CN-121989300-A - Robot joint module thermal management system based on phase change working medium injection

CN121989300ACN 121989300 ACN121989300 ACN 121989300ACN-121989300-A

Abstract

The application discloses a robot joint module thermal management system based on phase change working medium injection, which relates to the field of robots and comprises a central high-pressure storage and supply unit, a flexible high-pressure common rail pipe network, a plurality of joint module cooling injection assemblies, a layering control subsystem and a layering control subsystem, wherein the central high-pressure storage and supply unit is used for storing liquid phase change working medium and stabilizing the liquid phase change working medium to a set working pressure, the flexible high-pressure common rail pipe network is connected with the central high-pressure storage and supply unit and is used for conveying the liquid phase change working medium to each joint module of the robot, the joint module cooling injection assemblies are respectively arranged at each joint module and are communicated with the flexible high-pressure common rail pipe network and are used for carrying out pulse injection, phase change heat absorption and secondary utilization on the liquid phase change working medium, and the layering control subsystem is respectively connected with the central high-pressure storage and the joint module cooling injection assemblies and is used for controlling injection flow of the liquid phase change working medium. The application can break through the heat dissipation problem which restricts the humanoid/quadruped robot from the test prototype to the engineering application, and obviously reduces the thermal failure risk of the joint module.

Inventors

DONG MINGMING
ZHAO YIFAN
KE XINYUE

Assignees

北京理工大学

Dates

Publication Date: 20260508
Application Date: 20260326

Claims (10)

1. Robot joint module thermal management system based on phase transition working medium sprays, characterized by comprising: the central high-pressure storage and supply unit is used for storing a liquid phase change working medium and stabilizing the liquid phase change working medium to a set working pressure; The flexible high-pressure common rail pipe network is connected with the central high-pressure storage and supply unit and is used for conveying the liquid phase change working medium to each joint module of the robot; The joint module cooling injection assemblies are respectively arranged at the joint modules and communicated with the flexible high-pressure common rail pipe network, and are used for carrying out pulse injection, phase-change heat absorption and secondary utilization of residual cooling on the liquid phase-change working medium; and the layered control subsystem is respectively connected with the central high-pressure storage and supply unit and the joint module cooling and spraying assembly and is used for controlling the spraying flow of the liquid phase change working medium.
2. The robot joint module thermal management system based on phase change working medium injection, which is disclosed in claim 1, is characterized in that the central high-pressure storage and supply unit is arranged in a groove cabin at the back of the robot trunk, the central high-pressure storage and supply unit comprises a gas cylinder and a pressure-stabilizing conditioning valve group, the gas cylinder is filled with liquid phase change working medium, the gas cylinder is connected with the pressure-stabilizing conditioning valve group through a self-sealing joint, and the pressure-stabilizing conditioning valve group is used for stabilizing the liquid phase change working medium to a set working pressure.
3. The robot joint module thermal management system based on phase change working medium injection according to claim 2, wherein the pressure stabilizing and conditioning valve group is integrated on a base, a communication flow passage, a main liquid supply flow passage and a bypass monitoring flow passage are arranged in the base, and the bypass monitoring flow passage is arranged on the side wall of the main liquid supply flow passage and is vertically communicated with the main flow passage.
4. The robot joint module thermal management system based on phase change working medium injection of claim 3, wherein the pressure stabilizing and conditioning valve group comprises a primary piston pressure reducing valve, a split manifold, a safety pressure reducing valve and a pressure monitoring sensor; the liquid inlet of the primary piston pressure reducing valve is communicated to the tail end of the communication flow channel, and the primary piston pressure reducing valve is used for stabilizing the liquid phase change working medium in the gas cylinder to set working pressure; The main input port of the split manifold is communicated with the liquid outlet of the primary piston pressure reducing valve through the main liquid supply flow channel, the split manifold is provided with a plurality of split outlets, and each split outlet is connected to a primary main pipeline of the flexible high-pressure common rail pipe network; The safety relief valve is communicated with the main liquid supply channel through a bypass monitoring channel, and is opened when the pressure in the main liquid supply channel exceeds a set threshold value; the pressure monitoring sensor is used for monitoring the saturated vapor pressure in the gas cylinder and the working pressure of the flexible high-pressure common rail pipe network.
5. The phase change working fluid injection-based robot joint module thermal management system of claim 4, wherein the pressure monitoring sensor comprises: the high-pressure side sensor is arranged on the communication flow passage and is used for monitoring the saturated vapor pressure in the gas cylinder; And the low-pressure side sensor is arranged on the main liquid supply flow channel and is used for monitoring the working pressure of the flexible high-pressure common rail pipe network.
6. The robot joint module thermal management system based on phase change working medium injection, which is disclosed in claim 1, is characterized in that the conveying pipeline of the flexible high-pressure common rail pipe network comprises a primary main pipeline and a secondary branch pipeline, wherein the primary main pipeline is led out from a branch manifold of a central high-pressure storage and supply unit and extends to the waist, the head and the root of limbs of the robot, the secondary branch pipeline is led out from the primary main pipeline, is routed along the robot bones and is connected to each joint module cooling injection assembly, and the conveying pipeline is of a three-layer composite structure and sequentially comprises an inner liner layer, a reinforcing layer and a sheath layer from inside to outside.
7. The thermal management system of a robot joint module based on phase change working medium injection according to claim 1, wherein the conveying pipeline is preformed into an omega-shaped buffer ring or a U-shaped buffer ring at a single-axis joint crossing a robot, and the conveying pipeline is wound into a spiral spring shape at a multi-axis ball-and-socket joint area of the robot.
8. The robot joint module thermal management system based on phase change working medium injection according to claim 6, wherein the joint module cooling injection assembly comprises a tail end high-frequency electromagnetic valve, a micro-atomization nozzle, a heat pipe-evaporation cavity coupling structure and a cascade residual cold utilization channel, an inlet of the tail end high-frequency electromagnetic valve is connected with the secondary branch pipeline, an inlet of the tail end high-frequency electromagnetic valve is communicated with the micro-atomization nozzle, an injection end of the micro-atomization nozzle extends into the heat pipe-evaporation cavity coupling structure and injects liquid phase change working medium towards a heat pipe condensation section array arranged in the heat pipe-evaporation cavity coupling structure to enable the liquid phase change working medium to flash and gasify into gaseous phase change working medium, an outlet of the heat pipe-evaporation cavity coupling structure is communicated with an inlet of the cascade residual cold utilization channel, and the cascade residual cold utilization channel guides the gaseous phase change working medium in the heat pipe-evaporation cavity coupling structure to a driving controller of the joint module to conduct secondary cooling.
9. The robot joint module thermal management system based on phase change working medium injection according to claim 8, wherein the heat pipe-evaporating cavity coupling structure comprises a plurality of circumferentially distributed heat pipes and sealed evaporating cavities, evaporating sections of the heat pipes are uniformly distributed in a motor of the robot, condensing sections of the heat pipes are bent and extend into the sealed evaporating cavities, and a heat pipe condensing section array is formed.
10. The robotic joint module thermal management system based on phase change working fluid injection of claim 8, wherein the hierarchical control subsystem comprises: The central heat management unit is connected with the central high-pressure storage and supply unit and is used for generating control instructions; The joint tail end driving unit is connected with the central thermal management unit and the joint module cooling injection assembly and is used for driving the tail end high-frequency electromagnetic valve according to the control instruction so as to adjust the injection flow of the liquid phase change working medium; the central thermal management unit receives future motion track planning data and each joint estimated moment instruction issued by a main controller of the robot, calculates a feedforward control quantity, simultaneously receives temperature data acquired by each joint module in real time, calculates a feedback control quantity, and superimposes the feedforward control quantity and the feedback control quantity to generate a control instruction.

Description

Robot joint module thermal management system based on phase change working medium injection Technical Field The application relates to the field of robots, in particular to a robot joint module thermal management system based on phase change working medium injection. Background With the continuous development of robotics, in order to pursue the motion capability and flexibility of the robot, the joint output torque and the explosive force are continuously improved, and the heating value in unit volume is exponentially increased. However, due to the bionic configuration and light weight requirements of the robot limbs, the joint module cannot be provided with huge radiating fins or fans like an industrial motor, so that the effective radiating area is seriously insufficient, generated heat cannot be timely dissipated, and a heat concentration area is extremely easy to form inside the module. On the working condition level, the robot joint is always under a severe working condition of 'low-speed large torque' or 'zero-speed locked-rotor'. At this time, the motor current is very large but the rotating speed is zero, and the cooling effect of the fan blade of the motor is completely ineffective, so that the Joule heat is rapidly accumulated. In addition, when high dynamic actions such as jumping, turning over, sudden stop and the like are executed, the joint motor needs to bear overload which is several times of rated current in millisecond-level time, and severe transient thermal shock is generated. In a highly integrated joint module, the motor, the reducer and the driver are in the same enclosed space. The high temperature of the motor stator can not only cause irreversible demagnetization of a permanent magnet and ageing of an insulating layer, but also enable lubricating grease in a speed reducer to be thinned and lose efficacy through heat conduction, so that abrasion is aggravated, and meanwhile, high temperature radiation can directly influence a driver which is closely installed, so that a power semiconductor device is triggered to protect and stop due to overheating, even thermal breakdown occurs, and the continuous working capacity and the movement safety of a robot are seriously affected. At present, three technical schemes of natural/forced air cooling, circulating/immersed liquid cooling and solid-liquid phase material filling mainly exist in the industry aiming at the heat dissipation scheme of the robot joint module. When the requirements of high dynamic and high burst response, multitasking, long-time and complex environment work and light weight and integrated design of the novel robot are met, the following significant defects exist: 1. The natural cooling and forced air cooling technology has low heat dissipation power density, is difficult to cope with transient thermal shock, and is in face of pulse type high heat flux density generated by the novel robot under high dynamic actions such as jump, sudden stop and the like, the thermal response speed of an air cooling scheme is seriously lagged, core accumulated heat cannot be taken away in time, and the transient temperature of a motor winding is extremely easy to break through the insulation limit. Forced air cooling relies on convection of external air, and an air inlet and an air outlet are required to be formed in the joint module shell. The tightness of the joints is directly damaged, so that the robot is difficult to reach a high protection level and cannot reliably work in unstructured complex environments such as field dust, rainwater or humidity. And the high-speed cooling fan can introduce high-frequency squeal noise, and the mechanical vibration of the high-speed cooling fan can be coupled to the robot body to interfere with signal acquisition of the precise force control sensor and the environment sensing sensor, so that control accuracy is affected. 2. The circulating and immersed liquid cooling technical system has large system mass and is unfavorable for light weight. Conventional circulating water cooling systems require the configuration of heavy circulation pumps, tanks, heat exchangers, and return lines throughout the body, significantly reducing the payload and energy utilization of the robot. Liquid cooling can increase joint movement impedance and leakage risk, and a bidirectional conveying pipeline filled with liquid needs to span joints with large movement ranges such as shoulders, hips and the like, so that rotational inertia and damping moment of joint movement are obviously increased, and high-frequency dynamic response of the robot is limited. Meanwhile, under the condition of long-term reciprocating motion and impact, the complex pipeline joint has extremely high fatigue leakage risk, and the leakage of the cooling liquid can cause short circuit. For immersed liquid cooling, although the temperature equalization problem is solved, the motor rotor generates remarkable viscous resistance when rotating in viscous oi