Robotic Platform Navigating Vertical Piping Networks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotic systems face challenges in navigating and supporting equipment around hundreds of vertical cooling pipes within chemical and radioactive waste tanks, interfering with sampling, cleaning, and waste removal processes.
Innovation Solution
A robotic platform with extendable arms, grippers, drive rollers, and pneumatic actuators that can selectively engage and rotate around vertical pipes, allowing for movement between pipes, equipped with pressure sensors and alignment systems for precise positioning and payload support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a robotic system is designed to navigate vertical pipes, then the ability to sample, clean, and inspect pipes is improved, but the device complexity increases due to the need for multiple grippers, extendable arms, and drive mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic platform is designed with multiple grippers (upper and lower pairs) that can perform multiple functions including sampling, cleaning, and inspecting pipes. The extendable arms allow the same platform to reach different pipe locations and orientations, making the system versatile for various maintenance tasks while consolidating functionality into a single multi-functional device rather than multiple separate devices
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic system is divided into modular components including upper and lower gripper pairs, extendable arms, drive rollers, and pneumatic actuators. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function while enabling flexible reconfiguration of the overall system to adapt to different pipe configurations and maintenance requirements
2Adaptability or versatility
If the robotic platform uses multiple grippers and extendable arms to engage pipes with non-uniform basing, then the adaptability to different pipe configurations is improved, but the control system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic platform employs dynamically adjustable extendable arms with pneumatic actuators that can real-time adjust arm lengths and gripper positions to adapt to pipes with non-uniform basing. This dynamic adjustment capability allows the system to accommodate varying pipe configurations without requiring multiple fixed-configuration robotic units, simplifying the overall control architecture while maintaining high adaptability
3Measurement precision
If pressure sensors are added to control gripping force, then the precision of pipe engagement is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Pressure sensors are integrated into the gripper mechanism to provide real-time feedback on gripping force applied to the pipe. This feedback loop allows the control system to automatically adjust pneumatic actuator output to maintain optimal gripping force, preventing both excessive force that could damage the pipe and insufficient force that could cause slippage. The feedback mechanism adds precision while utilizing the existing pneumatic actuation infrastructure
4Ease of operation
If drive rollers are used to rotate the platform about vertical pipes, then the mobility and navigation capability are improved, but the mechanical complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drive rollers are designed to rotate the robotic platform about vertical pipes by utilizing the pipe itself as the rotation axis. The grippers secure the platform to the pipe, and the drive rollers convert rotational motion into platform rotation, allowing the system to navigate to different pipe locations without requiring external lifting or positioning mechanisms. The system uses the existing pipe infrastructure to facilitate its own movement
Data Source
AI summary
This invention relates generally to robotic systems and is specifically designed for a robotic system that can navigate vertical pipes within a waste tank or similar environment. The robotic system allows a process for sampling, cleaning, inspecting and removing waste around vertical pipes by supplying a robotic platform that uses the vertical pipes to support and navigate the platform above waste material contained in the tank.