Autonomous phased array ultrasound robotic NDT of long weld lines (AWI)

海事类规则要求每五年进行一次完整性调查，包括船舶的干船坞，外部船体检查，按要求进行维护（清洁和喷漆）。安全协会要求对这些焊缝进行100%超声波检测。这表示在船体的外表面上的船体部分之间的约0.5 km的焊接线的焊接和检查。人类操作员执行所有这些焊接和检查所花费的时间长度对于高劳动力成本和疲劳引起的错误的高发生率以及执行检查的人员的安全风险具有明显的影响。自动化流程将降低造船商的成本，减少对高空危险工作的需求，并提高检查数据的一致性、可靠性和可用性。然而，目前的自动化解决方案涉及笨重和昂贵的大型龙门机器人，因此没有得到广泛应用。英国的航运业正在经历一场复兴，专业化生产高规格的专业和豪华船舶。英国也有许多公司，如项目领导NDT顾问公司，为全球市场提供专业检测服务。AWI的目标是开发移动的机器人，可以爬上垂直和弯曲的船体表面部署检查工具。该系统将是自主的，不需要外部脚手架或龙门架结构，成本相对较低。AWI将为项目领导NDT Consultants Ltd.提供新的检测服务，以扩大其在全球检测行业的业务。该供应链联盟还包括一家机器人系统中小企业制造商，他们将为市场带来新的机器人解决方案。

Marine Class rules require the performance of an integrity survey every five years involving dry-docking the vessel, with external hull inspection, maintenance carried out as required (cleaning and painting). Safety societies demand that 100% ultrasonic testing should be performed on these welds. This represents the welding and inspection of some 0.5 km of weld line between the hull sections on the external surface of the hull. The length of time taken for human operators to perform all of this welding and inspection has obvious implications for high labour costs and high incidence of fatigue-induced mistakes and safety risks for personnel performing the inspections. An automated process would reduce costs to shipbuilder, reduce the need for hazardous working at height and improve consistency, reliability and availability of inspection data. However, current automated solutions involve large gantry robots that are unwieldy and expensive and for these reasons are not widely used.The shipping industry in the UK is undergoing a renaissance with specialization in high specification specialist and luxury vessels. The UK also has many companies, such as project lead NDT Consultants providing specialist inspection services to the global market. The aim of AWI is to develop mobile robots that can climb vertical and curved hull surfaces to deploy inspection tool. The system will be autonomous, and require no external scaffolding or gantry structures and relatively low cost. AWI will provide the project lead NDT Consultants Ltd. with new inspection services that they will use to expand their business in the global inspection industry. The supply chain consortium also includes a robotics systems SME manufacturer who will bring new robotic solutions to market.