All in One Line

The highly specialised ultrasonic inspection robot that GE Hitachi uses to inspect underground pipelines was made by Inspector Systems. For more than 30 years, this company from Hesse, near Frankfurt, has been designing pipeline robots to customer specifications for inspecting, testing and processing the inside of pipeline systems. For this particular contract, the engineers from Inspector Systems wanted a single-cable solution. The cable was responsible for providing power, data and compressed air. Initially as a pilot project for the inspection robot, the scope changed to include configurations for working robots, which can seal leaks and correct bottlenecks using powerful tools. Integrating all the required functions within a single cable was new territory for the developers. But only 10 weeks after receiving the enquiry, the cable specialists were able to deliver the kilometre-long, custom cable for the ultrasonic inspection robot.

Power is supplied to the robot via copper conductors. A pair of twisted signal cables supplies power to the high-resolution camera. Data is transmitted via a BUS cable and optical fibre. The optical fibre cable was a particular challenge, because even though it is very stiff, it had to be able to wind onto drums. The engineers chose PU tubes for the compressed air supply. Like an umbilical cord, the cable is also its lifeline. If the robot breaks down, it can be pulled out of the pipeline by the cable. This is possible because the cable is reinforced by a filler material made of Kevlar which makes it tear proof. The whole thing is protected by an outer sheath made from a special polyurethane (PUR), a durable plastic. This is important because the robot must be able to operate in rough conditions. Any other material would not be able to withstand all of the edges and corners. In only a short time, HELUKABEL succeeded in developing a tailor-made cable that was able to meet all of the tough requirements and control their robots perfectly.