Mobile inspection robot for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) ducting systems

Abstract

Indoor air quality is an issue often neglected by the public. One of the main issues is due to the unawareness of importance of scheduled maintenance of Heating, Ventilation and Air Condition (HVAC) ducting systems. A contaminated ventilation duct is able to spread biological and non-biological pollutants throughout the building and result in Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). Accumulated dust can be the spreading medium for contaminants. Moreover, the size of ducts is often small and difficult to be examined. In this paper, a mobile inspection robot solution is developed to overcome the problem. It is equipped with a camera to provide forward vision and a mechanical gripper to take samples of suspected harmful or contagious substances. It is also able to brush off the dust in the duct if necessary. Due to the long distance needed to be travelled by the tethered cable, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is used to ensure the command signal. The robot is expected to be able to maneuver in the ducts and capture live video for the operator.