Fugitive detection is a task of primary importance in the Oil&Gas industry, and so far, it has been usually carried out by human operators equipped with proper gas detectors, with timing and costs imposed by the operating conditions of the plant and sometimes the need to arrange cumbersome and expensive temporary scaffoldings to allow the access of operators in proximity of possible points of leakage.
The idea of using a robotic platform to perform the inspections into the plants in case of accessibility restrictions for human operators, has been considered with the aim of improving the safety for the operators and the efficiency of the asset integrity management ([RD3], [RD4], [RD5], and [RD6]). One of the problems of such an approach is the risk of explosion, and the possibility that a robot not designed in compliance with the ATEX (Explosive Atmospheres) directive might ignite an explosive mixture ([RD1] and [RD2]).
In the frame of ROGER (Reconfigurable Oil&Gas Embedded Robotics) project, during 2021 a drone with the capability of detecting the fugitives in the confined environment inside the plant and with the features to operate in ATEX classified area (Zone 2) has been designed. The drone development required the special design of all the enclosures and the study for transforming all the components external to the enclosures in such a way that no accidental ignition of possible explosive atmosphere could happen. These components are motors, sensors and moving parts like propellers.
The main challenge has turned out to be the limits of the propulsion system, brought on by the design provisions for ATEX and making the ratio thrust-weight too low for adequate maneuverability.
Two design iterations were required. Relying on the feedback of a first prototype referred to as K2, a new design, K3, has been developed, with the main objective of reducing the global mass of the robot while keeping the features related to ATEX protection.
The new global UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) architecture and the refinement in the choices of materials and technical solutions for the compliance with the ATEX directive led to a final design expected to meet all the system requirements in view of the next tests.
The drone is now at the integration and test phase, on both functional and compatibility with explosive atmosphere aspects. Certification has been already achieved in 2022 and extensive field tests are expected by the end of 2023.
In this paper, a description of the main features of the K3 UAV design are provided, with an overview of the main issues addressed during the development.
