Abstract: Long term operation and maintenance of steam and hydropower driven electric power plants requires periodic inspection of the concrete cooling, containment and impoundment structures to assure safety, and reliability. Currently, inspections of large, vertical concrete structures are performed manually which is time-consuming, costly, and exposes workers to potentially dangerous work environments. To address this inspection technology gap, Electric Power Research Institute researched and evaluated various types of robotic technologies; and developed a crawler device that could be adapted to perform a multitude of concrete inspection tasks. Its payload of advanced nondestructive examination instrumentation, computer encoded data and imaging provide unprecedented capabilities to interrogate the interior of concrete structures; and locate and characterize voids, rebar corrosion, and other internal defects. The concrete crawler obviates the need to use scaffolding and supports long-term operation of generating assets by enabling automated, safe, and comprehensive inspections of structures such as cooling towers, hydro dams, and reactor containments.

Key words: vertical concrete structure, inspection, climber

摘要： 长期运行和维护的热电厂和水力发电厂需要定期检查混凝土冷却、密封和蓄水结构，以确保安全和可靠性。目前，大型、竖直混凝土结构的检查通常采用人工方式，耗时、昂贵、且其工作环境使工作人员面临着潜在的危险。为了解决检查技术问题，美国电力研究所对各种类型的机器人技术进行了研究和评估，并开发了一种攀爬装置，可用于执行多种具体的检测任务。攀爬器搭载着先进的无损检测仪器，电脑编码的数据和图像提供了前所未有的探测混凝土内部结构的能力，可以对孔隙、钢筋锈蚀及其他内部缺陷进行定位和定性描述。该混凝土攀爬器不再需要使用脚手架，能对冷却塔、水电站大坝、核反应堆等建筑物进行自动、安全和综合的检查，以此来支持发电设备的长期运行。

关键词: 竖直混凝土建筑物, 检查, 攀爬器