wall thickness measurement robot

Wall Thickness Measurement Robot

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תקציר

Abstract

The industry, especially the chemical industry consists of piping, vessels, storage tanks, steel towers and others. These units were designed to hold certain pressure. Nevertheless, the corrosion and the erosion caused by the flow of the liquid lead to thinning of the wall thickness and to failure or collapse.
In order to predict the remaining life of a component, the wall thickness should be measured periodically.
The American Standard API 653 for Storage Tanks requires measurement every 5 years.
Industrial components with hard access conditions exit also in nuclear power stations and reactors and in the marine installations, where the measurement has to be taken under the water.
If the wall is too thin, a repair should be done.
Today, technicians do wall thickness test in manual way while they need access to the testing location, sometimes by climbing or crawling, for attaching the transducer to the surface.
The place is usually difficult for access or dangerous for a man to do the job.
For overcome the approach problem, a robot has been designed for remote control, approaching the area in where the measurements have to be done, taking them and sending them back to the operator station.
The design and the constructing of the robot have been done after examining engineering and economic alternatives.
In order to meet all the requirements of the test, the means for the robot building have been evaluated as well as the weight of the measuring device, the auxiliary measuring systems such as the couplant applier and the sensor, the platform, the propulsion system and the control system.
Calculations have been made to find the weight of the system, the friction forces of the different systems, the velocity and acceleration of the robot. The subassemblies of the system have been selected according the calculations above and the engine and its parameters such as the RPM and its power have been determined.
The robot that was built in this project scope is for flat surface, normal environment, low velocity. The options for the vertical climbing have already been calculated and are an option for further development. For changing the robot for work in ex-proof conditions or underwater, major design changes should be made due to shielding or sealing needs, different electronic and electromechanic system and changing or removing the couplant system.
The conclusions of this project are that the robot designed can be a successful technology demonstrator in order to continue with design of an industrial version of the system.

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