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Designing of Ipir
Spring Design
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Design and Modeling of an In-Pipe Inspection Robot

Profile image of Ankit NayakAnkit Nayak

Abstract

In modern era of industrialization pipeline is the most common way of inbound and outbound transportation of the fluids. The maintenance and inspection of pipe line is also necessary to prevent it from blockage and leakage. Sometime pipelines are used to carry toxic fluids so it will become harmful to do manual inspection and maintenance. Inspection of underground pipeline is also a complicated task for human. Robots are used to remove the risk involvement and complexity of the task related to pipe inspection and maintenance. The design of a new screw drive type In-Pipe Inspection Robot (IPIR) is presented in this paper. Rotor, stator and motor housing are the main parts of the designed robot. Rotor of robot consist three angled wheels mounted on elastic arms, which are placed on the periphery of rotor. Separation angle of each elastic arm is 1200. Rotor is connected to the motor with the help of a coupling. Rotor converts the rotary motion of motor shaft in to linear motion of whole robot which pulls the robot in the longitudinal direction of pipe line. Two or more rotor can be used which depends on the pay load, torque requirement, and working environment of robot. Stator of robot consists of three spring loaded straight wheels on the outer periphery. Motor and control units are the part of stator module. Stator provides the stability to the robot and prevents the body of robot from the rotation which occurs due to reaction of the robot. In screw type robot camera, sensors and other actuation devices can me mounted. In case of wireless robot, battery and wireless control module are also integral part of the stator. Basic model of screw type in-pipe inspection robot composed of single motor to actuate the screw drive mechanism of the robot is considered. Stator and rotor consists of three wheels which are mounted on the elastic arm. So the calculation of the required motor torque, spring stiffness for elastic arm, wheel tilt angle, dimensions of shaft and coupling are presented in this paper.

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Design and Development of In-Pipe Inspection Robot
ss ohol

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References (20)

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  20. Ankit Nayak and S. K. Pradhan, Investigation of Design Issues Related to In-Pipe Inspection Robot, IJAET vol-3, 2014.

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