Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2023
27th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Mass Reduction and Mobility Improvement of an Overhead Powerline Inspection Robot
Submission Author:
Eduardo da Silveira de Meneses , SC
Co-Authors:
Eduardo da Silveira de Meneses, Estevan Hideki Murai, Gustavo Fernandes, Daniel Martins, Roberto Kinceler
Presenter: Eduardo da Silveira de Meneses
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2023.COB2023-1137
Abstract
This paper focuses on the mass reduction and mobility improvement of an overhead power distribution line inspection robot to make it more technically and commercially feasible. The robot was designed by the Laboratory of Applied Robotics from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, in partnership with the public energy distribution service concessionaire of the state of Santa Catarina - Celesc, with the purpose of facilitating the electric distribution grid inspection. The inspection robot consists of: a wheel with a shaft passing through its center; two compartments, one on each side of the wheel, connected to the central axis by pendulums, an anti-roll bar at the rear; and a gimbal fixed on top of the left compartment. The right compartment houses the motor and a set of pulleys to transmit the motion to the wheel. The left compartment contains the electronic components for the robot's operation. Both compartments guarantee the robot’s center of mass is located below the contact point between its wheel and the power line aluminum conductors, maintaining its equilibrium passively. This paper presents changes implemented to the robot through the redesign of some of its subsystems, with the intention of reducing the robot’s total mass and lowering its center of mass, thus improving obstacle transposition capability. Changes were made to the hubs, transmission pulley, and mainly to the pendulums and their compartments. The modifications resulted in an easier assembly process, a lower center of mass and a greater equilibrium capacity than its previous version.
Keywords
Mass reduction, Power lines inspection, distribution line inspection robot, mobility improvement, Design Optmization
