Robotic systems and methods for tank seal inspection
AssigneeBoard of Regents, The University of Texas System
InventorsMitchell Pryor, Connor D. Crawford, Robert Blake Anderson, Keith Fritz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Robotic systems and methods for tank seal inspection. A tank inspection robot includes a housing containing a drive assembly, and wheels disposed outside of the housing and operably coupled to the drive assembly. The tank inspection robot also includes at least one sensor coupled to, or disposed in or on a portion of the robot, for collecting data sufficient to evaluate a health, mechanical integrity or effectiveness of one or more circumferential seals between a floating roof, and an interior wall, of a storage tank. The disclosed robot and associated method enable safer and more efficient seal inspection routines as compared to conventional techniques.
Claims20
A tank inspection method comprising:
- actuating, by a drive assembly of a robot, wheels of the robot to navigate the robot along an interior wall of a storage tank to one or more circumferential seals positioned proximate to the interior wall of the storage tank;
- and
- collecting, by at least one sensor of the robot, data sufficient to evaluate a health, integrity, or effectiveness of the one or more circumferential seals between a floating roof, and the interior wall of the storage tank;
- wherein the one or more circumferential seals is configured to maintain sliding contact with the interior wall;
- and
- wherein collecting the data comprises physically manipulating the one or more circumferential seals to create a gap between the one or more circumferential seals and the floating roof and inserting the at least one sensor of the robot in the gap.
A tank inspection robot comprising:
- a drive assembly;
- wheels disposed outside of, and operably coupled to, the drive assembly, the wheels configured to be actuated by the drive assembly to navigate the robot along an interior wall of a storage tank to one or more circumferential seals positioned proximate to the interior wall of the storage tank;
- at least one sensor disposed in or on a portion of the robot, and configured to collect data sufficient to evaluate a health, integrity, or effectiveness of the one or more circumferential seals between a floating roof, and the interior wall, of the storage tank;
- and
- a connector bridge coupled to and between the drive assembly and the at least one sensor to thereby position the at least one sensor apart and spaced from the drive assembly;
- wherein the one or more circumferential seals is configured to maintain sliding contact with the interior wall;
- and
- wherein the at least one sensor is configured to collect the data based on physically manipulating the one or more circumferential seals to create a gap between the one or more circumferential seals and the floating roof and inserting the at least one sensor in the gap.
One or more non-transitory computer readable media having program instructions stored thereon which, when executed by at least one processor, cause a machine to:
- direct a drive assembly of a tank inspection robot to actuate wheels of the robot to navigate the robot along an interior wall of a storage tank to one or more circumferential seals positioned proximate to the interior wall of the storage tank;
- and
- direct at least one sensor of the tank inspection robot to collect data sufficient to evaluate a health, integrity or effectiveness of the one or more circumferential seals between a floating roof, and the interior wall of the storage tank;
- wherein the one or more circumferential seals is configured to maintain sliding contact with the interior wall;
- and
- wherein to collect the data, the program instructions cause the machine to direct the tank inspection robot to physically manipulate the one or more circumferential seals to create a gap between the one or more circumferential seals and the floating roof and direct the tank inspection robot to insert the at least one sensor of the tank inspection robot in the gap.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.