Research on the Application of MEMS Gyroscope in Inspecting the Breakage of Urban Sewerage Pipelines

Abstract

Long-term corrosion, construction irregularities, road pressure and other reasons lead to various defects in urban sewer pipelines. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) and quick view (QV) are currently the most commonly used techniques to detect the internal state of the pipeline, but CCTV requires a large amount of capital investment and manpower costs, while QV is faced with the use of limitations and inaccurate positioning. The inspection of urban sewerage networks has long been a challenge for the relevant management authorities to overcome. To this end, in this study, an device was assembled using a six-axis MEMS gyroscope sensor as the core component to inspect and locate the breakage point of the pipe. Specifically, a six-axis MEMS gyroscope sensor is used as the core component along with a small lithium battery and a remote control switch assembled in a highly waterproof round box, and dropped into a laboratory to simulate a sewage pipe that has external water infiltration. Then the device is recovered and the SD card on which the data is stored is removed, the data is loaded to perform the coordinate conversion process and restore the trajectory and attitude of the device along its travel. The three axis axial acceleration of the device before and after passing through the infiltration point is analyzed for anomalies, as well as changes in the roll and pitch angle fluctuations of the device. Multiple experiments demonstrated that the six-axis MEMS gyro sensor response is very sensitive, generating data and storing it through the DATALOG module. With the reading and analysis of the data, when the pipeline is broken by external water intrusion, the axial acceleration value, pitch angle and roll angle of the device will change abruptly after flowing through the infiltration point, based on the analysis of these indicators the preliminary judgment of the extent of external water infiltration and locate the location of the infiltration point, potential applications of MEMS gyroscopic sensors in the field of sewerage are believed to be vast.