Automation Solution to Wall-climbing Robot Working for Large-scale Metal Spherical Tanks

Abstract

The modern weld inspection by robot operation has been attractive for safe-guarding large-scale pressure equipment in chemical energy industry by avoiding hard labors in harmful and toxic environments, with lower costs and higher efficiency and especially without the need of complex scaffolding. A wall-climbing robot based on permanent magnet adsorption is introduced to perform weld inspections of large-scales metal spherical tanks. This paper expounds the mechanical structure, intelligent visual functionality and intelligent walking system of the designed robot. Its optimized walk paths are proposed. Numerous engineering tests indicate good performance of designed robot in achieving high-quality surface treatment and non-destructive testing for large-scales metal spherical tanks. The suggested scheme provides an automation solution to wall-climbing robots working for large-scale metal spherical tanks.