Dye Penetrant Arm Attachments for BIKE Robot

  This past week, the team met with the robotics engineers and NDT Subject Matter Expert (SME) at DOW Chemical to introduce ourselves and get more clarity on stakeholder needs. They looked over the quantifiable measurements, but wanted to include another physical requirement for the attachments: being able to spray dye penetrant on welded seams, which occur at various curvatures. Based on that added scope, we have refined our technical problem statement with the following physical constraints:  Statement of the Goal The goal of the project is for a robotic arm attachment to perform dye penetrant testing by executing a 3 step procedure: apply water-washable dye penetrant thoroughly to cracks or weld seams, rinse with water pressure less than 30 psi at a distance of 6-12 inches from the surface, and wiping excess penetrant without removing the penetrant from the crack. Constraints  Size of BIKE Robot (9.5” L x 7.5” W x 8.5” H) Tubing/mechanics must operate along tether: 70’...

Dye penetrant testing is a non destructive testing method used to identify surface defects in several materials which is generally safe but has some dangers associated with the task. Some of the dangers include chemical exposure, skin and eye irritation, inhalation risks, fire hazards, risk when operating on tall structures. Due to many of these concerns and possible human error factors, the implementation of a dye penetrating robot removes such risks whilst improving performance and increasing versatility. Team Apex will be designing specialized arm attachments for an existing robot platform owned by a third party chemical company, requiring dye penetrant testing for critical assets within chemical plants, such as tanks and distillation columns. These structures are about 70-80 feet high, which has fluid dynamic influences for pumps and nozzles involved. The arms have to perform three physical functions adequately: dye application, rinse with water, and wipe thoroughly to detect any ...