Non-contacted Permanent Magnetic Absorbed Wall-climbing Robot for Ultrasonic Weld Inspection of Spherical Tank

Abstract

A novel wall-climbing robot for the onsite weld inspecting of spherical tank with Time of Flight Diffraction (TOFD) method has been developed, in order to liberate operators from dangerous and heavy working environment. Patented non-contacted permanent magnetic absorbed technology was adopted to realize reliable and flexible all-position moving along the weld seam on the surface of spherical tank. To ensure stable coupling for TOFD test, a surface adaptive probe holder which can provide constant contact force, have been particularly designed. Equipped with a visual sensing based weld seam tracking unit and industrial PC station, the robot could perform automatic flaw detection remotely even in the darkness environment. Onsite ultrasonic weld inspections have been carried out on a 4000m3 spherical tank with 28mm in thickness. It is verified that the robot could accomplish tasks in any position and the acquired TOFD images satisfy the requirements of engineering evaluation.