A small tracked robot for cable tunnel inspection

Abstract

A small tracked robot for cable tunnel inspection has been proposed and designed, which is made up of two side track movement mechanisms driven independently and posture adjusting mechanism, so the robot owns better movement flexibility and obstacle-climbing capability. Using posture adjusting mechanism between two side tracks, the robot could not only adapt to the tunnel with smooth pavement, but also adapt to pipelines with different diameters. The robot owns camera, CO, CO2, SO2, CH4, smog and humiture sensors, and the information of tunnel collected by these sensors could be transmitted to in-hand controller on the ground and displayed with imaging pattern. So operators could find problems and maintain the cables in time to avoid accident. The inspection working of robot could enhance safe reliability of power transmission network effectively and improve security detection automation level of power transmission lines underground. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.