Dynamic plugging regulating strategy of pipeline robot based on reinforcement learning

Pipeline isolation plugging robot (PIPR) is an important tool in pipeline maintenance operation. During the plugging process, the violent vibration will occur by the flow field, which can cause serious damage to the pipeline and PIPR. In this paper, we propose a dynamic regulating strategy to reduce the plugging-induced vibration by regulating the spoiler angle and plugging velocity. Firstly, the dynamic plugging simulation and experiment are performed to study the flow field changes during dynamic plugging. And the pressure difference is proposed to evaluate the degree of flow field vibration. Secondly, the mathematical models of pressure difference with plugging states and spoiler angles are established based on the extreme learning machine (ELM) optimized by improved sparrow search algorithm (ISSA). Finally, a modified Q-learning algorithm based on simulated annealing is applied to determine the optimal strategy for the spoiler angle and plugging velocity in real time. The results show that the proposed method can reduce the plugging-induced vibration by 19.9% and 32.7% on average, compared with single-regulating methods. This study can effectively ensure the stability of the plugging process.

The development status and the prospect of the pipeline robots in the oil and gas storage and transportation industry

In the process of the constant development of the oil and gas storage and transportation technology, the maintenance of the large pipelines is an important task. At present, China vigorously promotes the use of the pipeline robots, for the maintenance of the oil and gas pipelines by the unique characteristics of the robots. In this paper, the author carries out the detailed analysis on the current situation of the development of the pipeline robots in the oil and gas storage and transportation industry, and compares the different applications of the pipeline robots at home and abroad. Starting from the principles of the operation of the robots, the author analyzes the characteristics of the different types of the robots, and combined with the existing conditions of the oil and gas storage and transportation in our country, the author tries to find the most favorable way of the working of the pipeline robots, to continuously improve the development of the oil and gas storage and transportation industry using the robot technologies.

Predictive Fuzzy Control of Pipeline Robot

A perdictive fuzzy control algorithm is proposed in order to solve the problems in engineering applications of pipeline robots as position information and uncertain operating conditions. Simulation results show that this algorithm improves the adaptability of the robots in the positioning process.

FMECA and FTA Methods of Reliability Analysis for Oil and Gas Pipeline Robot

In this paper,FMECA and FTA methods are presented for oil and gas Pipeline Robot in order to improve the reliability.Take a crawler pipeline cleaning robot as the research object.According to the robot′s variable working environment,high failure rate and short service life,in order to reduce the probability of its failure,and to extend its use time limit under the premise of being able to adapt to the complex working environment,and reduce maintenance cost of failure.To realize this purpose,FMECA analysis is fristly proposed,by which obtain the failure modes,causes and effects of each component mechanism,and identify the component mechanism with high risk and failure rate.Secondly,FTA is developed to establish the fault tree model of Cleaning and diameter changing mechanism,retain the underlying fault and the cause of its failure.Simulation results are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of this proposed method and improvement measures to improve the reliability of the robot.

Traveling property of wheel-type pipeline robot with different configurations

In order to improve the travelling ability of the wheel-type pipeline robot in elbow section of pipeline, the model of drive ratios is proposed aiming at the pipeline robots with different configurations. Through the movement analysis of the robot with different configurations in elbow section, the pose model of the robot is established, and the coordinates of the wheel centers and the contact points can be got through the calculation of the pose model. Based on the pose model established, the corresponding drive ratios are obtained combining with the relations of the velocities of wheel centers and rotative velocities of wheels under the movement condition with no interference. The virtual simulations and prototype experiments are carried out, and the drive ratios accuracy of the model when the robot moved in elbow without interference is validated.

Analysis on steering characteristics of crawler pipeline robot

In order to improve the elbow passing performance and different diameter adaptability of pipeline robot,a supported crawler pipeline robot is designed,which adopts screw nut mechanism and hinge four-bar mechanism to adapt to the complex environment such as variable diameter pipeline and elbow.The steering characteristics passing through the elbow are studied,the kinematic of pipeline robot bending steering is established,the geometric constraint(GC)and steering constraint(SC)in the elbow are analyzed,and the steering experiment is conducted.The results show that the robot can pass through the elbow by the SC model.The SC model can reduce the motor current and energy consumption when the robot passes through the elbow.

Design of a Submarine Pipeline Inspection Robot System Based on CT Technology

With the rapid development of submarine oil and gas,the security issues of submarine oil and gas pipeline become increasingly prominent,and regular inspection of submarine pipeline is particularly important.Therefore,a submarine pipeline inspection robot system based on CT technology to solve the problems such as low traditional manual inspection efficiency,high labor cost,low security and backward inspection methods.Based on the platform of ROV robot,carrying CT scanner as an external detection device,the system is used for non-invasive inspection of submarine pipeline,which is safe and harmless,with good economy,high mobility,and strong environmental adaptability.Compared with traditional technology,CT scanner’s external inspection technology used in the system avoids the damage to the external protective layer of the pipeline in the measurement of pipeline wall thickness.Meantime,it can provide the tomography of the pipe wall and the composition of the sediment material on the inside wall,which fills the gap in this technical field in China.According to the test,the robot has the characteristics of stable adsorption,flexible movement,and clear pipeline CT scanning image,and can realize the intelligent inspection of submarine pipeline.

Global localization of in-pipe robot based on ultra-long wave antenna array and global position system

A global localization system of in-pipe robot is introduced in this paper.Global position system(GPS)is applied to monitor the motion of robot along the whole pipeline which is equally divided intomany segments by tracking stations.The definite segment in which robot existing can be detected and thisis long-range localization.Ultra-long wave(ULW)is adopted to solve the problem of metallic shieldingand realize effective communication between inside and outside of pipeline.ULW emitter is carried byrobot.When the plant is broken or defects on pipe-wall are inspected,the robot will stop moving.Anten-na array is presented and disposed upon the definite segment to search the accurate location of robot,andthis is short-range localization.In this paper,five-antenna array is adopted and an effective linear signalfusion algorithm is presented.The localization precision reaches R < 25cm.By tests in Shengli oil field,the whole system is verified with robust solutions.

In-Line Inspection of Pipeline Defects Detection Using Ring-Type Laser

Pipeline plays a vital role in transporting fluids like oils, water, and petrochemical substances for longer distances. Based on the materials they carry, prolonged usage may cause the initiation of defects in the pipeline. These defects occur due to the formed salt deposits, chemical reaction happens between the inner surface and the transferring substance, prevailing environmental conditions, etc. These defects, if not identified earlier may lead to significant losses to the industry. In this work, an in-line inspection system utilizes the nondestructive way for analyzing the internal defects in the petrochemical pipeline. This system consists of a pipeline inspection robot having two major units namely the visual inspection unit and the power carrier unit. The visual inspection unit makes use of a ring-type laser diode and the camera. The laser diode serves as a light source for capturing good quality images of inspection. This unit is controlled by the Arduino in the power carrier unit which provides the necessary movement throughout the pipe. The inspected images captured by the camera are further processed with the aid of NI vision assistant software. After applying the processing function parameters provided by this software, the defect location can be clearly visualized with high precision. Three sets of defects are introduced in a Polylactide (PLA) pipe based on its position and angle along the circumference of the pipe. Further, this robot system serves as a real-time interactive image synchronization system for acquiring the inspected images. By comparing the actual and calculated defect size, the error percentage obtained was less than 5%.

Recognition of Curvature Radius in Robot Moving in Bent Pipe

This paper translates the recognifion of curvatare radius in robot moving in bent pipe into an issue of shape-from-shading, and introduces genetic algorithms into the optimizaton process to improve the efficiency of optimization.Experiments prove that thes method can satisfy the autonomous control requrement for robot moving in bent pipe in both speed and accuray.

A Pipeline Inspection Micro Robot Based on Screw Motion Wheels

The micro robot based on screw motion wheels, which features high payload/mass ratio, fast and continuous motion, adaptation to pipe diameter or roundness variations, is suitable for locomotion and inspection inside small diameter pipelines. The robot inspection system, Tubot I, developed at Shanghai University is composed of locomotion mechanism with an inner motor, a micro CCD camera and a monitor outside the pipeline. In the paper, the kinematics and statics analyses are presented for the screw locomotion system of Tubot I. The moving characteristics are obtained from experiments on the robot prototype.

定题搜索引擎Robot的设计与算法

定题搜索引擎将信息检索限定在特定主题领域 ,提供特定主题的信息检索服务 ,是新一代搜索引擎的发展方向之一。该文介绍了一个定题搜索robot系统NetBat2 .0 2版 ,它可以实现在web上爬行下载主题相关网页。定题搜索的关键技术是主题相关信息的搜索及网页相关度分析。该文分析了传统定题搜索算法的优缺点 ,提出了基于反向链接结合超链文本分析的定题搜索算法。文章还对基于内容的网页相关度分析算法进行了详细的论述。对比搜索实验表明系统有着较好的性能 。

2DOF空间3-RPS并联机器人位置运动学混合算法

空间2自由度并联机构可用于高作用力下精确控制姿态的两个分量的工作场合.建立了2自由度3-RPS并联机器人的位置运动学约束方程;对其正逆运动学算法进行了讨论.对求解并联机器人位置正解的杆长搜索法进行了改进,并结合解非线性方程组的拟牛顿法,提出了一种能解决方程组多解并且计算精度较高的混合算法,推导了2自由度3-RPS并联机器人位置反解的求解过程.通过实例验证了算法的正确性和所能达到的精度.

Multi-gait snake robot for inspecting inner wall of a pipeline

In the field of pipeline inner wall inspection,the snake robot demonstrates significant advantages over other inspection methods.While a simple traveling wave or meandering motion will suffice for inspecting the inner wall of small-diameter pipes,comprehensively and meticulously inspecting the inner wall of large-diameter pipes requires the snake robot to adopt a helical gait that closely adheres to the inner wall.Our review of existing literature indicates that most research and development on the helical gait of snake robots has focused on the outer surface of cylinders,with very few studies dedicated to developing a helical gait specifically for the inspection of the inner wall of pipes.Therefore,in this study,we propose a helical gait that is suitable for the inner wall of pipes and meets the requirements of gas pipeline engineering.The helical gait is designed using the backbone curve method.First,we create a mathematical model for a circular helix curve with constant curvature and torsion,ensuring it is applicable to a snake robot prototype in a laboratory environment.Subsequently.we calculate the joint angles required for two conical spiral curves with variable curvature and torsion,establish a new model,and define the physical significance of the specific parameters.To ensure the feasibility of the proposed gait,we conduct experiments involving meandering and traveling wave motions to verify the communication and control between the host computer and the snake robot.Building upon this foundation,we further validate the mathematical model of the complex helical motion gait through simulation experiments.Our findings provide a theoretical basis for realizing helical movement with a real snake robot.

Localization technique research of a pipeline robot based on the magnetic-dipole model

The magnetic field distribution of an emission antenna is studied in this paper.When the slenderness ratio of the emission antenna is high,the emission antenna can be simplified as a magnetic dipole for practical application.The numerical results of the magnetic dipole magnetic field show that the magnetic magnitude distribution has a hump-shape,whose direction is perpendicular with the antenna axis direction.A localization method based on the hump-shape signal detection is presented.The experimental result shows that the precision can reach a value of±5 cm.The method can be used to localize a pipeline robot working in a metal pipe.

管道封堵机器人控制特性响应分析与实验研究

为了提高管道封堵机器人在管道维抢修的效率与精度,设计了一种管道封堵机器人封堵液压控制系统,通过仿真分析,评估了该控制系统的响应特性.搭建了封堵液压控制实验装置,研究了封堵过程中橡胶筒轴向位移的变化,以及不同输出流量对封堵速度的影响.结果表明,所设计的液压控制系统能够确保机器人各个执行机构协调运作,避免相互干涉,液压缸的位移、流量及速度与理论设计值相符.当橡胶筒变形轴向位移达到61.55 mm时,控制系统能够实现10 MPa的油气压力封堵.液压系统流量对封堵速度影响显著,流量越大,封堵速度越快.

面向应用于林业采运输油管道检测的水下机器人的设计

为应用于林业采运输油管道的自主巡检,进行水下林业采运输油管道的定期巡检工作,设计了一款面向应用于林业采运输油管道检测的水下机器人。介绍了水下机器人的机械结构部分、控制部分、管道巡检部分设计。水下机器人使用的是STM32F407ZGT6单片机作为主控MCU,使用Open MV作为视觉电路板。经过实验验证,设计的水下机器人可以完成采运输油管道的巡检工作。

基于计算机视觉的管道机器人导航与目标识别

随着社会的不断发展,计算机、人工智能等先进技术愈加成熟。在人工智能技术的支撑下,管道机器人的性能不断完善,其中基于计算机视觉的管道机器人不仅能够根据运行需求对运动路线进行导航,还能够对目标信息进行有效识别。管道机器人企业只有不断加强对计算机视觉、导航及目标识别等技术的研发,才能使管道机器人在各行各业中发挥重要的作用。文章将围绕机器人视觉概述、基于计算机视觉的管道机器人导航与目标识别等方面进行具体的研究及分析。

一种小型履带式管道机器人的研究与设计

针对通风管道人工探查不便的现状,设计了一款专用的小型履带机器人。该机器人通过合理的结构设计,可以在狭窄的管道内实现爬坡和越障功能。开发了基于树莓派和STM32的控制系统,设计了整个机器体的硬件电路和各模块的控制程序,利用Qt Creator软件创建了便于控制与接收数据的上位机界面。通过光纤通信实现上位机和机器人的数据互通。机器人搭载的摄像头模块和轮速计可以在复杂的管道环境中实现定位功能。经过实验与数据采集,表明该机器人整体功能完善,在实际工作环境中运行平稳,能够满足管道机器人的工作要求。

仿生双爪式管道攀爬机器人设计与分析

针对燃气与管道工程等领域的高空作业,设计了一种永磁铁辅助式具有可调步距的蠕动和翻转两种步态的双夹持器仿生攀爬机器人。为防止机器人出现滑移和翻转倾覆失稳情况,对其进行了力学分析;根据机器人构型对其进行了运动学与攀爬步态分析;对蠕动攀爬步态进行直线路径规划,并在SOLIDWORKS MOTION环境下对其两种步态进行了运动仿真。样机试验说明了机器人在蠕动和翻转两种步态下均具有良好的稳定性,两种步态配合可实现障碍物的翻越。该机器人在高空管道领域作业方面具有较好的应用价值。