Title: Caterpillar type driving mechanism composed of vacuum pads for inclined panel cleaning robot

Authors: Min Hyo Kim; Sang Hun Lee; Tae Nam Jung; Dong Hwan Kim

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Design and Robot Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Korea ' Department of Mechanical Design and Robot Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Korea ' Department of Mechanical Design and Robot Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Korea ' Department of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul Nat'l University of Science and Technology, Korea

Abstract: This work deals with the design of a robot's mechanism that can move and clean a panel up to a 40-degree slope autonomously. A caterpillar type wheel is adopted for the continuity of operation, and vacuum pads are attached to the caterpillars devote to prevent slipping that occurs in a typical caterpillar type robot. In order to overcome the load due to residual vacuum when the vacuum pad is detached from the panel, a mechanism for rapidly exposing the inside of the vacuum pad to atmospheric pressure is developed. In addition, by using the caterpillar wheel mechanism with vacuum pads attached, the folding problem of the vacuum pad is prevented through the flexible shape design of the caterpillar when the pad touches the bottom surface of the panel. Additionally, the robot is designed to cross the gap between panels by combining a two-degree-of-freedom robotic arm mechanism with each caterpillar wheel.

Keywords: solar panel cleaning robot; vacuum pads; caterpillar typed wheel; gap overcoming structure; robot arm.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMRS.2023.137476

International Journal of Mechanisms and Robotic Systems, 2023 Vol.5 No.4, pp.326 - 352

Received: 03 Jan 2022
Accepted: 30 Jun 2022
Published online: 19 Mar 2024 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article