Rotating optical geometry sensor for fresh water pipe inspection

The inspection of sewer or fresh water pipes is usually carried out by a remotely controlled inspection vehicle equipped with a high resolution camera and a lightning system. Beside the subjective classification of pipe defects trough the operator standard CCTV technology is not suitable for detecting geometrical deformations resulting from e.g. structural mechanical weakness of the pipe, corrosion of the cast-iron material or sedimentations. The Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing in Karlsruhe, Germany developed a new Rotating Optical Geometry Sensor (ROGS) for fresh water pipe inspection which is capable of measuring the inner pipe geometry very precisely over the whole pipe length. The developed sensor concept has been applied successfully to fresh water and sewer pipes - the results will be presented in detail.