Design of Tank Inspection Robot Using Permanent Magnetic Wheels

Currently, the oil and gas industry continue to rely on manual inspection methods, despite their labor-intensive, time-consuming nature and potential safety hazards. To address these challenges, this paper presents the development of a Tank Inspection Robot (TIRbot) aimed at improving inspection, operational efficiency, and worker safety. Notably, the paper solely focuses on the adhesion moving mechanism, a critical component of TIRbot that ensures its stability while inspecting ferromagnetic vertical surfaces. In practice, the utilization of Permanent Magnetic Wheels (PMWs) is deeply considered as their balance of various factors. Specifically, determining the appropriate PMW for a TIRbot requires careful consideration of factors, which comprise the weight, operational speed, and weld seam height. Hence, this study proposes a mechanical design and deterministic method for PMWs using MATLAB and SolidWorks to meet overall weight and motor torque requirements for TIRbot. As a result, the paper carried out the experiment in two scenarios, including the static and dynamic state of TIRbot. The first scenario experiment verifies the adhesion capabilities in the static state. The other scenario experiment reveals the change of torque in the TIRbot movement on the 10 mm steel plates and when the TIRbot overcomes the weld height of 3 mm.