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Conceptual Design and Analysis of Pipe Climbing Robot
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RIACT 2021
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2115 (2021) 012004
IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2115/1/012004
1
Conceptual Design and Analysis of Pipe Climbing Robot
Darshita Shah1, Jatin Dave1, Ashish Majithiya1 and Yash Patel1
1 Nirma University, India
* jatin.dave@nirmauni.ac.in
Abstract: Robotics is one of the most emerging technologies in the current scenario. In this
fast-growing technological world automation through robotics finds its place in almost all the
fields. Climbing robots became more popular due to their versatile applications like inspection
of tall buildings, tanks, structures, facade cleaning, fruits harvesting on tall trees (coconut) and
many more. It became most adaptive as working on height may lead to dangerous incidents for
human beings. Operations like visual inspection, crack detection of tall structures and pipes can
be made possible with specially designed pipe climber robot. It finds its applications where
human cannot reach, like hazardous applications. Specially design robots for a specific
application also performs well with precision. This paper presents the novel design and
analysis of pipe climbing robot for Chemical plant pipeline fault and leakage detection
purpose. Design of all components of the robot is done with the basic mathematical
consideration and then its analysis is carried out using FEA tools and MATLAB. Results of
Forward and Inverse kinematic analysis of robot are obtained for certain specific points of
trajectory. Dynamic analysis has been performed for motor selection and torque calculation.
Presented conceptual design and analysis can be useful for pipe inspection purpose.
Keywords: Climbing Robots; Pipe climbers; inspection
1. Introduction
Technological development in last 3 decades motivated human beings to find alternative ways of
doing work. Automation through robotics is the choice of most of the industries now a days. In the
field of robots, the climbing robots are the emerging technology. [1][2] Tall Buildings, structures,
overhead chemical tanks, light poles, big monuments, statues are the places where visual inspection,
crack and corrosion detection and cleaning has become a most crucial problem for human being due to
non-availability of skilled manpower and safety issues. For such repetitive and periodic application
climbing robots’ deployment on field is the safe, best suited, cost effective and efficient solution. For
this purpose an exhaustive literature survey is carried out and design and analysis of pipe climbing,
façade cleaning, tank inspection, crack detection, coconut tree climber robots are studied [3]–[11].
Majority of the literature are based on the special purpose application robots intended to perform
certain desired task [12]–[14]. Also, majority of the tall structure has frame, pipe or pillar type
attachments that can be utilize as a support for climbing up and move down. This paper presents the
conceptual design and analysis of a pipe climber robot for inspection of pipes for chemical process
industry. As the objective of the wok focus on the specific application of inspection of chemical pipes
an exhaustive literature review is conducted which highlights the gap that no pipe climber design
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Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2115 (2021) 012004
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doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2115/1/012004
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available in literature is directly applicable [15-18]. Based on the specification of pipeline network a
compact gripping device and climbing device are required to design. Literature highlighting grippers
indicate magnetic, adhesive, vacuum type, mechanical and many more [ 19-20]. As application
requirement is to detect leakage detection in pipe magnetic, adhesive and vacuumed grippers may not
give satisfactory performances while operating on the wet and dry surfaces both. Mechanical grippers
with a layer of friction material on the contact surfaces is designed for ensuring firm grip between
robot and pipe. It is also required to collect the information for dimensions and structures of pipeline
network based on which primary specification of robot can be decided.[21] Considering primary
specifications as cylindrical pipe of diameter ranging from 3 cm to 10cm a pipe climber robot is
designed with basic mathematical steps. Gripper for holding a pipe is required to design. A gripper
design literature survey is also done [22]–[28].Static structure analysis of the components is performed
in Ansys. Design and analysis of climbing robot with gripper are presented in section 2 of this paper.
Forward and Inverse kinematic analysis is performed in MATLAB for certain specific points of
trajectory on the pipe surface (Included in section 3). Dynamic analysis is also done for torque
calculations and based on that selection of motors can be done. Singularity and degeneracy of the
robot is checked and results shows that the design of robot is capable of climbing up on the pipe
satisfactorily. (Section 4) Discussion on the pros and cons of the proposed design and concluding
remarks are included in section 5 and 6.
2. Conceptual Design of Pipe climbing robot
Design of a pole climber robot is done with basic mathematical considerations. It is required to collect
certain primary information like range of diameter of pipes in chemical plant, its material
characteristics and space availability between the network pipes in which the robot has to move. Here
a robot gripper is designed can hold pipe diameter Ranges from 3cm to 10cm, Pipe material steel is
taken[29]. 3D Model of robot and gripper shows self-weight of a robot approximately 3kg. the
payload of visual inspection system 0.8 kg [30]. Design of all components of the robot link and
grippers are done manually and its modelling is done in solid works. Analysis of the same is carried
out using ANSYS.
Design of link is based on the consideration that three such link with three revaluate joints are attached
together and two grippers attached at two ends. If the maximum step size of 30 cm while climbing up
on the pipe, then maximum length of each link is considered as 20 cm. With the basic load calculation,
its width and thickness are calculated. Being main member of robot, link is designed and modeled in
solid works and considering motor weight 0.7 kg analysis is performed and results shows stress on
links came within the safe limits as shown in figure 1 and 2. Then its Conceptual design is done using
solid works as shown in figure 3.
Figure 1. Design of Link.
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Figure 2. Static Analysis of a Link.
Figure 3. Conceptual design of robot.
A robust design of a holding device is required as it is the main gripping member of the robot. Gripper
is designed to hold pipe diameter ranging from 3 cm to 10 cm. Coating of high friction material is
done at inner surface of the plates for holding pipe. Considering pipe reaction and co-efficient of
friction as 0.6, force analysis is carried out and reaction exerted on each plate is calculated as 85 and
170 N as shown in the figure 4.
Figure 4. Gripping force on gripper plate.
Force required to exert on each plate is calculated as
(1)
Linear force required to exert is F’ = 600 N
Width of the plate = 3cm (as Min. diameter required to clamp is 3cm) and thickness of the plate is
taken as 1 mm. Dimensions of Links, Length of the link-1 = 70mm, Width of the link = 5mm and
Height of the link = 25mm. (Height to width ratio assumed as 5) For operating gripper a lead screw is
selected based on gripping force required, pitch and torque.
Force required to exert = 600N
Efficiency of lead screw = 90%
Pitch of the lead screw = 2mm
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Required torque,
(2)
Solid works model and its analysis results are shown in figure 5 and 6. In order to ensure proper grip
the inner surfaces of the gripper are to be covered with high friction cotton paddings. While analysis
that cotton padding layer is also considered. Results shows that forces on the surface of the gripper are
within the limits and can withstand the mention loadings.
Figure 5. Conceptual design of gripper.
Figure 6. Force analysis of gripper.
Figure 7. Assembly of a robot.
Gripper-1
Gripper-2
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Figure 8. vertical extended view of assembly of a robot.
Figure 7 shows assembly of a robot with two grippers. Each gripper is a two-jaw gripper can open and
close with a leadscrew. Gripper-1 opened and loses the contact with the pipe and body of robot
stretches and moves ahead climb upon the pipe. Gripper -2 is holding the pipe at that time. Gripper-1
hold the new advanced position on pipe, then gripper-2 actuates and advances on the pipe. This
sequential actuation helps in achieving desired movement of a robot on the pipe. Fig 8 shows the
extended vertical view of a robot.
3. Forwards and Inverse Kinematic analysis for specific Trajectory Points
In order to have smooth motion of a robot, variation of the joint torque should be gradual. There
should not abrupt changes in the value of the torque. Therefore, variation of the joint angle should be
in smooth manner. A Trajectory planning is required to find the value of joint angle, its first order
derivative angular velocity and second order derivative angular acceleration. As the motor is
controlled in joint-space, for trajectory generation joint-space consideration is taken. For the smooth
variation of the angle, cubic polynomial is selected as trajectory function. Considering initial
conditions,
At and . At and
Applying Cubic polynomial,
(3)
solving the same will get,
(4)
(5)
(6)
For the straight climbing, limits of angular displacements of 3 joints are considered as,
= -90 to 90, = -90 to 90 and = -90 to 90
Based on that kinematic parameter for cubic polynomial were obtained as show in in figure7.
1
Gripper
2
Link1
3
Link 2
4
Gripper jaw
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Figure 9. Angular Position, Velocity and Acceleration Vs. time.
As shown in figure 9, acceleration would be increase linearly with respect to time which causes
smooth movement of angular joint.
3.1 Kinematics
Robot kinematic analysis requires for identifying all joint angles and end effector positions. Direct or
forward kinematics results the position of the end effector in universal coordinate system for the given
value of the joint angles, and Inverse kinematics gives all possible value of joint angle for the given
location of the end effector. Frame assignment for the 3 degrees of freedom RRR robot is as shown in
figure 8. For joint-space configuration forward and inverse kinematics were performed as follows.
3.1.1 Forward or Direct Kinematics. Coordinate system has been assigned to each joint and
coordinates for them with respect global coordinates are as below. Robot co-ordinate frames for
chosen RRR Configuration is as shown in figure 10.
Figure 10. Articulated (RRR) arm frame configuration.
Table 1.
Frame
ɑ
A
D
ϴ
1
0
0
0
2
0
0
3
0
0
4
0
0
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Transformation matrix,
(7)
(8)
3.1.2 Inverse kinematics. Inverse kinematics gives the values of joint variables for the given pose. The
equations of X and Y coordinates are non-linear and has to be solved by numerical method. LMA
algorithm is used to solve the equation by considering the joint limits of -90° to 90° as parameters.
With the given joint limits, unique solution is obtained.
4. Dynamic Analysis
Purpose of the dynamics is to determine amount of force or torque required for the movement. There
is two approaches for the dynamics: Forward dynamics and Inverse dynamics. Forward dynamics
gives the value of angular displacement, velocity and acceleration for the given joint torque. Inverse
dynamics gives the value of torque for the given angular displacement, velocity and acceleration.
Calculation of the torque is done using Lagrange approach. Lagrange is the difference between the
energies associated with in the system. i.e. kinetic energy and potential energy of all the links.
L = KE – PE
Where, KE = Kinetic energy of all the link
PE = Potential energy of all the link
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Torque for the ith link can be found out by equation
(9)
Calculation and derivation of formula for torque is done using MATLAB software and subsequent
plots are shown in figure 9.
Motor Torque-1
Motor Torque-2
Motor Torque-3
Figure 11. Motor Torque Plots.
Dynamic analysis result outcome for all the positions were obtained using MATLAB. Figure 11
shows torque variations for all the three motors. It shows that maximum torque exerted to be 5 Nm.
Considering higher factor of safety torque of 30Nm is taken for the calculation of gripper.
5. Discussion
Preventative maintenance of plant equipment’s is of prime requirement to prevent dangerous accidents
and to safeguard man and machinery. One of the such sector is chemical industries. It’s a process
industry where there is a huge pipeline network exist. In certain situation pipelines carries hazardous
fluids inside. For the purpose of preventive maintenance, it is necessary to detect leakage and cracks in
the pipelines. It is desired to have an inspection robot to identify defects and faults in pipe of a such a
big network of pipelines. It is required to design a compact robot and a gripper capable of climbing a
pipe equipped with a desired vision system to detect faults and can be accommodated within the
available space of tower networks. Design and analysis of a pipe climber robot is carried out in solid
works and ANSYS. Specifications of the designed robot is as shown in Table -2.
Table 2. specification of a robot and gripper.
Specification of a robot and Gripper
Robot configuration
RRR (Three revolute joint)
Degrees of freedom
3
Dimensions of each link
20mm length x 10mm width x 4mm thickness
Two jaw gripper
Made up of joining two plates.
Plate dimensions
20mm length x 4.5mm width x2 mm thickness
Thickness of cotton padding inside gripping
plate
1.5 mm
Holding capacity (completely closed jaws)
Min 3 mm diameter pipe
Holding capacity (completely opened jaws)
Max 10 mm diameter pipe
Lead screw
Open and close the gripper
Overall dimensions in vertical position.
90 mm height x20mm width x20mm depth.
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After the design is over it is necessary to know all joint link parameters. Forward kinematics is carried
out for certain trajectory points. Inverse kinematic analysis is also performed and in order to get motor
specification its Dynamic analysis is also carried out. Analysis of newly designed robots arrived at a
motor torque value as 5 Nm. That shows that for each joint motor requires is based on the maximum
torque out come of each individual motor i.e 5 Nm.
6. Conclusions
Climbing robots finds their application in many fields now a days. Wall climber, building climber
robots gain popularity for comfort and safe operations performances. Here a Pipe climber robot is
designed and analysed, that can perform inspection of pipes of a chemical process industry.
Conceptual design of a pole climber robot with gripper is done with basic mechanical considerations
and then its analysis is carried out. Design of each component of the pipe climber robot is done and
static structure analysis is performed. Analysis results based on loading condition shows that the
deformation is under safe limits. Forward and inverse kinematics for specific trajectory points is done
in MATLAB and then for selection of motor, dynamic analysis is also performed. Based on the results
of analysis it is clear that the proposed design gives satisfactory performance. In future algorithms and
gait planning for autonomous climbing robot can be explored. Also, dynamic stability is an important
aspect and can be studied further,
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