FIELD OF INVENTION:

The present invention generally relates to a remotely operable vehicle for the purpose of cleaning sewage tanks, underground pipelines and petroleum, oil refineries storage tanks.

BACKGROUND & PRIOR ART:

It has been a long practice to use manpower to clean up the sewage tanks or pipelines etc. However, due to the hazardous environment present in tank or pipelines, alternate ways were constantly thought and searched. A robotic vehicle partly fulfils this requirement due to non-involvement of humans at the cleaning place. Such robotic vehicles are disclosed in US8225895 and US5561883. US8225895 describes a robotic vehicle having two or more tracked mobility platforms that are mechanically linked together with a two-dimensional coupling, thereby forming a composite vehicle of increased mobility. The robotic vehicle is operative in hazardous environments and can be capable of semi-submersible operation. The robotic vehicle is capable of remote controlled operation via radio frequency and/or fiber optic communication link to a remote operator control unit.

US5561883 discloses a remotely controllable dual tracked robotic vehicle is placed in a container to be cleaned. A cleaning fluid diluent material is directed against waste material in the container causing a portion of it to form a slurry which is vacuumed out by a nozzle and hose carried by the vehicle. A separator system exterior to the tank processes the removed slurry.

There is a need to provide an all terrain, smoothly operating robotic vehicle for cleaning the sludge in aforementioned fields. SUMMARY OF INVENTION:

Accordingly, the present invention provides a Sludge Cleaning Remotely Operable Vehicle, abbreviated as SCROV hereinafter for the sake of convenience. The SCROV is a hydraulically powered remotely operable / manoeuvrable vehicle, employed for the purposes of cleaning of sewage tanks, underground pipelines, and preferably the petroleum & oil refineries storage tanks.

The SCROV comprises of a Crawler Assembly for manoeuvring the vehicle, a Cutter Assembly for dismantling the obstinate parts in the cleaning process, a Suction System to pull-in the slurry produced by the Cutter Assembly, a Robotic Arm which is hydraulically powered and which provides 2 degrees of freedom, an End Effector module attached to the Robotic Arm through a ETniversal End Connector for visually inspecting the operations, and a Control Module to control and monitor the operations.

The Crawler Assembly comprises of a Base Block to maintain a balance in all terrains and obstructive situations, a Side Plate assembly, a Track Assembly, at least one hydraulically powered motor to required motion to the SCROV, and a Manifold Assembly for mounting connection pipes of the motor/s.

The Track Assembly comprises of plurality of steel plates having a layer of rubber slat, and plurality of roller chains attached to the steel plates to allow traction between the Crawler Module and the surface on which the SCROV is moving. Due to this novel making, the track assembly facilitates easy, effortless manoeuvring even on a rough, rocky terrain.

The Cutter Assembly comprises of plurality of cutter blades inclined at an angle in order to facilitate cutting / shredding of the sludge which are otherwise obstinate for cutting purpose, and a Cutter Arm. Due to the angle of inclination of the Cutter Blades, the blades have more surface contact with the sludge to easily cut, pull in more & more sludge and balance the rotary motion of the blades. The End Effector Module is a camera module. The camera module is a HD Video Camera which can record and transmit the video to the user control module safely.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:

Figure 1 illustrates the Sludge Cleaning Remotely Operable Vehicle (SCROV)

Figure 2 illustrates the Crawler Module (100) of the SCROV.

Figure 3 illustrates the Base Block (110) of the Crawler Module (100).

Figure 4 illustrates the Slide Plates Assembly (120) belonging to the Crawler Module (100).

Figure 5 illustrates the Track Assembly (125) of the Crawler Module (100). Figure 6 illustrates the Manifold Assembly (130) of the Crawler Module (100). Figure 7 illustrates the Cutter Assembly (200) of the SCROV (1).

Figure 8 illustrates the Cutter Arm (220) of the SCROV.

Figure 9 illustrates the Suction System (300) of the SCROV (1).

Figure 10 illustrates the Robotic Arm (400) of the SCROV (1).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION:

The present invention is explained with reference to figures appended at the end of the specification. It may be noted by the person skilled in the art that the figures demonstrate the best embodiment and its working and do not limit the scope of the invention. Figure 1 illustrates the Sludge Cleaning Remotely Operable Vehicle (1), abbreviated as SCROV hereinafter as a matter of convenience. The SCROV (1) is a hydraulically powered remotely operable / manoeuvrable vehicle, employed for the purposes of cleaning of sewage tanks, underground pipelines, and preferably the oil refineries storage tanks. The said vehicle comprises of a Crawler Assembly (100) for manoeuvring the vehicle, a Cutter Assembly (200) for dismantling the obstinate parts in the cleaning process, a Suction System (300) to pull-in the slurry produced by the Cutter Assembly (200), a Robotic Arm (400) which is hydraulically powered and which provides 2 degrees of freedom, an End Effector module (500) attached to the Robotic Arm (400) through a ETniversal End Connector for visually inspecting the operations, and a Control Module to control and monitor the operations.

Figure 2 illustrates various components of the Crawler Assembly (100), which acts as a manoeuvring mechanism for the SCROV (1). The said Crawler Assembly (100) comprises of a Base Block (110) to maintain a balance in all terrains and obstructive situations, a Side Plate assembly (120), a Track Assembly (125), at least one hydraulically powered motor (140) to required motion to the SCROV (1), and a Manifold Assembly (130) for mounting connection pipes (135) of the motor/s (140). The Base Block (110) houses the Drive and Idler Sprocket Assemblies which are further connected to the hydraulic motors (140) to give a required drive ratio, speed and torque for the movement. The Base Block (110), as shown in Figure 3, provides stability and support to the Crawler Assembly (100). The Track Assembly (125) includes a roller chain and sprocket based drive. A rubber slat is attached to the roller chain for the purpose of traction and for dampening all the vibrations while manoeuvring on all the terrains. As a result, the Crawler Module (100) of the present invention has proper weight distribution. Further, the Crawler Module (100) of the present invention manoeuvers smoothly in front and back directions and turn in zero radius due to the differential drive mechanism. The drive system is totally supported by Drive and Idler sprockets which, in turn, are supported by the bearings. The bearings not only give a smooth rotation but also a stable movement to the drive system in all terrains.

Figure 4 illustrates the Slide Plates Assembly (120), which acts as a support structure for Crawler Module (100). It houses a Drive Idler and Tensioner Sprocket Assemblies and is useful in mounting Cutter Arm Motors (150), shown in Figure 2

Figure 5 illustrates the Track Assembly (125) which comprises of plurality of steel plates having a layer of rubber slat, and plurality of roller chains attached to the steel plates to allow traction between the Crawler Module (100) and the surface on which the SCROV (1) is moving. Due to this novel making, the track assembly (125) facilitates easy, effortless manoeuvring even on a rough, rocky terrain. The other advantages include cleaned / uncleaned sludge not being trapped in the Crawler Module, and proper weight distribution of SCROV. Further, the size of the Crawler Module is restricted so that the total size of SCROV remains small enough to be enter through manhole.

Figure 6 illustrates the Manifold Assembly (130) for mounting connection pipes (135) of hydraulic motors (140), which becomes easy for installation and maintenance. At the back side of the assembly, there is provided a mounting place for the Robotic Arm (400).

Figure 7 illustrates Cutter Assembly (200) comprises of plurality of cutter blades (201 ,202, ... ,206) inclined at an angle in order to facilitate cutting / shredding of the sludge which are otherwise obstinate for cutting purpose, and a Cutter Arm (220). The plurality of blades (201,202,..., 206) are arranged to be inclined at the angle such that the blades have more surface contact with the sludge to easily cut, pull in more & more sludge and balance the rotary motion of the blades. The plurality of cutter blades (201,202,...,206) are mounted on a shaft. Figure 8 shows the Cutter Arm (220) is a hydraulically controlled arm which comprises a pivoted base structure (230) and a retractable surface (210). The Cutter Arm (220) facilitates the angular movement of the Cutter Assembly (200) so as to have a greater reach during sludge removal process. The Cutter Arm (220) is retracted to fully flattened as relative to the Crawler Assembly (100) to get easy access for in and out of the manhole.

Figure 9 illustrates the Suction system (300) comprising a Suction Pan (310) attached to the Crawler Assembly (100); a Suction Pipe (307) attached to the Suction Pan (310); a Vacum Suction Pipe (301) attached to the Suction Pipe (307) to pull in thick portion of the sludge. The Suction system (300) is powered by hydraulic motor.

Figure 10 shows a hydraulically powered Robotic Arm (400) along with End Effector module (500). In a preferred embodiment, the Robotic Arm (400) has 2 Degree of Freedom (DOF). The arm has a jointed pivot to acquire any position in a plane. The Robotic Arm (400) comprises of a Shoulder (401), and an Elbow (402). In a preferred embodiment, the Shoulder (401) has 45° of angular rotation and Elbow (402) has 60° of angular rotation. Preferably, the vertical reach of the arm is around 0.8 meters. The arm has an Universal End Connector (500) to incorporate any End Effector. In a preferred embodiment, the End Effector Module (500) is an image capturing module such as a camera module.

The camera module is a HD Video Camera which can record and transmit the video to the user control module safely. The camera is totally fireproof, explosion proof and sealed to be water resistant upto 10 meters. It can be used in Zone 0, Zone 1 and Zone 2 environments.