EP0212456A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Piping travelling apparatus
Assignee: Hitachi Ltd
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Filing: 1986-08-06
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2006-08-06
Abstract
Abstract A piping travelling apparatus having a plurality of continuous treads (15) driven by motors (10) through transmission gearing (11). The continuous treads are mounted to a frame (20) and spaced apart a predetermined distance peripherally of the inner wall surface of the piping (3). At least one of the continuous treads is kept in contact with the inner wall surface of the piping no matter what the posture of the apparatus may be, so that the apparatus can travel without any trouble even if its posture undergoes a change when it moves along elevations and depressions on the inner wall surface of the piping or negotiates the boundary between different levels of the inner wall surface or bends of the piping. The apparatus enables a travel through piping of relatively small diameter having vertical or steeply slanted pipes to be made without any trouble.
Inventors
- 👤 Atsushi Takagi
- 👤 Shinichi Kurita
- 👤 Seishi Watahiki
- 👤 Yasuzi Sakuma
- 👤 Kiyoshi Sakamoto
- 👤 Chikara Sato
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-28 10:51
CPC Classifications
G; G21; G21C; G21C17/00; G21C17/017; F; F16; F16L; F16L55/00; F16L55/26; F16L55/28; F16L55/30; F16L55/32; F16L2101/00; F16L2101/30; Y; Y02; Y02E; Y02E30/00; Y02E30/30
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
65 words
A piping travelling apparatus comprising a frame (20), drive motor means (10) mounted in said frame, and continuous tread means (15) mounted to said frame and driven by said drive motor means through transmission gearing (11), characterized in that said continuous tread means comprises a plurality of continuous treads (15) spaced apart a predetermined distance peripherally of the inner wall surface of the piping (3).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
65 words
A piping travelling apparatus comprising a frame (20), drive motor means (10) mounted in said frame, and continuous tread means (15) mounted to said frame and driven by said drive motor means through transmission gearing (11), characterized in that said continuous tread means comprises a plurality of continuous treads (15) spaced apart a predetermined distance peripherally of the inner wall surface of the piping (3).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
119 words
A piping travelling apparatus comprising a frame (20), drive motor means (10) mounted in said frame, and continuous tread means (15) mounted to said frame and driven by said drive motor means through transmission gearing (11), characterized in that said continuous tread means comprises a plurality of continuous treads (15) spaced apart a predetermined distance peripherally of the inner wall surface of the piping (3), and that said apparatus further comprises continuous tread biasing means (16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24) for forcing said plurality of continuous treads against the inner wall surface of the piping with a force of arbitrarily selected magnitude while allowing same to follow the inner wall surface of the piping peripherally thereof.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
119 words
A piping travelling apparatus comprising a frame (20), drive motor means (10) mounted in said frame, and continuous tread means (15) mounted to said frame and driven by said drive motor means through transmission gearing (11), characterized in that said continuous tread means comprises a plurality of continuous treads (15) spaced apart a predetermined distance peripherally of the inner wall surface of the piping (3), and that said apparatus further comprises continuous tread biasing means (16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24) for forcing said plurality of continuous treads against the inner wall surface of the piping with a force of arbitrarily selected magnitude while allowing same to follow the inner wall surface of the piping peripherally thereof.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
68 words
A piping travelling apparatus as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said continuous tread biasing means comprises coil spring (16) for forcing the continuous treads against the inner wall surface of the piping (3), a spring holder (21) for supporting said coil springs and securing same to the frame and coil springs (17) formed of shape memory alloy for controlling the biasing force of said coil springs.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
69 words
A piping travelling apparatus as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that said continuous tread biasing means further comprises heating means (18) for heating said coil springs formed of shape memory alloy, whereby the biasing force of the coil springs forcing the continuous treads against the inner wall surface of the piping can be controlled by heating the coil springs formed of shape memory alloy by said heating means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
38 words
A piping travelling apparatus as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said continuous tread biasing means comprises magnets (19) each mounted on the outer periphery of one of said plurality of continuous treads through its entire extent.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
48 words
A piping travelling apparatus as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said continuous tread biasing means comprises a plurality of resilient pressure vessels (22) each supporting one of the continuous treads, and means (23) for introducing a fluid into said resilient pressure vessels and discharging same therefrom.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
80 words
A piping travelling apparatus as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said continuous tread biasing means comprises a plurality of pairs of parallel links (24), each pair of parallel links being pivoted in a plane inside the respective continuous tread for pivotal movement toward and away from the inner wall surface of the piping, whereby the continuous treads can be forced against the inner wall surface of the piping or moved away therefrom as the parallel links are actuated.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
164 words
A piping travelling apparatus comprising a frame (20), drive motor means (10) mounted in said frame, and continuous tread means (15) mounted to said frame and driven by said drive motor means through transmission gearing (11), characterized in that said continuous tread means comprises a plurality of continuous treads (15) spaced apart a predetermined distance peripherally of the inner wall surface of the piping (3), that the apparatus comprises a plurality of vehicles (1, lA, lB) each including said continuous treads (15) and continuous tread biasing means (16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24) for forcing said plurality of continuous treads against the inner wall surface of the piping with a force of arbitrarily selected magnitude while allowing same to follow the inner wall surface of the piping peripherally thereof, and that said vehicles (1, lA, lB) are connected together to form a train and include a leading vehicle (1) equipped with a monitoring device (5) for inspecting the conditions inside the piping.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
164 words
A piping travelling apparatus comprising a frame (20), drive motor means (10) mounted in said frame, and continuous tread means (15) mounted to said frame and driven by said drive motor means through transmission gearing (11), characterized in that said continuous tread means comprises a plurality of continuous treads (15) spaced apart a predetermined distance peripherally of the inner wall surface of the piping (3), that the apparatus comprises a plurality of vehicles (1, lA, lB) each including said continuous treads (15) and continuous tread biasing means (16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24) for forcing said plurality of continuous treads against the inner wall surface of the piping with a force of arbitrarily selected magnitude while allowing same to follow the inner wall surface of the piping peripherally thereof, and that said vehicles (1, lA, lB) are connected together to form a train and include a leading vehicle (1) equipped with a monitoring device (5) for inspecting the conditions inside the piping.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
65 words
A piping travelling apparatus as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that said monitoring device is connected through a cable (2) to an output display device (7) and a control panel (7A) installed on the ground, whereby the operator can operate the train of vehicles through the control panel while watching the output display device displaying the results of inspection performed by the monitoring device.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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