K. Suganyadevi et al, International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing, Vol.3 Issue.9, September- 2014, pg. 388-396 © 2014, IJCSMC All Rights Reserved 388 Available Online at www.ijcsmc.com International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing A Monthly Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology ISSN 2320–088X IJCSMC, Vol. 3, Issue. 9, September 2014, pg.388 – 396 RESEARCH ARTICLE Detection and Removal of Wood Pellets in Pneumatic Conveying Pipelines Using Robot K.Suganyadevi, sugan.er@gmail.com, M.Lydia Sindhuja, lydiasherinm@gmail.com Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engineering Sri Eshwar College of Engineering, Kinathukadavu Abstract – This paper presents a novel instrumentation system for detection of wood pellets in pneumatic conveying pipelines and removing them using robot. The objective of this project is to remove the wood pellets to increase the combustion efficiency which increases the power generation. This project is a human controlled robot that gives an insight view about the pipeline. A blower is used for maintenance. The robot is operated through PC using wireless zigbee technology and using wireless camera we can get information about the pipeline. Index Terms - Robot, Removing wood Pellets, Wireless Camera, Zigbee, Blower I. Introduction Electricity plays a major role in our day to day life. So, we are in need to produce large amount of electricity which is carried out by means of various renewable power generation system. Among them Biomass has become one of the most commonly used renewable energy sources for power generation because of its Co2 neutral properties [1]. Handling of biomass requires an elutriation process which is nothing but separation of larger and the smaller particles using compressed air. The small particles like dust are conveyed to temporary storage tank and then to furnace, while the large particles such as wood pellets are conveyed to grinding mill for pulverization before combustion. Due to some difficulties in maintaining the elutriator, wood pellets may present in dust flow. Direct combustion of wood pellets leads to many issues such as low combustion efficiency, high pollution emission, slagging and fouling. Currently, the detection of wood pellets in dust flow is realized through regular inspection of pipelines manually. Initially, on-line particle size measurement is done [6]. Many of the techniques have been introduced to detect wood pellets in pneumatic conveying pipelines. In laser diffraction system, particle size distribution is determined using Mie theory [7]. In digital imaging technique, the charge coupled CMOS camera is used to