Ventbotics Arrange a survey

Robotic dry-ice duct cleaning

Robotic cleaning for the ductwork nobody can reach by hand.

VentBot goes in through one existing access panel, drives the length of the run, climbs the risers and cleans the inaccessible sections from the inside. Our technicians operate it, and its camera records every metre.

Arrange a survey See how it cleans
95 m
cleaned from one access panel
50 m
climbed from one access panel
> 1 D
bends
360°
HD camera, every run filmed

01 The problem

By hand, or by robot.

Grease builds up along kitchen extract ductwork. By hand you can clean a few metres either side of each access panel, and nothing beyond a bend or up a riser. Most of the duct sits further in than that.

Design view of the kitchen end of a duct run: canopy, access hatch and extraction panel, with the stretch within hand reach tinted green.
By hand The kitchen end. From the access hatch you can clean a few metres each way without access equipment.
Design view of the same duct beyond the wall: a long run, a bend and a riser to the roof, tinted blue.
VentBot Beyond the wall. From the same hatch, the robot cleans the rest of the run, through the bend and up the riser.
Photograph of VentBot braced inside a rectangular duct, seen from the access panel behind it, with two hoses trailing back.

Photograph

VentBot on site. Braced inside a rectangular duct, seen from the access panel behind it, with the blast hose and umbilical trailing back.

02 Inside the duct

How it cleans.

Dry-ice blasting nozzles, a 360° camera and negative air. Our technician drives it all from a controller at the access panel.

Design view of VentBot inside a duct: the blasting nozzles ahead of it, grease ahead, bare steel behind, the camera and the hoses called out.
The robot at work. It braces against the duct walls and advances into the grease with the blasting nozzles rotating, so the jet sweeps the whole inside of the duct. It leaves bare steel behind it.

  1. In through an existing panel

    The robot folds to pass through an access panel, then braces itself against the duct walls. The blast hose and umbilical follow it in.

  2. Dry-ice blasting

    The blasting nozzles fire dry-ice pellets at the grease and lift it off the steel. They rotate as the robot advances, so the jet covers the whole duct wall. Dry-ice blasting leaves a superior clean: bare steel behind the robot.

  3. Negative air

    A negative-air machine on a second panel beside the hatch draws air along the duct. It pulls the loosened debris out through negative air and collects it.

  4. Every run filmed

    The 360° HD camera streams live to the controller and records the whole run. You receive the footage and photographs of your own duct.

Design view of the VentBot robot with its camera, blasting nozzles, tracks and hoses called out.
The robot. Tracked arms brace it against the duct walls, the blasting nozzles sit on the front, the 360° camera watches ahead, and the blast hose and umbilical trail behind.
Design view of the folded robot passing through an open access hatch, with the extraction panel beside it.
In through the hatch. Folded to pass the opening, with the blast hose and umbilical following. The extraction panel for the negative-air machine sits beside it.

03 Reach

Where it goes.

Rectangular or round, straight or bent, horizontal or vertical: the same robot cleans up to 95 m of duct from a single access panel and climbs up to 50 m, so a long run with no access panels of its own is cleaned from the one that exists.

Design view of a long duct run with one open access panel, the robot braced part way along it and a riser at the far end.
From one access panel. The robot goes in through the only panel, cleans up to 95 m of duct along the run and climbs up to 50 m of riser. By hand, the same panel gives a few metres each way.
Design view of the robot braced in a rectangular duct.
Rectangular ducts. The tracked arms brace against the four walls and drive the robot along the run.
Design view of the robot braced in a round duct.
Round ducts. The same robot, braced against the curve of the wall.
Design view of the robot passing through a bend in a duct.
Bends. It follows bends of more than one duct diameter, where rodding by hand stops.
Design view of the robot climbing a vertical riser with grease above it.
Vertical risers. It climbs up to 50 m from one access panel and cleans as it climbs.

04 The visit

On site: one access panel.

The kit arrives by van. The compressor stays outside and everything else goes to the access panel, so the kitchen needs one hatch open and a clear patch of floor beneath it.

From drawing to building. The duct route in design view, the building it runs through, and the kitchen end opened up to show the set-up. An illustration of an example site.
Design view of the dry-ice blasting unit, the controller and the negative-air machine set up under the access hatch.
The set-up at the access point. Blasting unit, controller and negative-air machine under the hatch. The compressor stays outside.
Design view of the robot blasting inside the duct beyond the wall, with arrows showing air drawn back along the duct to the extraction panel and into the negative-air machine.
Where the debris goes. The negative-air machine draws air along the duct, so the debris the nozzles loosen travels back to it and is collected there.

  1. Arrival

    The compressor stays outside in the yard, and an air hose of up to 150 m runs from it to the blasting unit, so our technicians park where there is room.

  2. Set-up

    Our technicians place the blasting unit, the controller and the negative-air machine at the access panel, and run the blast hose and umbilical, up to 100 m long, into the duct with the robot.

  3. Cleaning

    Our technician drives the robot from the controller and watches the live camera feed. The nozzles, the negative air and the robot's progress stay under their control throughout.

  4. Finish

    Our technicians withdraw the hoses and close the panel. You receive the footage and photographs of the run.

05 Next step

Arrange a survey of your ducts.

Tell us where the site is and what you know about the duct run. Photographs of the canopy and of any access panels help us see what the robot will meet.

info@ventbotics.com
  • 01 The site address and the type of premises
  • 02 What the duct serves, and where it runs if you know
  • 03 Photographs of the canopy and any access panels
  • 04 Drawings of the ductwork, if you have them