Development of a peristaltic crawling motion type duct cleaning robot compatible with cleaning efficiency and running speed by cleaning joint

Abstract

Air conditioning equipment using duct piping is used to ventilate residences. If this residential ducting is used in a dirty environment, it will lead to adverse effects on human health. Therefore, a method to clean the ducts is required. However, with existing duct cleaning tools, it is difficult to clean the duct perfectly. Therefore, a duct cleaning robot is required. In previous research, we focused on a peristaltic crawling motion type robot, and developed a type of drive brush mounting. Cleaning and driving experiments confirmed a cleaning efficiency of 97.2%; however, the speed fell below the target value of 4.6 mm/s. In this paper, we propose a cleaning joint that strives for both cleaning efficiency and driving speed. We aim to realize an optimal duct cleaning robot by comparing the drive brush mounting types with a robot equipped with the proposed method.