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http://dx.doi.org/10.12989/sss.2014.13.6.1041

Two-module robotic pipe inspection system with EMATs  

Lee, Jin-Hyuk (Graduate School of Energy and Environment, Seoul National University of Science and Technology)
Han, Sangchul (School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University)
Ahn, Jaekyu (School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University)
Kim, Dae-Hyun (Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology)
Moon, Hyungpil (School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University)
Publication Information
Smart Structures and Systems / v.13, no.6, 2014 , pp. 1041-1063 More about this Journal
Abstract
This work introduces a two-module robotic pipe inspection system with ultrasonic NDE device to evaluate the integrity of pipe structures. The proposed robotic platform has high mobility. The two module mobile robot platform overcomes pipe obstacle structures such as elbow, or T-branch joints by cooperative maneuvers. Also, it can climb up the straight pipeline at a fast speed due to the wheel driven mechanism. For inspection of pipe structure, SH-waves generated by EMAT are applied with additional signal processing methods. A wavelet transform is implemented to extract a meaningful and specific signal from the superposed SH-wave signals. Intensity ratio which is normalized the defect signals intensity by the maximum intensity of directly transmitted signals in the wavelet transforms spectrum is applied to evaluate defects quantitatively. It is experimentally verified that the robotic ultrasonic inspection system with EMAT is capable of non-destructive inspection and evaluation of defects in pipe structure successfully by applying signal processing method based on wavelet transform.
Keywords
out-pipe robot; EMAT; wavelet transform; two-module climbing robot; non-eestructive test robotic system;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 2  (Citation Analysis)
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