General Electric Company

Yakov Polishchuk

Douglas Roy Forman

Todd William Danko

Alexander Kyle Duncan

Justin Michael Foehner

Huan Tan

Steven William Wik

John Brandon Laflen

Li Zhang

Shiraj Sen

Robert William Tait

Yang Zhao

Patrick Jay Biel

William Judson Hendrix, Jr

Charles Burton Theurer

Don Mark Lipkin

Glen William Brooksby

John William Herbold

Jason Harris Karp

Arpit Jain

Mauricio Castillo-Effen

Shaopeng Liu

Juntao Wu

Ghulam Ali Baloch

Judith Ann Guzzo

S M Shajedul Hasan

Viktor Holovashchenko

Steven Robert Gray

Robert Edward Huth

John Robert Hoare

Roberto Silveira Silva Filho

Ching-Ling Huang

Raju Venkataramana

Bo Wang

Alex Tepper

Michael Francis Strong

Kori Unhee Macdonald

Ramvineeth Nitta

Wiliam Judson Hendrix Jr

A system for use in maintaining a pipe having a sidewall is provided. The system includes a motorized apparatus sized to fit within the pipe and configured to travel along the pipe through an interior cavity. The motorized apparatus includes a plurality of leg assemblies coupled circumferentially around a body assembly. The body assembly includes an actuator assembly coupled to each leg assembly and configured to independently actuate each leg assembly to adjust a position of each leg assembly. The body assembly also includes at least one sensor configured to collect information associated with the position of each leg assembly. The body assembly also includes a controller communicatively coupled to the motorized apparatus and configured to receive the information from the sensor, and to determine at least one of a pipe diameter and a pitch of the motorized apparatus based on the information from the at least one sensor.

Systems and methods for maintaining pipes

A system for polishing a surface of a component includes a motorized apparatus including a body, a drive system coupled to the body, and an arm including a proximal end coupled to the body and a distal end opposite the proximal end. The motorized apparatus further includes a tool coupled to the distal end of the arm. The tool is configured to polish the surface of the component. The motorized apparatus also includes an actuator coupled to the arm. The system also includes a controller configured to position the tool relative to the component by positioning at least one of the body and the arm relative to the component to reach the target area on the component while maintaining a distance between the tool and the body that is less than a threshold distance. The threshold distance is less than a full reach of the arm and is determined to prevent vibrations of the tool and the arm from exceeding a predefined level.

Systems and methods for polishing component surfaces using polishing tool mounted on motorized apparatus

A service apparatus for use in maintaining a machine including a stator and a rotor is provided. The service apparatus includes a carriage assembly configured to couple to the rotor. The service apparatus is selectively transitionable between a stowed position in which the service apparatus is rotatable with the rotor and an extended position in which the service apparatus is extended toward the stator. The service apparatus also includes at least one maintenance device coupled to the carriage assembly. The at least one maintenance device is operable to perform a maintenance operation on a surface of the stator with the service apparatus in the extended position.

Service apparatus for use with rotary machines

A motorized apparatus for use in maintaining a pipe includes at least one drive portion including a body assembly, a plurality of leg assemblies coupled circumferentially around the body assembly, a plurality of drive mechanisms coupled to the plurality of leg assemblies, and a drive portion coupling mechanism. The motorized apparatus also includes at least one maintenance portion including a body, at least one maintenance device coupled to the body, and a maintenance portion coupling mechanism configured to engage the drive portion coupling mechanism. The at least one drive portion is releasably coupled to the at least one maintenance portion by engaging the drive portion coupling mechanism with the maintenance portion coupling mechanism. The drive portion coupling mechanism and the maintenance portion coupling mechanism are each configured to engage another coupling mechanism when the drive portion coupling mechanism and the maintenance portion coupling mechanism are uncoupled from each other.

A system for use in maintaining a pipe having a sidewall is provided. The system includes a motorized apparatus sized to fit within the pipe and configured to travel along the pipe through an interior cavity. The motorized apparatus includes a plurality of leg assemblies each including a first leg portion, a second leg portion, and a joint rotatably coupling the first leg portion to the second leg portion. A drive mechanism coupled to the joint is configured to interact with the sidewall. The system also includes an actuator assembly configured to independently position each leg assembly relative to a body assembly to adjust a radial position of the joint of the associated leg assembly relative to the body assembly. The system also includes a controller configured to send instructions to the actuator assembly based at least in part on at least one of a dimension of the interior cavity and a desired force on the sidewall.

A motorized apparatus for use in maintaining a pipe having a sidewall is provided. The motorized apparatus includes a body assembly sized to fit within and to travel along an interior cavity of the pipe. The body assembly includes a first end and a second end and extending along a longitudinal axis. The body assembly also includes a plurality of leg assemblies coupled circumferentially around the body assembly. Each leg assembly includes a telescoping portion, a bias member coupled to the telescoping portion, and a drive mechanism configured to interact with the sidewall as the body assembly travels along the pipe. The body assembly also includes at least one sensor configured to collect data associated with a force between the sidewall and the drive mechanism, and an actuator assembly coupled to each leg assembly and configured to independently actuate each the leg assembly.

A robotic access system including a robotic fan crawler configured to traverse a surface of a wind turbine and perform one or more tasks. The robotic fan crawler includes one or more fans to adhere the robotic fan crawler to the surface of the wind turbine and one or more driving components to drive the robotic fan crawler along the surface of the wind turbine. The robotic fan crawler further includes one or more omnidirectional cameras operable to capture images of the surface from multiple perspectives during an inspection activity and data collection period. One or more steering components provide directional changes of the robotic fan crawler during operation. A tether cable is coupled to the robotic fan crawler and a tether management system to provide one or more of power, communications, grounding, supplies and distance calculations.

Robotic access system including robotic fan crawler for wind blade inspection and maintenance

A system including at least three robots. Each robot including a proximity sensor unit and an imaging device. At least one robot including a processor to perform a method of estimating a pose of a human, the method including obtaining a first pose estimate for the human, the first pose estimate based on proximity sensor information, obtaining a second pose estimate for the human, the second pose estimate based on imaging device information, and generating a refined pose estimate for the human by fusing the first pose estimate with the second pose estimate, where the first pose information provides predictive values and the second pose estimate provides correction values. The method including applying a deep neural network (DNN) human model, and applying a DNN human pose model. A method to generate a refined pose estimation for a human and a non-transitory computer readable medium are also disclosed.

Systems and methods for locating humans using dynamic field robotic-sensor network of human robot team

Provided are systems and methods for monitoring an asset via an autonomous model-driven inspection. In an example, the method may include storing an inspection plan including a virtually created three-dimensional (3D) model of a travel path with respect to a virtual asset that is created in virtual space, converting the virtually created 3D model of the travel path about the virtual asset into a physical travel path about a physical asset corresponding to the virtual asset, autonomously controlling vertical and lateral movement of the unmanned robot in three dimensions with respect to the physical asset based on the physical travel path and capturing data at one or more regions of interest, and capturing data at one or more regions of interest, and storing information concerning the captured data about the asset.

Three-dimensional robotic inspection system

System architecture that provides computer-based methods of wireless communication between a wireless metrological device and a mobile computing device that includes the sending/receiving of data (e.g., measurements) along with a universal generic data service that includes data descriptor(s) affiliated with the measurements. The architecture and methods, which may be communicated via BLE, allow for uniform communication between tools and mobile computing devices regardless of tool type, manufacturer, and measurement information.

System architecture for wireless metrological devices

A metrological interface device includes a printed circuit board ('PCB') including at least one metrological sensor communication interface and at least one first wireless communication interface. The metrological interface device is in communication with a metrological sensing device via the metrological sensor communication interface. Each metrological sensing device is coupled to a physical asset. Each metrological interface device is configured to receive the metrological data from the metrological sensing device. The metrological interface device is configured to receive metrological data from the metrological sensing device via the metrological sensor communication interface. Metrological data represents physical measurement data associated with the physical asset. Each metrological interface device is configured to advertise connection availability to a plurality of mobile computing devices, and also configured to receive a connection request from a connecting mobile computing device, and is additionally configured to create an active connection with the connecting mobile computing device.

Methods and systems for a universal wireless platform for asset monitoring

An apparatus for measuring thickness of an object is provided. The apparatus includes a compression control system which further includes a movable platform, a compression sensor, and a switching device operatively coupled to the compression sensor. The apparatus also includes a measurement system operatively coupled to the switching device for receiving a signal representative of a toggle event at the switching device and configured to measure a gradient. The apparatus also includes a processing circuit operatively coupled to the switching device and the measurement system for measuring a thickness of the object upon receiving the signal representative of the toggle event at the switching device by using the gradient and a communication circuit for transmitting a measured thickness of the object to a remote database.

Method and apparatus for measuring thickness of an object

A taper gauge that includes an elongate taper assembly that has a tip section and an electronics section that includes a location determining element that collects data related to a measurement area when the tip section is inserted in the measurement area and a power source. An embodiment allows for increased precision, accuracy, and speed for wireless measurement of gaps. A method and system that uses the taper gauge.

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Niskayuna, NY, United States of America

Yakov Polishchuk