A fully functioning prototype robot crawler has been designed and developed. The robot crawler is capable of moving along the length of a flexible riser and, in addition it can rotate about the axis, thereby allowing a sequence of radiographic images of the surface.
The robot crawler comprises two pairs of end effectors connected to a sliding carriage mechanism which forms the back bone of the robot. It is able to crawl up and down the flexible riser using an "inch worm" like mechanism. Hydraulic cylinders are used to actuate the mechanisms installed on the robot crawler. The selection of hydraulics instead of other means of actuation is based on their powerful and proven subsea performance. Custom control electronics have been designed and produced for the robot crawler, and are fitted into water sealed enclosures. Feedback devices are installed on the robot to sense the state of the moving parts.
(C) FlexiRiserTest 2010. The FlexiRiserTest Project is a collaboration between the following organisations: Computerised Information Technology (CIT) Ltd, Technical Software Consultants (TSC) Inspection Systems Ltd, Naftosol SA, Wellstream International Ltd, Petrobras, EuroNDT Ltd, Zenon SA, Research Institute Juelich and TWI Ltd. This project is managed and co-ordinated by TWI Ltd, and is partly funded by the European Commission under the Horizontal Research Activities Involving SMEs: Cooperative Research Programme reference COOP-CT-2006-032680.