Minimally invasive sewage renovation

NEW YORK - April 10, 2023 - PRLog -- How did your work in underground sewers start?
I had studied precision engineering – called mechatronics today – and in 1990 I interned for a semester at D.T.I., an engineering office for special machinery construction. At the time, the company was developing a machine that was capable of milling off projecting parts of residential connection lines in pipes with a diameter of 150–300 mm. This cleared the path for an inspection camera. I was tasked with testing and improving the prototype.

How did your first own idea come about?
While the customer approved the aforementioned prototype, the device was difficult to work with. As part of my degree thesis, I had the idea for a milling robot. This product was further developed at D.T.I and the first robots for sewer repairs were born. In 2000, I and the sales manager acquired the sewer robotics division from D.T.I. for the company we owned back then.

Where were your initial customers from?
Mainly Germany, France, and Switzerland. Trenchless sewer renovation was already popular in these countries early on. At the time, we only had one competitor from Switzerland. As the industry was relatively small, we quickly made a name for ourselves worldwide and soon began exporting to Asia and the USA. The notion of working in the sewer without having to dig up the road is an irrefusable sales pitch. It saves time and money and traffic is not interrupted.

What is your assessment of the condition of the sewage networks in Germany and the world?
The length of the German sewage network is about 600,000 kilometers. According to our estimates, about 18 percent of this requires short-term renovation or replacement. I assume that it is about the same or worse in other countries.

What are the challenges and trends in sewer robotics?
The machines and devices that work in the sewer require sturdy and durable technology on the smallest possible footprint. Standard solutions are rarely feasible, which is why we develop most of the components ourselves. In terms of operation, we are expecting an increasing shortage of expert personnel. So the idea is to replace humans with intelligent technology that can be operated without specialized training. The trend leans towards automatic traveling to the damaged location and automatic repair.

How did you get involved with Faulhaber?
If you need a lot of power in a small package, you need corresponding motors. Faulhaber's product range includes motors that meet all of our requirements, such as for the robot's drive,

⁣Trenchless renovation (faulhaber.com) (https://www.faulhaber.com/en/motion/trenchless-renovation/)

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