Non-destructive Testing (NDT) 4.0: Robotic Technology Applied for the Floor Thickness Monitoring of Hazardous Liquid Storage Tanks

Above-ground Storage Tanks (ASTs) corrode over time, leading to possible leakage of contents and resulting in severe economic losses and pollution. To avoid these consequences, inspection and repair activities are performed periodically according to international regulations. Manual inspections require the tank to be offline for weeks.

In line with the vision of Industry 4.0 to make manufacturing operations and maintenance engineering services smart, the Project nautilUS has managed to develop a small, intrinsically safe and potentially ATEX-certified robot to carry out in-service inspection on above-ground storage tanks. This robot is capable of moving around a tank floor and making measurements of the floor thinning using an ultrasound probe attached to it. The measurements along with location data would be then recorded for post-processing after the robot is retrieved.