Overview
HYFLIERS is a research and innovation action (RIA) of EU Horizon 2020 programme for advanced robot capabilities research and take-up, worth 3,9 million euro funding.
HYFLIERS aims is to develop the world's first industrial integrated robot with hybrid air and ground mobility with a long-reach hyper-redundant manipulator capable of reaching sites where no other robot can access, reducing the exposition of human inspectors to potentially dangerous working conditions. Targeting ultrasonic thickness measurements for oil and gas refineries and chemical plants, the results could be applied to many other robotic inspection technologies.
The consortium is composed of eight partners from Finland, Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland, including high reputation universities, research institutes, industrial partners with research and innovation development capabilities, and two world leader oil and gas industrial companies.
Objective
Focusing on non-destructive contact measurements but with potential application to a wider set of industrial scenarios, the scope of HYFLIERS project is to study and develop solutions to perform inspection measurements with reduced exposure to risks and costs, an accurate controlled hybrid aerial-ground robot equipped with an inspection sensor and supporting services for efficient and safe navigation in complex and safety-critical environments.
Motivation
In oil and gas production plants, all or part of the components are often subject to degradation caused by exposure to the environment or products within the production process. Excessive pipe corrosion may lead to accidents, including catastrophic failures with explosions and release of toxic products, thus having impact on safety, environment and availability of the plant.
Inspection processes for thickness measurements ensure that plants are in safe operating condition or provide alerts to execute necessary corrective actions. These measurements are traditionally executed by personnel that requires access to specific locations. Typically, more than 50% (and up to 90%) of these activities are carried out by working at elevated locations with the use of ladders, scaffold, rope access or cranes, and sometimes in presence of high temperatures or toxic materials. Obviously, this causes considerable costs for ensuring safety of inspection personnel but in some cases, casualties may occur. Moreover, anxiety and exposure to dangerous locations affects concentration and promote human errors.
There are safety, quality and cost drivers for novel inspection methods.
Consortium
University of Oulu (coordinator), Finland, www.oulu.fi
https://www.oulu.fi/en/university/faculties-and-units/faculty-information-technology-and-electrical-engineering/biomimetics-and-intelligent-systems-group(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)University of Seville, Spain,
http://www.us.es/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) https://grvc.us.es/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)Chevron Oronite, France,
https://www.oronite.com/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)TotalEnergies, France,
https://totalenergies.com/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) https://totalenergies.com/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)Consorzio di Ricerca per l’Energia e le Tecnologie dell’Elettromagnetismo C.R.E.A.T.E. Italy,
https://www.create.unina.it/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) https://prisma.dieti.unina.it/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies FADA-CATEC, Spain,
http://www.catec.aero(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)Waygate Technologies Inspection Robotics, Switzerland,
https://www.bakerhughes.com/waygate-technologies/robotic-inspection(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)Dasel sistemas, Spain,
https://www.daselsistemas.com(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)
