Luis A. Mateos

Abstract. This research was conducted as part of the European Union project - Developing Water Loss Prevention (DeWaLoP), which is aimed to repair the leaking pipes with lead-joint sockets from the fresh water supply systems in the cities of Vienna and Bratislava. The objective of the project includes: the development of an in-pipe robot that crawls into the one meter diameter pipes and capable to inspect, clean and apply a developed sealant to reseal the pipe-joint sockets.

The robotic hybrid locomotion system is based on wheeled wall-pressed with integrated suspension system that enables the robotic platform to have double functionality: to crawl inside the pipe and to fix the robotic structure to the center of the pipe, enabling its robotic arms to rotate in cylindrical 3D space for inspection and reparation of the pipe-joint. In this configuration, the developed in-pipe robot is a multi-functional platform integrating the complete solution for fresh water pipe-joint rehabilitation in non-standard pipe diameters (800 to 1200mm).

Key words: DeWaLoP, in-pipe robot, reconfigurable robot, pipe inspection, pipe rehabilitation

2019 Luis A. Mateos