Affiliation(s)
1. London South Bank Innovation Centre (LSBIC), TWI Ltd, Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge CB21 6AL, United Kingdom
2. Integrity Management Group, TWI Ltd, Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge CB21 6AL, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT
Petrochemical storage tanks
are generally inspected when the tank is offline mostly to assess the extent of
underside corrosion on the tank floor. Emptying, cleaning and opening a tank for
inspection take many months and are very expensive. Inspection costs can be reduced
significantly by inserting robots through manholes on the tank roof to perform non-destructive
testing (NDT). The challenge is to
develop robots that can operate safely in explosive and hazardous environments and
measure the thickness of floor plates using ultrasound sensors. This paper reports
on the development of a small and inexpensive prototype robot (NDTBOT) which is
designed to be intrinsically safe for zone zero operation. The robot “hops” across
the floor to make measurements, without any external moving parts. The paper describes
the design, experimental testing of the NDTBOT and presents results of steel plate
thickness measurements made under water.
KEYWORDS
Storage tank inspection, NDTBOT,
in-service inspection.
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References