Locating cross bores can be a long, tedious process without the right equipment. Since there are only so many work hours in the day, the ROVVER X SAT II lateral launch inspection crawler from Envirosight is designed to find cross bores and illicit flows with speed and versatility.

Its steerable 8x8 drivetrain reaches crawl speeds of 98 feet per minute with a range of 984 feet, and the camera head launches 147 feet into laterals at up to 23 feet per minute. With quicker inspections, you succeed in accomplishing more per deployment and more per hour. In addition, its new belt drive minimizes pushrod wear and tear and increases uptime and productivity.

“Most lateral launch crawlers use geared or abrasive rollers to propel the launch camera into a lateral. These mechanisms have a habit of wearing dead spots in the pushrod, which diminishes launching power over time,” says Jake Wells, director of marketing for Envirosight. “We devised a drive belt system that delivers excellent pushing force while inflicting little wear on the rod. The implications for reducing downtime and cost-of-ownership are profound.”

The ROVVER X SAT II can be maneuvered past mainline obstacles like debris, sludge, roots, offsets and protruding taps. Its wheels can be swapped without tools, and launch tube extensions can be custom-cut from standard PVC tubes to address challenging lateral geometries. All told, it offers launch capabilities in pipes from 6 to 80 inches in diameter. The crawler’s hinged body bends through vertical accesses as narrow as 12.5 inches in diameter, and locks rigid when not needed. It includes a launch camera with 360-degree pan articulation and +150/-30-degree tilt, a 5-megapixel aiming camera that offers digital pan/tilt/zoom capability for pinpoint launching in any size line, a rear-facing camera to help manage cable during reverse crawl, and other built-in sensors to monitor pressure, inclination and travel distance. Twin sonde transmitters allow accurate location of crawler and launch camera. 

“Launching in larger lines is a mechanical challenge,” Wells says. “The crawler’s aiming mechanism has to move with force and precision, and then hold very steady during launch. We really beefed up that mechanism to ensure reliability in these extreme cases.”

The feedback from municipal and contractor customers has been glowing. “They say they have the power and maneuverability to complete more launches, and that the reliability of the system — the push mechanism in particular — helps them avoid downtime,” Wells says. “We’ve also heard that the lack of wear on the pushrod and push mechanism bodes well for substantially reducing maintenance costs.” 866-936-8476; www.envirosight.com