the second wheel are respectively formed with a plurality of convex edges, and the plurality of convex edges are arranged around the outer round surfaces of the first wheel and the second wheel.

11. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 1 , wherein the second wheel moves along the cantilever and is held at any position between the front end and the rear end of the cantilever.

12. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 11 , wherein the cantilever is mounted with:
a rack, fixed to the second wheel, the rack extending along forward and backward directions of the cantilever;
a gear, engaged with the rack; and
a drive mechanism, connected to the gear.

13. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 12 , wherein the cantilever is provided with a rectangular through hole, and the rectangular through hole is arranged parallel to the rack; the rectangular through hole is mounted with a movable base, and the movable base moves back and forth along a length direction of the rectangular through hole; the rack is fixed to the movable base, and the movable base is hingedly mounted with the steering mechanism; the steering mechanism is connected to the second wheel, the movable base is mounted with the second drive motor, and the second drive motor is used to rotate the steering mechanism.

14. The multi-purpose planetary exploration rover according to claim 1 , wherein the cantilever is mounted with two bearing portions at the rear end, and the two bearing portions are located on the left and right sides of the cantilever respectively.

Assignees

• Harbin Inst Technology

Inventors

• Gao Haibo
• Yang Huaiguang
• Huang Lan
• Ding Liang
• Yu Zhaowei
• Deng Zongquan
• Yu Haitao

Classifications

• B62D7/04

  with more than one wheel · CPC title

• B62D9/00

  Steering deflectable wheels not otherwise provided for (steering positon indicators B62D15/02) · CPC title

• B62D11/20

  Endless-track steering having pivoted bogie carrying track (B62D11/02 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B64G1/16 Primary

  Extraterrestrial cars · CPC title