Lifting device

Lift Device for Exterior Wall Maintenance Using an Inchworm-Driven Elevating Ball Screw

This technology is a lift device that elevates a frame by applying an inchworm-style movement mechanism to vertical rails on a building's exterior. It performs continuous vertical movement by controlling two rail-moving units that alternately engage and disengage around an elevating ball screw.

Conventional wire-rope gondolas are vulnerable to environmental factors like wind and offer low operational stability. Furthermore, they suffer from blind spots and reduced construction efficiency due to their fixed working areas when maintaining the exterior of high-rise buildings.

This technology proposes an inchworm drive system using an elevating ball screw and two rail-moving units that alternately engage and disengage from vertical rails via docking pins, with an L-shaped frame that allows movement even to building corners. It can be applied to the exterior maintenance of high-rise buildings, enabling precise elevation unaffected by wind and expanding the work range to include previously inaccessible blind spots.

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Key Features:

• L-shaped frame designed to elevate a robot moving along horizontal rails on a building's exterior
• Elevating unit that moves the frame vertically along rails using an inchworm mechanism
• Guide rail moving unit that allows the robot to transition between connection and separation positions relative to the horizontal rails
• Inchworm drive structure consisting of two rail-moving units that alternately engage and disengage with the elevating ball screw

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This invention was developed with support from the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement for the development of an intelligent robot system for high-rise building exterior maintenance.