Pipe crawler with extendable legs

Patent · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:868341

Zollinger, William T ^[1]

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1. 3927 Almon Dr., Martinez, GA 30907

A pipe crawler for moving through a pipe in inchworm fashion having front and rear leg assemblies separated by air cylinders to increase and decrease the spacing between assemblies. Each leg of the four legs of an assembly is moved between a wall-engaging, extended position and a retracted position by a separate air cylinder. The air cylinders of the leg assemblies are preferably arranged in pairs of oppositely directed cylinders with no pair lying in the same axial plane as another pair. Therefore, the cylinders can be as long a leg assembly is wide and the crawler can crawl through sections of pipes where the diameter is twice that of other sections. The crawler carries a valving system, a manifold to distribute air supplied by a single umbilical air hose to the various air cylinders in a sequence controlled electrically by a controller. The crawler also utilizes a rolling mechanism, casters in this case, to reduce friction between the crawler and pipe wall thereby further extending the range of the pipe crawler.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-89SR18035
• Assignee: Zollinger, William T. (3927 Almon Dr., Martinez, GA 30907)
• Patent Number(s): US 5121694
• OSTI ID: 868341
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

pipe
crawler
extendable
legs
moving
inchworm
fashion
front
rear
leg
assemblies
separated
air
cylinders
increase
decrease
spacing
assembly
moved
wall-engaging
extended
position
retracted
separate
cylinder
preferably
arranged
pairs
oppositely
directed
pair
lying
axial
plane
wide
crawl
sections
pipes
diameter
twice
carries
valving
manifold
distribute
supplied
single
umbilical
various
sequence
controlled
electrically
controller
utilizes
rolling
mechanism
casters
reduce
friction
wall
extending
range
oppositely directed
air cylinders
air supplied
pipe crawler
rear leg
retracted position
extended position
leg assemblies
leg assembly
air cylinder
extendable legs
pipe wall
sequence control
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