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US 2017/0304880 A1Published application
Microbot pigging system and method
OwnerKirt Ervininventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for cleaning the interior of a pipe using a plurality of microbots, where each microbots has a propulsion device and a programmable computer processor operatively associated with the propulsion device, and each of said processors is programmed to instruct its associated propulsion device to operate in cooperation with one or more of the other microbot propulsion devices of said plurality of microbots to form a pig in the pipe having a mutable shape that dynamically and substantially conforms to the interior contours of the pipe.
Claims5
A method of cleaning a pipe having an inner contour, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. placing a plurality of microbots in the pipe, each mircobot comprising an attachment mechanism configured to releasably attach said each microbot to at least one other of said plurality of microbots and comprising a programmable computer processor operatively associated with the attachment mechanism;
- b. releasably attaching the plurality of microbots together o form a pig;
- c. urging the pig through at least a portion of the pipe;
- and
- d. removing the microbots from the pipe.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.