EPRI's Incubatenergy® Labs Demo Day in Vancouver, Stephane Nolan, Business Development for the Power market, presented the results of four submersible, robotic tank inspections conducted in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
Above ground storage tanks are regularly removed from service to be drained, opened and cleaned at significant expense in order to evaluate the integrity of the tank bottoms. The robot, designed and manufactured by Square Robot, allows for these inspections to take place while the tanks remain in service and full of product. Once deployed, Square Robot sets the robot to autonomously navigate the interior of the tank, efficiently collecting non-destructive test (NDT) data of the tank bottom.
Above ground storage tanks are regularly removed from service to be drained, opened and cleaned at significant expense in order to evaluate the integrity of the tank bottoms. The robot, designed and manufactured by Square Robot, allows for these inspections to take place while the tanks remain in service and full of product. Once deployed, Square Robot sets the robot to autonomously navigate the interior of the tank, efficiently collecting non-destructive test (NDT) data of the tank bottom.
Trials of the SR-1 navigating around a test water tank in Houston.
This video not only goes over some of the process of how we inspect above-ground storage tanks, but it also gives you some data examples and video footage from inside different products.
Square Robot was established in 2016 when three veterans of the robotics industry identified a critical need to improve aboveground storage tank inspections. The autonomous robotic solution developed is a huge step forward for the industry. In-Service inspection of aboveground storage tanks removes people from the dangerous environments and minimize hazardous vapor and chemical releases to the environment while keeping the tank operational. The Square Robot solution dramatically reduces the cost of tank inspection and intervention with no compromise on data or information quality - truly transformational.
