Canada's FIBERSCOPE Launches Portable Pipe Inspection Robot

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 3, Canadian industrial inspection equipment supplier FIBERSCOPE launched the STORMER X Municipal Grade Pipe Crawler portable pipe inspection robot for the North American market, designed for closed-circuit television (CCTV) inspection of municipal sanitary sewers, storm drains, culverts, and industrial pipelines. The equipment accommodates pipe diameters from 6 to 80 inches, or DN150 to DN2000, and is specifically engineered to address the challenges of accessing backyard easement areas, complex terrain, parking facilities, remote culverts, and certain industrial sites that traditional inspection vehicles struggle to reach.

The STORMER X integrates a pipe crawler robot, an electric cable reel, and a control tablet onto a wheeled mobile platform, allowing operators to push it directly from a pickup truck or service vehicle to the inspection entry point. The system does not need to be permanently tethered to a dedicated CCTV inspection truck; it can be powered by two commercial tool batteries or by 110 to 240 VAC mains power, making it suitable for both portable on-site inspections and installation in dedicated inspection vehicles.

The robot is equipped with a Full HD pan-tilt-zoom camera system delivering video resolution of 1920×1080 at 30 frames per second, with autofocus, 10x optical zoom, and 12x digital zoom. The motorized camera lift mechanism adjusts lens height within larger-diameter pipes, positioning the camera closer to the pipe centerline to improve observation of internal walls, joints, and defect areas.

Both the Base and Advanced configurations include a groundwater infiltration detection sensor. The system correlates the locations where groundwater enters the pipe with inspection distance, enabling identification of joints, pipe sections, and other potential leakage points. The Advanced version further adds laser measurement capability to measure pipe diameter, ovality, crack width, and in-pipe object dimensions, providing quantitative data for rehabilitation design and pipeline condition assessment.

The Base version comes standard with 656 feet (approximately 200 meters) of cable; the Advanced version offers 984 feet (approximately 300 meters), expandable to 1,650 feet (approximately 500 meters) to suit project requirements. An optional lateral branch inspection module is also available, enabling entry into 4-to-12-inch branch lines from within 8-to-48-inch mainlines, expanding the scope of municipal drainage and underground pipe network surveys.

The control system uses a rugged tablet terminal and includes a perpetual license for IKAM inspection software. Operators can perform defect coding, record pipe inclination, generate inspection reports, and export data to downstream engineering analysis workflows during inspection. The robot body and camera are rated IP68 for water resistance and feature a rear-view camera, inclination detection, and anti-tip-over functionality.

The STORMER X is not manufactured locally by FIBERSCOPE in Canada. The system is designed and manufactured by Zikmund Electronics of the Czech Republic and configured for the North American market. FIBERSCOPE is responsible for quotations, sales, warranty, spare parts, technical support, and repair services in the U.S. and Canadian markets.