Control-response characteristics of deceleration braking system of pipeline intelligent plugging robot

Controlling pipeline intelligent plugging robots (PIPRs) to execute rapid and precise deceleration braking within a designated distance is pivotal for enhancing the efficiency of oil-and-gas pipeline maintenance and repair operations. Therefore, for a PIPR that relies on friction braking between the rubber cylinder and pipe wall, a hydraulic control system for deceleration braking is designed to achieve rapid and precise deceleration braking, and an experimental setup is established to verify its feasibility. Concurrently, a joint simulation model of constant deceleration nonlinear dynamics based on the fuzzy Proportion Integration Differentiation (PID) algorithm is proposed to elucidate the effects of key parameters, such as the initial velocity and braking distance, on the stability of the dynamic control of the robot during deceleration braking. The results show that the designed hydraulic control system effectively achieves deceleration braking. The regulation time increases as the initial speed of the robot decreases. The error of the deceleration braking distance ranges from 0.3 to 0.5 m, with reduced positioning and steady-state errors. Under varying deceleration braking distances, the maximum acceleration overshoot is −3.54 m/s2, and increasing the deceleration braking distance effectively reduces the positioning error. This study offers theoretical and empirical support for investigating PIPRs. •A hydraulic control system of pipeline intelligent plugging robot which can realise fast and stable deceleration braking is innovatively designed, and its feasibility is verified through experiments.•The fluid inside the pipe was modelled and the dynamics of the PIPR deceleration braking mechanism was modelled. A joint simulation model of constant deceleration nonlinear dynamics is proposed based on the theoretical model.•To elucidate the effects of key parameters such as initial velocity and braking distance on the stability of dynamic control during robot deceleration and braking. Reveals the effects of different initial velocities as well as long braking distances on robot positioning accuracy.