A robotic vehicle for traversing surfaces comprises a chassis having a plurality of wheels mounted thereto. Two magnetic drive wheels are spaced apart in a lateral direction and rotate about a rotational axis while a stabilizing wheel is provided in front of or behind the two drive wheels. The drive wheels are configured to be driven independently, thereby driving and steering the vehicle along the surface. The vehicle also includes a sensor probe assembly that is supported by the chassis and configured to take measurements of the surface being traversed. In accordance with a salient aspect, the vehicle includes a probe normalization mechanism that is configured to determine the surface curvature and adjust the orientation of the probe transducer as a function of the curvature of the surface, thereby maintaining the probe at the preferred inspection angle irrespective of changes in the surface curvature with vehicle movement.
Crawler vehicle with automatic probe normalization
2023-01-10
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | B62D MOTOR VEHICLES , Motorfahrzeuge / B60G VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS , Radaufhängungen und Federungen für Fahrzeuge / B60K Anordnung oder Einbau von Antriebseinheiten oder von Kraft- bzw. Drehmomentübertragungen in Fahrzeugen , ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PROPULSION UNITS OR OF TRANSMISSIONS IN VEHICLES / B60R Fahrzeuge, Fahrzeugausstattung oder Fahrzeugteile, soweit nicht anderweitig vorgesehen , VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR / B64C AEROPLANES , Flugzeuge / B64D Ausrüstung für Flugzeuge , EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT / G01B MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS , Messen der Länge, der Dicke oder ähnlicher linearer Abmessungen / G01N Untersuchen oder Analysieren von Stoffen durch Bestimmen ihrer chemischen oder physikalischen Eigenschaften , INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES / G01S RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING , Funkpeilung / G05D SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES , Systeme zum Steuern oder Regeln nichtelektrischer veränderlicher Größen / G06T Bilddatenverarbeitung oder Bilddatenerzeugung allgemein , IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL / G06V / H04N PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION , Bildübertragung, z.B. Fernsehen |
TWO-WHEEL COMPACT INSPECTION CRAWLER WITH AUTOMATIC PROBE NORMALIZATION
European Patent Office | 2022
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