Design and Simulation of Pipe Outer Wall Robot Based on Omnidirectional Wheel

Abstract

In response to the welding operation requirements of oil pipelines, a new wheeled robot walking mechanism for crawling on the outer wall of the pipeline is proposed, which can avoid the supporting pillars under the pipeline and the pipeline from bending The robot uses a suspension mechanism composed of a horizontal omnidirectional wheel and a preloaded spring, and the springs adapt to the contour of the curve when cornering; the geometric center of the robot is vertically installed with omnidirectional wheels to adjust the posture when walking. A three-dimensional virtual prototype was established in Solidworks, and ADAMS was imported to establish a dynamic model. The simulation obtained the robot’s turning conditions, that is, the horizontally arranged omni wheel is equivalent to a flat two-wheeled car turning model driven, and the geometric center omni wheel keeps rotating continuously Balance.