Design And Fabrication of a Manual Sliding Pipe Choke Cleaning Robot

The Manual Sliding Pipe Choke Cleaning Robot provides a practical, economical, and efficient solution for removing internal blockages and deposits from pipelines. The proposed system combines a compact robotic structure, drive motors, rotating cleaning mechanism, wireless camera, LED illumination, battery supply, and wired remote control to perform pipeline inspection and cleaning operations. The brush/scraper mechanism is designed to remove rust, sludge, grease, and other choke-forming materials from the internal pipe surface, while the camera and LED provide real-time visibility to the operator. The system reduces the need for direct human entry into confined pipeline environments and can minimize maintenance effort, manpower, and downtime. Its portable construction and relatively simple operating mechanism make it suitable for water supply, industrial, oil and gas, chemical, municipal drainage, sewage, food-processing, and irrigation pipelines. The project also addresses limitations of conventional cleaning methods, particularly pipeline dismantling and high maintenance requirements. Overall, the developed concept demonstrates the potential of a low-cost robotic cleaning system for routine pipeline maintenance. Further development can improve its cleaning performance, adaptability to different pipe diameters, monitoring capability, and automation while retaining its economical and user-friendly design.

[1] Y. Ning, H. You, J. Guo, Y. Zhang, P. Xie, and Z. Zheng, “Design and study of an integrated domestic pipe detection-unclogging-cleaning robot based on crawler drive,” Advances in Transdisciplinary Engineering, vol. 79, 2025. [2] Z. Li, C. Wang, and J. Li, “Design and passability analysis of pipeline cleaning robot,” 2025. [3] Q. Liu, C. Li, G. Wang, L. Li, and J. Wang, “Development of a pipeline-cleaning robot for heat-exchanger tubes,” Electronics, vol. 14, no. 12, 2025. [4] Y. Zhu, “Research on the design and application of bionic in-pipe crawling cleaning robots,” 2025. [5] D. Akimbay et al., “A novel hybrid robot for in-pipe maintenance and inspection,” 2025. [6] C. Zhu, Y. Pu, Y. Yang, Z. Lyu, C. Li, and Q. Yang, “Localizing and tracking of in-pipe inspection robots based on distributed optical fiber sensing,” 2024. [7] F. Peng, Z. Su, M. Lei, Q. Sun, and Y. Chen, “Design of intelligent pipeline detection and cleaning robot,” 2024. [8] J. Park, T. Luong, and H. Moon, “Development of a wheel-type in-pipe robot using continuously variable transmission mechanisms for pipeline inspection,” 2024. [9] J. T. Kahnamouei and M. Moallem, “A comprehensive review of in-pipe robots,” Ocean Engineering, vol. 277, Art. no. 114260, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2023.114260. [10] J. Zhao, J. Wang, Q. Liu, X. Luo, and X. Dong, “A review of mechanical model, structure, and prospect for long-distance pipeline pig and robot,” 2022.