Impacts of flexible obstructive working environment on dynamic performances of inspection robot for power transmission line

The rigid-flexible coupling dynamic modeling and simulation of an inspection robot were conducted to study the influences of the flexible obstructive working environment i.e. overhead transmission line on the robot’s dynamic performance. First, considering the structure of the obstacles and symmetrical mechanism of the robot prototype, four basic subactions were abstracted to fulfill full-path kinematic tasks. Then, a multi-rigid-body dynamic model of the robot was built with Lagrange equation, while a multi-flexible-body dynamic model of a span of line was obtained by combining finite element method (FEM), modal synthesis method and Lagrange equation. The two subsystem models were coupled under rolling along no-obstacle segment and overcoming obstacle poses, and these simulations of three subactions along different spans of line were performed in ADMAS. The simulation results, including the coupling vibration parameters and driving moment of joint motors, show the dynamic performances of the robot along flexible obstructive working path: in flexible obstructive working environment, the robot can fulfill the preset motion goals; it responses slower in more flexible path; the fluctuation of robot as well as driving moment of the corresponding joint in startup and brake region is greater than that in rigid environment; the fluctuation amplitude increases with increasing working environment flexibility.