Slim and Expandable Header Inspection Robot for Remote Visual Inspection of Boiler Headers in Thermal Power Plants

The boiler header is one of the essential and critical components of power generation in any thermal power plant. The inspection of the boiler headers is essential for the continuous operation of any power plant. The failure of the header leads to substantial economic loss to the country. Conventional Video image scope is used presently for the periodic remote visual inspection of boiler headers to avoid such failure. Still, the conventional technique has several limitations like inadequate coverage due to proper advancement and manipulation of video probes inside the header, improper illumination etc. The majority of the inspection robots commercially available in the market for different power plant inspection are significantly large. It isn't easy to pass them through hand holes or similar inspection holes with a diameter below 100 mm. Hence, there was a need for the indigenous development of a robotic system for remote inspection of boiler headers. The present research work describes the development of such a robotic system. After the initial success of the field trial, the device has also been deployed at multiple power plants for header inspection during annual plant overhauling. The developed robotic device became very useful in the coverage of internals of a header for detecting the presence of any foreign material in case of newly erected header or for gross detection of internal deposits, blockages, degradation, and cracking on the stub-holes periphery etc. It turns out to be a very reliable tool for internal inspection of headers with complete internal coverage. Presently, translation research is going on for up-grading the system(s) with the plants' obtained feedback.