The concept of Lateral Launch camera systems has been around for over fifteen years in Europe and over five years in North America.

The combination of a mainline inspection concept with a later system drastically reduces the time taken to survey lines as well as the cost involved.

Conventional methodology

Using conventional systems, the inspection of a single street with ten houses on either side would require a minimum of two – potentially three – distinct and separate camera systems, potentially two or three crews and a total of twenty one setups.

Depending on access and conditions it could take months to organise, up to a week on site to complete and cause considerable disruption and inconvenience to the community. The prevailing conditions in Australia, with traps at every boundary, would only permit the use of axial view cameras for the lateral inspections and require property access permissions to be granted for each and every one – all at an exorbitant cost to the council and ultimately to rate payers.

There are also serious deficiencies in respect to the quality and value of the information provided using this method, particularly with regards to the lateral inspections. Given that the operator has to traverse the trap, only straight shot, or axial view, cameras can be used, which have obvious limitations in that their field of view is very narrow. Further limitations arise with regards to their inability to focus on specific objects, deliver chainage readings with any real degree of accuracy or offer additional features such as pan and tilt operation and crack width measurement.

In addition, the longevity of the camera is reduced due to its often harsh application and the unavoidable abrasiveness of the environment.

The value of the information is further compromised in that a certain portion of the lateral survey relates to a superfluous section of pipe that is neither the councils jurisdiction nor its responsibility. The fact that the camera must be inserted through an inspection opening within the property means it must first traverse the drop shaft and then navigate the trap before it even gets to the boundary.

All too often the inspection opening is buried, damaged or missing altogether resulting in this extraneous part of the survey being the most difficult, costly and time consuming component to complete.

Using the Lateral Launch system, the scenario would be quite different.

Lateral Launch methodology

Pioneered by German company IBAK – Helmut Hunger GmbH & Co KG in the early nineties, the Lateral Inspection System (LISy) combines both the mainline and lateral line systems into one holistic solution.

It requires one system, one crew and one setup to complete all the inspection requirements detailed above while significantly enhancing the level of functionality and survey quality available to the operator and asset owner. The requirement for access permissions to private properties is negated, eliminating all encumbrances on the community, and the full benefit of all the latest technological innovations can be harnessed through the use of pan and tilt, remote focus and laser measuring utilities. Redundant footage of irrelevant sections becomes a thing of the past and the lifespan of the equipment is dramatically increased due to reduced wear and tear.

The way it works is as the name implies. A lateral camera piggybacks a mainline tractor that in turn traverses the mainline, as any mainline system would, identifying defects and making observations along the way. Once it reaches a junction or connection the lateral camera is launched, via diamond bit rollers, off a remote controlled launch chute at the end of the tractor into the connection and up the lateral.

There is a secondary counter on the tractor that gives the chainage of the camera up the lateral, which can travel up to 40 m off the mainline, and a secondary camera also on the tractor, which enables guidance of the launch chute. With its complete array of enhanced features the camera allows for unrestricted deployment of all available utilities and provides for unrivalled survey clarity and quality within simultaneous mainline and lateral line applications.

The LISy system from IBAK is also available in both Explosion Proof and standard configurations, and comes complete with a comprehensive range of accessories including high pressure hoses and nozzles for cleaning, four alternative cameras for different applications and a choice of cable and wheel configurations for the varying pipe lengths and diameters. As part of IBAK’s Modular 1 range the LISy will attach directly to any existing mainline system making integration into an existing fleet even more seamless and cost effective.

When compared to conventional methods the LISy system has been demonstrated to save a staggering 50 per cent on costs and 90 per cent on time and, while the technology has scarcely been available in Australia until now, it is destined to enjoy the same unbridled success here as it has overseas.