Design and Motion Mechanism of a Screw Drive In-pipe Robot with Adaptability to In-pipe Environment

doi:10.3901/JME.2016.09.009

Abstract

Abstract: In order to improve the adaptability of the screw drive in-pipe robot in straight and curved pipes with varied curvature radius, the problem of adaptive movement mechanism is researched. Considering the properties of the pipe environment, straight movement mechanism, steering movement mechanism and load regulation mechanism are proposed based on the motion and force models of the robot. The research reveals that environment adaptability of the screw drive in-pipe robot can be obtained by modulating inclining angles of the rollers. The problems of motion interference and roller slipping can be also solved to some extent. A screw drive in-pipe robot with an adaptive linkage mechanism is designed based on the adaptive movement mechanism. The adaptive linkage mechanism can obtain the pipe environment information through eccentric arms and change the inclining angles of the robot’s rollers differentially. The dynamic simulation results show that the proposed robot can adaptively pass through the straight and curved pipes with varied curvature radius, and the robot can also change the maximum load ability by the adaptive linkage mechanism.

Key words: adaptive linkage mechanism, in-pipe robot, movement mechanism, screw drive

CLC Number:

TP242

LI Te^{1, 2}, MA Shugen^{1, 3}, LI Bin¹, WANG Minghui¹, WANG Yuechao¹. Design and Motion Mechanism of a Screw Drive In-pipe Robot with Adaptability to In-pipe Environment[J]. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2016, 52(9): 9-17.

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