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US 2006/0138104 A1Published application
Fuel cell and liquid container sealant removal system
OwnerPaul DeVoreinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated system for removing coatings and sealants from substrates used to form internal fuel cells of aerospace vehicles using a high-power pulsed CO2 laser capable of providing the energy required to completely remove all sealant by explosively detaching and vaporizing the sealant via a specially designed flexible, multi-segmented articulated wand.
Claims9
(canceled)
A system for removing sealants from liquid storage containers comprising
- a portable CO2 laser sealant removal system that explosively detaches and vaporizes sealant materials in an ambient oxygen atmosphere from within a storage container,
- adjustable lens means having a delivery head affixed to the end thereof and sized for entry into an access port of the storage container for delivering a high-power pulsed CO2 laser light beam to internal surfaces of the storage container,
- means for removing and continuously collecting the vaporized sealant materials,
- means affixed to the delivery head for continually imaging removal processes and recording an external image of the removal processes,
- means affixed to the delivery head for delivering a light beam to the storage container for illuminating imaging and recording sealant removal processes,
- means for controlling operation of imaging and recording operation variables and parameters.
3 more elements
A system for removing sealants from liquid storage containers comprising
- a portable laser sealant removal system having a flexible articulated wand with a delivery head affixed to the end thereof and formed with lighting and imaging means affixed thereto for illuminating sealant materials within a storage container and enabling an operator to selectively direct a high-power pulsed CO2 laser beam to explosively detach and vaporize illuminated sealant materials and continuously image collection and removal of the sealant materials in an ambient oxygen atmosphere within the storage container, and
- means for continuously collecting and removing the vaporized sealant materials from the storage containers.
A system for removing sealants from liquid storage containers comprising
- a portable laser sealant removal system having a CO2 laser coupled to a flexible articulated wand with an angular adjustable lens structure terminated in a delivery head affixed to the end of the articulated wand and sized for insertion into an access port of a fuel cell storage container and formed with lighting and imaging means affixed thereto for illuminating dense, thick, rubber-like, and toxic sealant materials within a storage container and enabling an operator to selectively direct a high-power pulsed laser beam of uniform density with a variable pulse rate of ten to one thousand hertz per second to explosively detach and vaporize the illuminated sealant materials and continuously image collection and removal of the sealant materials in an ambient oxygen atmosphere within the storage container,
- high volume gas and particulate filtering apparatus having an evacuation hose sized for insertion in combination with the articulated wand into the access port of the fuel cell storage container to evacuate the vaporized sealant materials from within the storage container, and
- monitoring apparatus coupled through the articulated wand to the delivery head for continuously imaging the collection and removal of the sealant materials and enabling the operator to guide the delivery head to sealant materials within the storage container and monitor and record each operation of removing sealant materials.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.