GOING UNDERGROUND TO GET AN UPCLOSE LOOK AT VITAL INFRASTRUCTURE

In December, we put technology to the test to improve safety all while saving customers money. The scene: about 10 feet below a busy stretch of Pacific Street just east of 144th Street. There is no broken concrete, rather a brief lane closure to allow easier access – not for a human, but an advanced robot. On this day, several M.U.D. employees assisted a group from Pure Technologies. They removed the manhole cover, then slowly raised up the futuristiclooking robot with a small crane before lowering it carefully down through a narrow opening. Once in place, it quickly navigated the subterranean landscape.

“The robot looks like a miniature tank and it drives itself up the main,” said Jared Svagara, Infrastructure Integrity. Jared is the infrastructure engineer helping oversee the operation and use of the robot. “The robot has a tether cord and it sends the data back to the truck where the crews monitor the video and the electromagnetic signal coming from inside the main.”

The bright yellow tether can stretch for miles and miles, this time sending the video feed all the way back to the truck from the intersection about a halfmile away. The cost savings are great in the long run, according to Svagera. “This is a great tool to save us money. If we can find any issues that we can fix with a planned repair, it is much better than having to respond to a possible emergency failure.” In last year’s round of inspections, the group looked at nearly five miles of prestressed concrete cylinder pipe. The large diameter piping has wires embedded throughout. Jared said,

“They drive the robot up and down the water main. They look for any places where some of the prestressing wires may have broken, which are integral in the structural strength of the water main.”

If the robot detects a broken wire, it is documented and analyzed, then a preventative maintenance plan is designed and executed to limit any unexpected service outages for customers. The advantages of robotic inspections go beyond what have been used in this most recent process.

For the first time in 2021, M.U.D. will also use Pure Technologies’ “Pipe Diver.” The company’s swimming robot of sorts allows for longer stretches of pipe to be inspected without taking the pipe out of service (draining it). This stage of the infrastructure project will likely begin in the spring, prior to any peak pumping in the warmest part of the year.