Concept for a robotic system for cleaning up sewers from mud - Version 1.1
It is technically possible to create a robot system, connected to a special vehicle equipped with a large tank for the water to be dispensed and an equally large tank for the muddy water to be sucked in, for cleaning the sewers. Conceptually, the robots are of two types: those that travel along the sewers (cleaning robot) and those that are used to facilitate the transit of cables/pipes along the sewer junctions (facilitating robot).
Conceptually the robot is a mini vehicle equipped with wheels, to which two pipes and a group of electric cables are conceptually attached: one pipe is used to spray water from the tank at high power while the other is used to suck up the muddy water created by the jet delivered against the mud. The group of electric cables powers the cleaning robot, equipped with wheels that allow it to move forward or backward inside the sewer pipes, but also the light, a front and back camera and the other electrical parts present. It is important that the motorized robot equipped with wheels is heavy enough, as it must remain stably supported on the base of the sewer even when the water jet is sprayed against the mud to be removed. The pipe that sucks the muddy water may need to be connected to another tank that will have to collect this water as it is likely that following floods that cause the sewers to be blocked by the mud there will be no possibility of discharging that water somewhere else. In addition to this, it is important that the group of cables and the two pipes can be attached and detached from the robot, as there are sewers that have pipes of very different sizes and therefore robots of different sizes may be needed to operate and carry out the work. In certain cases, the robot vehicle used in sewer cleaning may also need a light and a camera, so that an operator (even through the use of a portable computer) can pilot it and observe the work progressing. Conceptually it makes no sense to create a "custom made remote control hardware" when in any case there are already portable computers that have what you need: monitor, buttons, CPU and cards for the Ethernet/wireless connection, etc...
However, not being an expert in sewers and their complexity, it is nevertheless important that with regard to the design of the robot vehicle (or their various types) this factor is taken into account as it is essential that any type of sewer can be cleaned ( therefore the diameter of the pipes, their length, any change in diameter of the interconnected pipes, the topology of the sewerage network ...) must be considered.
As for the cleaning robot, the one that directs the water jet towards the mud and sucks up the muddy water, the water jet must be directed by whoever is carrying out the work. The part that collects the water should perhaps have an inlet quite adjacent to the bottom of the sewer. This does not mean that as far as water suction is concerned, various openings are not necessary, even on the side of the robot, in order to collect as much of it as possible.
The main critical issues of this cleaning system that must be addressed are in my opinion 2: the first is the management of the friction of the cables/pipes with respect to the joints of the sewerage system, the second is given by the fact that the sewerage system could have some passages that are difficult for the motorized robot to navigate. In this case the solution is perhaps to battery-power and control via wireless signal another type of robot (which I have defined as a facilitating robot) which must only take care of maintaining the pipes and cables in a situation that allows them to slide. Therefore these robots which serve only to allow the correct transit of the cables/pipes along the sewer could be "rolled up" as needed by an operator to the cables/pipes during operations based on needs (they must be considered as totally separate and independent elements, in however the cables/pipes must still slide and cannot therefore receive either electrical energy or control signals of any kind via cables) and "open" near the joints, in order to facilitate the transit of the cables/pipes, and "closed" then around the pipe cables when the robot that cleans the sewer (the end part) is made to go back.
Conceptually, therefore, the facilitating robots have 4 possible operations: "installation", when the employee hooks it to the cables before cleaning operations, "opening" when it opens adhering to the sewer walls but continues to facilitate the passage of the cables (also possibly with motorized wheels in both directions), "closing" when it shrinks again around the pipes/cables and returns to being dragged along with them, "uninstallation" when the employee removes it from around the pipes/cables at the end of operations.
As regards the terminal part, it may be necessary to have some type of articulated mechanical arm that can be used to somehow overcome steps or slopes. In particular, with a mechanical arm above the front robot vehicle made up of articulated segments initially folded on top of each other, but possibly articulated and controllable, it could be possible in some way to both use them to overcome any climbs or descents. Obviously this mechanical arm only needs to be able to reach "forward" positions and it is not necessary that it can be moved laterally. To give an idea of the initial position of these articulated arms I can use the letter 'Z' to indicate how it should be folded, keeping in mind that the upper segment of the 'Z' and the lower one are actually next to each other and not that far apart, and that these "folds" are obviously many, so that it can even unfold for a total length of a couple of meters (for example).
For example, if the robot has to travel along a sewer pipe and a certain path in which there are 6 joints, at that point the worker in the preparation phase will install the robot's wheels behind the front part, around the pipes/cables , 6 robots to be used for managing the joints, which will be used in the opposite order: first those "at the bottom" on the side of the tanker truck and then gradually those near the cleaning robot with the wheels.
In addition to this, it is necessary to keep in mind that all the robots used may need to be cleaned before reuse. Obviously it is important that this system does not have any type of electrical parts in contact with water.
Written by : Marco Bagnaresi
Email : contact@mbcraft.it