Design, Development and Performance evaluation of a New Pneumatically Powered Versatile Wall-Climbing Robotic NDT System Suitable for Hazardous Environments

摘要

An analysis is presented of the general problems with the deisng and development of a new versatile wall-climbing robotiic NDT system (prototype 3) which is readily transportable between different geographical locatiosn and is able to climb over large areas of vertical walls of any material composition, particularly in remote and hzardous environments. The new system consists of a pneumatically powered climbing vehicle carrying an anthropomorphic scanning arm. The use of electronic componetns e.g. electric motors in the construction of the climbing vehicle is minimised to make it easier for this vehicle to conform to intrinsically safe legislation. For this reason a new and novel pneumatic servo-motor is developed for the turning mechanism of the climbing vehicle. The system performance is illustrated yb c-scans of corrosion thinning with a dry contact 2.5 MHz dry contact roller probe which is deployed by the anthropomorphic robotic arm.