Design and Manufacturing of Device for Industrial Pipe Cleaning (Internal Cleaning of Circular Pipes)

Abstract

Industrial pipelines used in sectors such as chemical processing, water treatment and oil and gas routinely suffer from internal fouling due to rust, sludge, scale and chemical deposits, leading to reduced flow capacity, higher pressure losses and possible contamination or failure. Manual internal cleaning of such pipelines is labor-intensive, time‑consuming and often unsafe because it exposes personnel to confined spaces and hazardous media. This work presents the design and partial development of a compact device for internal cleaning of circular industrial pipes in the diameter range of approximately 250–300 mm. The proposed system combines a motor‑driven rotating brush, a wheeled carriage and a water‑spray subsystem to achieve simultaneous mechanical scrubbing and hydraulic flushing of deposits. A prototype chassis, control circuit and cleaning head have been fabricated and tested in a PVC pipe test rig, demonstrating controlled locomotion, brush rotation and water‑assisted debris removal under manual command. The expected outcome of the completed system is an economical, portable and safer alternative to conventional manual cleaning, with potential for future upgrades such as sensor‑assisted navigation, remote monitoring and operation from industrial AC supplies.

Country : India

1 Y. B. Karandikar2 Mihir D. Salunkhe3 Jatin V. Shitole4 Shivraj S. Kadam5 Mayur B. Sonkamble

  1. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, AISSMS College of Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra, India
  2. Student, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, AISSMS College of Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra, India
  3. Student, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, AISSMS College of Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra, India
  4. Student, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, AISSMS College of Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra, India
  5. Student, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, AISSMS College of Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra, India

IRJIET, Volume 10, Issue 3, March 2026 pp. 175-178

doi.org/10.47001/IRJIET/2026.103025

References

  1. S. K. Singh, P. Sharma and R. Gupta, “Development of Automated Pipeline Cleaning Device Using Brush Mechanism,” International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical, Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering (IJAREEIE), vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 2150–2156, 2021.
  2. A.Kumar and V. Reddy, “Design and Fabrication of Pipe Cleaning Device Using Arduino,” International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering (IJETAE), vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 45–50, 2020.
  3. M. H. Rahman, N. M. Noor and F. Ahmad, “Automatic Cleaning Mechanism for Industrial Pipelines Using Mechatronic System,” in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics (ICM), pp. 233–238, 2019.
  4. Y. Zhang and K. Li, “Design and Control of a Semi-Autonomous Pipeline Inspection and Cleaning Device,” Journal of Robotics and Automation, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 145–153, 2020.
  5. S. D. Pawar and A. D. Patil, “Arduino-Based Pipe Cleaning Device with Water Jet and Brush Mechanism,” International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 1223–1227, 2021.
  6. IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, “Smart Maintenance and Inspection Robots for Industrial Applications,” IEEE Access, vol. 10, pp. 24001–24010, 2022.
  7. P. K. Sharma and S. Tiwari, “BLDC Motor Application in Compact Cleaning Robots,” International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering (IJMPE), vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 67–72, 2021.
  8. R. S. Elankavi, D. Dinakaran, R. M. K. Chetty, M. M. Ramya and D. G. H. Samuel, “A Review on Wheeled Type In-Pipe Inspection Robot,” International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, vol. 11, no. 10, Oct. 2022.
  9. O. Ttar, D. Mndru and I. Ardelean, “Development of Mobile Minirobots for In-Pipe Inspection Tasks,” Mechanics, vol. 68, no. 6, pp. 60–64, 2024.
  10. H. Yan, H. Niu, Q. Chang, P. Zhao and B. He, “Study on Dynamic Characteristics of Pipeline Jet Cleaning Robot,” Actuators, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 49, Jan. 2024.
  11. P. Chattopadhyay, S. Ghoshal, A. Majumder and H. Dikshit, “Locomotion Methods of Pipe Climbing Robots: A Review,” Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 154 165, Nov. 2018.