Rail-mounted robot inspection system
AssigneeYokogawa Electric Corporation
InventorNaoyuki Fujimoto
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Implementations are described herein for operating rail-mounted robots in hazardous conditions. In various implementations, a rail-mounted robot configured to inspect a plant with an explosion proof area may include: an actuator to propel the rail-mounted robot along a rail; a battery to provide power to the actuator; a charger to draw power from a power terminal integral with the rail while the rail-mounted robot is in motion, and to charge the battery using the drawn power; and logic to localize the rail-mounted robot based on readings from location indicia distributed along the rail.
Claims16
A rail-mounted robot for inspecting a plant with an explosion-proof area, the rail-mounted robot comprising:
- an actuator to propel the rail-mounted robot along a rail;
- a battery to provide power to the actuator;
- a charger to draw power from a power terminal integral with the rail while the rail-mounted robot is in motion, and to charge the battery using the drawn power;
- and
- one or more processors configured to localize the rail-mounted robot based on readings from location indicia distributed along the rail;
- wherein the charger comprises a conductive wheel or capacitive coupling pad that draws power from an exposed conductive trace that extends along a length of the rail outside of the explosion-proof area.
A rail-mounted robot for inspecting a plant with an explosion-proof area, the rail-mounted robot comprising:
- an actuator to propel the rail-mounted robot along a rail;
- a battery to provide power to the actuator;
- a charger to draw power from a power terminal integral with the rail while the rail-mounted robot is in motion, and to charge the battery using the drawn power;
- one or more sensors and a transceiver to wirelessly transmit data obtained via one or more of the sensors to a remote computing device and
- one or more processors to localize the rail-mounted robot based on readings from location indicia distributed along the rail;
- wherein the transceiver is configured to exchange data wirelessly with a wireless antenna embedded within, and along a length of, the rail.
A rail-mounted robot for inspecting a plant with an explosion-proof area, the rail-mounted robot comprising:
- an actuator to propel the rail-mounted robot along a rail;
- a battery to provide power to the actuator;
- a charger to draw power from a power terminal integral with the rail while the rail-mounted robot is in motion, and to charge the battery using the drawn power;
- and
- one or more processors to localize the rail-mounted robot based on readings from location indicia distributed along the rail;
- wherein the charger comprises a radio frequency (RF) power antenna, and the power terminal integral with the rail comprises a plurality of RF power transmitters distributed along a length of the rail, whereby the RF power antenna draws power from the plurality of RF power transmitters, and charges the battery using the drawn power.
A rail-mounted robot for inspecting a plant with an explosion-proof area, the rail-mounted robot comprising:
- an actuator to propel the rail-mounted robot along a rail;
- a battery to provide power to the actuator;
- a charger to draw power from a power terminal integral with the rail while the rail-mounted robot is in motion, and to charge the battery using the drawn power;
- and
- logic to localize the rail-mounted robot based on readings from location indicia distributed along the rail;
- wherein the actuator is configured to propel the rail-mounted robot at a first velocity over a first portion of the rail that includes the power terminal, and at a second velocity over a second portion of the rail that does not include the power terminal, and wherein the first velocity is less than the second velocity.
A system for inspecting a plant, comprising:
- a rail that passes through an explosion-proof area of the plant, wherein the rail comprises one or more radio frequency (RF) power transmitters enclosed within a portion of the rail that passes through the explosion-proof area;
- and
- a rail-mounted robot comprising:
- an actuator to propel the rail-mounted robot along the rail;
- one or more onboard sensors configured to generate one or more sensor signals that are usable to inspect the plant;
- a battery to provide power to the actuator;
- and
- a charger comprising an RF power antenna that charges to charge the battery with power drawn from one or more of the RF power transmitters while the rail-mounted robot is in motion.
A system for inspecting a plant, comprising:
- a rail that passes through an explosion-proof area of the plant, wherein the rail comprises a plurality of wireless power transmitters enclosed within a portion of the rail that passes through the explosion-proof area;
- and
- a rail-mounted robot comprising:
- an actuator to propel the rail-mounted robot along the rail;
- one or more onboard sensors configured to generate one or more sensor signals that are usable to inspect the plant;
- a battery to provide power to the actuator;
- and
- a charger to charge the battery with power drawn from one or more of the wireless power transmitters while the rail-mounted robot is in motion;
- wherein the actuator is to propel the rail-mounted robot at a first velocity over a first portion of the rail that includes the plurality of wireless power transmitters, and at a second velocity over a second portion of the rail that does not include wireless power transmitters, and wherein the first velocity is less than the second velocity.
A method for operating a rail-mounted robot to inspect a plant, the method comprising:
- propelling the rail-mounted robot along a rail that passes through an explosion-proof area of the plant;
- while the rail-mounted robot is in motion being propelled through the explosion-proof area, wirelessly drawing power from a plurality of radio frequency (RF) power terminals that are embedded within and distributed along a length of the rail;
- and
- inspecting the plant based on one or more sensor readings obtained from one or more sensors onboard the rail-mounted robot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.