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Partial

Invertis Journal of Science & Automation


Technology of 1,
Vol. theNo.
Current Sewer
4, 2008 Cleaning
; pp. System
261-265

Partial Automation of the Current Sewer


Cleaning System

AJAY KUMAR SHRIVASTAVA*, ASHISH VERMA and S.P. SINGH**


Dr. H.S.Gour University, Sagar (M.P.) - 470 229, India
**Krishna Inst. of Eng & Tech, Ghaziabad (U.P.) - 201 001, India
*E-mail : ajay@kiet.edu

Abstract

The present scenario of cleaning of blocked sewer systems in India is dismal. It is done manually by sending a
person inside the highly polluted, dirty, unhygienic, and hazardous water, once to find the location of the
blockage and then again to place the nozzle of the pressure pipe at the blockage point so that the pressure
machine can apply high pressure water at the point to clean it. In this paper a semi-automatic sewer cleaning
system is proposed in which a robotic vehicle goes inside the sewage filled pipeline, locates the blockage and
also places the nozzle of the pressure pipe at the point. Thus it will eliminate the use of a labour for this work.
Keywords : Ultrasonic sensors, sewer pipeline inspection, sewer maintenance, sewer blockage detection,
robotics, embedded systems..

1. Introduction through the pipe to force the blocking material to


move away. The water inside the sewer is highly
Sewer network is increasing day-by-day. In India, polluted, unhygienic, hazardous and having very bad
the maximum diameter of sewer pipeline varies from smell. The semi-filled sewer lines may also contain
700 mm to 2400 mm from city to city[7]. Smooth
hazardous gases. Hence these methods are very
working of sewer system is a present day necessity
dangerous to the personnel employed because it
for keeping the cities clean. Generally maximum
may also cost a human life. As the living conditions
portion of sewer pipelines are underground and
of section of society providing the required sewer-
sewer blockages have become quite common. The
cleaning workers improve in near future, it is likely
blockages have become more frequent due to the
dumping of polythene bags, hairs and solid materials that such labourers may not be available at all. Hence
into the sewer system. the requirement of such a device is in order.

In India, the current methods of blockage In this paper, we are proposing a semi-automatic
detection are mainly manual. Inspection by human sewer cleaning system with a robotic vehicle, which
personnel is done as generally no automatic blockage has an embedded system for blockage detection
detection equipments are available. The person goes using sensors and facility for placing the pressure
inside the water and other sewage filled sewer pipe nozzle just before the blockage. It can work in
pipeline generally without any breathing instrument water-filled pipes and therefore, no human being
or other protection device. After detecting the will be required to go inside the sewage water.
blockage, a person again goes inside the water filled Ultrasound sensors can also be used to find the type
sewer-line to place a pressure pipe nozzle in front of blockage material [1]. Robotic vehicle will place
of blockage for it's cleaning. Then pressure machine the pressure pipe with the help of a robotic arm at
located above ground applies water under pressure the place of blockage in the sewer pipe.

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Ajay Kumar Shrivastava et al

2. Overall Working of the Proposed System By data processing, it calculates the type of blockage
and its distance from the robotic vehicle and the
The sewer cleaning system shall have two main distance traveled by the robotic vehicle. It will then
functions
move the robotic vehicle to the blockage point and
(i) Detection of blockage and (ii) Cleaning of place the pipe nozzle near the blockage.
blockage after its detection
The block-cum-signal flow diagram of the
The detection of blockage will be done by using hardware & software of the system to perform the
ultrasonic sensors, which can work satisfactorily above mentioned operations is shown in figure 1.
inside water & sewage filled sewer network. The
sensor will be moved inside the sewer line by the The complete system will consist of robotic
robotic vehicle. The direction of the sensor can be vehicle, a sensor unit and two robotic arms and
varied by a robotic arm. The embedded hardware embedded system to control the working of the
and software will provide proper signal to the system. The first robotic arm holding the sensor
ultrasonic transmitter and also receive signal from will be mounted on the robotic vehicle. The robotic
the receiver. It will also do the function of data vehicle will move the sensor unit and the second
collection, data processing and from these robotic arm holding pressure pipe nozzle inside the
informations do the required control of the sensor, sewer pipeline. The robotic vehicle will be a wheel
the robotic vehicle and the robotic arm. This is driven device. The wheel movements will be driven
done with the help of a microcontroller which is by an electric motor controlled by the embedded
the most important part in the embedded system. system software and hardware.

Power Supply ES for collection ES for ES for Blockage


of the System & storage of US Processing of & Other Results
data US data

ES for Controlling ES for


Robotic Arm1 Controlling
ES for
Robotic Vehicle
Controlling
Robotic Arm 2
ES for
Control of
US
Pressure
Pipe Water
Control

US Signal
Generation
& Amplifier
Ultrasonic Sensors Robotic Vehicle
Robotic Arm 1

Pressure Pipe Nozzle Robotic Arm 2

Fig. 1. Block-cum-Signal Flow diagram of proposed sewer cleaning system

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Partial Automation of the Current Sewer Cleaning System

The sensor unit will contain the ultrasonic unit. The robotic vehicle will be driven by electric
sensors. Analysis of the sensor data will provide the motors where rotation will be controlled by a
location of the blockage and nature of blockage microcontroller and its embedded software
material. A separate stepper motor controlled according to the data provided by the sensor [5].
through embedded system in robotic arm1 will
change the direction of the sensor. 5. Design of the Robotic Arms

The second robotic arm will also be fixed on 5.1 Robotic Arm1
robotic vehicle. Robotic arm will have the provision
This robotic arm will change the direction of
to grip the pressure pipe through its clamp [2].
ultrasound sensor in horizontal and vertical
The motion of the robotic arm and its clamp will be directions using two stepper motors. The power
controlled by the embedded system. The pressure requirements are small and in the range of 2-3 watts.
pipe nozzle will apply water jet at high pressure
which will be supplied by a pump at the ground 5.2 Robotic Arm2
station. The micro-controller will provide the
control signals to ground station to initiate and stop An electrically powered robotic arm will be
the water supply. designed/ adopted with three revolute joints
implemented as shoulder, elbow and wrist [2]. The
3. Sensor Selection kinematics of this arm is very common in industry.
There will be a clamp at the end of robotic arm to
Blockage detection in the underground sewer grip the pressure pipe. Robotic arm will be
system by sensor is difficult and complicated because controlled by the microcontroller through its
sewer pipeline is filled with muddy and slushy water embedded software according to the inputs from
with sediments and suspended matters. Hence sensor unit to hold the pipe nozzle and to place the
required sensor should be capable of giving good pressure pipe nozzle in front of the blockage. The
results under these conditions. Sensors such as schematic of the robotic arm is shown in Figure 2.
Photo-detectors, CCD cameras, IR sensors, etc can The robotic arm may be simplified to a single joint
work in air medium [3]. They are not useful for the and clamp. The power requirement of the robotic
condition inside the sewer pipeline. Fortunately, arm motors will be in the range from 5 watts to 20
ultrasound sensors have the ability to work in these watts.
conditions. Ultrasound waves can travel in such
conditions and its echo can be used for detecting
the blockage [4].

Presently the ultrasonic sensor type


'HX1200TR' or its equivalent meeting IP-68 NEMA-
12 standard for underwater applications has been
selected for this application.

4. Design of Robotic Vehicle Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the Robotic Arm

The robotic vehicle will be designed to be able


to move in both forward and backward directions 6. Design of the Embedded System for the
Complete Equipment
inside the sewer pipeline, which may have a straight
or a curved alignment. It will also be able to move The embedded system is a computer-based
along any upward or downward slopes of the sewer- system working as a hidden control unit in some
line. It will house the robotic arm and the sensor other system. Its main unit is microcontroller with

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Ajay Kumar Shrivastava et al

inbuilt software for its desired working. It is (i) Core Software : This main program controls
switched on automatically when the system in which data collection, storage, processing and other
it is embedded starts working. In the present computations.
system, the embedded system will be designed with
(ii) Motor Control Software : Used for
the help of a commonly available microcontroller
controlling the rotation of all the 9 motors as shown
from the MCS 51 family [6]. in Fig. 3. These programs will be started and run
The ultrasound signal is amplified & conditioned according to the commands and data provided by
by an electronic unit and then received and analysed the core software.
by the microcontroller based on the results. The 6.2 Embedded Hardware
microcontroller outputs the control signals to the
power control units driving the prime mover The embedded hardware consists of the
motors of the robotic vehicle and to change the following units:
direction of the ultrasound sensor and also for the
(i) Signal conditioning unit used for conditioning the
movements of the robotic arm. The block diagram signals received from sensors.
of complete embedded system is shown in Fig. 3.
(ii) Microcontroller and its peripherals, memory,
6.1 Embedded Software etc.
The embedded software consists of the (iii) Power Amplifiers for increasing the current and
microcomputer programs for data collection from power capability of the control signals received
sensors, their storage and processing for calculating from the microcontroller and for interfacing to
distance, etc. This consists of two main modules motors.

Fig. 3. Block diagram of the complete embedded system

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Partial Automation of the Current Sewer Cleaning System

(iv) PCB assembly and connectors for different units water pipeline, etc with some small changes.
of the system.
Design details of important blocks and their test
7. Preliminary Cost Estimation results will be reported in future.

Preliminary cost estimation shows that the cost References


of the complete equipment will be quite low
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