A robotic system for internal inspection of water pipelines

This research has been motivated by the need for a reliable, robust, and cost-effective tool for internal pipe inspection with application to preventive and predictive maintenance. A new design for a visual inspection system for the interior of water pipelines with minimal service interruption is presented. The method proposed is especially designed to work in the in-water environment. We first describe water pipelines and the challenges of navigation in their interior, and the current practices for failure detection are presented. We also present the mechanical design, the electronics and communication systems, the fiber-optic bus, and the operator station. Two image-processing algorithms for measuring fissure length and the effective diameter of the pipe are also presented, including examples of operation on real pipelines.