In this paper, the climbing obstacle capability of the previous special cable inspection robot （ Model Number： XS1T-1） is analyzed. Static equations are established to analyze the relationships between the external forces and the maximum height of an obstacle. Parameters affecting the obstacle crossing ability are obtained. According to the analysis results, an innovated small volume, simple structure and light weight climbing mechanism is proposed （Model Number： XS1T-2）. A simplified kinematics model of the mechanism is established. With two powered wheels, the obstacle crossing ability of the XSIT-2 is improved apparently. For the robot moving without deflection, the relationships of two powered input torques are deduced. The comparison of the simulation results clearly shows that the climbing ability of XS1T-2 is obviously improved, and it can meet the demands of inspection.
This paper proposes a new type of tri-sectional wheel-based cable climbing robot which is able to climb up vertical cylindrical cables of a cable-stayed bridge. The robot is composed of three pairs of wheels equally spaced circularly which are joined by six connecting boards to form a whole closed hexagonal body to clasp a cable. The whole design is entirely modular to enable to assenably the robot on-siteeasy eaoily. To analyze the static features of the robot, a mathematical model of climbing is deduced. Furthermore, taking a cable with a diameter of 80mm as an example, we calculate the design parameters of the robot. For safly landing in the case of electrical accident, a centrifugal speed regulator is proposed and applied to consume useless energy generated when the robot is slipping down along the cables. A simplified mathematical model of the landing mechanism is deduced. Finally, several experiments on the climbing mechanism demonstrate that the robot can carry payloads less than 2.2kg to climb up a cable with diameters varying from 65mm to 205mm.
