Sludge dredgingbarge
Remotely operated barge that repositions submersible pumps inside settling tanks, delivered as a 1:20 scale proof of concept.
- 2026
- Mechanical design and embedded system
- INTELI · partnership with Itubombas
- CAD · Embedded · Position control · Sensing
Itubombas rents pumps for industrial operations. In one of them, sludge dredging in settling tanks, the work ran into two connected problems.
The first is physical: repositioning a submersible pump inside the tank is done by hand, several times per operation.
The second is informational: the operator cannot see what is happening underwater. They do not know how deep the pump is, nor the state of the tank floor. Without that, repositioning becomes trial and error, which raises the number of repositionings.
The solution
A remotely operated dredging barge, with three elements:
- Two electric motors: movement across the tank surface.
- Vertical axis with pump position control: depth stops being estimated and starts being commanded, which solves both problems at once.
- Lateral edge detection sensors: the barge knows where the tank ends without depending on the operator watching.
Delivered as a 1:20 scale proof of concept of the real barge.