• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.622-628
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• 2016

As the suction pad-supporting bike carrier attached to a car may be subject to an excessive dynamic load due to random vibrations and centrifugal forces during driving, its structural safety is of great concern. To examine this, the finite-element method with a fluid-structure interaction should be used because the pressure on the pad bottom is changed in real time according to the fluctuations of the force or the moment applied on the pad. This method, however, has high computing costs in terms of modeling efforts and software expense. Moreover, the accuracy of computation is not easily guaranteed. Therefore, a new method combining the experiment and computation is proposed in this paper: the bottom pressure and contact area of the pad under varying loads was measured in real time and the acquired data are then used in the nonlinear elastic finite-element calculations. The computational and experimental results obtained with the product under development showed that the safety margin of the pad under the axial loading is relatively sufficient, whereas with an excessive rotational loading, the pad is vulnerable to separation or a local surface damage; hence, the safety margin may not be secured. The predicted contact behavior under the variation of the magnitude and type of the loading were in good agreement with the one from the experiment. The proposed analysis method in this study could be used in the design of similar vacuum pad systems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.55-56
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• 2006

This paper describes a new concept of the robot that can climb on the vertical plane. The engineering design problem of the main structure is presented and the experimental results regarding a new mechanism of climbing on the vertical wall are discussed. The locomotive motion of the robot is realized by using a series chain of two caterpillar wheels on which 24-suction pads are installed. White each caterpillar wheel rotates on the vertical plane surface, the vacuum pads are activated in sequence based on the sequential opening by specially designed mechanical valves. The detail design feature of the valve is also described in this paper. The overall size of the robot is around 460 mm in width and length, respectively, and 200 mm in height. Its mass is slightly over 14 kg. The main mechanical structure of the robot consists of driving motors, vacuum caterpillar system, steering part, vacuum pump and battery. The performance of the robot is verified on the vertical wall.