[Chemical Equipment Powerful Equipment] 459-2022 China’s first set of underwater non-destructive testing robots for marine structures

“When the operating waters are deep, manual underwater inspection is too dangerous and the cost is too high. This method depends largely on the experience and technology of the flaw detectors. A series of underwater inspection robots have been developed abroad, but this field is still in its infancy in China. ”Wang Gang, a professor at the School of Naval Engineering at Harbin Engineering University, said that in the face of this pain point, they led students to develop an underwater inspection robot five years ago. Underwater operations are different from those on land. They not only face the influence of water depth, but also have complex turbulence. How to ensure the stability of the robot and probe during the inspection process is a very challenging problem. It is worth mentioning that these problems have been overcome one by one by a team with an average age of less than 23 years old. Team member Chen Siwen comes from the new engineering major of Harbin Engineering University - Marine Robotics. “I have been fond of robots since I was a child. After entering school and joining the team, I found that there was too much knowledge to learn. ”He said that while they were learning * professional knowledge, while conducting practical research and discovering problems. “We spent a year learning a lot of professional knowledge such as design, control, and perception in robotics by ourselves, and also let the robot learn to learn independently. * . ”

“Currently, the detection tools used on the market require two inspectors to work closely on the water and underwater respectively. Our technology adds an auxiliary positioning system to the robot, which reduces the operational complexity of the inspection personnel and enables them to focus more on the judgment of inspection data and improve work efficiency. The entire operation process can be completed by one person. ”Chen Siwen and his classmates achieved stable and precise operation of the robot at 500 meters under the sea through the development and pressure test of the underwater welding seam auxiliary positioning system. This technology has obtained software copyright.

Through years of research, the team has also successively overcome problems such as complex turbulence and difficulty in adsorption, large differences in pipe diameters of marine structures, and complex joint weld structures. Last year, the team carried robots to conduct actual inspections at the Bohai Jinzhou 25-1 oil and gas field and the CGN Rudong offshore wind farm, completing the first domestic demonstration application of underwater robot non-destructive inspection for wind power tower piles. Underwater robot inspection of marine structures not only avoids the personnel safety risks of manual diving inspection, but also improves inspection efficiency and reduces operation and maintenance costs, which is conducive to the efficient development of various marine resources.

The country's first set of marine platform inspection robots that can work at a water depth of 500 meters passed the acceptance test. Original 2022-07-05 21:15 · Beijing News Recently, Harbin Engineering University developed the country's first set of underwater non-destructive inspection robots for marine structures and passed the acceptance test.* * The acceptance organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology has realized the engineering demonstration application of underwater non-destructive testing in China. The reporter learned from Harbin Engineering University that the underwater inspection robot can complete non-destructive inspection of various marine structures 500 meters underwater, filling a domestic gap in this field. The first domestic underwater non-destructive testing robot for marine structures. Picture provided by Harbin Engineering University Robots can operate stably and accurately on marine structures within a water depth of 500 meters. Most of the marine equipment such as offshore drilling ships, offshore drilling, oil production platforms, and offshore wind power tower piles adopt steel truss structures. The quality of steel pipe butt joints and intersecting line welds is directly related to structural safety. Due to factors such as the impact of wind, waves, water flow and seawater erosion over the years, structures will form cracks. In order to avoid component breakage and affect the operational safety of marine equipment, periodic weld inspections are required to detect potential safety hazards in advance. According to incomplete statistics, there are 4,300 offshore wind power towers in my country, but there are less than 200 people who can complete the professional inspection of underwater structures below 60 meters. When the operating waters are deep, manual water inspection is too dangerous and costly. Many factors depend on the experience and technology of the flaw detector. A series of underwater inspection robots have been developed abroad, but domestically, this field is still in its infancy. Faced with this pain point, Wang Gang, associate professor at the School of Ship Engineering at Harbin Engineering University, led his students to carry out the research and development task of underwater inspection robots five years ago. Underwater operations are different from those on land. They not only face the influence of water depth, but also have complex turbulence. How to ensure the stability of the robot and probe during the inspection process is a very challenging problem. Robot launching control detection. Photo provided by Wang Gang of Harbin Engineering University, saying that the school’s School of Marine Engineering has been committed to cultivating innovative new engineering talents in the industry and focusing on students’ practical abilities. Many related technologies developed by sophomore students have been applied to underwater inspection robots. “Currently, the detection tools used on the market require two inspectors to work closely on the water and underwater. Our technology adds an auxiliary positioning system to the robot, which reduces the operational complexity of the inspector, allowing it to focus more on the judgment of the inspection data and improve the efficiency of the operation. The entire operation can be completed by one person on shore. ”Chen Siwen from the R&D team said. According to reports, the underwater weld auxiliary positioning system has obtained * * Software copyright, this technology also allowed Chen Siwen of the R&D team and his classmates to win the gold medal in the "Challenge Cup" Heilongjiang Provincial College Student Entrepreneurship Plan Competition. Robot detection signal image. The robot provided by Harbin Engineering University can autonomously track welds, simplifying the operation of inspection personnel. It is understood that through years of research, the team has also successively broken through problems such as reliable adsorption in underwater turbulent environments, large differences in the configuration of marine structures, and difficulty in detecting TKY-type node welds. Water flow disturbance during inspection operations is an unavoidable problem. How to ensure the stable adsorption and flexible movement of the robot in this environment is a big challenge. In this regard, the research team designed a non-contact adsorption system that senses and detects the flow field of the robot through a flow meter, and then adjusts the adsorption force in real time to find a balance between firm adsorption and flexible movement during the detection process. In addition, the minimum pipe diameter of marine structures is 0.5 meters, while the largest can reach about 8 meters. Faced with such a huge gap in pipe diameters of marine structure steel piles, how to be compatible with the pipe diameters of various forms of marine structures is also a big problem. Team members cleverly designed the robot's structure into a reconfigurable three-section articulated shape. By changing the angle of the hinge, the diameter of the inscribed circle can be adjusted, making the robot compatible with inspection tasks of different pipe diameters.