Positive pressure induced channeled suction cups
Name
865762998-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
5.46 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
d274fc6642a97115cbc71e89ec982b2e
Author(s)
Yang, Shannon X. (Shannon Xuan)
Advisor(s)
Sangbae Kim.
Date Issued
2013
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Leaking in water pipe is a critical issue in Middle Eastern countries such as Kuwait where water is scarce. In-pipe robots can be dispatched to discover the network and inspect the inner surface of the pipe. This thesis describes the design and characterization of suction pads for in-pipe robots. The suction cups are made of hyperelastic materials that contain air channels inside. Instead of using conventional suction technique that is prone to leaking and loosing adhesion force, the suction cup is actuated by compressed air or liquid, which deforms the geometry of the cup to achieve suction. In order to verify the geometry changes during actuation, a uniaxial tension test was done on the elastic material used to acquire the material properties and the suction cup designs were then simulated using FEA in ABAQUS. Next, prototypes were designed in SolidWorks and fabricated using soft lithography techniques. To measure the suction force, pressure measurements were taken both inside the prototype channels and underneath the suction cup. Results show that a Positive Pressure Actuated Suction-cup (PPAS) of diameter forty millimeters can achieve suction force up to 68 N. As more air is inserted into PPAS, the suction force also increases. The concept has proved to be a feasible solution for pipe inspection robot.
Description
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2013.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 39-40).
Subjects
Mechanical Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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