Experimental Evaluation of Adhesion Plate and Development of Novel Drone Capable of Adhering to Ceiling and Wall

Abstract

A new drone for approaching and touching walls and ceilings to inspect aging buildings has been developed. In order to endow adhesion function to a drone, a specialized plate that exploits propeller's thrust force to generate adhering force near surface of ceiling and wall was designed. Its adhering force about three different design was investigated by using an experimental setup. The influences of propeller's rotating speed, plate's shape, and distance to surface were analyzed through experiments. Besides, the relation between plate design and power consumption was also studied. Furthermore, based on the experimental results, a drone with upper adhesion plate as well as side plate for adhering not only on the ceiling but also on the wall surfaces was developed. In addition, the practicability of the developed drone system was confirmed through experiments with manual operation.