Refinery Pipe Inspection Robot
The Refinery Pipe Inspection Robot provides operational, safety, and financial benefits by enhancing insight into the state and condition of pipe infrastructure. Compared to existing manual methods, the platform provides a greater amount of non-destructive testing (NDT) sensor data, more frequently than possible with manual inspections, more repeatably, at lower cost and lower risk.
The Honeybee Refinery Pipe Inspection Robot contains three key subsystems:
First, the mobility system physically places sensor payloads (visual and NDT). It can drive along straight sections of vertical and horizontal pipe, both bare and insulated, including traveling over common pipe supports. The design is low-profile for crowded pipe racks. Its drive modes enable positioning of sensors anywhere axially and circumferentially.
Second, a set of modular NDT sensors that can be changed to suit each target inspection application. The current system uses a phased-array UT probe for bare metal pipes. It also contains multiple camera angles for visual inspection.
Third, a localization system correlates repeated scans to specific pipe sections without manual input. This means users can localize NDT data to specific places on pipe without dead reckoning to gain immediate value. Longer-term, it also enables change detection over time to improve asset monitoring and predictive models.