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

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响是开发一种自主的机器人检测系统，以消除在密闭和危险空间中的人工检测方法。这项创新将使用机器人为该国老化的基础设施中约15万个浮动屋顶储罐提供定量条件和排放数据。美国环境保护署（EPA）和全球各地的类似机构要求对储罐进行例行检查，但公司也希望将人员从密闭空间移走，避免接触有毒气体、窒息、中暑、坠落事故等。2011年至2018年期间，密闭空间进入导致1300名美国人死亡。自主机器人减少了与维护和维修相关的费用，并可以更好地定量评估密封的完整性，这使得公司可以根据资产状况而不是基于频率的时间表进行维护。近年来的一个行业趋势是数字化地重建他们的资产状态——无论是在视觉上还是在数量上。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”。此外，一旦机器人通过了爆炸性环境的认证，其设计特征可以重复用于生产其他机器人，从而进一步提高开发成本和安全性。SBIR第一阶段项目将创建一个自主机器人检测系统，该系统消除了人工、密闭空间的检测方法，只需要一名技术人员从罐壁顶部部署机器人。爬壁机器人能够检查浮顶储罐的上部（天气）和下部（主）密封件，使用分节（反向潜望镜）几何形状，将传感器放置在密封件之间的间隙中，而原动机、粘附元件和控制器则位于密封件上方。通过最小化密封之间的设备组件的尺寸和复杂性，分叉设计简化了安全功能设计。分叉式设计可以连续使用系绳隔离电源，并提供正压喘振系统。插入后，机器人继续以稳定的方式绕罐壳旋转，克服了罐壁与上密封之间存在的巨大摩擦力。机器人系统收集有关密封件状态的实时、高分辨率和连续数据。高分辨率的视觉数据表征密封顶部，专有的物理“触角”机制表征密封间隙。这些信息可以快速、安全、准确地检查储罐的密封。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.