Development of in-Pipe Robot with Controllable Magnetic Force

Abstract

Pipes are everywhere; they are used in a variety of pipelines that should be inspected and maintained to ensure their safety and integrity. Currently, the in-pipe robot for such applications is considered as one of the most attractive solutions available. The most important thing, in-pipe robot must concerned adhesion mechanisms. Several adhesion mechanisms have been proposed and developed. We applied magnetic adhesion mechanism. Magnetic adhesion on in-pipe robots has some advantages such as fast locomotion, no additional energy for adhesion process, and one definite disadvantage like difficulty to control magnetic force. To solve this disadvantage, the permanent magnetic wheels that allow controllable magnetic force. This paper proposes a new in-pipe robot that applied controllable magnetic wheel. The idea is conceptualized, simulated, fabrication, and validated experimentally. The pulling force increases linearly form 8 newtons (N) to 26 newtons. It means that the proposed method is effective to control magnetic force between the wheel and interior surfaces of ferromagnetic pipes.