Shell Brazil has recently signed a partnership agreement with the British company Innospection and SENAI CIMATEC for the development of a robot for the inspection of cargo tanks in service of ship-platform (FPSOs).
This robot called MCCR (MEC Combi Crawler Robot) will be launched from the main deck and will move on the outside of FPSO shells operated by Shell as well as other FPSOs operating in Brazil.
The robot will be equipped with devices for cleaning the marine incrustations and for the detection of defects and anomalies in the structure of the hull.
A cost reduction of 20% to 30% in tank inspection is estimated when the use of the robot is combined with other robotic inspection tools such as drones.
“We are very excited about this promising partnership, which should result in the optimization of the FPSO tank inspection process, also contributing to the improvement of the structural integrity management of this type of asset. We are still looking forward to bringing together two important partners, such as Innospection and SENAI CIMATEC, who have already worked on relevant Shell projects in Brazil and abroad, ” said José Ferrari , Shell Brazil technology manager.
The cost of the project is about $9 million, of which $4.5 million will be contributed by Shell Brazil.