The client needed a robot crawling inside 450mm pipes with an integrated 200mm suction tube — and high-pressure water was explicitly banned. Delivered with an adjustable three-track design and 200kg+ pull force.
Project Overview
A custom suction robot that travels through 450-600mm pipes, working together with a ground suction truck.
Background & Requirement
The client required a robot that crawls inside 450mm pipes with a central 200mm suction tube. Although 450mm pipes are normally cleaned with high-pressure jetting, the owner explicitly banned water jetting — mechanical suction was the only option.
Site Conditions & Challenges
The challenge was space: the pipe outer diameter is small while the inner cavity is large, leaving almost no room for the design — and the robot had to be strong enough to drag roughly 30 meters of suction hose and hydraulic lines through the pipe.
Our Solution
After several design revisions we settled on a three-track structure whose tracks expand or contract to match the pipe diameter, with a pull force exceeding 200kg.
Results & Value
The robot plus suction truck cleared the pipeline without any man-entry, fully satisfying the owner's no-water-jetting requirement.