Design of an active suspension mechanism for obstacle traversal of in-pipe robots

The installation and usage of pipelines within modern buildings are increasingly common, rust removal and internal exploration of these pipelines have become highly demanding robotic tasks. However, robots often encounter issues such as getting stuck due to obstacles or slipping on the surface of the pipes due to insufficient friction. This paper introduces a pipeline inspection robot designed for application in nuclear power plants. The robot can change its shape according to the size of the pipe and use high-pressure water to remove rust. The robot has a passable diameter range of 600-800mm, demonstrating strong adaptability. By incorporating an active suspension mechanism, the pressure between the wheels and the pipeline can be adjusted during climbing, while ensuring conformity between the wheels and the pipeline surface when crossing obstacles. This effectively addresses the slipping issue encountered by pipeline robots. Through simulation experiments and analysis, we have demonstrated the feasibility of this mechanism, which exhibits outstanding mobility compared to existing robots.