風力により複雑な長距離配管を移動できる管内カメラ「風神」の開発

抄録

This study proposes an in-pipe camera, named “Fujin,'' which is propelled using the air blowing method, and an effective pipe inspection procedure. “Fujin'' can travel long distances with many bends as both the head unit with a camera and the entire tether are propelled by air blowing. This characteristic contributes to the reduced cost and time of pipe inspection because the number of cutting points in the pipeline can be reduced. This study defines mechanisms to reduce friction with pipe walls and the structure of a jig required for operation to achieve high performance with regard to "Fujin" for the visual inspection of pipelines. In addition, the laboratory testing and field testing to evaluate the performance of the designed system are reported. As a result, it has been confirmed that the proposed concept is valid and the designed system is applicable to the actual pipe inspection.