Pipe Cleaning Robot

Abstract

The cleaning of pipelines in various industrial environments is a risky and laborious work which poses a threat to the human workers involved. This work involves the design and fabrication of a fully autonomous industrial pipe cleaning robot. This robot consists of three track system, a forward cleaning mechanism and a body. The three tracks were constructed by using Bevel gear system that are arranged at an angle of 90 degree with respect to each other to operate inside a hexagonal casing enclosed by the high tension rubber track. Spring links are attached to each track for shock absorption. The movement of the track system and the cleaning mechanism are controlled via ATMEGA32 microcontroller. This robot has the ability to traverse vertical as well as horizontally mounted pipes and detect any obstacle in its pathway using IR proximity sensors. This device if implemented on a larger scale has potential applications in online cleaning of chemical or multipurpose industrial pipelines, water pipelines, drain pipes etc.