US Patent 9302787 Vacuum adhering apparatus for automated maintenance of airfoil-shaped bodies

Devices for enabling navigation of a crawler vehicle along an airfoil-shaped body, such as a helicopter blade, in a low-cost fashion with high reliability, especially for swept configuration blades. Using the natural tendency of vacuum adherence devices to adhere to changing surface contours, the crawler vehicle can adhere itself to airfoil-shaped structures in a way that allows the crawler vehicle to easily translate along an airfoil-shaped body while accommodating extreme variations along the surface of the airfoil-shaped body. The crawler vehicle can be designed to eliminate any trailing edge follower wheel, which simplifies the crawler's ability to accommodate trailing edge protrusions, such as trim tabs.