Redesign of a Hydraulic Manifold in Additive Manufacturing  for Application in a Cleaning and Inspection Robot

Luis Fellipe Lopez de Carvalho; Luana Seixas Andril Araújo; Valter Estevão Beal; Rafael Tobio Claro; Juan Carlos Romero Albino

doi:10.34178/jbth.v5i3.223

Luis Fellipe Lopez de Carvalho
Luana Seixas Andril Araújo
Valter Estevão Beal
Rafael Tobio Claro
Juan Carlos Romero Albino

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34178/jbth.v5i3.223

Keywords: Additive Manufacturing, Hydraulic Manifold, Selective Laser Melting, Structural Analysis, Dimensioning

Abstract

A flexible joint riser inspection and cleaning robot must be small and powerful to perform its mission. Hydraulic units are commonly used in submerged operations for power. We designed a custom hydraulic unit as a robot. As the hydraulic manifold is complex, we developed it to be fabricated by additive manufacturing. The objective was to reduce the volume and mass of the hydraulic power unit. We achieved several computational analyzes and analytical methods to validate the designed concept. As a result, we obtained a more compact and lighter structure at the end of the process.