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US 11,440,062 B2Granted
System and method for cleaning a tube
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsAllan Ferry, Ronald Konopacki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for cleaning a tube is provided. The system includes an enclosure, a laser, and an actuator. The enclosure receives the tube. The laser is disposed within the enclosure and operative to ablate a substance disposed on a surface of the tube. The actuator is operative to move the tube relative to the laser.
Claims14
A system for cleaning a tube, comprising:
- an enclosure for receiving the tube;
- a laser disposed within the enclosure and operative to ablate a substance disposed on a surface of the tube;
- a probe disposed within the enclosure adjacent to the laser, wherein the probe is operative to identify one or more materials that the tube is made of after ablation of the tube with the laser, wherein the probe is a laser induced breakdown spectroscopy device configured to direct short laser pulses towards the surface of the tube and receive light emitted from plasma created by the laser pulses contacting the surface of the tube that have distinct spectral peaks indicative of the materials forming the tube, and
- an actuator operative to move the tube towards the laser and the probe while rotating the tube about the longitudinal axis of the tube.
1 more element
A method for cleaning a tube, comprising:
- receiving the tube at an enclosure having a laser disposed within the enclosure that is operative to ablate a substance disposed on a surface of the tube and a probe disposed within the enclosure adjacent to the laser that includes a laser induced breakdown spectroscopy device operative to identify one or more materials that the tube is made of;
- moving the tube within the enclosure relative to the laser disposed within the enclosure, via an actuator operative to move the tube towards the laser while rotating the tube about the longitudinal axis of the tube;
- ablating a substance disposed on a surface of the tube via the laser while the tube rotates about the longitudinal axis;
- and
- identifying one or more materials that the tube is made of with the laser induced breakdown spectroscopy device after ablation of the tube with the laser while the tube rotates about the longitudinal axis in the enclosure, wherein the laser induced breakdown spectroscopy device directs short laser pulses towards the surface of the tube and receives light emitted from plasma created by the laser pulses contacting the surface of the tube that have distinct spectral peaks indicative of the materials forming the tube.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.