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A wheel-type in-pipe robot for grinding weld beads

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Abstract

To improve the safety and efficiency of polishing operations in circular boiler headers, a new type of wheel-drive polishing robot was developed in this study. The robot was designed to grind weld beads on the inner walls of pipes in diameter between 550 mm and 714 mm. The robot consists of a moving structure, a positioning structure, and a polishing structure. Charge coupled device (CCD) cameras and line lasers are used in the robot’s vision system, thus the robot can be manually controlled to move, locate, and grind quickly and accurately. The experimental results showed that the robot performed well in practical applications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200072, People’s Republic of China

    Zi-Li Xu, Song Lu & Yong-Hui Feng

  2. Shanghai Electric Central Research Institute, Shanghai, 200063, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Yang & Chun-Tai Shen

Authors
  1. Zi-Li Xu
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  2. Song Lu
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  3. Jun Yang
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  4. Yong-Hui Feng
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  5. Chun-Tai Shen
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Correspondence to Song Lu.

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Xu, ZL., Lu, S., Yang, J. et al. A wheel-type in-pipe robot for grinding weld beads. Adv. Manuf. 5, 182–190 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40436-017-0174-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40436-017-0174-9

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