Guodong Qin, Qi Wang, Changyang Li, Aihong Ji, Huapeng Wu, Zhikang Yang and Shikun Wen
In large equipment and highly complex confined workspaces, the maintenance is usually carried out by snake-arm robots with equal cross-sections. However, the equal cross-sectional…
Abstract
Purpose
In large equipment and highly complex confined workspaces, the maintenance is usually carried out by snake-arm robots with equal cross-sections. However, the equal cross-sectional design results in the snake arm suffering from stress concentration and restricted working space. The purpose of this paper is to design a variable cross-section elephant trunk robot (ETR) that can address these shortcomings through bionic principles.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes a cable-driven ETR to explore the advantages and inspiration of variable cross-section features for hyper-redundant robot design. For the kinematic characteristics, the influence of the variable cross-section design on the maximum joint angle of the ETR is analysed using the control variables method and the structural parameters are selected. Based on the biological inspiration of the whole elephant trunk following the movement of the trunk tip, a trajectory-tracking algorithm is designed to solve the inverse kinematics of the ETR.
Findings
Simulation and test results show the unique advantages of the proposed variable cross-section ETR in kinematics and forces, which can reduce stress concentrations and increase the flexibility of movement.
Originality/value
This paper presents a design method for a variable cross-section ETR for confined working spaces, analyses the kinematic characteristics and develops a targeted trajectory control algorithm.
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Keywords
Changyang Li, Huapeng Wu, Harri Eskelinen and Haibiao Ji
This paper aims to present a detailed mechanical design of a seven-degrees-of-freedom mobile parallel robot for the tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding and machining processes in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a detailed mechanical design of a seven-degrees-of-freedom mobile parallel robot for the tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding and machining processes in fusion reactor. Detailed mechanical design of the robot is presented and both the kinematic and dynamic behaviors are studied.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the model of the mobile parallel robot was created in computer-aided design (CAD) software, then the simulation and optimization of the robot were completed to meet the design requirements. Then the robot was manufactured and assembled. Finally, the machining and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding tests were performed for validation.
Findings
Currently, the implementation of the robot system has been successfully carried out in the laboratory. The excellent performance has indicated that the robot’s mechanical and software designs are suitable for the given tasks. The quality and accuracy of welding and machining has reached the requirements.
Originality/value
This mobile parallel industrial robot is particularly used in fusion reactor. Furthermore, the structure of the mobile parallel robot can be optimized for different applications.
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Keywords
Jiang Ding, Hanfei Su, Weihang Nong and Changyang Huang
Soft rod-climbing robots have been known to have great potential in a wide variety of working conditions, including cable inspection and pipeline maintenance. However, one of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Soft rod-climbing robots have been known to have great potential in a wide variety of working conditions, including cable inspection and pipeline maintenance. However, one of the most notable issues preventing their popular adoption is their inability to effectively cross obstacles or transfer between rods. To overcome these difficulties, this paper aims to propose an inchworm-inspired soft robot with omni-directional steering.
Design/methodology/approach
Theoretical models are first established to analyze the telescopic deformation, bending, steering and climbing ability of the soft robot. The main modes of movement the soft robot is expected to encounter is then determined through controlled testing so to verify their effectiveness (those being rod climbing, steering and obstacle surmounting).
Findings
The soft robot demonstrated a capability to cross obstacles 1.3 times its own width and bend 120° omni-directionally, evidencing outstanding abilities in both omni-directional steering and obstacle surmounting. In addition, the soft robot also exhibited acceptable climbing performance in a variety of working conditions such as climbing along vertical rods, transferring between rods with differing diameters or friction surfaces and bearing a payload.
Originality/value
The soft robot proposed in this paper possesses abilities that are both exceptional and crucial for practical use, specifically with regard to its omni-directional steering and obstacle surmounting.
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Peiyu Zhu, Xiaoming Miao and Shumo Jin
Business model innovation (BMI) is an important channel of enterprise innovation, and BMI's antecedents have attracted extensive attention. The purpose of this paper is to address…
Abstract
Purpose
Business model innovation (BMI) is an important channel of enterprise innovation, and BMI's antecedents have attracted extensive attention. The purpose of this paper is to address a substantial gap in the extant literature by developing a moderate model to explain the effects of boundary-spanning search on BMI as well as whether and how innovative cognitive imprinting (ICI) and environmental dynamics (ED) affect the above relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 239 usable questionnaires from different enterprises in China were collected to obtain firm-level data. Then multiple regression analyses were used by SPSS software to test hypotheses.
Findings
Boundary-spanning search extensity (BSE) and focus have inverted U-shaped impacts on BMI; ICI moderates the relationship between boundary-spanning search and BMI and steepens the curves; ED weakens the moderating role of ICI.
Originality/value
By identifying two antecedents of BMI, this paper contributes to the literature on the antecedents of BMI. Meanwhile, the joint moderating effect of ICI and ED is introduced into the emergent analysis framework of the relationship between boundary-spanning search and BMI and examined through empirical analysis for the first time.
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Tingzhuang Han, Qingxia Wang, Cheng Zhang, Peng Peng, Shuai Long, Qingshan Yang and Qingwei Dai
This paper aims to explore the impact of Sc element on the microstructure and corrosion properties of Mg-0.5Zn alloy.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the impact of Sc element on the microstructure and corrosion properties of Mg-0.5Zn alloy.
Design/methodology/approach
Three kinds of Mg-0.5Zn-xSc (x = 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 Wt.%) alloys were obtained, and the microstructure and corrosion properties were both analyzed.
Findings
As the Sc concentration increases, the corrosion resistance of the alloys initially improves and subsequently deteriorates. The trace addition of Sc can effectively reduce the grain size of Mg-Zn-Sc alloys and enhance the density of the corrosion products film. Consequently, an appropriate amount of Sc can reduce the corrosion rate of Mg-0.5Zn alloy.
Originality/value
However, the addition of Sc also introduces the second phase particles in the alloy, leading to galvanic corrosion, which adversely affects the corrosion resistance of Mg-0.5Zn alloy. Therefore, the amount of Sc added should be carefully controlled.
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Honglian Guo, Yunxian Hou, Baohong Yang, Hongping Du and Weiqun Xiao
The purpose of this paper is to upgrade the collaborative emergency ability of government in the tier of towns, realizing emergency resource share, emergency cost reduction and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to upgrade the collaborative emergency ability of government in the tier of towns, realizing emergency resource share, emergency cost reduction and emergency efficiency improving. This paper mainly aims to solve the problem of forecasting the natural disaster happening year of every township collaborative region in Fangshan District.
Design/methodology/approach
First, classify the townships into five collaborative regions through grey clustering. Second, set up a grey disaster forecast model for the whole Fangshan District according the annals of disaster from 1985 to 2012, and forecast the disaster grade. Third, build a grey disaster forecast model for the collaborative regions after constructing the buffer operators of catastrophic sequence according the annals of disaster from 1949 to 2012.
Findings
The authors forecasted the happening year and flood grade of future disaster for the whole Fangshan District. The accurate degrees of both flood and drought year model are greater than 90 per cent. The accurate degree of insects calamity year is a little low, but the relative errors are all lower than 3 per cent in recent continuous three times, so in the whole, it can be used. For the collaborative regions, the authors forecasted the future disaster years of them. The accuracy rate of every model is greater than 90 per cent. The result shows that the forecast errors are acceptable.
Research limitations/implications
In the models, for the purpose of good accuracy, the authors used different initial data. For example, in the forecast model for whole Fangshan District disaster year, the authors used the data from 1985 to 2012, while in the forecast model for the disaster grade of it, the authors used the data from 1949 to 2012. In the disaster year forecast model for collaborative region, the authors also used the data from 1949 to 2012. If the authors can find a model that has high accuracy rate by using all the date information, it will be better.
Practical implications
Township is the most basic level of government organization in China, researching on collaborative emergency in township will do help to take targeted precautions measures against calamity according to the characteristic there. At the same time realizing emergency cost reduction and emergency efficiency improving based on the advantages of emergency resource share, short rescue distance, little effects of communication destruction.
Social implications
Because of the stochastic occurring of disasters, it is very important to forecast the happening time of disasters accurately. This paper forecasted the natural disaster happening time of Fangshan District through grey catastrophic model, aimed at giving decision support to related department and strengthen the disaster prevention power targetedly.
Originality/value
It is well known that the greater the system, the steadier it is, and the easier to forecast it. Fangshan District, Beijing, is a medium-sized and small system in regional research, while townships are small systems. It is rarely a big challenge for the authors to forecast the disaster years in Fangshan and its collaborative townships. In this paper, the authors used grey system model and Markov transfer matrix in forecasting the disaster years and the disaster grade of flood in Fangshan District. All of them are new trying to using grey system theory in disaster forecast for Fangshan District, Beijing.
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Yongzhong Jiang, Ying Guo, Xixi He and Xueli Chen
Intellectual capital is an essential intangible resource for enterprises, and different combinations of intellectual and environmental elements will produce different innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
Intellectual capital is an essential intangible resource for enterprises, and different combinations of intellectual and environmental elements will produce different innovation effects. This study aims to analyze the effects of different matching combinations of intellectual capital elements and environmental uncertainty elements of firms on improving ambidextrous innovation (exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation).
Design/methodology/approach
Based on data from 161 listed companies in China, we employ a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to identify the paths that effectively promote ambidextrous innovation in enterprises.
Findings
Through group analysis, we derived five realization paths of exploratory innovation and five of exploitative innovation respectively. We further find that among these innovation realization paths, human capital plays a more prominent role in facilitating exploitative innovation, while relational capital plays a more important role in realizing exploratory innovation.
Originality/value
This research not only significantly contributes to the theory of ambidextrous innovation, but also helps firms identify the multiple paths of realization that trigger high-exploratory and exploitative innovation, avoiding unnecessary waste caused by resource mismatch, and providing valuable insights for firms seeking to adopt an ambidextrous innovation strategy effectively.
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Gang Zhao, Jianhao Zhang and Wanyi Chen
Low-carbon city policies (LCCP) are crucial environmental regulatory frameworks driving China’s transition toward a low-carbon economy. This study investigated the impact of LCCP…
Abstract
Purpose
Low-carbon city policies (LCCP) are crucial environmental regulatory frameworks driving China’s transition toward a low-carbon economy. This study investigated the impact of LCCP on enterprise digital transformation (EDT).
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a staggered difference-in-differences model for Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2021. It also used a cross-sectional model for further analysis.
Findings
We found that the implementation of LCCP can promote EDT. This impact was more pronounced among enterprises with greater media attention in high-energy-consumption industries and well-developed economic areas.
Practical implications
This study has practical implications for the LCCP, as it evaluates the consequences of macro-level LCCP on micro-level corporate economic consequences. It provides an important reference for developing countries to implement LCCP and promote green industry upgrading.
Originality/value
This study broadens the impact of the LCCP, providing valuable insights into substantiating carbon neutrality goals and fostering the influencing factors of EDT.
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Haonan Guo, Chunxia Wang and Hui Liu
This study aims to investigate a chromium-free sealing treatment process to replace the chromate sealing process in response to the environmental hazards caused by chromate in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate a chromium-free sealing treatment process to replace the chromate sealing process in response to the environmental hazards caused by chromate in the Phosphate chemical conversion (PCC) coating post-treatment sealing process.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, chromium-free sealing technology was used to post-treat PCC coatings. Scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate the structure of the surface of the PCC coatings after the sealing treatment, and the corrosion resistance, hydrophobicity and bonding were tested using an electrochemical workstation, a copper sulfate spot-drop test, a lacquer bonding test, a contact angle meter and a neutral salt spray test.
Findings
Chromium-free closure makes the grain distribution on the surface of the PCC coating more uniform and dense, and forms an organic film on the surface of the coating, which significantly improves the corrosion resistance and hydrophobicity of the PCC coating, does not affect the coating film bonding force and has similar performance with potassium dichromate solution.
Originality/value
The results show that the corrosion resistance of PCC coatings after chromium-free sealing treatment is improved, and chromium-free sealing has the potential to replace chromium sealing.
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Keywords
Yin Shi, Liping Ding, Chenchen He, Fan Zhang, Zumeng Zhang and Qiyao Dai
This study aims to analyze those factors affecting the rural resident’s willingness to adopt solar photovoltaic (PV) which is important for accelerating the popularization of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze those factors affecting the rural resident’s willingness to adopt solar photovoltaic (PV) which is important for accelerating the popularization of clean energy in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study contained a sample of 653 households in 8 provinces/regions by stratified, and random sampling in rural China. Descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis techniques have been used for analytical purposes.
Findings
The empirical results indicate that financial incentive and social interaction have positive effects on rural residents’ adoption willingness, while village leaders’ engagement can indirectly influence their adoption willingness through social interaction and residents’ cognition.
Research limitations/implications
This study mainly considers external and internal factors but ignores the effect of technical factors. In addition, the samples are just selected from the residents who have adopted solar PV.
Practical implications
This study is expected to be useful for the government, regulators, village leaders, village leaders and other institutions.
Originality/value
This study conducts a systematic analysis and clarifies the relationship between factors (external and internal) and rural residents’ adoption willingness. The village leaders’ engagement is first added to the conceptual model as an external factor, which is very essential in rural residents’ adoption in China.