Smarttouch Helps Detect Oil Pipe Flange

A breakthrough in leakage risk detection on oil pipe flanges comes from research at the University of Houston with a Saab Seaeye Falcon robot as the development platform.

Called SmartTouch, the solution includes the integration of innovative robotic manipulator controls into the Falcon that provide multiple stress wave sensors for touch-based inspection of bolted connections along with the latest structural condition monitoring and inspection technologies. Video cameras and scan sonars are also integrated into the system.

The university’s main goal was to find a time and cost efficient robotic solution to identify vulnerable flanges as bolted flanges can loosen when pipelines shift due to ocean dynamics. The difficulty of locating vulnerable flanges makes their timely inspection key to avoiding oil spills.
The research team led by Dr. Zheng Chen, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of Bio-inspired Robotics, along with Dr. Gangbing Song, professor of mechanical engineering, six PhD students.

“The test results have shown the Falcon’s reliability and performance in meeting the requirements of the SmartTouch subsea pipeline inspection system,” said Dr. Chen.

The simple system integration comes from the intelligent distributed control architecture iCON from Falcon, which equips each device with its own microprocessor for individual control and offers a future-flexible concept that can easily adopt developing technologies.

“The SmartTouch robot system,” says Dr. Chen, “can fully automate and dramatically reduce the cost and risk of subsea inspections, resulting in safer operation of offshore oil and gas pipelines.”

The Saab Seaeye Falcon (Image: Saab Seaeye)

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