The platform
It is a tool carrier before it is anything else. The frame, the drive and the umbilical stay the same; what it carries changes with the job. That is why one machine, one crew and one mobilisation can answer four different questions about a tank.
Video here — 16:9
Meet the machine. A dry, well-lit walkaround of the platform on the ground before it goes anywhere near a tank — full profile, then close on the tracks, the powered brush, the intake and the camera and sonar heads. Finish with the frame folding down to pass through a narrow manway, and the tripod lift.
How it works
The crawler is lowered through the roof opening on a tripod and driven along the tank floor from a control station outside. A single umbilical carries power, control and data. Sediment is pumped out continuously to a discharge point you nominate.
Nobody enters the tank. The tank does not come out of service. An operator watches the camera and the sonar in real time throughout, and the whole run is recorded.
Image here — 1600 × 1200 px
Anthony: The whole set-up in a collage. Topside at the tank: the tripod over the open manway, the umbilical running down into it, the discharge hose leading away, and the control station with an operator at the screens. Shot wide enough that a buyer can see everything a deployment needs — and that none of it involves anyone going inside.
Configuration
Image here — 1200 × 900 px
Anthony: The machine at the manway, mid-lift, frame folded down — shot from above so the opening and the machine are both in frame and the tight fit is obvious. A hand or a tape at the rim for scale.
The single hardest constraint. Platforms are built around what you can actually get through — from narrow inspection hatches to full roof manways — with collapsible track frames where the opening is tight.
Image here — 1200 × 900 px
Anthony: The two builds side by side, clean and dry — aluminium next to stainless. Close enough to read the surface finish and the fasteners.
Aluminium for water, salt water, ethanol and chlorinated water. Stainless for fuels, oils, hydrocarbons and caustic or acidic chemicals.
Image here — 1200 × 900 px
Anthony: The hazardous-area build on site at a refinery or fuel terminal, with classified-area signage or the tank itself in shot. Certification plate on the equipment if it photographs legibly.
Where the atmosphere is classified, the submerged equipment uses recognised hazardous-area protection methods. The current generation is built to be certifiable, and has been deployed in Zone 0.
Image here — 1200 × 900 px
Anthony: What the machine actually moves — recovered sediment in a sample jar, or the discharge running into a geobag.
Sediment depth, consistency and maximum solid size determine the intake, the pump and whether ultrasonic liquification is needed to move heavy, viscous material.
What it carries
The platform accepts our own components and third-party equipment alike, so a system can be configured for a mission we have not seen before without a new machine.
Image here — 1600 × 1200 px, two images combined
Stephen: Two images. (1) The part: the brush assembly off the machine on a clean bench. (2) What the operator sees: the on-screen camera view of the brush biting into compacted sediment and lifting it.
Breaks up compacted sediment immediately ahead of the intake so it can be pumped rather than pushed.
Image here — 1600 × 1200 px, two images combined
Stephen: Two images. (1) The part: the pump unit with its discharge connection. (2) What the operator sees: sediment leaving the tank — the discharge running, dark with solids, into the geobag or sewer point.
Lifts sediment and water out of the tank through a single discharge, with solids handling and a shredder impeller on the larger configurations.
Image here — 1600 × 1200 px, two images combined
Stephen: Two images. (1) The part: the pan-and-tilt head close up. (2) What the operator sees: a real frame off that camera inside a tank — a wall, a column base or a fitting, lit by the machine.
Pan-and-tilt and fixed cameras, recorded throughout so the initial and final condition of the floor is on file.
Image here — 1600 × 1200 px, two images combined
Stephen: Two images. (1) The part: the sonar head close up. (2) What the operator sees: the polar display on screen, with the returns from that tank floor.
Three jobs: navigating in low visibility, profiling sediment depth, and monitoring removal performance as the work proceeds.
Image here — 1600 × 1200 px, two images combined
Stephen: Two images. (1) The part: the sensor and its static reference probe together. (2) What the operator sees: the settlement figures or plot on screen.
Measures floor settlement. Combined with a static reference probe it resolves to within a millimetre, and can be read while the tank is in service.
Image here — 1600 × 1200 px, two images combined
Stephen: Two images. (1) The part: the UT probe or scanning head on a plate sample. (2) What the operator sees: the thickness reading or scan result on screen.
Wall-thickness measurement of the floor plates, taken in place without draining, enabling remaining useful life of the tank floor.
Image here — 1600 × 1200 px, two images combined
Stephen: Two images. (1) The part: the arm extended with the jaws open. (2) What the operator sees: the on-screen camera view of the arm gripping or clearing an obstruction underwater.
Clears obstructions, takes samples and removes small items during the initial inspection and the cleaning process.
Image here — 1600 × 1200 px, two images combined
Stephen: Two images. (1) The part: the device itself, or mounted on the platform. (2) What the operator sees: the on-screen camera view of thick sludge breaking up and flowing to the intake.
A patented device that emulsifies thick, viscous sludge so it can be pumped where conventional dredging would stall.
Standards
Equipment is designed for specific operational areas. Some require highly sanitized entry for potable water. This equipment will not enter any other processed water or contaminated areas. Some geographic areas require special certifications like:
See it working
Deployment through the manway, the crawler under way, and the control station view of camera and sonar together.
Video here — 16:9
Anthony: One deployment, start to finish, in order. Rig the tripod over the manway, open the hatch, lower the crawler, umbilical paying out, water closing over it. Then cut inside the control station — operator at the desk, camera view and sonar side by side on screen, sediment clearing as the machine tracks across. End on the discharge running and a wide shot of the plant still working. No narration; on-screen captions for each stage. Show that nobody ever goes in and nothing ever stops. Build this from the Brazil material — lead with a wide shot of the plant so the scale of the site is obvious.
Technical detail
Depth rating, weight, umbilical length, flow rates, drive power and certification status differ by configuration. Tell us the application and we will send the sheet that applies to it.
Request specifications