Abstract
There is much room for improvement in tube network inspections of jet aircraft. Often, these inspections are incomplete and inconsistent. In this paper, we develop a Modular Robotic Inspection System (MoRIS) for jet aircraft tube networks and a corresponding kinematic model. MoRIS consists of a Base Station for user control and communication, and robotic Vertebrae for accessing and inspecting the network. The presented and tested design of MoRIS can travel up to 9 feet in a tube network. The Vertebrae can navigate in all orientations, including smooth vertical tubes. The design is optimized for nominal 1.5" outside diameter tubes. We developed a model of the Locomotion Vertebra in a tube. We defined the model's coordinate system and its generalized coordinates. We studied the configuration space of the robot, which includes all possible orientations of the Locomotion Vertebra. We derived the expression for the elastic potential energy of the Vertebra's suspensions and minimized it to find the natural settling orientation of the robot. We further explore the effect of the tractive wheel's velocity constraint on locomotion dynamics. Finally, we develop a general model for aircraft tube networks and for a taut tether.
Stabilizing bipedal walkers is a engineering target throughout the research community. In this paper, we develop an impulsively actuated walking robot. Through the use of magnetic actuation, for the first time, pure impulsive actuation has been achieved in bipedal walkers. In studying this locomotion technique, we built the world's smallest walker: Big Foot. A dynamical model was developed for Big Foot. A Heel Strike and a Constant Pulse Wave Actuation Schemes were selected for testing. The schemes were validated through simulations and experiments. We showed that there exists two regimes for impulsive actuation. There is a regime for impact-like actuation and a regime for longer duration impulsive actuation.
Degree Date
Winter 12-17-2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Mechanical Engineering
Advisor
Yildirim Hurmuzlu
Second Advisor
Edmond Richer
Subject Area
Mechanical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering
Number of Pages
102
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Cox, Adam, "Novel Locomotion Methods in Magnetic Actuation and Pipe Inspection" (2022). Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations. 50.
https://scholar.smu.edu/engineering_mechanical_etds/50
Included in
Aerospace Engineering Commons, Applied Mechanics Commons, Controls and Control Theory Commons, Electro-Mechanical Systems Commons
