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Article
Publication date: 25 January 2018

Xiaolong Lu, Shiping Zhao, Xiaoyu Liu and Yishu Wang

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of “Pylon-Climber II”, a 5-DOF biped climbing robot (degree of freedom – DOF) for moving on the external…

515

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of “Pylon-Climber II”, a 5-DOF biped climbing robot (degree of freedom – DOF) for moving on the external surface of a tower and assisting the electricians to complete some maintenance tasks.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper introduces a pole-climbing robot, which consists of a 5-DOF mechanical arm and two novel grippers. The gripper is composed of a two-finger clamping module and a retractable L-shaped hook module. The robot is symmetrical in structure, and the rotary joint for connecting two arms is driven by a linear drive mechanism.

Findings

The developed prototype proved a new approach for the inspection and maintenance of the electricity pylon. The gripper can reliably grasp the angle bars with different specifications by using combined movement of the two-finger clamping module and the retractable L-shaped hook module and provide sufficient adhesion force for the Pylon-Climber II.

Practical implications

The clamping experiments of the gripper and the climbing experiments of the robot were carried out on a test tower composed of some angle bars with different specification.

Originality/value

This paper includes the design and development of a 5-DOF biped climbing robot for electricity pylon maintenance. The climbing robot can move on the external surface of the electric power tower through grasping the angle bar alternatively. The gripper that is composed of a two-finger gripping module and a retractable L-shaped hook module is very compact and can provide reliable adhesion force for the climbing robot.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 45 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

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Article
Publication date: 6 December 2023

Xiaolong Lu, Xudong Sui, Xiao Zhang, Zhen Yan and Junying Hao

This study aims to investigate the effect of V doping on the microstructure, chemical stability, mechanical and vacuum tribological behavior of sputtered MoS2 coatings.

130

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effect of V doping on the microstructure, chemical stability, mechanical and vacuum tribological behavior of sputtered MoS2 coatings.

Design/methodology/approach

The MoS2-V coatings are fabricated via tuning V target current by magnetron sputtering technique. The structural characteristic and elemental content of the coatings are measured by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometer, electron probe X-ray micro-analyzer, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer. The hardness of the deposited coatings are tested by a nanoindentation technique. The vacuum tribological properties of MoS2-V coatings are studied by a ball-on-disc tribometer.

Findings

Introducing V into the MoS2 coatings results in a more compact microstructure. The hardness of the coatings increases with the doping of V. The MoS2-V coating deposited at a current of 0.2 A obtains the lowest friction coefficient (0.043) under vacuum. As the amount of V doping increases, the wear rate of the coating decreases first and then increases, among which the coating deposited at a current of 0.5 A has the lowest wear rate of 2.2 × 10–6 mm3/N·m.

Originality/value

This work elucidates the role of V doping on the lubrication mechanism of MoS2 coatings in a vacuum environment, and the MoS2-V coating is expected to be applied as a solid lubricant in space environment.

Details

Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, vol. 76 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0036-8792

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Article
Publication date: 16 January 2017

Xiaolong Lu, Shiping Zhao, Deping Yu and Xiaoyu Liu

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of “Pylon-Climber”, a pole climbing robot (PCR) for climbing along the corner columns of electricity pylon and…

399

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of “Pylon-Climber”, a pole climbing robot (PCR) for climbing along the corner columns of electricity pylon and assisting the electricians to complete maintenance tasks.

Design/methodology/approach

Introduces a PCR that is composed of a simple climbing mechanism and two novel grippers. The gripper consists of two angle-fixed V-blocks, and the size of V-block is variable. The clamping method of the angle bar meets the requirement of the force closure theorem. The whole design adopts symmetrical design ideas.

Findings

The developed prototype proved possibility of application of PCRs for inspection and maintenance of pylon. The novel gripper can provide enough adhesion force for climbing robot.

Practical implications

The robot is successfully tested on a test tower composed of different specification steel angles, oblique ledges and overlapping steel struts.

Originality/value

Design and development of a novel climbing assistive robot for pylon maintenance. The robot is able to climb along the column of electricity pylon and pass all obstacles. The gripper can reliably grasp the angle bar with different specification and overlapping steel struts from multiple directions.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 44 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

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Article
Publication date: 20 March 2024

Shufeng Tang, Yongsheng Kou, Guoqing Zhao, Huijie Zhang, Hong Chang, Xuewei Zhang and Yunhe Zou

The purpose of this paper is to design a climbing robot connected by a connecting rod mechanism to achieve multi-functional tasks such as obstacles crossing and climbing of power…

169

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to design a climbing robot connected by a connecting rod mechanism to achieve multi-functional tasks such as obstacles crossing and climbing of power transmission towers.

Design/methodology/approach

A connecting rod type gripper has been designed to achieve stable grasping of angle steel. Before grasping, use coordination between structures to achieve stable docking and grasping. By using the alternating movements of two claws and the middle climbing mechanism, the climbing and obstacle crossing of the angle steel were achieved.

Findings

Through a simple linkage mechanism, a climbing robot has been designed, greatly reducing the overall mass of the robot. It can also carry a load of 1 kg, and the climbing mechanism can perform stable climbing. The maximum step distance of the climbing robot is 543 mm, which can achieve the crossing of angle steel obstacles.

Originality/value

A transmission tower climbing mechanism was proposed by analyzing the working environment. Through the locking ability of the screw nut, stable clamping of the angle steel is achieved, and a pitch mechanism is designed to adjust the posture of the hand claw.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 51 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

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Article
Publication date: 12 September 2023

Yang Zhou, Long Wang, Yongbin Lai and Xiaolong Wang

The coupling process between the loading mechanism and the tank car mouth is a crucial step in the tank car loading process. The purpose of this paper is to design a method to…

138

Abstract

Purpose

The coupling process between the loading mechanism and the tank car mouth is a crucial step in the tank car loading process. The purpose of this paper is to design a method to accurately measure the pose of the tanker car.

Design/methodology/approach

The collected image is first subjected to a gray enhancement operation, and the black parts of the image are extracted using Otsu’s threshold segmentation and morphological processing. The edge pixels are then filtered to remove outliers and noise, and the remaining effective points are used to fit the contour information of the tank car mouth. Using the successfully extracted contour information, the pose information of the tank car mouth in the camera coordinate system is obtained by establishing a binocular projection elliptical cone model, and the pixel position of the real circle center is obtained through the projection section. Finally, the binocular triangulation method is used to determine the position information of the tank car mouth in space.

Findings

Experimental results have shown that this method for measuring the position and orientation of the tank car mouth is highly accurate and can meet the requirements for industrial loading accuracy.

Originality/value

A method for extracting the contours of various types of complex tanker mouth is proposed. This method can accurately extract the contour of the tanker mouth when the contour is occluded or disturbed. Based on the binocular elliptic conical model and perspective projection theory, an innovative method for measuring the pose of the tanker mouth is proposed, and according to the space characteristics of the tanker mouth itself, the ambiguity of understanding is removed. This provides a new idea for the automatic loading of ash tank cars.

Details

Robotic Intelligence and Automation, vol. 43 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-6969

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Article
Publication date: 8 July 2022

Xiaolong Yang, Long Zheng, Da , Jinhao Wang, Shukun Wang, Hang Su, Zhixin Wang and Luquan Ren

Snake-inspired robots are of great significance in many fields because of their great adaptability to the environment. This paper aims to systematically illustrate the research…

1387

Abstract

Purpose

Snake-inspired robots are of great significance in many fields because of their great adaptability to the environment. This paper aims to systematically illustrate the research progress of snake-inspired robots according to their application environments. It classifies snake-inspired robots according to the numbers of degrees of freedom in each joint and briefly describes the modeling and control of snake-inspired robots. Finally, the application fields and future development trends of snake-inspired robots are analyzed and discussed.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper summarizes the research progress of snake-inspired robots and clarifies the requirements of snake-inspired robots for self-adaptive environments and multi-functional tasks. By equipping various sensors and tool modules, snake-inspired robots are developed from fixed-point operation in a single environment to autonomous operation in an amphibious environment. Finally, it is pointed out that snake-inspired robots will be developed in terms of rigid and flexible deformable structure, long endurance and multi-function and intelligent autonomous control.

Findings

Inspired by the modular and reconfigurable concepts of biological snakes, snake-inspired robots are well adapted to unknown and changing environments. Therefore, snake-inspired robots will be widely used in industrial, military, medical, post-disaster search and rescue applications. Snake-inspired robots have become a hot research topic in the field of bionic robots.

Originality/value

This paper summarizes the research status of snake-inspired robots, which facilitates the reader to be a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the research progress of snake-inspired robots. This helps the reader to gain inspiration from biological perspectives.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 42 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

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Article
Publication date: 9 January 2020

Xiaolong Li, Lin Tian, Liang Han and Helen (Huifen) Cai

The purpose of this paper is to use samples from Chinese-listed companies to investigate the effects of interest rate deregulation and earnings transparency on company’s capital…

752

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use samples from Chinese-listed companies to investigate the effects of interest rate deregulation and earnings transparency on company’s capital structure in China over the period of 2003–2015. In particular, the authors study the link between state-owned enterprises (SOEs), economic growth targets and marketization in China’s unique institutional context.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the methodology of quantitative analysis, the authors use baseline and cluster analysis for all samples with full set of controls, for robustness tests of alternative proxy of interest rate control by using a cluster analysis at the firm level, regarding endogeneity tests conducted fixed effect model with adding instrument variables (IV), two-period factors regression method via IV and system generalized method of moments for dynamic analysis.

Findings

The results show that earnings transparency increases firm leverage and the additional tests suggest that such an effect takes place via a mechanism by reducing the cost of debt finance. However, information transparency could moderate the effects of interest rate deregulation on corporate capital structure. In addition, it finds that SOEs are less sensitive toward the changes of interest rates in China because lending to SOEs is policy-oriented and lacks of market evaluation of business risk. Government control is conducive to enhancing the transparency of the whole industry; however, market-oriented reform is conducive to enhancing the transparency of the company’s own information.

Research limitations/implications

The paper makes contribution to the relationship between earnings disclosure quality and capital structure in the Chinese unique institutional context, such as taking the progressive interest rate reform, SOES, different economic growth target and different marketization level in each province of China. The authors suggest that investors will pay more attention to the company’s own unique information transparency in the provinces with a high degree of marketization. As a potential direction for future research, the authors will investigate how the earnings transparency has impact on capital structure, and how such impact would depend on the transparency of specific business, the cap of foreign shareholding and the convenience of investment.

Practical implications

This research would be the target of banking market reform in order to bring a fair financing environment for all businesses in China. It implies that current experiment of interest rate liberalization in China is not as efficient as it could be in allocating funds across all businesses. State banks, SOEs and local governments are still the biggest players on both the demand and supply sides of the Chinese credit markets.

Social implications

The social implication of this paper lies in the fact that first, it provides additional evidence on the effect of market-oriented reforms through how the information transparency interacts with the financial decisions making of corporations. Second, it offers policy implication to banking market deregulation in China.

Originality/value

The paper makes contribution to the relationship between earnings disclosure quality and capital structure in the Chinese unique institutional context. This research tests the existing literature, such as Francis et al. (2004) and Zhang and Lu (2007), and suggests that informationally transparent firms have a higher debt ratio and lower effective interest costs on bank loans. In addition, this paper further explores the role played by interest rate deregulation in corporate finance, and in turn market fund allocation. This paper sheds new light on information transparency and explores the relationship between earnings disclosure quality and debt financing behaviors of Chinese publicly listed companies over the period of 2003–2015.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 15 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

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Article
Publication date: 7 March 2024

Fei Xu, Zheng Wang, Wei Hu, Caihao Yang, Xiaolong Li, Yaning Zhang, Bingxi Li and Gongnan Xie

The purpose of this paper is to develop a coupled lattice Boltzmann model for the simulation of the freezing process in unsaturated porous media.

239

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a coupled lattice Boltzmann model for the simulation of the freezing process in unsaturated porous media.

Design/methodology/approach

In the developed model, the porous structure with complexity and disorder was generated by using a stochastic growth method, and then the Shan-Chen multiphase model and enthalpy-based phase change model were coupled by introducing a freezing interface force to describe the variation of phase interface. The pore size of porous media in freezing process was considered as an influential factor to phase transition temperature, and the variation of the interfacial force formed with phase change on the interface was described.

Findings

The larger porosity (0.2 and 0.8) will enlarge the unfrozen area from 42 mm to 70 mm, and the rest space of porous medium was occupied by the solid particles. The larger specific surface area (0.168 and 0.315) has a more fluctuated volume fraction distribution.

Originality/value

The concept of interfacial force was first introduced in the solid–liquid phase transition to describe the freezing process of frozen soil, enabling the formulation of a distribution equation based on enthalpy to depict the changes in the water film. The increased interfacial force serves to diminish ice formation and effectively absorb air during the freezing process. A greater surface area enhances the ability to counteract liquid migration.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 34 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

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Article
Publication date: 29 October 2024

Guangde Zhou, Menghao Zhan, Dan Huang, Xiaolong Lyu and Kanghao Yan

By seamlessly integrating physical laws, physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) have flexibly solved a wide variety of partial differential equations (PDEs). However, encoding…

44

Abstract

Purpose

By seamlessly integrating physical laws, physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) have flexibly solved a wide variety of partial differential equations (PDEs). However, encoding PDEs and constraints as soft penalties in the loss function can cause gradient imbalances, leading to training and accuracy issues. This study aims to introduce the augmented Lagrangian method (ALM) and transfer learning to address these challenges and enhance the effectiveness of PINNs for hydrodynamic lubrication analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

The loss function was reformatted by ALM, adaptively adjusting the loss weights during training. Transfer learning was used to accelerate the convergence of PINNs under similar conditions. Additionally, the iterative process for load balancing was reframed as an inverse problem by extending film thickness as a trainable variable.

Findings

ALM-PINNs significantly reduced the maximum absolute boundary error by almost 80%. Transfer learning accelerated PINNs for solving the Reynolds equation, reducing training epochs by an order of magnitude. The iterative process for load balancing was effectively eliminated by extending the thickness as a trainable parameter, achieving a maximum percentage error of 2.31%. These outcomes demonstrated strong agreement with FDM results, analytical solutions and experimental data.

Originality/value

This study proposes a PINN-based approach for hydrodynamic lubrication analysis that significantly improves boundary accuracy and the training process. Additionally, it effectively replaces the load balancing procedure. This methodology demonstrates considerable potential for broader applications across various boundary value problems and iterative processes.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2024-0277/

Details

Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, vol. 76 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0036-8792

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Article
Publication date: 27 September 2021

Wanting Zhao, Tantan Shao, Xiaolong Chen, Shusen Cao and Lijun Chen

Fluorine materials have received the keen attention of many researchers because of their water repellency and low surface free energy. The purpose of this paper is to prepare…

236

Abstract

Purpose

Fluorine materials have received the keen attention of many researchers because of their water repellency and low surface free energy. The purpose of this paper is to prepare self-crosslinking fluorocarbon polyacrylate latexes containing different fluorocarbon chain lengths by semi-continuous seeded emulsion polymerization technology.

Design/methodology/approach

Methyl methacrylate (MMA), butyl acrylate (BA), hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) and fluorine-containing monomers were used as main monomers. The fluorine-containing monomers included hexafluorobutyl methacrylate (HFMA), dodecafluoroheptyl methacrylate (DFMA) and trifluorooctyl methacrylate (TFMA). Potassium persulfate (KPS) was used as thermal decomposition initiator, non-ionic surfactant alkyl alcohol polyoxyethylene (25) ether (DNS-2500) and anionic surfactant sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) as mixed emulsifier.

Findings

Through optimizing the reaction conditions, the uniform and stable latex is gained. The polymer of structure was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and contact angle (CA) were tested on latex films. The particle size and distribution range of emulsion were tested with nano particle size analyzer. After comprehensively comparing the latexes and films prepared by HFMA, DFMA and TFMA, the performance of DFMA monomer modified is better.

Originality/value

The self-crosslinking acrylic emulsion is prepared via semi-continuous seeded emulsion polymerization, which methyl methacrylate (MMA), butyl acrylate (BA), hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) and fluorine-containing monomers were used as main monomers. The fluorine-containing monomers were composed of hexafluorobutyl methacrylate (HFMA), dodecafluoroheptyl methacrylate (DFMA) and trifluorooctyl methacrylate (TFMA). Potassium persulfate (KPS) was used as thermal decomposition initiator, non-ionic surfactant alkyl alcohol polyoxyethylene (25) ether (DNS-2500) and anionic surfactant sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) as mixed emulsifier. There are two main innovations. One is that the self-crosslinking acrylic emulsion is prepared successfully. The other is that the effects of monomers containing different fluorocarbon chain lengths on polyacrylate, such as monomer conversion rate, coagulation rate, mechanical stability, chemical stability, emulsion particle size and storage stability, are studied in detail.

Details

Pigment & Resin Technology, vol. 51 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0369-9420

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