SBIR Phase I: Autonomous Inspection Robot for Seal Inspection of Floating Roof Storage Tanks

SBIR第一期：用于浮顶储罐密封检查的自主检查机器人

• 批准号: 2233637
• 负责人: Connor Crawford
• 金额: $ 27.47万
• 依托单位: PIKE ROBOTICS INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-01 至 2024-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233637&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Autonomous; Inspection; Robot

he broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop an autonomous, robotic inspection system to eliminate manual inspection methods in confined and dangerous spaces. The innovation will use a robot to provide quantitative condition and emissions data for an estimated 150,000 floating roof tanks in the nation’s aging infrastructure. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and similar agencies across the globe, require tanks to be routinely inspected, but companies also want to remove personnel from confined spaces and avoid exposure to poisonous gasses, asphyxiation, heat exhaustion, falling accidents, etc. Confined space entries caused 1,300 U.S. deaths between 2011 and 2018. The autonomous robot reduces expenses related to maintenance and repair and allows better quantitative assessment of the seal integrity, which allows companies to perform maintenance based on the asset condition and not frequency-based schedules. An industry trend in recent years is to recreate the state of their assets digitally - both visually and quantitatively. The high-resolution data provided through this effort supports these 'digital twins.' Also, once the robot is certified for explosive environments, design features can be reused to produce other robots which further improve development cost and safety. This SBIR Phase I project will create an autonomous robotic inspection system which eliminates manual, confined-space inspection methods and requires only one technician to deploy the robot from the top of the tank wall. The wall-climbing robot is capable of inspecting both the floating-roof storage tank’s upper (weather) and lower (primary) seals using a bifurcated (inverse periscope) geometry which places sensors in the gap between the seals while prime movers, adhesion elements, and a controller are above the seals. The bifurcated design simplifies safety feature design by minimizing the size and complexity of device components between the seals. The bifurcated design enables the continuous use of a tether for isolating the power source and provides a positive pressure surge system. After insertion, the robot proceeds to circumnavigate the inner tank shell in a stable manner, overcoming the large frictional forces that exist between the tank wall and the upper seal. The robotic system gathers real-time, high-resolution, and continuous data about the state of the seals. High-resolution visual data characterizes the top of the seal, and a proprietary physical “feeler” mechanism characterizes the seal gap. This information results in a fast, safe, and accurate inspection of the tank’s seal.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

他对这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）I期项目的广播/商业影响是开发一种自主，机器人检查系统，以消除在受限和危险空间中的手动检查方法。这项创新将使用机器人提供定量状况和排放数据，估计在美国老化基础设施中有15万个浮动车顶箱。环境保护局（EPA）和全球类似机构需要经常检查坦克，但公司也希望将人员从狭窄的空间中删除，避免暴露于有毒的气体，窒息，沥青，衰竭，事故下降等。限制空间的限制性限制在2011年和2018年之间的量化量相关。诚信，允许公司根据资产条件而不是基于频率的时间表进行维护。近年来，行业趋势是在视觉和定量上以数字方式重新创建其资产状况。通过这项工作提供的高分辨率数据支持了这些“数字双胞胎”。同样，一旦机器人获得爆炸性环境认证，可以重复使用设计功能来生产其他机器人，从而进一步提高开发成本和安全性。这个SBIR I期项目将创建一个自主的机器人检查系统，该系统消除了手动，限制空间检查方法，并且只需要一名技术人员从坦克墙的顶部部署机器人。攀岩机器人能够使用分叉（反向潜望镜）几何形状检查浮动屋顶储罐的鞋面（天气）和下部（主要）密封件，该几何形状将传感器放在密封件之间的间隙中，而原始的推动者，粘合剂元素和一个控制器则在密封架上。分叉设计通过最大程度地减少密封之间的设备组件的大小和复杂性来简化安全功能设计。分叉设计使连续使用系绳来隔离电源并提供正压力激增系统。插入后，机器人以稳定的方式绕着内部坦克壳进行了绕过内部坦克壳，从而克服了储罐壁和上密封之间存在的大型摩擦力。机器人系统收集有关密封状态的实时，高分辨率和连续数据。高分辨率的视觉数据表征了密封的顶部，并且专有的物理“ Feller”机制表征了密封间隙。此信息可以快速，安全，准确地检查坦克密封件。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来评估被认为是宝贵的支持。