JP2001096246A - Method and device for cleaning inside of pipeline - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a device for cleaning the inside of a pipeline by which the work to remove marine creatures or the like deposited on the internal surface of a water intake pipe is efficiently carried out by a robot device operated by remote control without depending on man power. SOLUTION: A towing wire 22, various power sources and signal cables are connected to a main frame 1, on which floating bodies 19, 20 for imparting flotage and a television camera 24 are mounted. A propeller 3 for driving forward and generating a water current is attached to the front side of the frame 1. The frame 1 has also an expansion/contraction mechanism that shoes 13, 15 provided respectively with scraper brushes 14, 16 to be pressed from the frame 1 against the whole periphery of the internal surface of a pipeline 25 to be cleaned are expanded or contracted toward the internal surface from the center of the pipeline 25.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for cleaning a pipeline for removing shellfish, seaweed and the like attached to an inner wall surface of an intake pipe for mainly taking in seawater.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, marine organisms such as shellfish and seaweed adhere to the inner wall surface of an intake pipe that takes in seawater at various factories and the like installed along the coast, and are regularly removed. Maintenance work is required, but the work is underwater work, and it is extremely difficult and dangerous to perform it manually, and at present there is no suitable means found.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently and reliably perform an operation of removing marine organisms and the like attached to the inner wall surface of an intake pipe by a remote-controlled robot apparatus without using human power. The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for cleaning a pipeline.

[0004]

According to the present invention, a cleaning device is provided in a floating state in a pipe for water intake, and the cleaning apparatus is moved to a predetermined position in the pipe by propulsion means. Cleaning the inside of the pipeline by expanding the expansion / contraction scraper of the cleaning device and moving the scraper while making contact with the inner wall of the pipeline. On one side of the direction, a propelling means is provided, and on the other side, a wire for pulling the cleaning device is provided, and a cleaning device in a pipe line is provided with a floating body for floating the entire cleaning device.
The apparatus further comprises a cleaning device in the pipeline with a television camera attached to the floating body and cables attached to the pulling wires.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a state in which the scraper brush of the cleaning device is brought into contact with the inner wall surface of a pipe 25 to be cleaned. FIG. 2 is a non-sectional side view of the cleaning device of FIG. FIG. 3 is a rear view in the AA direction of FIG.
FIG. 5 is a front view in the BB direction of FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing a state where the scraper brush of the cleaning device of FIG. 1 is contracted.

First, a retractable wire 22 which can be pulled by the operation of a retractable winch from the rear through a retractable hook wire 21 is connected to a rear portion of the main frame 1 of the cleaning device. In this example, various power sources and signal cables of the cleaning device, that is, a power supply cable for power, an air hose, a television camera cable, and the like are collectively connected by a connection connector 23.

Floating bodies 19 and 20 are provided at the front and rear of the main frame 1, respectively, to give buoyancy to the cleaning device underwater. A submersible television camera 24 for monitoring the state of is provided on each floating body.

Further, a propeller 3 driven by an electric motor 2 is provided on the front side of the main frame 1,
The cleaning device advances in the direction of arrow F by the rotation of the propeller 3. When the cleaning device is pulled in the direction of arrow R, a water flow is generated in the direction of arrow R by rotation of the propeller 3, a propeller cover 17 is provided on the front surface of the propeller 3, and a water flow guide plate is provided on the rear surface. 18 are provided.

The main frame 1 has a rear shoe 13 with a plurality of rear scraper brushes 14 and a front shoe with a front scraper brush 16 pressed against the entire inner wall surface of a pipe 25 to be cleaned. Side shoe 1
5 corresponds to R.R. S and F. As shown in the range of S, these shoes 13 are provided so as to overlap each other.
In order to change the positions of the cylinders 5 and 15 from the contracted state shown in FIG. 5 to the expanded state shown in FIG. 1, the cylinder shaft 5 in the air cylinder 4 is retracted by the air from the air hose, whereby the sliding fork 6 and the fork rod 7 are moved. A mechanism is provided for moving the sleeve 8 backward along the main frame 1 and expanding the expansion / contraction scraper brush via a link including the bracket 9, the arm 10, and the action arm 11.

Next, a procedure for cleaning the inner wall of the conduit 25 by the cleaning device will be described.

First, the cleaning device is carried into a conduit 25 in a contracted state as shown in FIG. 5, and the above-mentioned drawing wire 22 and various power sources and signal cables such as a television camera 24 are connected thereto. In this state, the electric motor 2 is driven while monitoring the inside of the duct 25 with the television camera 24 attached to the floating body 19 to advance in the F direction to the cleaning start position in the duct 25 by the propulsive force of the propeller 3 and stop. . Since this cleaning device is provided with floating bodies 19 and 20, it is in a floating state underwater, so that it can move forward sufficiently with the propulsive force of the propeller 3, and adjusts the speed according to the situation in the pipeline 25. While operating the winch of the pull-in wire 22, the cables are sent forward.

The air adjusted to a pressure of, for example, about 5 kg / cm ² is sent to the air cylinder 4 of the cleaning device stopped at the cleaning start position, and the piston 5 is retracted. In conjunction with the retraction of the piston 5, the scraper brush 1
Each shoe 13, 15 with 4, 16 is expanded as shown in FIG. 1 via the expansion and contraction mechanism and pressed against the inner wall surface. Next, in the expanded state, the cleaning device pulls the drawing wire 22 in the direction of the arrow R with the drawing winch to remove shellfish, seaweed, and the like attached to the inner wall surface of the conduit 25 with the scraper brush.

In such a removing operation, the propeller 3
Is rotated at a high speed to generate a water flow in the direction of arrow R, and the removed matter is moved to the pit provided in the middle of the pipe line 25 while flying the removed water toward the front (R direction), thereby removing the adhered matter. And recovery can be performed simultaneously.

The above-described cleaning operation of the inside of the pipe 25 is repeatedly performed by a monitor by a television camera 24 attached to the floating body 20 in accordance with the state of the adhered substance on the inner wall surface of the pipe 25, and a more complete cleaning work is performed. Can be performed.

In the cleaning device of the present invention, the material, shape, hardness and the like of the scraper brushes 14 and 16 attached to the shoes 13 and 15 are appropriately determined by the deposit on the inner wall surface of the conduit 25 to be cleaned. The cleaning operation can be performed optimally by changing the scraper brush.
Instead of the shoes 13 and 15 with 16, it is also possible to repair or coat the inner wall surface of the conduit 25 for damage or the like by appropriately replacing the attachment.

[0017]

According to the above-described cleaning method and apparatus of the present invention, the removal of marine organisms attached to the inner wall surface of an intake pipe or the like can be efficiently performed by a remote-controlled robot device without obtaining it. Safe and reliable.

Further, the cleaning device of the present invention has a simple structure and can cope with a wide range of pipe diameters. The scraper brush pressed against the inner wall of the pipe can be variously changed due to the adhesion of the pipe inner wall. Can be easily replaced with a sponge or the like as appropriate, and flexible handling is possible. Therefore, it is a matter of course that the present invention can be used not only in the sea, but also in the cleaning of the pipes for ordinary land intake.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a state in which an expanding / contracting scraper brush of a cleaning device of the present invention is expanded with respect to an inner wall surface of a pipeline.

FIG. 2 is a non-sectional side view of the cleaning device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear view in the AA direction of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view in the BB direction of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing a state in which the expanding / contracting scraper brush of the cleaning device in FIG. 1 is contracted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Propulsion means (propeller) 14, 16 Scaling brush 19, 20 Floating body 22 Traction (retraction) wire 20 TV camera 25 Pipe

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Nobuo Furumatsu 2-6-18 Minatomachi, Naha-shi, Okinawa Far East Construction Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 3B116 AA13 AA36 AB51 BA02 BA03 BA08 BA25 BA33 BA35 CC05

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device is provided in a floating state in a water intake pipe, the cleaning device is moved to a predetermined position in the pipe by a propulsion means, and the expansion / contraction scraper of the cleaning device is expanded at that position. A method of cleaning the inside of a pipe by moving the pipe while making contact with the inner wall of the pipe. 2. A cleaning device is provided with an expansion / contraction scraper, a propulsion means is provided on one side in a pipe direction, a wire for pulling the cleaning device is provided on the other side, and a floating body for floating the entire cleaning device is mounted. Cleaning device in the pipeline. 3. The apparatus for cleaning the inside of a pipeline according to claim 2, wherein a television camera is mounted on the floating body, and various cables are mounted on the pulling wires.