Screw Principle Micro-robot for inspection of the inner wall of small pipes
| Project/Area Number |
10555048
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 展開研究 |
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| Research Field |
設計工学・機械要素・トライボロジー
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
HAYASHI Iwao (1999) Tokyo Institute of Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Professor, 工学部, 教授 (80016790)
岩附 信行 (1998) 東京工業大学, 工学部, 助教授 (70193753)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
MORIKAWA Koichi Tokyo Institute of Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Research Associate, 工学部, 助手 (00282830)
岩附 信行 東京工業大学, 工学部, 助教授 (70193753)
林 巌 東京工業大学, 工学部, 教授 (80016790)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1998 – 1999
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 1999)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥11,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥11,400,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥3,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥7,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥7,900,000)
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| Keywords | Robot / In-pipe micro-robot / Pipe inspection / CCD camera / Step climbing over / Branch / Water pipe / Screw principle / 管内移動ロボット / 「ねじ原理」マイクロロボット / 管路網 / 駆動トルク / 性能解析 / 機構 |
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| Research Abstract |
Inspection-maintenance micro-robots are required to inspect and maintain plumbing, such as water and drain pipes to keep our social life. The investigators have hence developed a "screw principle" micro-robot, which can move forward and backward in a small pipe only by rotating the main-body similarly as a screw. In this research aiming at practical use, a mechanism to climb over steps between pipes with different diameters and another mechanism to swing the head in order to enter into a branch have been developed, and also a small CCD camera has been installed to watch the inner wall of pipes. The obtained results are as follows :
(1) A step-climbing-over mechanism has been devised by connecting three pairs of front- and back-arms, which have two tyres at different distance, respectively, with a gear mechanism.
(2) The relations between the diameter of tyre and the height of step and between the diameter of tyre and the driving torque have been derived, and have been experimentally proved useful.
(3) A micro-robot with the step-climbing-over mechanism has been designed, and experimentally investigated. The running characteristics have also investigated for a long distance running test.
(4) A non-rotating and two-degree-of-freedom head swing mechanism has been devised.
(5) It has experimentally proved that the micro-robot can enter a 30-dgree branch by swinging the head more than 15 degrees; the relation between the running speed and the driving torque to pass the branch has also experimentally investigated.
(6) For the micro-robot capable of climbing over steps a non-rotating CCD camera mounting mechanism has been devised.
(7) The non-rotating and clear images of the inner wall of small pipes have been obtained for the experiments to climb over the steps between 75mm- and 100mm-diameter concentric and eccentric pipes.
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Report
(3 results)
Research Products
(8 results)
