JPH0726944B2 - In-pipe work equipment traction device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention pulls and moves a work device for inspection, repair, etc. in a pipeline (pipeline) for gas and liquid transportation buried underground. It is related to the device.

[Conventional technology]

Underground buried pipelines are required to detect and repair the deteriorated or corroded or cracked due to an earthquake in the buried condition.

For the detection and repair of damaged parts such as cracks, for specific sections of the pipeline, work equipment for inspection and repair (polishing, welding, painting, etc.) is sent into the pipeline to perform diagnosis and repair work from the inside surface of the pipeline. However, as means for moving the working equipment used for this work in the pipeline (hereinafter, simply referred to as moving means), the following points should be considered due to the special circumstances of being in the pipeline. Will be required.

・ Since existing pipelines are routed around other structures or along the topography of mountains and valleys, they include a crossover section, a detour section, and a branch section (hereinafter referred to as modified sections). I'm out. The frequency of occurrence of these irregular parts (locations / m) is relatively high,
If the work section is made long considering the economical efficiency of the work, as a result, many deformed parts are included in one work section. Therefore, the moving means is required to be capable of smoothly moving and passing the in-pipe working device in the modified portion of the conduit. In particular, it is necessary to guarantee the passage of the rising or falling part of the 90 ° elbow. On the other hand, the work equipment for repair or inspection inevitably has a large weight as a machine when the diameter of the target pipeline is large or the automation rate is high. It is desirable that stable and reliable passage through the section is possible.

-In addition, external remote-controlled automatic working equipment, which has recently been in widespread use to avoid the risk of manual work inside pipes, is accompanied by a control cable inside the pipe, which may damage the control cable. It shouldn't be.

-In addition, on the contrary, the inner surface of the pipeline must not be damaged or worn.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Conventionally, the following is known as such a moving means of the in-pipe working device.

Rope traction method: Each winch is installed in a pit formed by excavating the ground on both sides of the target pipeline (1 construction section), and a rope is stretched through the pipeline between both winches, and working equipment is provided in the middle of this rope. The work equipment is fed into or pulled out from the pipe by operating both winches (winding and rewinding).

Tow truck method: A method in which a work equipment is pulled by a tow truck that runs in a pipeline. The tow truck is provided with a plurality of guide rolls or caterpillars which come into contact with the inner surface of the pipe, and is driven by a servomotor to make it self-propelled.

Liquid pressure system: A device that pumps working equipment by fluid pressure (gas pressure). This is particularly used for moving an inspection vehicle called a pig in a pipe, which has a built-in diagnostic sensor for ultrasonic waves or electromagnetic waves.

However, each of the above-mentioned means (1) to (3) has the following drawbacks and difficulties, and none of them is practically satisfactory.

i) Rope pulling method (b) When a heavy work machine such as an automatic welding machine or an automatic grinder is used, the rope and the inner surface of the pipe rub against each other in the deformed portion, and the inner surface of the rope or the inner surface of the pipe is worn. This tendency is remarkable especially when the deformed portion has a cut circumferential welded portion of the pipe such as the miter bend shown in FIG.

(B) Since the winches on both sides that operate the rope require an electrical synchronization mechanism, it is necessary to provide a control cable connecting them to the inside of the pipe or on the surface of the ground, which requires a large electrical control system.

(C) There are protrusions such as circumferential weld beads, dust, etc. on the inner surface of the pipe, and the movement resistance of the work equipment in each part of the pipe is not uniform, so the traction load is accumulated on the rope and is released all at once. Such things occur, and the movement of the work equipment becomes pulsating. For this phenomenon,
Back tension is applied to the rope,
In the case where the target pipeline is large or there are many deformed portions in the pipeline, the effect is small and it cannot be a reliable measure. Therefore, it is difficult to perform position control accurately.

ii) Towing trolley method (a) Towing trolleys must support a considerable downward load due to their own weight and the weight of the work equipment to be pulled in order to pass through the deformed portion, especially the vertical portion of the rising or falling of the 90 ° elbow. However, it is almost impossible to support such a load only by the frictional force between the guide rolls, the caterpillars and the inner wall of the pipeline, and traveling in the vertical portion of the pipeline is virtually impossible.

(B) When pulling a welding machine or a sanding machine, considering the weight of the tow truck and the weight of the control cable, it is actually 1TON.
A front and rear traction driving force is required, and a considerably large driving device is required to generate such a large driving force. Increasing the size of the driving device means increasing the size of the towing dolly itself, so that it becomes difficult to move especially in the deformed portion in a pipe having a relatively small diameter, and the applicable range is limited.

(C) The drive unit itself can be miniaturized by using the lever, but in this case as well, the reduction gear mechanism becomes large, and inevitably an increase in the size of the tow truck is unavoidable, and the result is the same as (B) above. .

iii) Fluid pressure method (a) When the control system becomes complicated and heavy such as automatic welding machine and automatic inspection TVC, the fluid (pressure) pressure is 1 kgf / c.
Although m ² or more is required, it is not practically easy to secure such a large fluid pressure. Particularly, in the miter bend part, a much larger pressure is required, and it is difficult to maintain the airtightness because it is difficult to secure the fluid pressure, and the movement in the part is extremely difficult.

(B) In order to stop at a predetermined position in the pipeline, a method of connecting a rope to the bottom of the pig and giving back tension is taken, but if the pig overruns, it is troublesome to decompress the air pressure, rewind the rope, etc. Precise operation is impossible and precise position control is impossible.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an in-pipe work equipment traction device that eliminates the above conventional problems.

[Means for solving problems]

As shown in FIG. 2, the device according to the present invention includes a guide rope 1 fixedly stretched through the target pipeline R for the entire length of the pipeline, and self-propelled in the pipeline through the guide rope 1. It is composed of a combination of the working equipment with the tow truck 2 and the tow truck 2
As shown in FIGS. 1 (a), (b), and (c), is a main body 3 that can be accommodated in a pipe, and are arranged in front and rear of the main body in a radial direction at a constant pitch in the pipe circumferential direction. A set of support rollers 4 that elastically abut and support the main body 3.
A friction rotator 5 which is built in the main body 3 and drives the main body 3 by rotating in a frictional engagement state by winding the guide rope around the outer periphery; It is characterized by including a rope guide mechanism 9 for defining the introduction position and the extraction position of 1 of the device 1 into the main body.

[Action]

The towing device of the present invention adopts a structure in which a trolley 2 for towing a work equipment A travels along a guide rope 1 stretched in a pipe line R, and in principle, the guide rope 1 is a conventional rope. It does not move in the direction of the pipeline unlike the traction system, and therefore, even in the irregular portion of the pipeline, especially the miter bend portion, there is no concern that the guide rope 1 and the inner surface of the pipeline will be worn by sliding friction.

Also, since the guide rope is not of a type that moves, there is no power loss due to contact frictional resistance between the guide rope 1 and the inner surface of the pipe, and the power generated by the drive device can be utilized as traction force without waste, which is relatively small. It can be operated by power, the drive unit is relatively small, and the towing truck itself can be designed compactly, and it is sufficiently compatible with relatively small diameter pipelines.

Furthermore, since the tow truck 2 has a structure that moves by the amount of rotation of the friction rotating body 5 that is rotated by winding the guide rope 1, the influence of the state of the inner surface of the pipeline as in the rope tow system is affected. High-accuracy position control can be realized without causing the disadvantage of receiving and pulsating.

Furthermore, since the tow truck 2 maintains a strong friction engagement state with the guide rope 1 by the friction rotating body 5,
In the vertical part of rising and falling consisting of 90 ° elbow,
Even when a large downward load is applied due to its own weight and the weight of the work equipment connected to it, it is possible to reliably support this and maintain stable traveling.

〔Example〕

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a traction device according to an embodiment of the present invention,
(A) is a cross-sectional plan view, (B) is a view taken along the line AA of (A), (C) is a vertical side view, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a working state of the same apparatus.

As described above, the device of the present invention includes the guide rope 1 stretched in the pipe, and the tow truck 2 that travels by itself along the rope.
Composed of and. Each of these components will be described in detail based on the illustrated example.

The guide rope 1 is provided over the entire length of the target conduit R as shown in FIG. When working on a specific section of a pipeline, the ground at both ends of the specific section is dug to provide pits P ₁ and P _2, and the pipeline at that portion is partially removed. For the guide rope 1, for example, manual or electric winches 10 and 10 may be arranged in the pits P ₁ and P ₂ , and the guide ropes 1 may be stretched between the winches.

When the target pipeline particularly includes a deformed portion (bent portion) R ″ as shown in the figure, it is desirable that the guide rope 1 be provided with the tension detecting and adjusting means 11 at one end side (opposite carriage feeding side) thereof. Since the guide rope 1 stretched over the pipeline including the deformed portion R ″ is stretched at the shortest distance, the tow truck 2 moving along the guide rope 1 has a rearward lifting posture when reaching the deformed portion, for example, the falling portion. However, in such a case, it is possible to detect an increase in tension acting on the guide rope 1 and temporarily take measures such as loosening the tensioned state of the guide rope. This is because

On the other hand, as is apparent from FIG. 1, the towing carriage 2 includes a carriage main body 3, a supporting roller 4 supporting the main body, a friction rotating body 5 engaging with the guide rope 1 to drive the main body 4, and a driving means 6 thereof. A rope guide mechanism 9 for guiding and holding the guide rope 1 is provided.

The main body 3 is based on a box structure that can be housed in the target pipe R. In principle, the shape does not matter, but it is necessary to secure at least an internal space for incorporating the friction rotating body 5 and its driving means 6 which will be described in detail later. In the illustrated example, the openings at both ends of the cylindrical body 30 having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the target pipe are face plates.
The shape closed by 31,32 is used, which uses the axis of the cylinder in the axial direction of the conduit. It should be noted that the face plates 31 and 32 at both ends have through holes 33 through which the guide ropes pass.
Also, the rear plate 32 is provided with a connecting means 34 for connecting the working device A.

As is apparent from the front view, a plurality of support rollers 4 (six in the figure) are provided as one set, and one set is provided at the front and rear of the main body 3 (front and rear in the axial direction of the conduit). A plurality of sets are arranged on the outer periphery of the main body in a radial arrangement with a constant pitch in the circumferential direction (each roller hits the inner surface of the pipe at a right angle). Each support roller 4 is provided so as to rotate in the axial direction of the conduit.

Further, each of the support rollers 4 needs to be supported so as to elastically contact the inner surface R'of the conduit. In the illustrated example, the body portion (cylindrical portion) 30 of the main body 3 has a base end 41 ′ on the outer surface side end portion.
Is provided so as to swing freely (in the radial direction of the body), a swing arm 41 is provided, and the arm 41 is supported at its intermediate position by a spring (pushing spring) mechanism 42, and the support roller 4 is attached to the tip of the arm. , Has a blast function. The protrusions 43 and 44 are the swing arms 41.
Is a stopper that limits the swing range of the.

Such supporting rollers 4 support the main body 3 in a state of being floated from the inner surface R ′ of the conduit before and after the main body 3 and enable smooth traveling along the conduit.

Next, the friction rotating body 5 is housed and mounted in the main body 3 together with the driving means 6. The friction rotating body 5 is provided with its rotation axis 0 oriented at right angles to the front-back direction of the main body, and the guide rope 1 stretched in the conduit is wound around the outer periphery and rotated in a frictionally engaged state to rotate the main body 3 To drive. A capstan winch is a specific example of this friction rotating body. As shown in the figure, if the rope 1 is wound around the outer periphery of the drum 50 several times, a frictional engagement state can be obtained with a slight back tension, and the traction driving force can be obtained by rotating in that state. Occur. The one shown in the figure is of a type in which a speed reduction mechanism 51 by a so-called harmonic gear is built in the drum 50, but in addition to this as a winch type, there is also a type in which a speed reducer is provided outside the drum,
Of course the use of such a type is also possible.

Besides the capstan winch as the friction rotating body 5,
Those shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and (b) can be used. That is, the two pulleys 52, 52 (friction rotors) configured as shown in FIG. 2B are arranged adjacent to each other, and they are synchronously rotated in opposite directions by one drive means 6. Do not do this, guide rope 1 to these two pulleys 52,52
Is wound in an S-shape, and the frictional engagement state is maintained by the contact with the outer circumference of both pulleys and the sandwiching between the pulleys to generate a driving force. Note that reference numeral 53
Is a reduction gear attached to the driving means 6, 54, 54 are two pulleys 52,
Pinions for synchronously rotating 52 and 55, 55 are guide blocks.

The driving means 6 may be an AC servomotor, and transmits this power to the rotating body 5 via, for example, a gear transmission mechanism 60,
Rotate this.

The friction rotating body 5 and its driving means 6 may be arranged in any manner as long as it is housed inside the main body, and there is no particular limitation. Regarding the example shown, the face plate on one side of the main body
32 A frame 7 is provided laterally inside, and a friction rotating body (capstan winch) 5 and a driving means 6 are arranged side by side on the frame 7, and a gear transmission mechanism in which one intermediate gear 61 is sandwiched between them.
I contacted you at 60. The gear transmission mechanism 60 is covered by mounting a casing 8 on the back side of the gantry 7. The friction rotating body 5 is supported by a pedestal 7 and a bracket 70 mounted on the body face plate 32 in a double-supported manner.

Finally, the rope guide mechanism 9 is provided on the front and rear surfaces of the main body 3, that is, the front and rear surface plates 31, 32 in the illustrated example. This defines the position (inlet / outlet position) at which the guide rope 1 is introduced into or pulled out from the main body on the front surface or the rear surface. For example, a pair of pulleys 90 holding the guide rope 1 from both upper and lower sides. , 90, or as shown in FIG. 4, a pair of hard rolls 91 and a pair of horizontal rolls 92 may be combined to regulate the vertical and horizontal positions, and the like. The positions of the inlet and outlet of the main body 3 are determined in consideration of the rope path leading from there to the friction rotating body 5 inside.

In addition, in the example shown in FIG. 1, in order to guide the rope, in addition to the pair of pulleys 90, 90 as a guide mechanism on the front and rear surfaces of the main body, a guide pulley 9 is provided in the front and rear inside the main body.
3,94 (installed on the inner surface of the front and rear plates 31,32) are provided. In these, the rope 1 path connected to the friction rotating body 5 in the main body is set so as not to interfere with the internal structure (driving means).

The configuration of the traction device of the present invention is as described above. Next, a method of using the traction device for pipe work will be described with reference to the drawings.

・ First, prepare for use.

When the target pipeline R is determined, the ground at positions corresponding to both ends of the pipeline R is dug down to provide pits P ₁ and P ₂ , and winches 10 and 10 are installed here. Then, the guide rope 1 is fed by an appropriate means from the opening R ₁ at one end of the target circuit R, and is drawn out to the end opening R ₂ on the opposite side through the conduit R.

On the other hand, a dummy pipe S having a half-split structure is placed in the pit P _{1 on the} truck feeding side so as to be connected to the end opening R ₁ of the pipeline, and the tow truck 2 and the in-pipe working device A are set therein. . The Daimy pipe S is opened, and the tow truck 2 and necessary in-pipe working equipment (inspection machine, sanding machine, welding machine, coating machine, etc.) are connected and placed inside this, and the guide rope 1 is passed through the tow truck 2 Engage under predetermined conditions.

When this setting is completed, both ends of the guide rope 1 are wound around the winches 10 and 10 and engaged.

At this time, if necessary, the tension detection adjusting means 11 is interveningly connected to the end portion on the side opposite to the carriage feeding side.-When the above preparatory work is completed, the dummy pipe S is closed and the truck 2 is driven in this state. Means 6 (servo motor)
If a command is given to the carriage 2 from the outside, the carriage 2 is guided by the dummy pipe S together with the work equipment A, and naturally moves into the pipeline R. After that, the carriage 2 can be stopped and moved to a predetermined position of the pipeline R by a command to the driving means 6.

-The traction device of the present invention also includes, in one target line,
It is also possible to use two or more work devices A ₁ , A _2, ... Of different types at the same time.

That is, after the first work equipment A is fed in by the above-mentioned setup, the second work equipment A ₂ is fed in the same manner by connecting the other tow truck 2 to the same guide rope 1. In this way, it is possible to feed the tow truck 2 as much as necessary in the form of sharing one guide rope 1 and to use the working equipments A ₁ , A _2, ... Connected to each truck at the same time. In this case, a plurality of tow trucks 2 in one pipeline are ...
Can move independently of each other, that is, without any restriction on the distance between the bogies. Therefore, by performing a plurality of different works concurrently, a series of work for pipeline repair can be performed efficiently. It can be done well.

The main purpose of the traction device of the present invention is to repair an existing pipeline as described above, but it goes without saying that it can also be used when a pipeline is newly installed.

〔The invention's effect〕

As is clear from the above description, the tow truck of the present invention has the advantages and features listed below.

1) Unlike the conventional rope pulling method, the rope that is stretched inside the pipe itself is not pulled from outside the pipeline, and the guide rope does not move in the pipeline direction while being fixedly stretched inside the pipeline. Even in a deformed portion such as the miter bend portion, the guide rope or the inner surface of the pipe line is not worn or damaged by rubbing.

2) A tow truck has a structure in which a guide rope is wound around a friction rotating body and travels by using a traction reaction force generated by rotational driving of the rotating body. Unlike the tow system, there is no inconvenience of pulsation due to changes in the inner surface of the pipeline, and highly accurate position control is possible.

3) Further, in the tow truck, the friction rotating body moves while maintaining strong frictional engagement with the guide rope.
In particular, even at a rising portion or a falling portion such as a 90 ° elbow, it is possible to reliably support the weight of the work equipment and the weight of the connected working equipment and to stably ascend or descend.

4) In addition, there is no power loss due to contact frictional resistance between the guide rope and the inner surface of the pipe, and the power generated by the drive device can be utilized as the traction force without waste. As a matter of fact, the tow truck itself can be designed to be compact, and it can be used for pipes of relatively small diameter.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a towing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in particular, a towing vehicle, (a) is a cross-sectional plan view, (b) is a view taken along the line A-A in FIG. Is a vertical side view. FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view showing a usage state of the same device, FIG. 3 is a view showing another example of a friction rotating body used in a towing truck of the towing device of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is another same as a rope guide mechanism. FIG. 5 is a side view showing an example, and FIG. 5 is a side view showing an example of the shape of the miter bend portion of the pipeline. In the figure 1: Guide rope, 2: Traction trolley, 3: Main body, 4: Support roller, 5: Friction rotator, 6: Driving means, 9: Rope guide mechanism

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Kozo Kitagawa 5-chome, Hirano-cho, Higashi-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture Osaka Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (72) Hiromi Shiraishi, 2 Dejima Nishimachi, Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture Within the corporation (56) References JP 61-200464 (JP, A) JP 60-244669 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A device for pulling and moving a working device in a pipeline, the guide rope (1) being fixed and stretched through the target management (R) to the entire length of the pipeline, and the guide rope. (1) A combination with a towing trolley (2) of a working device that travels in the pipeline along (1). The towing trolley (2) includes a main body (3) that can be accommodated in the pipeline and a main body (3) of the main body. A plurality of sets of support rollers (4), which are provided in the front and rear and are radially arranged at a constant pitch in the circumferential direction of the pipe and elastically abut against the inner surface of each pipe to support the main body (3), and the main body (3). A friction rotating body (5) and a driving means (6) for driving the main body (3) by winding the guide rope around the outer periphery and rotating in a frictional engagement state, and the friction rotating body (5) disposed on the front and rear surfaces of the main body. Equipped with a rope guide mechanism (9) that regulates the position of introduction and withdrawal of the guide rope (1) into the main body. Pipe work equipment traction device, characterized in that. 2. The in-pipe work equipment towing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide rope (1) is provided with a tension detecting and adjusting means (11) on at least one end side thereof.