Pipeline inspection robot is an integrated mechatronic system that can automatically travel inside or outside the pipeline, carrying one or more sensors, to perform a series of inspection and maintenance operations on the pipeline under the remote control of the operator or computer control. Pipelines are important infrastructure for ensuring the operation of cities, covering pipelines and their ancillary facilities for urban water supply and drainage, gas, electricity, communication, and so on, greatly facilitating human life.
The Pipeline Inspection Robot is equipped with multi-wheel drive to increase the precision and driving force of the pipeline inspection equipment in the pipeline. Currently, there are mainly three types of drive systems: electric, pneumatic, and hydraulic. Among them, the electric type has high sensitivity and simple control, and is widely used in pipeline robots. The movement modes include wheel type, creeping type, snake type, multi-leg walking, screw driving, etc. It has the advantages of strong driving ability, good proactive steering, high motion efficiency, and reliability.
Adopting a remote operation system, the remote controller is equipped with direction control and start-stop operation for the robot. The controller communicates with the controller inside the inspection robot. When the controller receives the manual operation, it sends a command according to the agreed protocol. After the controller receives and parses the command, it sends a signal to the motor driver module to drive the motor. They communicate through Wi-Fi to avoid long distance cable connections and reduce the burden of the pipeline inspection robot.
The image acquisition system is an important part of the pipeline inspection robot. The structure of the camera used is compact, and the resolution can reach more than one million. The system plays back the collected image in real time and superimposes the current pipeline location information. The system can adjust the video quality by setting the parameters for high definition, standard definition, and smooth picture. The remote controller can also activate the recording function to save the collected images as a video file. The image acquisition system can effectively capture the pipeline images.
The Pipeline Inspection Robot is an intelligent inspection equipment that moves and operates in the extreme environment inside the pipeline. It relies on the thrust generated by fluid pressure energy and kinetic energy, carrying CCD cameras, ultrasonic sensors, eddy current sensors, magnetic flux leakage sensors, infrared sensors, geomagnetic field sensors, photosensitive sensors, and other equipment to move synchronously with the flow of fluid in the pipeline and complete the inspection. Quality assured pipeline inspection robots will become good helpers for people in the future.
