In context
Heat exchangers are critical in petrochemical, food, and nuclear industries, but their tubes degrade under high temperature and pressure. Periodic non-destructive testing is essential, yet manual inspection of thousands of tubes is labor-intensive and error-prone. Existing tube-sheet climbing robots often lack adaptability to varying tube specifications, driving the need for a more versatile solution.
What was reported
Researchers at Sichuan University developed the GTCBot, a grasping tubesheet-climbing robot for automated heat exchanger tube inspection. The robot features self-locking climbing feet inspired by the three-toed woodpecker, allowing it to grip tube holes of different sizes without changing feet. It has nine degrees of freedom, each driven by a DC motor, enabling vertical movement, steering, and scanning.
The robot operates in two scanning modes: Cartesian for rectangular arrays and cylindrical for edge regions, combined to cover large tubesheets efficiently. It can climb by alternating inner and outer claws, achieving 360-degree steering in Cartesian mode. Static models were used to calculate required gripping forces and motor torques, ensuring stable attachment.
A prototype was built and tested in both laboratory and field conditions. Results demonstrated grasping self-locking, high mobility, and adaptability to different tube sheet specifications, confirming its practical viability.
Why it mattered
This work addresses a gap in adaptive inspection robots for heat exchangers, offering a solution that reduces manual labor and improves detection efficiency. Its bio-inspired design and hybrid scanning approach could influence future automation in industrial maintenance, particularly for large-scale tube bundles.
“The test results show that the robot has the ability of grasping self-locking, high mobility and high adaptability.”
Source: 《机器人》期刊 (robot.sia.cn) · Published 2025-01-15 · “面向换热管检测的抓握式管板攀爬机器人设计与实现”