CAREER: Towards a Self-Powered Autonomous Robot for Intelligent Power Lines Vibration Control and Monitoring

该提案将支持基础研究，以产生自供电的自主机器人，以防止电线缺陷。美国电网已有半个多世纪的历史，运行里程超过15万英里，通常位于偏远地区。架空电力线（PLs）暴露在恶劣的环境中，如风致振动（WIV），这限制了它们的使用寿命。抑制不需要的WIV的传统技术依赖于固定的被动吸振器（fpva）。这些fpva通常是无效的，因为它们的频率带宽很窄，无法适应不断变化的风特性。这种不良的WIV控制有助于电缆股的疲劳损伤，最终导致PL故障。而电缆的疲劳损伤和酸雨腐蚀往往需要进行PL检查和维护。这些检查主要通过徒步巡逻或直升机辅助检查进行；这两种技术都是费力、昂贵且对维护人员有危险的。最近，PL检测机器人已经出现，但它们的实现受到体积庞大、重量重、操作时间短、能源效率低和高昂价格标签的阻碍。鉴于这些缺点，本CAREER项目提出了从FPVAS和笨重的机器人向多功能自供电自主机器人（SPAR）的转变，用于智能振动控制和监测PLs。然而，这种机器人的实现需要对风力、振动索和移动机器人之间的非线性动态相互作用有基本的了解。这样的问题还没有被探讨过。该项目的研究目标是创建能够建设SPAR的基本工具，这将有助于使美国电网更智能、更可持续、更强大。该提案的教育和推广影响是扩大STEM领域未被充分代表的少数民族的代表性和保留，使研究成果能够传播和商业化到电力行业，并为研究生和专业工程师建立一个跨学科的课程，重点是机电系统的非线性动力学。SPAR将在能量收集、流固耦合和振动控制等方面取得突破性进展。提出的研究任务是：(1)建立多物理场模型来研究风索-机器人的相互作用；(2)创建一个有效的自适应电磁能量收集器来为机器人提供动力；(3)开发一个WIV控制框架来优化振动抑制；(4)建立一个试验台来实验研究SPAR的性能。这项职业基金将通过以下方式促进科学知识的发展。首先，多物理场模型将创建一个基本的理解如何流体与弹性连续体耦合移动机器人相互作用。其次，同步自适应能量收集和振动控制技术将通过被动自调谐和平衡位置的主动跟踪，为无限维系统的宽带能量收集和振动抑制提供理解。总的来说，这个CAREER将增加我们对同时收集能量和控制连续统系统的WIV的理解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This proposal will support fundamental research to engender a self-powered autonomous robot to prevent electric power line defects. The US power grid is more than half-a-century old and runs more than 150,000 miles, often in remote locations. The overhead power lines (PLs) are exposed to harsh environments such as wind-induced vibrations (WIV), which limit their lifespan. Conventional techniques for suppressing the unwanted WIV rely on fixed passive vibration absorbers (FPVAs). These FPVAs are often ineffective because of their narrow frequency bandwidth, and inability to adapt to the changing wind characteristics. This poor WIV control contributes to fatigue damage in the strands of the cable, eventually resulting in PL failure. Relatedly, PL inspection and maintenance are often required because of fatigue damage and acid rain corrosion of the cables. These inspections are mostly conducted through foot patrol or helicopter-assisted inspection; both techniques are laborious, expensive, and dangerous to the maintenance personnel. Recently, PL inspection robots have emerged, but their implementations have been hindered by their bulky size, heavy weight, short operation time, energy inefficiency, and hefty price tag. In view of these shortcomings, this CAREER project proposes a shift from FPVAS and bulky robots to a multi-functional self-powered autonomous robot (SPAR) for intelligent vibration control and monitoring of PLs. However, the realization of such a robot requires a fundamental understanding of the nonlinear dynamic interactions between wind forces, a vibrating-cable, and a mobile robot. Such a problem has not been explored yet. The research goal of this project is to create the fundamental tools that will enable the construction of SPAR, which will help make US power grids smarter, more sustainable, and more robust. The educational and outreach impacts of this proposal are to broaden the representation and retention of underrepresented minority in the STEM field, enable dissemination and commercialization of the research findings to the power industry, and establish an interdisciplinary course focusing on nonlinear dynamics of electromechanical systems for graduate students and professional engineers. SPAR will provide fundamental breakthroughs at the interface of energy harvesting, fluid-structure interactions, and vibration control. The proposed research tasks are: (1) the construction of a multiphysics model to study wind-cable-robot interactions, (2) the creation of an effective and adaptive electromagnetic energy harvester to power the robot, (3) the development of a WIV control framework to optimize vibration suppression, and (4) the establishment of a testbed to experimentally investigate the performance of SPAR. This CAREER grant will advance scientific knowledge in the following ways. First, the multiphysics model will create a fundamental understanding of how a fluid interacts with an elastic continuum coupled with a traveling robot. Second, the simultaneous adaptive energy harvesting and vibration control technique will provide understanding of broadband energy harvesting and vibration suppression of infinite dimensional systems via passive self-tuning and active tracking of equilibrium positions. Overall, this CAREER will augment our understanding of simultaneously harvesting energy and controlling WIV of continuum systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.