Design and development of a 3D printed hydroblasting robot

Abstract

This paper describes the design and development of a 3D printed hydroblasting robot called Hornbill. This robotic platform incorporates magnetic-based adhesion, differential wheel-based locomotion principle, and a hydroblasting unit consists of nozzles mounted on the rotating arm. One of the key indicators of the effectiveness of the hydroblasting process is how quick the area below the hydroblasting chamber can be covered by the water jets. Given the nozzle configuration in the chamber and the water jet flowrate, the water coverage depends on the water adhesion on the surface to be cleaned as well as the orientation of the surface. Hence, the water free surface hydrodynamics is modeled and studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to evaluate how surface conditions and contact angle influence the water spreading on surface. The optimal contact angle is used in robot and through experiments, the hydroblasting capability on horizontal and vertical surfaces are validated.