CISBOT 16″-36″

Ever increasing labor, material and equipment prices coupled with onerous permitting and restoration requirements imposed by local municipalities have caused the cost of excavating for repair and replacement of underground pipelines to rise to unacceptable levels. Excessive costs combined with a strong interest in developing “green” minimally invasive methods of operation are driving the need for gas main rehabilitation technologies that greatly reduce or eliminate excavation. Internal live robotic cast iron joint sealing using CISBOT can reduce the cost of gas main rehabilitation or replacement while also minimizing the most costly component, excavation, required by traditional repair or replacement methods.

Detailed analytical studies verified by results of extensive field testing have established that injection of the sealant used by CISBOT is an effective and reliable method of repairing cast iron joints in gas distribution piping.

With historically proven effectiveness and an estimated service life of 50 years, CISBOT may be used as an alternative to cast iron pipe replacement, lining and encapsulation and treated as a capital expense. The cost savings and reduction in environmental impact associated with live robotic small diameter cast iron pipe rehabilitation are significant. However; the benefits of this technology are exponentially greater when applied to large diameter cast iron mains which are typically not replaced under cast iron replacement programs.

Extremely high traffic areas (EHTAs), leaks on large mains, and the construction activities required to repair them, are likely to cause major disruption to the public and local businesses resulting in poor public perception of the company. Streets in EHTA’s are often designated as Protected or Guaranteed and street opening permits in theses areas often have highly restrictive stipulations.

All these factors combined make even the repair of a single large diameter joint in an EHTA especially undesirable and very costly. This process is also fraught with issues including: public disruption; poor public perception; burdensome load on engineering and operations staff; less than desirable annual productivity; EH&S requirements; protection of workers entering the mains and very high costs.

Robotic internal large is performed live; requires very little excavation and a very small site footprint; is much less disruptive than traditional repair or replacement methods; can rehabilitate large sections of main in a shorter of time than conventional methods; reduces the burden on engineering and operations staff and affords potentially substantial cost savings.