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Bionic Ring Grooves Design and Experiment of the Suction Cup Applied in Oil-Immersed Substrate

Xu, Jin; Wang, Lin; Zhang, Dexue; Shi, Xiaojie; Chen, Tingkun; Cong, Qian; Liu, Chaozong; (2023) Bionic Ring Grooves Design and Experiment of the Suction Cup Applied in Oil-Immersed Substrate. Lubricants , 11 (4) , Article 152. 10.3390/lubricants11040152. Green open access

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Abstract

The vacuum suction cup is often used as an end effector and widely used in wall-climbing operations. However, there are few vacuum suction cup designs and applications for oil-immersed substrates. Inspired by the surface morphology of the octopus sucker, bionic suction cups with different numbers, diameters, and spacings of the ring grooves were designed. Their normal adsorption force was evaluated on the untreated and polished steel plate in oil. The test results showed that ring grooves positively affected the adsorption force. The bionic suction cup with a groove number of 3, a diameter of 0.5 mm, and a spacing of 3 mm was the most excellent in the test. It achieved normal adsorption forces of 54.83 ± 0.48 N and 43.89 ± 0.69 N on the untreated and polished steel plate. Compared with the standard suction cup, it increased by 32.31% and 12.28% on the untreated and polished steel plate. The regression model between the normal adsorption force and design factors was established based on the adsorption force test results, and the influence law of the ring groove structure parameters on the adsorption force of suction cups on oil-immersed substrates was analyzed. The order of significant effects of groove design parameters on normal adsorption forces was groove diameters, spacings, and numbers. The finite element analysis (FEA) results show that the ring grooves could significantly increase the contact pressure, frictional stress, and sliding distance between the suction cup and the substrate. The ring groove structure effectively improves the adsorption force of the suction cup on the oil-immersed surface by forming a more effective seal and increasing the friction force and adsorption area. This study could provide a reference for developing the actuator of the oil-immersed or lubricated climbing machine.

Type: Article
Title: Bionic Ring Grooves Design and Experiment of the Suction Cup Applied in Oil-Immersed Substrate
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3390/lubricants11040152
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants11040152
Language: English
Additional information: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: bionic; ring groove; suction cup; oil-immersed substrate; adsorption force
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Surgery and Interventional Sci
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Surgery and Interventional Sci > Department of Ortho and MSK Science
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10168337
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