Development of a Wireless Magnetic Climbing Robot for Visual Inspection of Galvanized Cooling Towers in a Commercial Building

Abstract

Accessibility and safety is a concern in visual inspection of cooling towers. During inspection of cooling towers, there are areas that are difficult to reach due to dark and confined spaces. This study focuses on the development of visual inspection robot to lessen or prevent human intervention in the inspection of cooling towers. The robot is a magnetic wheeled wall climbing robot that has an action camera for visual inspection and it is wireless to be able to reach difficult areas for humans. In the development of the prototype, its body was designed using AutoCAD 2017 and was fabricated using a 3D printer. Neodymium magnets are used for the wheels, and a Mobius action Camera attached to a pan and tilt mechanism was used for the visual of the robot. In addition, Gizduino microcontroller, UHF receiver and transmitter, AV transmitter, Li-Poly battery, and servo motors were used to run and to make the robot wireless and was programmed using Arduino. After the actual inspection of the cooling tower at J.Y Campos Centre, BGC using the wireless magnetic climbing robot, results showed that rusting, scaling and organic matter build ups were present on the surface of the cooling tower. The remarks done based from the standard is to have a repainting and to have a cleaning operation to waterproof the surface and to address the problem of organic matter build ups.