Development of a Pipeline Inspection Robot for the Standard Oil Pipeline of China National Petroleum Corporation

The periodic inspection for oil pipelines is required due to the deterioration over time. A multitude of factors brings such a deterioration, from corrosion, leaks, to cracks, which may lead to blowbacks and cause the damages for operators and the environments. With the progress of robotics technolo...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hui Li, Ruiqin Li, Jianwei Zhang, Pengyu Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-04-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/8/2853
_version_ 1797570099883802624
author Hui Li
Ruiqin Li
Jianwei Zhang
Pengyu Zhang
author_facet Hui Li
Ruiqin Li
Jianwei Zhang
Pengyu Zhang
author_sort Hui Li
collection DOAJ
description The periodic inspection for oil pipelines is required due to the deterioration over time. A multitude of factors brings such a deterioration, from corrosion, leaks, to cracks, which may lead to blowbacks and cause the damages for operators and the environments. With the progress of robotics technology, various types of mobile robots and mechanisms are designed to cope with this issue. Rather than the assignment of human workers in hazardous environments, the deployment of such kinds of inspection robots can take on this duty more time-efficiently and safely, preventing the human workers from the high-risk of the inspection task in the oil pipelines. This paper presents a novel design of a mobile robot for oil pipeline inspection, which is cooperated with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). With the improvement of the previous inspection robot used in CNPC’s standard oil pipelines, the newly designed robot is composed of six groups of symmetrical supporting wheels, and a more powerful motors as well as a more advanced control system. This new design endows the oil pipeline inspection robot with better performance on six aspects: traction, obstacle-adaptivity, operation endurance, gradeability, visual perception, and stability. The field testing results at multiple oil transfer stations across several months demonstrate the reliability of this mobile robot under various severe situations in China and validate its performance in the studied aspects.
first_indexed 2024-03-10T20:21:09Z
format Article
id doaj.art-4a6075ebe2544d209d83096a78acad13
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2076-3417
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-10T20:21:09Z
publishDate 2020-04-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Applied Sciences
spelling doaj.art-4a6075ebe2544d209d83096a78acad132023-11-19T22:11:51ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172020-04-01108285310.3390/app10082853Development of a Pipeline Inspection Robot for the Standard Oil Pipeline of China National Petroleum CorporationHui Li0Ruiqin Li1Jianwei Zhang2Pengyu Zhang3School of Mechanical Engineering, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, ChinaSchool of Mechanical Engineering, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, ChinaDepartment of Informatics, University of Hamburg, 22527 Hamburg, GermanyTogether Foison (Beijing) Technology Co. Ltd., Beijing 100176, ChinaThe periodic inspection for oil pipelines is required due to the deterioration over time. A multitude of factors brings such a deterioration, from corrosion, leaks, to cracks, which may lead to blowbacks and cause the damages for operators and the environments. With the progress of robotics technology, various types of mobile robots and mechanisms are designed to cope with this issue. Rather than the assignment of human workers in hazardous environments, the deployment of such kinds of inspection robots can take on this duty more time-efficiently and safely, preventing the human workers from the high-risk of the inspection task in the oil pipelines. This paper presents a novel design of a mobile robot for oil pipeline inspection, which is cooperated with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). With the improvement of the previous inspection robot used in CNPC’s standard oil pipelines, the newly designed robot is composed of six groups of symmetrical supporting wheels, and a more powerful motors as well as a more advanced control system. This new design endows the oil pipeline inspection robot with better performance on six aspects: traction, obstacle-adaptivity, operation endurance, gradeability, visual perception, and stability. The field testing results at multiple oil transfer stations across several months demonstrate the reliability of this mobile robot under various severe situations in China and validate its performance in the studied aspects.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/8/2853inspection robotrobotic system
spellingShingle Hui Li
Ruiqin Li
Jianwei Zhang
Pengyu Zhang
Development of a Pipeline Inspection Robot for the Standard Oil Pipeline of China National Petroleum Corporation
Applied Sciences
inspection robot
robotic system
title Development of a Pipeline Inspection Robot for the Standard Oil Pipeline of China National Petroleum Corporation
title_full Development of a Pipeline Inspection Robot for the Standard Oil Pipeline of China National Petroleum Corporation
title_fullStr Development of a Pipeline Inspection Robot for the Standard Oil Pipeline of China National Petroleum Corporation
title_full_unstemmed Development of a Pipeline Inspection Robot for the Standard Oil Pipeline of China National Petroleum Corporation
title_short Development of a Pipeline Inspection Robot for the Standard Oil Pipeline of China National Petroleum Corporation
title_sort development of a pipeline inspection robot for the standard oil pipeline of china national petroleum corporation
topic inspection robot
robotic system
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/8/2853
work_keys_str_mv AT huili developmentofapipelineinspectionrobotforthestandardoilpipelineofchinanationalpetroleumcorporation
AT ruiqinli developmentofapipelineinspectionrobotforthestandardoilpipelineofchinanationalpetroleumcorporation
AT jianweizhang developmentofapipelineinspectionrobotforthestandardoilpipelineofchinanationalpetroleumcorporation
AT pengyuzhang developmentofapipelineinspectionrobotforthestandardoilpipelineofchinanationalpetroleumcorporation