Driving Mechanism for Vibrating Bristled Vehicle for Small Pipe

A novel vibrating bristled vehicle for small pipes is proposed. Its drive mechanism with rotating eccentric weight is simulated and analyzed. The investigation shows that the vibrating bristled vehicle can move smoothly through the pipe. The motion experiments and simulations are conducted using a vehicle with 16 bristles in order to clarify the relationship between the vehicle velocity and the angular velocity of the rotating eccentric weight. The calculated vehicle velocity agrees with the experiments.