Rotary Push-in Mechanism for Variable Outer Diameter PIGs with Multiple-Connected Using Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

This paper describes the effect of the presence or absence of a rotary push-in mechanism on the movement speed of a variable outside diameter pipe inspection gauge (VOD-PIG). In existing studies, inspection robots that tow endoscopes and other wiring into the pipe can inspect the inside of the pipe in real time even in environments where radio reception is difficult, such as in metal pipes. However, the maximum inspection distance is limited by the increase in friction acting on the wiring during long-distance inspection. In the previous study, we developed VOD-PIGs to seal the piping and move through the pipe by converting the air pressure applied to the piping into a propulsive force. Despite its simple structure, the VOD-PIG can be sealed and opened arbitrarily at the VOD-PIG installation points in the piping. Air pressure can be applied to each VOD-PIG independently to obtain distributed propulsive force on entire wiring to reduce the tension. In previous studies, we manually pushed in the wiring into the pipes, which made it difficult to push in the wiring into the pipes in accordance with the VOD-PIG operation. In this study, we developed a mechanism that can push in the wiring in accordance with the movement pattern of the VOD-PIG. We describe an experiment to compare the inspection speeds with and without the developed mechanism. As a result, the inspection speed was 9.7 times faster, which is expected to improve the inspection speed of VOD-PIG.