Crts, Inc.

Commercial Resins Company

Aegion Coating Services, LLC

David Paulley

Russell M Langley

James A Huggins

John D Carter

Keith R Roberts

John D Lindemann

Darrell Davis

Michael E O'Neill

Steve D Hayes

Dale G Davis

Ronald E Carlson, Jr

Russell Langley

Michael E O'neill

Jarod D Carmichael

Charles F Haworth

Darrell L Davis

There is provided herein an electrical robotic system for locating, cleaning, and repairing holidays within coated pipe that are proximate to a girth weld. In a preferred arrangement, a robotic train will be placed in the pipeline that will perform the functions of holiday location, cleaning/preparation of the surface containing the holiday, and repair thereof, in a single run through the pipeline.

Pipeline internal field joint cleaning, coating, and inspection robot

There is provided herein a robot-based electrical system for locating holidays within coated pipe that does not utilize a grounding wire. In a preferred arrangement, the robot will carry a metal rotating brush/capacitive pad combination and changes in the capacitance in the brush/pad circuit will be used to identify imperfections in the interior coating of the pipe and especially those located proximate a girth weld. In another preferred embodiment, a circumferential brush will be used that allows testing of the integrity of the internal coating throughout the length of the pipe as the robot travels the pipeline.

Internal pipe coating inspection robot

An inspection robot is provided to traverse the interior of a pipeline for the purpose of checking the coating at the interior surface of the pipeline at the weld seams. The robot is designed to determine the thickness of the coatings and to provide a visual and recordable reading thereof. The robot is provided with a holiday detector in the form of a conductive brush mounted on a rotatable hub and adapted to sweep against the weld seam so as to locate any voids in the coating by means of electrical conductance, thus causing a holiday marker to activate and mark the pipeline interior surface so that the site can be revisited for repair. The robot is further provided with a mil gauge probe mounted on a slidable plunger attached to the rotatable hub for measuring coating thickness on the weld seam and for providing data via a digital mil gauge readout; the conductive brush, the slidable plunger for mil gauge probe, the digital mil gauge readout, and the forward portion of the robot being all provided with cameras which simultaneously record the movements and data encountered by the inspection robot to provide real-time feedback to a remote operator.

Internal field joint inspection robot

A system for heating and coating a weld joint in a pipe comprising; a heating and coating ring for placement on the pipe over the center of the weld joint; the ring having an open position to permit the same to be placed over the pipe and a closed position wherein the ring surrounds the pipe; the ring having a powder dispenser mounted thereon for dispensing a powdered coating material therefrom onto the surface of the pipe; the ring also having a pair of induction heaters mounted thereon, each induction heater including an induction coil comprising a length of hollow copper tubing wound in an elliptical pattern a multiplicity of times, each coil being bowed correspondingly to the curvature of the pipe; the induction coils being disposed in a cylindrical surface adjacent to, and parallel with, the surface of the pipe when the ring is in the closed position; a motor for rotating the closed ring around the pipe; a source of electrical energy for applying an alternating electric potential to the induction coils to heat the pipe to an application temperature for the coating material; the closed ring being rotated alternately in opposite rotary directions while heating the pipe until the application temperature is reached; the supply of electrical potential to the induction coils being interrupted thereafter; and the coating material being applied thereafter through the dispenser to the thus-heated pipe while the assembly is rotated.

Girth weld heating and coating system

A process for heating and coating a weld joint in a pipe comprising placing an open heating and coating ring on the pipe over the center of the weld joint; the heating and coating ring being an articulated yoke adapted to encircle the pipe when the ring is in the closed position and comprising an upper yoke section and two side yoke sections which pivot with respect to the upper yoke section, a pair of releasable locking devices mounted on the upper yoke section for engaging the side yoke sections when the latter are pivoted outwardly away from each other to an open position of the ring thereby locking the side yoke sections in the open position; the upper yoke section having a powder dispensing system mounted thereon for later dispensing a powdered coating material therefrom onto the surface of the pipe; each side yoke section having an induction heating assembly mounted thereon, each induction heater assembly including an induction coil comprising a length of hollow copper tubing wound in an elliptical pattern a multiplicity of times, each said coil being bowed correspondingly to the curvature of said pipe.

Girth weld heating and coating method

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Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

David Paulley