飞机油箱移动副冗余四足机器人运动学与穿越可行性分析

Kinematics and traversal feasibility of a quadruped robot with prismatic-joint redundancy for aircraft fuel tanks

摘要

针对传统油箱巡检四足机器人难以穿越检修口的问题，本文首先引入直线导轨并配合髋部翻转重构腿部自由度配置，使摆动腿在有限净空内分阶段完成穿越，而不将检修口边框作为支撑点；其次，开展整体结构设计、腿部机构设计与运动学建模，并在连杆尺寸和关节限位相同的条件下，对引入移动副前后的检修口远侧落足可达性及构型冗余进行分析；最后，在固定阶段顺序下进行穿越轨迹规划，并对候选穿越序列开展逐帧审计。结果表明，引入移动副后，四腿平均离散落足点可达率由50.0%提升至92.9%，检修口远侧落足区面积覆盖率由约26%提升至约96%，构型切换可为同一落足点提供姿态冗余；696帧候选穿越序列的最小检修口边框间隙为26.989 mm，最小静态稳定裕度（SSM，static stability margin）为9.034 mm，自碰撞距离始终为正，说明该分阶段穿越路径在本文数字模型与名义工况下具有数值可行性。研究结果可为飞机油箱巡检机器人以低接触风险穿越舱间检修口提供腿部机构设计与穿越规划依据。

Abstract

To address the problem that conventional quadruped robots for fuel tank inspection can hardly traverse an inspection opening, this paper firstly introduces a linear guide rail and combines it with hip flipping to reconfigure the leg degree-of-freedom layout. The swing leg can thus complete the traversal in stages within the limited clearance without taking the inspection opening frame as a supporting point. Secondly, the overall structure and the leg mechanism are designed, and a kinematic model is established. Under identical link dimensions and joint limits, the reachability of footholds on the far side of the inspection opening and the configuration redundancy are then analyzed before and after the prismatic joint is introduced. Finally, the traversal trajectory is planned under a fixed stage sequence, and the candidate traversal sequence is audited frame by frame. The results show that, after the prismatic joint is introduced, the average reachability rate of discrete footholds of the four legs increases from 50.0% to 92.9%. The area coverage of the far-side foothold region of the inspection opening increases from about 26% to about 96%. Configuration switching can provide posture redundancy for the same foothold. For the 696-frame candidate traversal sequence, the minimum clearance from the inspection opening frame is 26.989 mm, and the minimum static stability margin (SSM) is 9.034 mm. The self-collision distance remains positive, indicating that the staged traversal path is numerically feasible under the digital model and nominal working conditions adopted in this study. The results can provide a basis for the leg mechanism design and traversal planning of aircraft fuel tank inspection robots that traverse inter-bay inspection openings with low contact risk.

关键词

飞机油箱 / 四足机器人 / 移动副-转动副-转动副-转动副(PRRR)机构 / 落足可达性

Key words

aircraft fuel tanks / quadruped robot / prismatic-revolute-revolute-revolute (PRRR) mechanism / foothold reachability

参考文献

[1] Dhoot M H, Fan I S, Avdelidis N. Requirements for designing a robotic system for aircraft wing fuel tank inspection[C]// Proceedings of the European Conference of the PHM Society 2021, June 28 -July 2, 2021, Virtual Event. PHM Society, 2021: 12.

[2] Heilemann F, Dadashi A, Wicke K. Eeloscope: towards a novel endoscopic system enabling digital aircraft fuel tank maintenance[J]. Aerospace, 2021, 8(5): 136.

[3] CCAR-121-R8 大型飞机公共航空运输承运人运行合格审定规则[S].

[4] CCAR-145-R4 民用航空器维修单位合格审定规定[S].

[5] AC 25. 981-1D Fuel tank ignition source prevention guidelines[S].

[6] (EU)No 1321/2014 Easy access rules for continuing airworthiness[S].

[7] 高庆吉, 王维娟, 牛国臣, 等. 飞机油箱检查机器人的仿生结构及运动学研究[J]. 航空学报, 2013, 34(7): 1748-1756.

[8] Niu Guochen, Wang Li, Gao Qingji, et al. Path-tracking algorithm for aircraft fuel tank inspection robots[J]. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2014, 11(5): 82.

[9] Cao Xiujie, Yu Jingjun, Tang Siqi, et al. Detection and removal of excess materials in aircraft wings using continuum robot end-effectors[J]. Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering, 2024, 19(5): 36.

[10] Dhoot M H, Fan I S. Design and development of a mobile robotic system for aircraft wing fuel tank inspection[J]. SAE International Journal of Advances and Current Practices in Mobility, 2022, 4(4): 1126-1137.

[11] Olaru A, Gaina M K. Aircraft fuel tank inspection with hexapod mobile robot[J]. International Journal of Mechatronics and Applied Mechanics, 2022, 1(11): 66-76.

[12] Marquette W, Schultz K, Jonnalagadda V, et al. Semi-autonomous teleoperation using differential flatness of a crane robot for aircraft in-wing inspection[J]. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2025, 10(3): 2742-2749.

[13] Ricárdez Ortigosa A, Bestmann M, Heilemann F, et al. Foundations for teleoperation and motion planning towards robot-assisted aircraft fuel tank inspection[J]. Aerospace, 2025, 12(2): 156.

[14] Zhong Yuhai, Wang Runxiao, Feng Huashan, et al. Analysis and research of quadruped robot's legs: a comprehensive review[J]. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2019, 16(3): 1729881-419844148.

[15] Luo Jianwen, Ye Shusheng, Su Juntong, et al. Prismatic quasi-direct-drives for dynamic quadruped locomotion with high payload capacity[J]. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 2022, 235: 107698.

[16] Xu Yong, Liang Zheng, Liu Jiali. A new metamorphic parallel leg mechanism with reconfigurable moving platform[J]. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2020, 2020: 1-11.

[17] 张月, 董雷, 宦荣华, 等. 风电叶片管道内窥履带机器人的设计与运动分析[J]. 中国机械工程, 2021, 32(15): 1884-1889.

[18] 张铁, 吴骄任, 蔡蒂, 等. GIS 内壁检测的四足爬壁机器人运动学分析[J]. 组合机床与自动化加工技术, 2021(6): 6-10.

[19] 裴海珊, 齐飞, 窦小明, 等. 基于导航路径约束的多模块柔性检测机器人运动规划研究[J]. 机床与液压, 2023, 51(15): 42-49.

[20] Kuffner J J, LaValle S M. RRT-connect: an efficient approach to single-query path planning[C]// Proceedings of the 2000 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, April 24-28, 2000, San Francisco, CA, USA. IEEE, 2000: 995-1001.

[21] Pan Jia, Chitta S, Manocha D. FCL: a general purpose library for collision and proximity queries[C]// 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 14-18, 2012, Saint Paul, MN, USA. IEEE, 2012: 3859-3866.

[22] Carpentier J, Saurel G, Buondonno G, et al. The Pinocchio C++ library: a fast and flexible implementation of rigid body dynamics algorithms and their analytical derivatives[C]// 2019 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII), January 14-16, 2019, Paris, France. IEEE, 2019: 614-619.

[23] Li Huayang, Qi Chenkun, Gao Feng, et al. Mechanism design and workspace analysis of a hexapod robot[J]. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 2022, 174: 104917.

基金资助

天津市自然科学基金联合基金资助项目(25JCLMJC00630)