Development of an H-type climber for infrastructure inspection and an optimal synchronous control system

Abstract

We developed a new H-type climber for infrastructure inspection by applying the manufacturing technology for climbers used in space elevator experiments, which have been researched for many years. This inspection climber ascends and descends two belt tethers stretched in parallel, thereby reducing the degrees of freedom around each belt and making the climber more resistant to external disturbances such as wind and to twisting than when ascending and descending a single belt. The climber could move not only vertically but also horizontally and on inclines such as slopes. In addition, multiple climbers could be connected to each other by an aluminum frame, which has the advantage that various inspection units can be installed for versatile inspection. In this development work, we first conducted an experiment to investigate a drive system suitable for transporting heavy objects, and then developed the new climber for infrastructure inspection based on the results obtained. In addition, an optimal synchronous control system for position and velocity was developed as an alternative to the conventional optimal synchronous control system for position alone in order to keep the tilt of the inspection climber horizontal and to control its speed. The climber and control system were verified through simulations as well as actual experiments.

Keywords

• synchronous control
• disturbance observer
• infrastructure inspection
• climber