Duct Cleaning Robot
It has been established in the last few years that ducts and vents should be cleaned after short intervals to maintain high efficiency and good quality indoor air. Cleaning the air ducts can also help reduce allergy or asthma symptoms, as well as other breathing concerns, having the air duct system
2025-06-28 16:26:53 - Adil Khan
Duct Cleaning Robot
Project Area of Specialization Mechatronics EngineeringProject SummaryIt has been established in the last few years that ducts and vents should be cleaned after short intervals to maintain high efficiency and good quality indoor air. Cleaning the air ducts can also help reduce allergy or asthma symptoms, as well as other breathing concerns, having the air duct system cleaned is a terrific way to maintain the purity of the indoor air. This process has always been considered problematic due to difficult access. Ducts were cleaned manually by manpower in industries. External equipment was brought into play in order to minimize labor which gave room for cleaning industries and companies to emerge.
A duct-cleaning robot is fashioned that is autonomous which exempts the need of manual cleaning of duct and which can perform in industrial ducts. Duct cleaning robot centers itself in the duct and works its way through the duct using different cleaning equipment. The autonomous duct-cleaning robot will cater dry cleaning methods, which will use a rotating brush and a powerful suction.
Project ObjectivesEarth’s temperature is rising with the passage of time, which is increasing the need of HVAC systems in the whole world. HVAC system meets the diverse needs of the consumer, the periodic cleaning and maintenance of the HVAC system is essential for its peak performance capability.
With the advancement of technology, every mechanical process of work whether it is in our homes or office or in an industry, it is subjected to automation in the near future.
Industrial vents and duct cleaning seems like a difficult task due to difficult access. Few conventional methods that are used for duct cleaning are power consuming, hostile to labor and require proper setup to begin the process. Our research is based on the inspection and cleaning of the industrial ducts of different cross sections, which are usually large square or rectangular shaped ducts. Our research focuses on different cleaning techniques that are used for the duct cleaning, for an autonomous robot brushing and vacuum pressure are best-fit attributes.
Project Implementation MethodThe journey of designing HVAC duct cleaning robot was divided into different chapters and one of them was Literature review. Literature review was very important in order to observe all the related work done before and analyze results accordingly. Some of the approaches that are made in this project were absorbed from what is done in previous studies. Both successful and unsuccessful designs were analyzed before adapting something for this project. After this part was done, a sleek and simple design was made and finalized for the HVAC duct cleaning robot for simulations and fabrication for prototype.
Arduino MEGA is the microcontroller interfaced with sensors and actuators. Vacuum and Brushing motor is also controlled through microcontroller by using relay modules for separate cleaning equipment. DC stepper motors are used for movement inside the duct and they are integrated with the motor driver for controlling through Arduino MEGA.
The prototype starts moving forward as soon as Arduino gives the signal to motor driver and stepper motors are then operated accordingly. Then microcontroller sends signal to brushing motor to start and continue to run until prototype reaches end of the duct. Vacuum installed at the back end of prototype is switched on with the brush by relay module to pick up impurities and dust inside the duct.
Duct cleaning methods that are used conventionally require too much power and work force to execute. In order to address these factors, compact solution is an autonomous robot that will clean ducts without any human assistance.
Autonomous duct cleaning robot will be able to clean entire duct without need of continuous instructions. It will be compact and have built-in cleaning equipment that will make the process efficient and time saving.
The HVAC duct cleaning robot is a versatile automated machine that will help clean and inspect majority of the ducts. Our study focuses on rectangular or square shaped ducts. The HVAC duct cleaning robot is applicable in multiple extents.
- PHARMACEUTICAL LABS
- WAREHOUSES
- SHOPPING MALLS
- SUPERMARKETS
- INDUSTRIES
The material we used for base is acrylic which is vulnerable to UV rays and sunlight. This concludes that our project is for HVAC duct cleaning only and the duct size should be close to 1.5 x 1.5 ft.
Base plate is made of acrylic material because acrylic is lightweight and it is easy to attach or house components on acrylic. The base plate is 1x1 ft which provides enough room to mount equipment and battery. All four stepper motors will be mount on the base plate for motion inside the duct. Different holes will be done by milling to mount motors.
We went for a simple and sleek design and decided to go for two floors in our prototype. Top plate is placed on the robot so that circuit placed on the bottom plate remains safe and protected from dust. Also, top plate will bear the weight of brushing module that will be attached at the front for brushing inside the duct. Top plate dimensions will be the same as base plate.
The Arduino Mega 2560 is similar to Arduino UNO but comes with more GPIO pins, more memory space, and is bigger in size. The Mega PCB's maximum length and width are 4 and 2.1 inches, respectively, with the USB connector and power jack extending beyond the former. The board has three screw holes that allow it to be mounted to a surface or case.
We have installed ultrasonic sensor modules on both sides of and at the front of our prototype. The modules are interfaced with microcontroller and will help move robot in a straight line inside the duct while the one installed at the front will be used as obstacle detector for safety of the robot. The distance measuring capacity is between 2cm-80cm and measuring angle is <15degree. It operates at 5v and operating frequency is 40kHz.
We are using stepper motor Nema17 for wheels that will be used for motion inside the duct. It has holding torque of 3.kg-cm which is perfect for our prototype as we need high torque to carry the heavy load of our designed prototype. Stepper motor works on step count which can be used to get accurate number of revolutions by interfacing it with Arduino.
TB6600 Motor driver is used for controlling stepper motors that are mount on the base plate. This motor driver provides speed and direction control to dc stepper motors compatible with microcontrollers that are able to supply 5v pulse signal. It weighs 0.2kg and dimensions are 96*71*37mm.
NEMA 23 is a stepper motor with a 2.3×2.3 inch (58.4×58.5 mm) faceplate and 1.8° step angle (200 steps/revolution). Each phase draws 2.8 A at 3.2 V, allowing for a holding torque of 19 kg-cm. Nema23 motor is brushing motor as it provides higher torque and rpm which is our requirement for better cleaning of the duct walls. It will be mounted at the front of our prototype as brushing module will clean the duct while robot moves forward.
Stepper motors are mounted on base plate and top plate with these brackets for better grip and steady hardware of our prototype. These brackets came along stepper motors and are made of mild steel which is why they can easily bear motor load.
Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry OthersOther IndustriesCore Technology RoboticsOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 41450 | |||
| Acrylic material | Equipment | 1 | 750 | 750 |
| Acrylic cutting | Equipment | 1 | 1500 | 1500 |
| Nema 23 stepper motor | Equipment | 1 | 3000 | 3000 |
| Nema 17 stepper motor | Equipment | 4 | 2300 | 9200 |
| TB6600 driver | Equipment | 3 | 1500 | 4500 |
| LM 2596 | Equipment | 2 | 150 | 300 |
| Wheel set | Equipment | 4 | 500 | 2000 |
| BMS | Equipment | 1 | 250 | 250 |
| Battery 10Ah | Equipment | 1 | 4600 | 4600 |
| Brush module | Equipment | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |
| Vacuum module | Equipment | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |
| Ultrasonic Sensor | Equipment | 2 | 150 | 300 |
| Ultrasonic sensor bracket | Miscellaneous | 2 | 60 | 120 |
| Nut 6mm | Miscellaneous | 36 | 5 | 180 |
| Screw and nut 3mm | Miscellaneous | 36 | 13 | 450 |
| Thread rod 6mm | Miscellaneous | 1 | 300 | 300 |
| Nema 17 cable | Miscellaneous | 4 | 150 | 600 |
| Arduino UNO | Equipment | 1 | 1200 | 1200 |
| Arduino MEGA | Equipment | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |
| Wire and Jumpers | Miscellaneous | 5 | 40 | 200 |