Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has developed for ship inspection a small anthropomorphic manipulator which positions the descaling tool (composed of a brush to remove sludge and a hammer to remove scale) and sensors for cracks and plate thicknesses at proper 3-dimensional angles to the objects of inspection. The rated load of end effector is 50 N and dead load 13 kg. Also a telescopic intermediate arm and manipulator carriage which travels on the longitudinal frame by means of this arm has been developed. The combination of these ensures a horizontal operating range of max. 3 m and makes it possible to inspect both sides by setting a monorail midway between the transverse web rings. Crack inspection is done with the ITV camera for remote visual inspection and the eddy-current type sensor for cracks. To improve the accuracy of crack detection with remote visual inspection, the camera is capable of magnified observation with a x 10 zoom and teleoperating control of focus and iris and the lighting is made more suitable, which enables detection of craks having a width of about 0.3 mm. The detected information such as inspection positions, existence of cracks, length of cracks, etc. and the graduated scales are displayed, through the character generating equipment, on the remote visual inspection ITV monitor screen, output by the video printer, and recorded on the optical disk.
Inspection robot system for hull structure
Inspektionsrobotersystem für geschlossene Bauteile
Technical Review - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries ; 32 , 1 ; 7-10
1995
4 Seiten, 5 Bilder, 1 Tabelle
Article (Journal)
English