Air Conditioning Ducts Inspection and Cleaning Using Telerobotics

Abstract

Manual period maintenance and cleaning of HVAC ducts systems are time consuming and mundane task. In some cases, it lead to unexpected accidents and overhead costs. In addition, the cleaning procedures can be detrimental to HVAC cleaning specialists, especially in hazardous environments such as hospitals, medical and electronic components manufacturers. Taking into consideration that robotics aims to replace the human-operator in preforming dangerous tasks, we focus this paper on studying the feasibility to integrate telerobotic solutions in HVAC duct inspection and cleaning procedures. The paper is divided into two major sections: firstly, we study health and norms memorandums pertaining hygiene factors and metrics in certain building such as hospitals, then we analyze the possibility of using telerobotic solution in order to improve and automate the cleaning process of the air ducts, removing debris and dust. In addition, a mathematical model based on BioVac robot specifications is represented, focussing on positioning control system of the robot in the HVAC duct. For better manoeuvrability, fuzzy logic position controller was introduced thus to improve spray guns and manipulator reachability.