Title: Smart in-pipe monitoring robot for crack detection

Authors: Amal Alex; Pramod Sreedharan; Jeetu S. Babu

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus, Kerala, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus, Kerala, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus, Kerala, India

Abstract: The purpose of a pipeline is to transfer fluids (water, oil, gas or petroleum products) from one place to another place. This smart robot can travel inside the pipe to identify cracks and other potential damages. It is a four wheeled robot equipped with infrared (IR) sensor arrays to identify the cracks and an ultrasonic sensor to detect obstacle while moving through the pipe. The camera provides live video streaming of the pipe. Wheels are tilted at an angle of 45 degrees for better stability and friction inside the pipe. It is equipped with Bluetooth module and Wi-Fi connectivity. LED light strips are provided for illumination inside the pipe. It is controlled by using a smartphone or laptop. Two Arduino microcontrollers are used for entire control system. The robot is powered by Li-ion rechargeable batteries. Design and motion simulation are done in SolidWorks 2017. For testing purpose, a 40 cm round aluminium pipe had taken.

Keywords: smart robot; IR; ultrasonic; cracks; pipe; Bluetooth; camera; Wi-Fi; Arduino.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAMECHS.2024.143151

International Journal of Advanced Mechatronic Systems, 2024 Vol.11 No.3, pp.154 - 160

Received: 13 Oct 2023
Accepted: 07 Mar 2024
Published online: 04 Dec 2024 *

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