Apparatus and method for in-situ cathodic protection of piggable water pipelines
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorHusain Makki Al-Mahrous
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Abstract
Apparatus and method for cleaning the inner surface of a pipeline from deposits and for forming a protective coating are disclosed. The apparatus includes a cleaning tool which is caused to move in the interior of the pipeline by a flow of a fluid, the cleaning tool comprising a plurality of guide discs engaging the pipeline surface and mounted along a longitudinal axis of the cleaning tool, an anode positioned inside the cleaning tool, and an impressed current source electrically connected to the anode and the interior of the pipeline, the interior of the pipeline acting as a cathode when current is applied from the current source so that ions flow from the anode, through the fluid, to the interior of the pipeline.
Claims9
A system for cleaning the inner surface of a pipeline from deposits and for forming a protective coating, the system comprising:
- the pipeline;
- a cleaning tool which is caused to move in the interior of the pipeline by a flow of a fluid, the cleaning tool comprising a plurality of guide discs engaging the pipeline surface and mounted along a longitudinal axis of the cleaning tool;
- an anode positioned inside the cleaning tool;
- an impressed current source electrically connected to the anode and the interior of the pipeline, the interior of the pipeline acting as a cathode when current is applied from the current source so that ions flow from the anode, through the fluid, to the interior of the pipeline;
- and
- an encapsulant encapsulating the anode, wherein the encapsulant comprises a hydrophilic wax repellant cementitious material that is sufficiently porous to allow ions to pass therethrough.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.