Robotic non-destructive testing: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 19:44, 26 July 2016

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Robotic [[non-destructive testing]] (NDT) is a method of inspection used to assess the [[structural integrity]] of petroleum, natural gas, and water installations. Crawler-based robotic tools are commonly used for in-line inspection (ILI) applications in [[Pipeline transport|pipelines]] that cannot be inspected using traditional [[Pigging#Intelligent pigging|intelligent pigging tools]] (or unpiggable pipelines).

Robotic NDT tools can also be used for mandatory inspections in inhospitable areas (e.g., tank interiors, subsea petroleum installations) to minimize danger to human inspectors, as these tools are operated remotely by a trained technician or NDT analyst. These systems transmit data and commands via either a wire (typically called an umbilical cable or tether) or wirelessly (in the case of battery-powered tetherless crawlers).