Title :
Micro in-pipe robot mechanical structure design of Shape Memory Alloy driving
Author :
Yu-xia, Zhao ; Guang-ping, He ; De-wen, Gao
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Mech. & Electr. Eng., North China Univ. of Technol., Beijing, China
Abstract :
The paper presents a new driving mechanism made of SMA (Shape Memory Alloy), with which the robot is designed with advantages of light weight, compact structure, less joints, easily machined, etc. The robot is driven by energy which transformed by compression spring using SMA actuator when heating or cooling, and which is composed of SMA spring, friction spring strips and Maxon serve DC electromotor. Such robot can pass through variable diameters pipelines from 50-80 mm as well as U and T type pipe that curvature is 1.2 times bigger than pipe diameter, and the effectiveness is verified by experiment in an actual pipeline.
Keywords :
DC motors; actuators; microrobots; mobile robots; pipelines; shape memory effects; springs (mechanical); Maxon serve DC electromotor; SMA actuator; SMA spring; T type pipe; U type pipe; driving mechanism; friction spring strips; mechanical structure design; micro in-pipe robot; pipeline; shape memory alloy; size 50 mm to 80 mm; Fasteners; Friction; Legged locomotion; Mobile robots; Orbital robotics; Paper technology; Pipelines; Shape memory alloys; Springs; Wheels; Robot; Shape Memory Alloy; Tiny pipelines;
Conference_Titel :
Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), 2009 IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Guilin
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4774-9
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4775-6
DOI :
10.1109/ROBIO.2009.5420672
