The PureRobotics pipe inspection system from Pure Technologies is a transportable robotic crawler designed to pull or carry a variety of tools and sensors through pipelines. The robot’s feet are modular and can be changed out for different styles depending on the pipeline type. The track chassis can also be expanded for large-diameter lines.
Safer than manned inspections, the crawler can travel through dewatered pipe or while submerged up to 3.1 miles from a single access point. At a maximum speed of about 85 feet per minute, it’s twice as fast as previous models, according to Carlos Pineiro, robotics engineer at Pure Technologies.
“It’s double the speed from the previous generation, which means you can inspect twice as much pipe in the same amount of time,” Pineiro says of the third-generation crawler. “When you’re doing an inspection, you have to mobilize a number of people, a number of resources. So far, in all the jobs that we did, we’ve never had any job that we couldn’t finish in time.”
The standard system features a high-definition pan/tilt/zoom camera that delivers real-time video for detecting leaks and other anomalies in underground pipes.
The robot can be equipped with a variety of specialty tools, including an inertial measurement unit for XYZ mapping of geographic information, 3-D LIDAR scanning or pull condition assessment tools such as 2-D laser technology that can measure a pipeline’s size, shape and level of corrosion.
An optional inertial measurement unit uses fiber-optic gyroscopes and accelerometers to track depth, lateral and horizontal movements from a known GPS reference point. The output is a GIS spatial map of the pipeline that depicts elevation changes as well as other features.
PureEM electromagnetic assessment detects anomalous regions in the pipe cylinder. This data is correlated with odometer readings from the crawler’s umbilical tether to attempt to locate areas of distress within the pipe.
Designed for multiple isolated inspection runs where a quick setup and breakdown can improve efficiency, the transporter can be deployed from a number of access points, including valves, open flanges and pipes.
“There’s a fair amount of inspection time that’s reduced,” says Mark Fodchuk, content specialist. “If you can get a robot through quicker, you don’t have to have the roads shut down or other blockages, so it’s just far more efficient.” 855/280-7873; www.puretechltd.com.
