Claims:CLAIMS
I/We Claim:
1. A pipe climbing robot (1) consisting of:
a robot frame (10) further consisting of:
a plurality of frame side (101), wherein the frame side (101) having a pin joint (102) at both end;
a plurality of torsion spring (103) for connecting the frame side (101) with another frame side (101);
wherein the torsion spring (103) connect the pin joint (102) of the one frame side (101) with the pin joint (102) of the another frame side (101);
wherein the frame side (101) connected with the other frame side (101) adjacently with help of the torsion spring (103);
wherein the torsion spring (103) grips the robot frame (10) on the pipe;
wherein the robot frame (10) having an open side for connecting the pipe climbing robot (1) to the pipe;
wherein the torsion spring (103) aid to maintain contact with the pipe at pipe bend;
a control unit (20) connected with the robot frame (10), the control unit (20) further consisting of:
a primary controller (201) for controlling operation of the pipe climbing robot (1), the primary controller (201) further consisting of:
a Wi-Fi module (2011);
a heat sink (2012) with thermally conductive adhesive tape for cooling primary controller (201);
an auxiliary controller (202) connected with the primary controller (201);
a control unit battery (203) for providing power supply to the primary controller (201);
a buck converter (204) connected with the control unit battery (203) for stepping down power supply;
a motor driver (205) connected with the auxiliary controller (202);
a three motor housing (30) connected with the inner side of the robot frame (10) and perpendicular to the robot frame (10) surface, the motor housing (30) further consisting of:
a servo motor (301) connected with the motor housing (30);
a DC motor (302) connected with the motor housing (30);
a wheel (303) connected with the DC motor (302);
wherein the servo motor (301) aid to rotate the wheel (303) at 90 degree;
wherein the DC motor (302) aid to move and hold the wheel (303);
wherein the motor housing (30) making 120 degree angle with other two motor housing (30);
a primary battery (50) connected with the robot frame (10) for providing power supply to the smart pipe climbing robot (1);
a plurality of camera (60) mounted on the robot frame (10) for inspecting the pipe;
a temperature and humidity sensor (70) connected with the robot frame (10) for detecting temperature and humidity of the surrounding atmosphere;
a gas sensor (80) connected with the robot frame (10) for detecting gas and fluid leakage of the surrounding atmosphere;
a gyroscope and accelerometer sensor (90) connected with the robot frame (10) for determining the orientation of the smart pipe climbing robot (1);
an ultrasonic sensor (40) connected with the robot frame (10) for determining the actual height of the smart pipe climbing robot (1) while climbing the pipe;
wherein the Wi-Fi module (2011) of the primary controller (201) wirelessly communicating with a remote controlling unit;
wherein the auxiliary controller (202) controlling the speed and direction of the DC motor (302) with help of the motor driver (205);
wherein the pipe climbing robot (1) having capability of taking 90 degree bend during operation.
2. The pipe climbing robot (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the frame side (101) is made from 6061-T6 aluminium.
3. The pipe climbing robot (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the motor driver (205) is MD10C motor driver.
4. The pipe climbing robot (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the camera (60) is Arducam OV4567.
5. The pipe climbing robot (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the temperature and humidity sensor (70) DHT 11 module.
6. The smart pipe climbing robot (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gas sensor (80) is MQ-135 gas sensor.
7. The pipe climbing robot (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gyroscope and accelerometer sensor (90) is MPU6050 module.
8. The pipe climbing robot (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic sensor (40) is HC-SR04.
9. The pipe climbing robot (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the primary controller (201) is Raspberry Pi 4 Model B.
10. The smart pipe climbing robot (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the auxiliary controller (202) is Arduino Uno. , Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to pipe climbing robot. More specifically, the present invention relates to wireless battery-operated pipe climbing robot designed to climb pipes having variable diameter and overcoming the problem of obstacles such as pipe supports and clamps.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This section is intended to provide information relating to the field and background of the invention and thus any approach/functionality described below should not be assumed to be qualified as prior art merely by its inclusion in this section.
Pipelines are primarily used to transfer liquids and gases. Pipeline corrosion and cracks are common issues, notably in the oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors, as well as in water and gas distribution. Due to the fact that a large majority of industrial pipes are insulated, even exterior corrosion cannot be observed without removing the insulation, which is usually prohibitively expensive. Furthermore, visual or traditional non-destructive examination might be prohibitively costly in the event of inaccessible pipes.
Pipelines are the primary means of transporting potable water, effluent water, fuel oils, and natural gas. Aging, corrosion, fractures, and mechanical damage to pipe networks may generate lots of new problems. As a result, constant inspection, maintenance, and repair operations are essential.
In thermal power plants, there is high temperature and pressure inside the boilers and hence, humans cannot be allowed to perform such operations.
And also, Manual inspection is very time consuming, hence to reduce the time of inspection and cost, there is a need automatic pipe climbing robot for pipe inspection.
A robot is a multipurpose manipulator that is intelligent, non-programmable, and built to work in inaccessible environments to do a range of laborious, dangerous, and risky activities. Robots with flexible structures are required so that they may adjust to pipeline characteristics. The simplest, most energy-efficient robots are wheeled robots, which are ideally suited for usage on prepared surfaces. The primary chassis is linked to a set of wheels through links and joints in these locomotion systems. By this, human inspection can be avoided, which is sometimes very dangerous for human life.
In the Chinese patent application number CN203972414U, the invention describes pipeline climbing robot, belong to Robotics field, comprise the first cooling piece, the second cooling piece, bellows, ether, flexible shank and separation layer, described bellows middle part is provided with separation layer, separation layer is provided with the first cooling piece, the second cooling piece, in the upper and lower cavity of separation layer, be placed with ether, the fold end outside bellows is provided with flexible shank, and flexible shank contacts with duct wall. First cooling piece cold junction is in upper chamber, and hot junction is in lower cavity; the cold junction of the second cooling piece is in lower cavity, and hot junction is in upper chamber. Flexible shank is that the bristle principle design based on earthworm forms. This robot can rely on the evaporation of ether and condensation to drive bellows in pipeline, realizes climbing, easy to use.
In the Chinese patent application number CN202320572U, the invention describes tube climber device people comprises actuating device, levelling device and embraces arm assembly; Drive wheel of actuating device contacts with pipeline outer wall, and levelling device and armful arm assembly symmetry respectively are installed in the actuating device both sides. Pipe climbing robot can move by 360 degrees around the pipeline; the holding arm devices can adjust the lengths of holding arms according to the diameter of the pipeline, so that the pipe climbing robot can firmly move on the pipeline; and owing to the parallelism adjusting devices, the basal flat plate can be parallel to the pipeline on which the robot climbs, and the flaw detector can be placed conveniently for conducting flaw detection operation and the like.
In the Indian patent application number 201911051157, the invention describes a system of controller for pipeline monitoring robot comprises a transmitter section and a Receiver Section, wherein in transmitter section, Smart robot is embedded with Master and slave microcontroller transmitter setup. An ultrasonic sensor is capable of allowing the user to determine the distance from an object is provided in Transmitter section. MCU and LoRa gate and Wi- Fi module are placed in receiver section. RF signal amplifier is used to regenerate weak signal and transmits to cloud server via Wi-Fi module.
In the Indian patent application number 202041014971, the invention describes a wheeled leg mechanism is employed in this design to go inside the pipe. The legs are circumferentially and symmetrically spaced out 128cm to 20cm apart. The robot is made flexible radially so that operator can adjust its legs according to the pipeline dimensions. This structural design makes it possible to have the adaptation to the diameter of pipe and to have adjustable attractive force towards the walls of pipe. In this invention, the condition of pipeline is captured with USB Camera and monitored on PC. The defects that occurred inside pipeline due to corrosion or aging of the pipeline is inspected and monitored by this robot. Pipeline inspection is must in oil, water and petro-chemical industries which prevents many hazardous accidents. The robot structure consists of power supply, SMPS and gear motors. Direct supply is given to gear motors using SMPS as its control centre enables the robot to work smoothly. The invention is intended to reduce the risk involved during the inspection operation by analysing the situation and also to provide an option to detect any leakage inside the pipe.
The problem in the existing robots found in pipeline inspection is that the robots are not capable of overcoming pipe supports and clamps. Moreover, they are not able to adapt to variations in the diameter of pipes.
Based on aforesaid prior arts, there is a need to develop a smart pipeline climbing device that is capable of taking bends with different angles and has the capability to overcome pipe supports.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
This section is intended to introduce certain objects of the disclosed methods and systems in a simplified form, and is not intended to identify the key advantages or features of the present disclosure.
The main object of the present invention is to provide robot that can easily climb pipe to any height.
Another object of the present invention is to provide robot which can maintain connectivity and held at any point/height on the pipe for an indefinite time.
It is further object of the present invention to provide robot whose speed of climbing and descending can be varied using the controller.
It is still further object of the present invention to provide which has the ability to overcome 90-degree bends on the pipe.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which shows, for the purpose of illustration only, one embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified format that are further described in the detailed description of the invention. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential inventive concepts of the invention, nor is it intended for determining the scope of the invention.
In order to overcome problems of conventional robotic device, the present invention discloses robotic pipe climbing device with its ability to tackle the problem of overcoming pipe supports.
The present invention relates to a pipe climbing robot consisting of a robot frame which further consisting of a plurality of frame side, wherein the frame side having a pin joint at both end, a plurality of torsion spring for connecting pin joint of the one frame side with the pin joint of the another frame side, where the torsion spring grips the robot frame on the pipe, where the robot frame having an open side for connecting the pipe climbing robot to the pipe, where the torsion spring aid to maintain contact with the pipe at pipe bend; a control unit connected with the robot frame, the control unit further consisting of a primary controller for controlling operation of the pipe climbing robot, the primary controller further consisting of a Wi-Fi module, a heat sink with thermally conductive adhesive tape for cooling primary controller, an auxiliary controller connected with the primary controller, a control unit battery for providing power supply to the primary controller, a buck converter connected with the control unit battery for stepping down power supply, a motor driver connected with the auxiliary controller, a three motor housing connected with the inner side of the robot frame and perpendicular to the robot frame surface, the motor housing further consisting of a servo motor connected with the motor housing, a DC motor connected with the motor housing, a wheel connected with the DC motor, wherein the servo motor aid to rotate the wheel at 90 degree, wherein the DC motor aid to move and hold the wheel, wherein the motor housing making 120 degree angle with other two motor housing, a primary battery connected with the robot frame for providing power supply to the smart pipe climbing robot, a plurality of camera mounted on the robot frame for inspecting the pipe, a temperature and humidity sensor connected with the robot frame for detecting temperature and humidity of the surrounding atmosphere, a gas sensor connected with the robot frame for detecting gas and fluid leakage of the surrounding atmosphere, a gyroscope and accelerometer sensor connected with the robot frame for determining the orientation of the smart pipe climbing robot, an ultrasonic sensor connected with the robot frame for determining the actual height of the smart pipe climbing robot while climbing the pipe, wherein the Wi-Fi module of the primary controller wirelessly communicating with a remote controlling unit, wherein the auxiliary controller controlling the speed and direction of the DC motor with help of the motor driver, where the pipe climbing robot having capability of taking 90 degree bend during operation.`
The frame side of the robot is made from 6061-T6 aluminium. Motor driver is MD10C motor driver. Camera used for inspecting the pipe is Arducam OV4567. Temperature and humidity sensor used for sensing temperature and humidity is DHT 11 module. Gas sensor used for sensing gas and/or fluid is MQ-135 gas sensor. Gyroscope and accelerometer sensor used for determining the orientation of the smart pipe climbing robot is MPU6050 module. Ultrasonic sensor used for determining the actual height of the smart pipe climbing robot while climbing the pipe is HC-SR04. Primary controller used for controlling operation of the pipe climbing robot is Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. Auxiliary controller used for controlling the speed and direction of the DC motor with help of the motor driver is Arduino Uno.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the disclosure are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawing. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the disclosure can be employed and the subject disclosure is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features will become apparent from the following detailed description of the disclosure when considered in conjunction with the drawing.
To further clarify advantages and features of the present invention, a more particular description of the invention will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which is illustrated in the appended drawing. It is appreciated that this drawing depicts only typical embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting its scope. The invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING
In order to better understand the present invention of pipe climbing robot, the characteristics of object of the present invention, will be better viewed from the detailed description hereinafter, which is only for a way of example, associated to the drawing referenced below, which are an integral part of this application. The parts in the drawing are not drawn to scale; the main objective is to understand the components, their arrangement and their working.
FIG. 1 is an isometric full view of pipe climbing robot (1) accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an isometric view of control unit (20) connected with the robot frame (10) accordance with the present invention;
Further, skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the drawing are illustrated for simplicity and may not have been necessarily been drawn to scale. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the product, have been represented in the drawings by conventional symbols, and the drawing may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the drawings with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system and/or method, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory of the invention and are not intended to be restrictive thereof.
Reference throughout this specification to “an aspect”, “another aspect” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrase “in an embodiment”, “in another embodiment” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.
As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. Furthermore, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations and arrangements of one or more of the associated listed items.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.
Any headings provided herein are for convenience only and do not necessarily affect the scope or meaning of the claimed invention.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing.
The detailed description of a pipe climbing robot; object of the present invention will be made in accordance with the identification of components that form the basis of the figure described above.
After observing all the above problems in the prior art, the idea of constructing pipe climbing robot is disclosed in the present invention detailed description which is portable, compatible, effective and efficient comparing to the conventional robot. The problem of overcoming pipe support and branch is solved by the proposed pipe climbing robot design.
A servomotor is a linear actuator or rotary actuator that allows for precise control of linear or angular position, acceleration, and velocity. A DC motor is any of a class of rotary electrical motors that converts direct current electrical energy into mechanical energy.
An isometric full view of pipe climbing robot (1) according to the embodiment of present invention is shown in FIG.1. As shown in FIG. 1, the pipe climbing robot (1) consists of a robot frame (10) further consisting of a plurality of frame side (101), wherein the frame side (101) having a pin joint (102) at both end, a plurality of torsion spring (103) for connecting the frame side (101) with another frame side (101), wherein the torsion spring (103) connect the pin joint (102) of the one frame side (101) with the pin joint (102) of the another frame side (101), wherein the frame side (101) connected with the other frame side (101) adjacently with help of the torsion spring (103), wherein the torsion spring (103) grips the robot frame (10) on the pipe, wherein the robot frame (10) having an open side for connecting the pipe climbing robot (1) to the pipe, wherein the torsion spring (103) aid to maintain contact with the pipe at pipe bend, a control unit (20) connected with the robot frame (10), a three motor housing (30) connected with the inner side of the robot frame (10) and perpendicular to the robot frame (10) surface, the motor housing (30) further consisting of a servo motor (301) connected with the motor housing (30), a DC motor (302) connected with the motor housing (30) and a wheel (303) connected with the DC motor (302), wherein the servo motor (301) aid to rotate the wheel (303) at 90 degree, wherein the DC motor (302) aid to move and hold the wheel (303), wherein the motor housing (30) making 120 degree angle with other two motor housing (30); a primary battery (50) connected with the robot frame (10) for providing power supply to the smart pipe climbing robot (1), a plurality of camera (60) mounted on the robot frame (10) for inspecting the pipe, a temperature and humidity sensor (70) connected with the robot frame (10) for detecting temperature and humidity of the surrounding atmosphere, a gas sensor (80) connected with the robot frame (10) for detecting gas and fluid leakage of the surrounding atmosphere.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the pipe climbing robot (1) is equipped with torsion and helical compression springs (103). These springs allow linear and angular movement to maintain constant contact with the pipe. Hence, the pipe climbing robot (1) will automatically follow the pipe and easily take pipe bends.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the pipe climbing robot (1) is capable of climbing up and down on the pipe and also rotating about the axis of the pipe with the help of servo motor (301) and DC motor (302). The servo motor (301) aligns the wheels (303) in the horizontal plane and then the robot (1) can rotate in the horizontal plane. Thus, if the support or a branch of pipe is along one of the five sides (101) of frame (10), then it can rotate and align such that the support comes to the open side (101) of frame (10) and it can pass easily.The self-lock mechanism of the worm gear DC motor (302) helps to hold the robot (1) at desired height.
An isometric view of control unit (20) connected with the robot frame (10) according to the embodiment of present invention is shown in FIG.2. As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit (20) consisting of a primary controller (201) for controlling operation of the pipe climbing robot (1), the primary controller (201) further consisting of a Wi-Fi module (2011), a heat sink (2012) with thermally conductive adhesive tape for cooling the chips on the circuit board, allowing the Raspberry Pi to cool more efficiently, an auxiliary controller (202) connected with the primary controller (201), a control unit battery (203) for providing power supply to the primary controller (201), a buck converter (204) connected with the control unit battery (203) for stepping down power supply from 12V supply to 5V DC, which is necessary for Raspberry pi to operate, a motor driver (205) connected with the auxiliary controller (202).
According to an embodiment of the present invention the frame side (101) of the robot frame (10) of the pipe climbing robot (1) is made from 6061-T6 aluminium by VMC machining.
According to an embodiment of the present invention the motor driver (205) is MD10C motor driver, the MD10C motor driver (205) has 13 amps capacity for controlling speed and direction of three DC motors (302) using DIR and PWM pins, which is interface with auxiliary controller (202) such as Arduino Uno.
According to an embodiment of the present invention the camera (60) is 5M Arducam OV4567. The camera (60) is interfaced with primary controller (201) which is Raspberry Pi 4 Model B which acts as the brain of the robot functions as a Central Processing Unit. It requires a 5 Volt power supply to operate. Powered by 3 Cells, 12 Volt Lipo Batteries. The camera (60) is used for visual inspection and live streaming of pipe.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the temperature and humidity sensor (70) is DHT 11 module and used for measuring temperature and humidity of the surrounding atmosphere.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gas sensor (80) is MQ-135 gas sensor for detecting any leakage of gasses, liquid etc. from pipes.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gyroscope and accelerometer sensor (90) is MPU6050 module and used for determining the orientation of robot (1) while climbing the pipe taking gravity as reference.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the ultrasonic sensor (40) is HC-SR04 is used for determining actual height of the robot (1) while climbing the pipe. The sensor used in present invention can measure height up to 400 cm.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the pipe climbing robot (1) is designed in such a manner that it can adapt to different diameters of pipe (in a range of 150mm to 400mm). It can do so even while in action for non-uniform pipe diameters.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the pipe climbing robot (1) having three wheels (303), hence three points theory is applicable which makes sure that there is a single contact plane of the robot (1) (theoretically).
One of the embodiments of the present invention describes logical control of the pipe climbing robot (1). The Arduino Uno Board is connected and powered by Raspberry Pi through a USB wire. The Arduino IDE, which was installed on the Raspberry Pi's Noobs Operating System, is used to program and control the robot. The Arduino is connected to the MD10C motor driver, which controls all three motors at the same time, which are in parallel connection. Commands from the user to Arduino are processed using serial communication and then required signals are sent to the motor driver, which in turn will control the motors. The robot can be operated to move Upwards, move Downwards & Hold at its position by applying the exact torque. The feed of the camera mounted on the robot can be viewed by giving commands in the Raspberry Pi terminal.
One of the embodiments of the present invention describes working of the pipe climbing robot (1). Two 12V, 2200 mAh Li-Po batteries will power the robot, giving it a total capacity of 4400 mAh. To deliver 5 volts to the Raspberry Pi, an LM2596 buck converter is connected to the batteries. The robot is wireless since it is controlled using VNC Viewer & Server and the Wi-Fi module built into the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi and Arduino are now directly connected, allowing the robot to be programmed and controlled. To drive the robot, the PWM, Direction, and Ground pins of the Arduino are connected to the MD10C motor driver. Arduino IDE is used to write code, which was installed on the Raspberry Pi's NOOBS operating system. Using Virtual Network Computing (VNC) Viewer & Server, Raspberry Pi can be connected to any other monitor or device. The Micro-Controller will receive commands via the serial motor in Arduino IDE, which will instruct the MD10C motor driver to move the wheels in the desired direction, allowing the robot to move.