Analysis of the Wheel-wall Gap and Its Influence on Magnetic Force for Wheeled Wall-climbing Robot Adsorbed on the Cylindrical Tank

For the permanent magnet adsorption and four-wheel wall-climbing robot adsorbed on the surface of the cylindrical tank, only three wheels contact the wall, and one wheel is non-contact in general. The solution method of the contact point position on the contact wheels is put forward in this paper. The wheel-wall gap equation of the wheels of the robot is derived. The coordinate transformation matrix is established, which can be used to describe the position and orientation between the robot and the tank. Combined the robot parameters, the distribution curves and maximal values of the wheel-wall gaps of three contact wheels and one non-contact wheel are calculated. The influence of wheel-wall gap on the magnetic adsorption force is obtained by ANSOFT simulation. The analysis and calculation methods can be used to design the magnetic wheel and control of the wheeled wall-climbing robot.