Pipeline Leak Identification Emergency Robot Swarm (PLIERS)

Research and Review Journal of Nondestructive Testing

Continuous non-destructive monitoring of large-scale pipelines is extremely challenging with traditional manual inspections. In this paper, we explore possible strategies that a collection of inspection robots could adopt to address this challenge. We envision the continuous inspection of a pipe performed by multiple robots or a single robot that combines measurements from multiple locations. The robots use guided ultrasonic waves to detect defects and interrogate their locations. The experimental inspection works were performed on a 3-meter-long steel pipe with multiple defects. The whole inspection process was divided into a defect detection stage and a defect localisation stage. In the detection stage the receiver operating characteristic defines a threshold to find a detection zone in which a defect is thought to be present. In the localisation stage, further six measurements arranged in a pentagon with a central measurement point are made to locate the defect within this zone t...

2023

This work explores the feasibility of modernizing the current leak detection method used by the City of Kitchener which involves manual acoustic readings performed on a third of the city annually. We seek to develop software to detect leaks in real time using pressure and flowrate data collected by remote sensors in water pipelines. The primary objective is to update the detection to be in real time and increase sensitivity in the process by detecting smaller leaks that could have previously gone undetected. We have decided to achieve this using a time-series classification algorithm: MLSTM-FCN and the LeakDB dataset to represent a scaled-down version of the water distribution network in the City of Kitchener. The configuration of using pressure sensors only was selected from the results of the reduced feature test. It provided satisfactory performances in the proceeding generalization and localization tests. The solution fulfills all constraints and criteria. Based on the analysis, it is recommended to install 388 pressure sensors in the City of Kitchener as it minimizes the cost, without sacrificing the accuracy of the model.

IEEE Access

At the present time, water and sewer pipe networks are predominantly inspected manually. In the near future, smart cities will perform intelligent autonomous monitoring of buried pipe networks, using teams of small robots. These robots, equipped with all necessary computational facilities and sensors (optical, acoustic, inertial, thermal, pressure and others) will be able to inspect pipes whilst navigating, selflocalising and communicating information about the pipe condition and faults such as leaks or blockages to human operators for monitoring and decision support. The predominantly manual inspection of pipe networks will be replaced with teams of autonomous inspection robots that can operate for long periods of time over a large spatial scale. Reliable autonomous navigation and reporting of faults at this scale requires effective localization and mapping, which is the estimation of the robot's position and its surrounding environment. This survey presents an overview of state-of-the-art works on robot simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) with a focus on water and sewer pipe networks. It considers various aspects of the SLAM problem in pipes, from the motivation, to the water industry requirements, modern SLAM methods, map-types and sensors suited to pipes. Future challenges such as robustness for long term robot operation in pipes are discussed, including how making use of prior knowledge, e.g. geographic information systems (GIS) can be used to build map estimates, and improve the multi-robot SLAM in the pipe environment.

Leakage is the most important factor for unaccounted losses in any pipe network around the world. Most state of the art leak detection systems have limited applicability, lack in reliability and depend on user experience for data extraction. This paper is about a novel system for robotic pipe integrity inspection. Unlike existing systems, detection in based on the presence of a pressure gradient in the neighborhood of a leak. This phenomenon is translated into force measurements via a specially designed and instrumented mechanical embodiment (detector). In this paper an analytic dynamic model of the robotic detector is derived and studied. A prototype is built and the main concepts are validated via experiments.

International Journal of Disaster Risk Science

The need for safe operation and effective maintenance of pipelines grows as oil and gas demand rises. Thereby, it is increasingly imperative to monitor and inspect the pipeline system, detect causes contributing to developing pipeline damage, and perform preventive maintenance in a timely manner. Currently, pipeline inspection is performed at pre-determined intervals of several months, which is not sufficiently robust in terms of timeliness. This research proposes a drone and artificial intelligence reconsolidated technological solution (DARTS) by integrating drone technology and deep learning technique. This solution is aimed to detect the targeted potential root problems—pipes out of alignment and deterioration of pipe support system—that can cause critical pipeline failures and predict the progress of the detected problems by collecting and analyzing image data periodically. The test results show that DARTS can be effectively used to support decision making for preventive pipelin...

International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET), 2024

A pipe inspection robot is device that is inserted into pipes to check for obstruction or damage. These robots are traditionally manufactured offshore, are extremely expensive, and are often not adequately supported in the event or malfunction. This had resulted in associated environmental services limited. A New Zealand utilize of this equipment, facing significant periods of down time as they wait for their robots to be the repaired. Recently, they were informing that several robots were no longer supported. This project was conceived to redesign the electronics control systems one of these PIR, utilizing the existing mechanical platform. Requirements for the robot were that it must operate reliably in confined, dark and wet environments and provides a human wear with a digital video feed of the internal status of the pipes. There robot should as much as possible incorporate off the shaft components, cheap, and potentially onsite repair. This project details the redesign and constructions of such robots. Its employees their electronic boards integrated with mechanical components and provides video feedback via custom graphical interface although at the prototypes state the electronics has been successful with cost of less than a length of the original robot purchase prize.

International Journal of Advance Research Ideas and Innovations in Technology

This paper presents a robotic mechanism for detecting and eliminating blockages in sewage pipes. It is a robot that will be used to clean the interior of the pipes using a brushing mechanism. One of the critical areas of the oil and gas industry is the transport of oil and other fluids through a network of pipes. Over time these pipes have accumulated the amount of slug and other deposits; this leads to a decrease in a pipeline carrying capacity, reduced reliability, loss of power due to higher pumping pressure required and irregular flow. This will not only clean the interior of the pipe but also be able to send live video feedback to the personnel on the ground depicting the kind of residues found in the pipes. The robot can also be added with additional sensors to relay any other critical information.

2010 Second International Conference on COMmunication Systems and NETworks (COMSNETS 2010), 2010

Pipeline-based applications have become the indispensable part of life. Active monitoring and frequent inspections are critical to maintaining pipeline health. However, these tasks are highly expensive using the traditional maintenance systems, knowing that the pipeline systems can be largely deployed in an inaccessible and hazardous environment. In this paper, we propose a novel cost effective, scalable, customizable, and autonomous sensor-based system, called SPAMMS. It combines robot agent based technologies with sensing technologies for efficiently locating health related events and allows active and corrective monitoring and maintenance of the pipelines. SPAMMS integrates RFID systems with mobile sensors and autonomous robots. While the mobile sensor motion is based on the fluid transported by the pipeline, the fixed sensors provide event and mobile sensor location information and contribute efficiently to the study of health history of the pipeline. In addition, it permits a good tracking of the mobile sensors. Using the output of event analysis, a robot agent gets command from the controlling system, travels inside the pipelines for detailed inspection and repairing of the reported incidents (e.g., damage, leakage, or corrosion).

2013

The aim of this work is to Demonstrate a prototype that inspects pipelines buried through an autonomous robot. The inspection aims to follow the route of the pipeline, capturing its coordinates (x, y, z), storing and sending data through the Arduino platform, electronic boards and specific programming. For data storage we used a Micro SD Card Shield and in order to sending the data we used the General Packet Radio Services, allowing the data traffic integrating mobile with internet. The electromagnetism was used for that the robot accompany the pipeline buried through the its magnetic field. The coordinates captured by the vehicle are compared with the coordinates of setup project. After the capture of the coordinates, some decisions may be taken: monitoring the pipeline that may be positioned in slopes; regions with high pluviometric index and risks of possible oil spills. The project uses innovative technologies, accessible and low cost.

IEEE Sensors Journal, 2018

This paper presents a custom designed in-pipe inspection robot that is developed for a pipe of diameter 0.203 m, commonly found in the oil and gas industry. Several pressure sensors are incorporated on board the robot, which are used for detecting leaks. The robot has a propeller arrangement, which not only drives the robot forwards, but also helps simulate a flow in an empty pipe, and thus aids detection of leaks. Further, the leak detection system is augmented by a neural network based verification framework, which improves the robustness of leak detection by allowing the operator to check their identification of a leak by passing it through a neural network based system. This paper presents the details of construction of the actual robot, and presents experimental data which shows successful neuralnetworks based detection of leaks in various scenarios.