Automated Gun Barrel Cleaning System and Method Thereof

Abstract

Disclosed is an automated gun barrel cleaning system (100) and a method thereof for straight hollow cylindrical objects, preferably gun barrels. The system (100) enables scrubbing, mopping, lubrication and wiping of the gun barrel without the need to remove the cleaning device out of the gun barrel during cleaning and to replace the brush or mopping/wiping cloth. The method of cleaning provides a time-stamped cleaning data to monitor the condition of the gun barrel and to estimate quality and effective service life of the gun barrel. The system (100) comprises of a cleaning device 102 connected to a main controller unit 106 wherein the cleaning device 102 includes drive wheel assembly 210, a driven wheel assembly 240, a spray nozzle assembly 260, a vision system 270 and a cleaning assembly 220 providing controlled scrubbing, mopping and wiping functions with controlled supply of pressurized cleaning agent and lubricant oil.

We claim: 
     
         1 . An automated system  100  for inspection and cleaning of straight hollow cylindrical objects, the system  100  consisting of: a robotic inspection and cleaning device  102  connected to a main controller unit  106  providing means of command and control of the cleaning device  102 ; the robotic inspection and cleaning device  102  comprising:
 a drive wheel assembly  210  biased towards one end of the cleaning device  102  and fitted within a casing  215 , the drive wheel assembly  210  driven by an electrical motor controlled and operated by the main controller unit  106 , the drive wheel assembly  210  having a twisted wheel with outer rim in contact with inner wall of the gun barrel, for driving the cleaning device  102  linearly along the length of gun barrel while rotating spirally on its own axis; 
 a driven wheel assembly  240  biased towards other end of the cleaning device  102  and fitted within the casing  215 , the driven wheel assembly  240  having a twisted wheel with outer rim thereof in contact with inner wall of the gun barrel; 
 a spray nozzle assembly  260  attached next to the driven wheel assembly  240  and operably connected to the main controller unit  106 ; the spray nozzle assembly  260  having a plurality of outlet spray nozzles  820  mounted radially on a spray nozzle manifold  810  and fitted with an inlet connector  830  for receiving a cleaning liquid and a lubricating oil respectively from an externally fitted cleaning liquid reservoir C and a lubricating oil reservoir L; 
 a vision system  270  attached to the front end of the cleaning device  102  and operably connected to the main controller unit  106 , the vision system fitted with a means for capturing images and real time video footage of inner wall of gun barrel; and 
 a cleaning assembly  220 , characterized in that, the cleaning assembly  220  consists of: 
 a scrubbing unit  220   s  and a mopping unit  220   m  loosely coupled on a slider unit  350  and mounted coaxially with respect to the cleaning device  102  on a mounting bracket  360   a  and  360   b  respectively, wherein the scrubbing unit  220   s  is operably connected to a jagging subassembly  370  for a controlled reciprocating action thereof; and 
 a wiping unit  220   w  biased to the other end of cleaning device  102  and attached next to the spray nozzle assembly  260  wherein the mopping brush heads and wiping brush heads  680  are covered by a detachable cloth cap  710 ; and each of the scrubbing unit  220   s , the mopping unit  220   m  and the wiping unit  220   w  is having:
 a brush unit mounting bracket  530  mounted on a hollow shaft  620  having a sliding element  630  and a slotted disk cam  610   a  and  610   b  attached to either sides thereof; 
 a plurality of brush units  540 , each brush unit from the plurality of brush units  540  mounted on the sliding element  630  by means of a slider pin  660  and a guiding pin  640 ; and 
 a brush actuation motor  510  and a reduction gear train  520  mounted on other side of the brush unit mounting bracket  530 , 
 
 
       wherein the brush unit  540  corresponding to a specific operation selected from scrubbing, mopping and wiping is radially opened and closed with respect to axis of the cleaning device  120  by sliding motion of the brush unit  540  with respect to the direction of rotation of the slotted disk cam  610   a  and  610   b.    
     
     
         2 . The system  100  as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the robotic inspection and cleaning device  102  is a cylindrically shaped vehicle body. 
     
     
         3 . The system  100  as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the main controller unit  106  consists of a microcontroller; a main computer having a central processing module, a graphical processing module, a memory storage module; and a means of graphical user interface to select the switching, speed controlling and overall programming of the inspection and cleaning operations of the cleaning device  102 . 
     
     
         4 . The system  100  as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein outer rim of the wheels of the drive wheel assembly  210  and the driven wheel assembly  240  are in contact with the inner wall of gun barrel in case of smooth bore gun barrel and engaged in the grooves in case of riffled bore gun barrel. 
     
     
         5 . The system  100  as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the angle of twist of the wheel of the drive wheel assembly  210  and the driven wheel assembly  240  is adjusted to the length of gun barrel in case of smooth bore and is matched with the angle of twist of the riffling in case of riffled bore gun barrel. 
     
     
         6 . The system  100  as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the detachable cloth cap  710  is a disposable lint free stretchable cloth cap made up of a stretchable oil and liquid absorbing material. 
     
     
         7 . The system  100  as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the jagging subassembly  370  comprises of a jagging frame  330  connected to a jagging motor  310  through a connecting rod  320  and connected to the mounting bracket  360   a  through a plurality of connecting members  340 . 
     
     
         8 . A method for inspection and cleaning of straight hollow cylindrical objects, preferably a gun barrel, for generating a time-stamped cleaning data to monitor the condition of the gun barrel and to estimate quality and effective service life of the gun barrel, the method comprising the steps of:
 connecting the cleaning device  102  to a main control unit  106  and inserting inside the gun barrel;   powering ON a drive assembly  102  to drive the cleaning device  102  linearly along the length of gun barrel while rotating spirally on the own axis thereof and acquiring a plurality of pre-cleaning images of an inner wall of the gun barrel at plurality of sections travelled by the cleaning device  102 ;   simultaneously spraying a pressurized cleaning liquid radially on the inner wall of the gun barrel;   storing the pre-cleaning images in a memory storage module of a main computer of the main controller unit  106 ;   opening a plurality of brush units  540  of a scrubbing unit  220   s  to press radially to the inner wall of the gun barrel and linearly reciprocating the scrubbing unit  220   s  at a high frequency for wet scrubbing of the inner wall of the gun barrel to remove the sludge;   spraying a pressurized lubricant oil radially on inner wall of the gun barrel by linearly driving the cleaning device  102  inside the gun barrel;   opening a plurality of brush units  540  of a wiping unit  220   w  and a mopping unit  220   m , along with the lint free stretchable cloth cap  710 , to press radially to the inner wall of the gun barrel for mopping the sludge and wiping the excess lubricating oil, wherein the mopping and wiping is achieved by a twisted linear motion of the cleaning device  102 ;   acquiring a plurality of post-cleaning images of inner wall of the gun barrel, at plurality of sections travelled by the cleaning device  102 , by driving the cleaning device  102  inside the gun barrel linearly along the length of gun barrel while rotating spirally on the own axis thereof;   storing the post-cleaning images in the memory storage module of the main computer;   analyzing and processing the pre-cleaning and post cleaning images and deriving the cleaning performance with a central processing module and a graphical processing module of the main computer to detect uncleaned patches;   generating a selective cleaning sequence of scrubbing, mopping and wiping to clean the uncleaned patches; and   generating a report of cleaning operation to provide cleaning status of barrel and indicate the presence of any surface anomaly on the inner wall of the gun barrel.   
     
     
         9 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the cleaning device  102  is drived inside the gun barrel with a drive wheel assembly  210  and a driven wheel assembly  240  biased towards either ends of the cleaning device  102 , the drive wheel assembly  210  driven by an electrical motor and controlled by the main controller unit  106 , the drive wheel assembly  210  and the driven wheel assembly  240  having a twisted wheel with an outer rim in contact with inner wall of the gun barrel in case of smooth bore gun barrel and engaged in the grooves in case of riffled bore gun barrel. 
     
     
         10 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the images of inner wall of the gun barrel are captured by a vision system  270  attached to the front end of the cleaning device  102  and operably connected to the main controller unit  106 , wherein the vision system  270  is fitted with a means for capturing images and real time video footage of inner wall of the gun barrel. 
     
     
         11 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the pressurized cleaning liquid and the pressurized lubricant oil is sprayed by means of a spray nozzle assembly  260  of the cleaning device  102 ; 
     
     
         12 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the cleaning liquid is pumped from an external cleaning liquid reservoir C via a tubing to a solenoid valve controlled by a pump and valve controller, and further fed to the spray nozzle assembly  260 . 
     
     
         13 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the lubricating liquid is pumped from an external lubricating oil reservoir L via a tubing to a solenoid valve controlled by a pump and valve controller, and further fed to the spray nozzle assembly  260 . 
     
     
         14 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the scrubbing unit  220   s  is reciprocated by a jagging subassembly  370  controlled by the main controller unit  106 .