Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T00:46:56.537Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Design and Implementation of a Cable Inspection Robot for Cable-Stayed Bridges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2021

Zhipeng Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Control Science and Engineering, Tongji University, No.4800 Caoan Road, Shanghai201804, China Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems, No.55 Chuanhe Road, Shanghai200120, China E-mails: wangzhipeng@tongji.edu.cn, yanmin.zhou@tongji.edu.cn, 1414358333@qq.com, 771996588@qq.com
Bin He*
Affiliation:
Department of Control Science and Engineering, Tongji University, No.4800 Caoan Road, Shanghai201804, China Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems, No.55 Chuanhe Road, Shanghai200120, China E-mails: wangzhipeng@tongji.edu.cn, yanmin.zhou@tongji.edu.cn, 1414358333@qq.com, 771996588@qq.com
Yanmin Zhou
Affiliation:
Department of Control Science and Engineering, Tongji University, No.4800 Caoan Road, Shanghai201804, China Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems, No.55 Chuanhe Road, Shanghai200120, China E-mails: wangzhipeng@tongji.edu.cn, yanmin.zhou@tongji.edu.cn, 1414358333@qq.com, 771996588@qq.com
Ke Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Control Science and Engineering, Tongji University, No.4800 Caoan Road, Shanghai201804, China Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems, No.55 Chuanhe Road, Shanghai200120, China E-mails: wangzhipeng@tongji.edu.cn, yanmin.zhou@tongji.edu.cn, 1414358333@qq.com, 771996588@qq.com
Chenghong Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Control Science and Engineering, Tongji University, No.4800 Caoan Road, Shanghai201804, China Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems, No.55 Chuanhe Road, Shanghai200120, China E-mails: wangzhipeng@tongji.edu.cn, yanmin.zhou@tongji.edu.cn, 1414358333@qq.com, 771996588@qq.com
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: hebin@tongji.edu.cn

Summary

Cable is the most important bearing structure of the cable-stayed bridges. Its safety has been of crucial public concern. Traditional manual cable inspection method has many defects such as low inspection efficiency, poor reliability and hazardous working environment. In this paper, a new wirelessly controlled cable-climbing robot enabling safe and convenient inspection of stay cables is proposed. The designed robot is composed of two modules, joined by four turnbuckles to form a closed structure that clasps the cable. The robot is controlled wirelessly by a ground-based station, and a DC power is supplied via an onboard lithium battery. The climbing principle and mechanical structure of this robot are introduced. The static model of the robot during obstacle negotiation is established. The relationships of the driving force and resistance with obstacle height to determine the obstacle-negotiation capability of the robot are obtained. The effects of cable diameter, cable inclination and preload force on obstacle climbing ability of the robot are also analyzed. The experiments verify that the robot could climb random inclined cables and overcome an obstacle of 2.42 mm in height with a mass of 5 kg payload.

Type
Article
Copyright
© Tongji University, 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

La, H. M., Dinh, T. H., Pham, N. H., Ha, Q. P. and Pham, A. Q., “Automated robotic monitoring and inspection of steel structures and bridges,” Robotica (2018). doi: 10.1017/S0263574717000601 Google Scholar
Mehrabi, A. B., Ligozio, C. A., Ciolko, A. T. and Wyatt, S. T., “Evaluation, rehabilitation planning, and stay-cable replacement design for the Hale Boggs Bridge in Luling, Louisiana,” J. Bridge Eng. 15(4), 364372 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pagano, D. and Liu, D., “An approach for real-time motion planning of an inchworm robot in complex steel bridge environments,” Robotica 35(6), 12801309 (2017).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tian, Y. and Gao, F., “Efficient motion generation for a six-legged robot walking on irregular terrain via integrated foothold selection and optimization-based whole-body planning,” Robotica 36(3), 333352 (2018).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, B., Wang, Z., Li, M., Wang, K., Shen, R. and Hu, S., “Wet adhesion inspired bionic climbing robot,” IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron. 19(1), 312320 (2014).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luo, J., Xie, S., Gong, Z. and Lu, T., “Development of cable maintenance robot for cable-stayed bridges,” Ind. Robot 34(4), 303309 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guan, Y., Jiang, L., Zhu, H., Zhou, X., Cai, C., Wu, W., Li, Z., Zhang, H. and Zhang, X., “Climbot: A Modular Bio-Inspired Biped Climbing Robot,” Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intell. Robots Syst. (2011) pp. 14731478.Google Scholar
Guan, Y., Jiang, L., Zhu, H., Wu, W., Zhou, X., Zhang, H. and Zhang, X., “Climbot: A bio-inspired modular biped climbing robot system development, climbing gaits, and experiments,” J. Mech. Robot. 8(2), 021026 (2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lam, T. L. and Xu, Y., “A Flexible Tree Climbing Robot: Treebot-Design and Implementation,” International Conference on Robotics and Automation (2011) pp. 58495854.Google Scholar
Lam, T. L. and Xu, Y., “Biologically inspired tree-climbing robot with continuum maneuvering mechanism,” J. Field Robot. 29(6), 843860 (2012).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahdavi, S., Noohi, E. and Ahmadabadi, M. N., “Basic Movements of a Nonholonomic Wheel-Based Pole Climbing Robot,” International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (2007) pp. 16.Google Scholar
Tavakoli, M., Zakerzadeh, M. R., Vossoughi, G. and Bagheri, S., “A hybrid pole climbing and manipulating robot with minimum DoFs for construction and service applications,” Ind. Robot 32(2), 171178 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazumdar, A. and Asada, H. H., “Mag-foot: A Steel Bridge Inspection Robot,” Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (2009) pp. 16911696.Google Scholar
Kuhn, E., “Maintenance with Industrial Rope Access: Uddevalla Bridge-a Case Study,” IABSE Symposium Report, vol. 91(1) (2006) pp. 13.Google Scholar
Lee, J. J., Kim, J. M., Ahn, S. S. and Choi, J. S., “Development of a cable exciter to evaluate damping ratios of a stay cable,” KSCE J. Civ. Eng. 14(3), 363370 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, H. N., Kim, K. D., Park, Y. S. and Lee, J. J., “An efficient image-based damage detection for cable surface in cable-stayed bridges,” Ndt E Int. 58(9), 1823 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cho, K. H., Jin, Y. H., Kim, H. M., Moon, H., Koo, J. C. and Choi, H. R., “Caterpillar-Based Cable Climbing Robot for Inspection of Suspension Bridge Hanger Rope,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (2013) pp. 10591062.Google Scholar
Cho, K. H., Kim, H. M., Jin, Y. H., Liu, F., Moon, H., Koo, J. C. and Choi, H. R., “Inspection robot for hanger cable of suspension bridge: Mechanism design and analysis,” IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron. 18(6), 16651674 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cho, K. H., Jin, Y. H., Kim, H. M., Moon, H., Koo, J. C. and Choi, H. R., “Multifunctional robotic crawler for inspection of suspension bridge hanger cables: Mechanism design and performance validation,” IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron. 22(1), 236246 (2017).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, H. P., Yan, J. L. and Cheng, T. H., “Development and fuzzy control of a pipe inspection robot,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. 57(3), 10881095 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar