InTANK Services robot successfully inspects aboveground storage terminal

Nov. 1, 2002
InTANK Services Inc, working with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and a major oil company, successfully deployed the new

InTANK Services Inc, working with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and a major oil company, successfully deployed the new OTIS-G (On-Stream Tank Inspection System — Gasoline) robot. OTIS-G is designed to increase a plant's safety and cut costs incurred during out-of-service aboveground storage tank (AST) inspections. Also, OTIS-G inspections meet API 653 guidelines and help tank owners/managers comply with regulations for vapor emissions.

Without removing gasoline from the tank, InTANK used two remote-controlled robots to conduct API 653 floor and seal inspections.

Using proprietary ultrasonic and navigation systems, OTIS-G inspects tank floors for topside and bottom-side corrosion. This provides information to map the floor via thousands of UT plate thickness readings. These readings are supplemented with elevation readings (which analyze tank settlement under normal product loads) and edge settlement. The result is an accurate, three-dimensional settlement profile of the tank floor.

OTIS-G also uses an onboard advanced camera system to inspect Internal Floating Roof (IFR) primary seals and IFR penetration seals. The OTIS-G system has been certified to meet United States and Canadian intrinsically safe standards (Entela and EntelaC). InTANK's Quik-Look, a remote, laser-based can-era system, was used to inspect secondary seals.

The demonstration gasoline tank was 93 feet in diameter and 48 feet high with a steel shell and coned roof. Once inside, InTANK minimized the risk of creating a flammable atmosphere by installing a man way cover designed for use in an IFR.