Pneumatic Pipe Joint Test Robot

Technical Pipeline's Pneumatic Pipe Joint Test Robot performs two distinct jobs depending on pipe material. On HDPE pipe, butt-fusion welding leaves a raised internal bead at the joint — a ridge of displaced material formed where the two pipe ends were pressed and fused together. The robot travels inside the completed HDPE pipeline to each joint, trims away this bead, and then pressure-tests the weld itself to confirm it is sound. On GRP/CTP (fiberglass-reinforced plastic) pipe, joints are made with a bell-and-spigot coupling that relies on the pipe's own O-ring seal rather than a weld; here the robot's role is to pressure-test the joint and confirm that this O-ring is correctly seated in the coupling, since a displaced or twisted O-ring will show up as a pressure drop under test. Guided by an onboard camera and controlled remotely over WiFi, the operator positions the robot at the joint. On HDPE lines, a precision scraper trims the internal bead cleanly from the pipe wall, with a vacuum assist on models 22" and larger to clear the trimmed material from the bore. The robot then uses its own two pneumatically actuated O-ring seals — one on each side of the joint — to isolate a sealed test pool around the weld, fills it with water, and pressurizes it to 12 bar to verify the weld holds. On GRP/CTP lines, the robot positions at the bell-and-spigot joint and pressurizes the area to 12 bar with water; a stable reading confirms the pipe's own coupling O-ring is correctly seated, while a drop in pressure indicates it has moved out of position. The robot is available in thirty-four standard models covering 10" to 60" (273-1524 mm), with LED lighting scaling from a single unit on the smallest models up to four on the largest to keep the joint well lit for the camera, and drive motor count increasing from one to two on models 40" and above to handle the larger bore.