• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.74-79
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• 2020

Safety inspection of cable-supported bridge has increasingly attention as many cable-supported bridges are currently constructed/operated. Whilst cables as a main component in cable-supported bridge should be inspected regularly, traditional method (visual inspection) has limitation to check the condition of cables properly due to restricted factors. It is evidently necessary to develop cable-inspection robot to overcome this concern. In this respect, the main aim in this study is to manufacture the improved robot compared with the existing robot. The improved functions of the robot in this study were that the robot can be operated in large cable diameter (greater than 200 mm) and climbing ability of the robot increases. In addition, electro-magnetic sensor as a non-destructive method in the robot was added to detect damaged cables and performance of the sensor was evaluated in indoor and field experiments. Consequently, the robot was able to move on the cable with ~0.2m/s and to detect damaged cables using the sensor. It was also confirmed that performance of the robot in field test is similar to that in indoor test.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.60-67
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• 2014

In this study, an automated cable non-destructive testing(NDT) system was developed to monitor the steel cables that are a core component of cable-stayed bridges. The magnetic flux leakage(MFL) method, which is suitable for ferromagnetic continuum structures and has been verified in previous studies, was applied to the cable inspection. A multi-channel MFL sensor head was fabricated using hall sensors and permanent magnets. A wheel-based cable climbing robot was fabricated to improve the accessibility to the cables, and operating software was developed to monitor the MFL-based NDT research and control the climbing robot. Remote data transmission and robot control were realized by applying wireless LAN communication. Finally, the developed element techniques were integrated into an MFL-based cable NDT system, and the field applicability of this system was verified through a field test at Seohae Bridge, which is a typical cable-stayed bridge currently in operation.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.83-91
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose a cable climbing robot which can climb up and down the cables in the bridges. The robot mechanism consists of three parts: a wheel based driving mechanism, adhesion mechanism, and safe landing mechanism. The wheel based driving mechanism is driven by tooth clutches and motors. The adhesion mechanism plays the role of maintaining adhesion force by a combination of pantograph, ball screw, and springs even when the power is lost. The safe landing mechanism is developed for guaranteeing the safety of the robot during operations on cables. It can make the robot fall down with reduced speed by dissipating the gravitational forces. The robot mechanism is designed and manufactured for validating its effectiveness.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.246-252
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• 2020

Safety accidents have been reported due to falling accumulated snow from cables of cable-supported bridges. In addition to the direct damage caused by falling snow, secondary damage, such as traffic accidents, can occur. Various methods have been proposed to prevent these accidents, but there are still problems in safety and practicality. In this study, a cable robot type was selected as one of the active methods for removing accumulated snow on cables. An attempt was made to increase the climbing ability of the robot to improve the efficiency of snow removal. In addition, the available range of cable diameter for the robot can be adjusted flexibly to be applied to cables used in the field. A high-resolution camera was also installed to check the surface condition of the cable in real time to increase the utility, and be used as a cable inspection robot. A three-axis accelerometer and a tension conversion algorithm were added to measure the tension force of cables. To verify the performance, indoor and field experiments were conducted, and future improvements for the inspection robot were proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.58-65
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• 2021

Most pipe-inspection robots have fixed sizes and use a wired cable system. Pipelines are generally composed of various structures, including bent pipes, vertical pipes, branch pipes, and holes, and it is difficult to explore the insides of such modular piping structures. In an offshore plant pipeline, a robot that can pass through the pipe hole in the downward direction or avoid obstacles, such as a measuring instruments, has not been introduced yet. In this study, an inspection robot that can travel through most pipelines in offshore plants is proposed. This robot uses mecanum wheels; upward, downward, and rotary motion; and a novel rotatable mechanism. Moreover, the robot is designed to be compact and lightweight to include additional devices in the middle.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.823-827
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• 2000

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.206-213
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• 2011

Line sleeves, which used to connect ACSR cables when transmission lines were constructing, sometimes cause power transmission failure due to deterioration and corrosion. Therefore, power transmission line should be inspected regularly to prevent national disaster. Current inspection tool detects insertion length of transmission line on line sleeves, the inspection tool includes enormous error by operator. Moreover, the system is not controlled remotely, negligent accident would be caused while inspecting. To deal with those problems, KEPCO reviewed several ways to inspect line sleeves and proposes new method to inspect line sleeve by measuring magnetic flex which penetrate junction of steel and aluminum sleeve. The developed inspection tool is reliable enough to detect eccentric sleeves. Also, the developed inspection device was applied on actual transmission line and verified its effectiveness.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.121-129
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• 2000

The robotic automation in NonDestructive Testing(NDT) is a promising field of research and it helps to expand the applications of NDT enormously. Especially, in the case of pipelines which are widely used in various industrial facilities, it is required to secure adequate ways of inspection in the usual maintenance activitites. In this paper, we present a robot system for inpipe inspection of underground urban gas pipelines. The robot is configured as an articulated structure like a snake with a tether cable. Two active driving vehicles are located in front and rear of the system, respectively and passive modules such as a NonDestructive Testing module and a control module are chained between the active vehicles. The proposed system has outstanding mobility by employing a new steering mechanism called Double Active Universal Joint, which makes it possible to cope with complicated configurations of underground pipelines. Characteristic features of the system are described and the construction of the system is briefly outlined.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.361-370
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• 2020

We developed a heavy-duty work class ROV trencher named URI-T (Underwater robot it's trencher) that can conduct burial and maintenance tasks for underwater cables and small diameter pipelines. It requires various supporting systems, including a dynamic positioning (DP) vessel, launch and recovery system (LARS), A-frame, and winch in order to perform burial tasks because of its dimensions (6.5 m × 5.0 m × 4.5 m, 20 t) and the tough working environment. However, operating a DP vessel has disadvantages as it is expensive to rent and operate and it is difficult to adjust the working schedule for some domestic coast construction cases. In this paper, we propose a method using a barge instead of a DP vessel to avoid the above disadvantages. Although burying the cable and pipeline using a barge has lower working efficiency than a DP vessel, it can save construction expenses and does not require a large crew. The proposed method was applied over two months at the construction of the water supply in Yokji-do, and the results were verified.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.813-821
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• 2013

In this paper, we present the development of P-SURO II hybrid AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) which can be operated in both of AUV and ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) modes. In its AUV mode, the vehicle is supposed to carry out some of underwater missions which are difficult to be achieved in ROV mode due to the tether cable. To accomplish its missions such as inspection and maintenance of complex underwater structures in AUV mode, the vehicle is required to have high level of autonomy including environmental recognition, obstacle avoidance, autonomous navigation, and so on. In addition to its systematic development issues, some of algorithmic issues are also discussed in this paper. Various experimental studies are also presented to demonstrate these developed autonomy algorithms.