In general, the disclosure describes a pipe cleaning system which may be inserted through a lateral hole in a pipe within a vessel carrying pressurized gas or liquid. The pipe cleaning system utilizes a control bar head with attached magnets to facilitate attraction and retrieval of particles from the pipe. The control bar head may be shifted between positions within a shroud to prevent the particles from being knocked off and contaminating the inside of the vessel and/or related components. The magnets may be encased by a flexible or rigid cover which is not removed until the device is disassembled from the vessel and which aids with the removal and disposal of the particles.
When performing pipeline maintenance or servicing, such as during hot tapping procedures, it is necessary to tap through a side wall of the pipe to enable isolation of a section of the pipe. However, the process of tapping through the side wall of the pipe can create metal particles which fall to the lower side of the pipe. Such particles can be problematic if not removed from the pipe. For example, the particles can affect the ability of a pipe isolation device to create suitable seals between the pipe isolation device and the surrounding interior wall of the pipe.
What is needed is a pipe cleaning device which can easily be inserted through a tapped hole in a sidewall of the pipe and which can then be operated to retrieve the unwanted particles from the interior of the pipe.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description. However, many modifications are possible without materially departing from the teachings of this disclosure. Accordingly, such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the claims. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
According to an embodiment, a system and methodology are provided to facilitate cleaning of an interior of a pipe via access through a lateral hole in the pipe. The technique utilizes a pipe cleaning tool having a control bar head which may be coupled with a control bar via a coupling feature. A shroud is positioned around the control bar head. The shroud may have a suitable shape with an interior sized to enable linear movement of the control bar head along the interior between an extended position, e.g. a lower position, and a retracted position. Additionally, the shroud has an exterior sized to enable insertion through the lateral hole in the pipe. Magnets may be coupled with the control bar head and oriented to pick up particles in the pipe when the control bar head is located in the lower position. When the control bar head is shifted to the retracted position, the magnets ensure retrieval of the particles into the shroud for removal from the pipe when the system is withdrawn. The shroud minimizes the risk of the particles falling off the magnets and contaminating the interior of components, e.g. a valve, through which the pipe cleaning tool travels to and from the interior of the pipe.
Certain embodiments of the disclosure will hereafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote like elements. It is emphasized that, in accordance with standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion. It should be understood, however, that the accompanying figures illustrate the various implementations described herein and are not meant to limit the scope of various technologies described herein, and:
In the following description, numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding of some embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that the following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of various embodiments. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. In addition, the disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the system and/or methodology may be practiced without these details and that numerous variations or modifications from the described embodiments are possible. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but rather made merely for the purpose of describing general principles of the implementations. The scope of the described implementations should be ascertained with reference to the issued claims.
As used herein, the terms “connect”, “connection”, “connected”, “in connection with”, and “connecting” are used to mean “in direct connection with” or “in connection with via one or more elements”; and the term “set” is used to mean “one element” or “more than one element”. Further, the terms “couple”, “coupling”, “coupled”, “coupled together”, and “coupled with” are used to mean “directly coupled together” or “coupled together via one or more elements”. As used herein, the terms “up” and “down”; “upper” and “lower”; “top” and “bottom”; and other like terms indicating relative positions to a given point or element are utilized to more clearly describe some elements.
The present disclosure generally relates to a system and methodology for cleaning an interior of a pipe via access through a lateral hole in the pipe. The pipe may comprise a variety of pipes used in industrial applications or other applications. When a section of the pipe is serviced or replaced, a pipe isolation device may be inserted into the interior of the pipe through a lateral hole cut through a sidewall of the pipe. However, cutting the lateral hole can create particles, e.g. shavings, which fall into the interior of the pipe. In a variety of applications, the pipe may be generally horizontal and the particles fall to a lower interior side of the pipe where they can interfere with the pipe isolation device.
Accordingly, the present pipe cleaning technique may be used to remove those particles prior to insertion of the pipe isolation device. The cleaning technique utilizes a pipe cleaning tool/device having a control bar head which may be coupled with a control bar via a coupling feature. A shroud is positioned around the control bar head. The shroud may have a suitable shape with an interior sized to enable linear movement of the control bar head along the interior between a retracted position and an extended position, e.g. a lower position. Movement of the control bar head and control bar may be controlled by a variety of actuators, e.g. hydraulic actuators, electrical actuators, mechanical actuators, or other suitable actuators. For example, the actuator may be the same or similar to those used for inserting and withdrawing pipe isolation devices.
Additionally, the shroud has an exterior sized to enable insertion through the lateral hole in the pipe. A magnet or magnets may be coupled with the control bar head and oriented to pick up particles in the pipe when the control bar head is located in the extended/lower position of the shroud so as to place the magnet(s) proximate the lower interior side of the pipe. Furthermore, the magnets may be encased by a rigid or flexible cover. As a result, the magnet(s) attract the particles resting along the lower interior of the pipe, and the particles collect onto the outside of the magnet(s) or onto the outside of the rigid or flexible cover located over the magnet(s). When the control bar head is shifted to the retracted position, the magnets ensure retrieval of the particles into the shroud for removal from the pipe when the system is withdrawn. Pulling the particles into the shroud can provide a variety of benefits including prevention of component contamination, e.g. prevention of contamination of a fitting branch and valve. Effectively, the shroud helps ensure that particles collected by the magnets do not become dislodged and caught up in valve seats or other equipment. By positioning the shroud around the control bar head, the particles attracted by the magnets are guarded against unwanted release and this prevents their subsequent movement into valve sealing locations or other mating equipment. After the pipe cleaning device is removed from the pipe and associated assembly, the shroud is pulled back to gain access to the particles. At this point, the magnet cover may be removed along with the particles. Pulling the cover away from the magnets breaks the magnetic attraction which simplifies discard of the particles and cleanup of the device. In other embodiments without the magnet cover, the particles may be removed, e.g. wiped away, from the magnets after removal of the pipe cleaning device.
Referring generally to
As illustrated, the pipe cleaning system 20 further comprises a shroud 34 which may be in the form of a cylindrical barrel or have other suitable shapes. The shroud 34 has an interior 36 which is sized to enable linear movement of the control bar head 28 back and forth between a retracted position (see
According to the illustrated embodiment, the pipe cleaning system 20 further comprises at least one magnet 38, e.g. a plurality of magnets 38, connected to control bar head 28. The magnets 38 are oriented to pick up particles 40, e.g. metal shavings, resulting from the cutting of lateral hole 26 and which often collect along a lower interior of pipe 24. As the control bar head 28 and magnets 38 are shifted from the retracted position to the lower or extended position, the magnets 38 are moved into proximity with particles 40 (see
The magnets 38 may be positioned along a lower side of control bar head 28 in an arrangement which places them into the desired proximity with particles 40. Depending on the application, the size and type of magnets 38 may vary. For example, magnets 38 may be permanent magnets. However, the magnets 38 also may be in the form of electromagnets which are selectively powered via a battery or other electrical power source. The use of electromagnets enables selective activation of magnets 38 after, for example, they are moved into the interior of pipe 24. In some embodiments, the shroud 34 also may be constructed with an internal flapper or other type of closure device which automatically closes off the lower portion of the shroud 34 once the magnets 38 and attached particles 40 have been withdrawn to the retracted position.
With additional reference to
As further illustrated in
With additional reference to
It should be noted that a variety of particle retention mechanisms 60 may be used to aid with the release of the particles 40 from the pipe cleaning system 20 when the particles 40 need to be removed from the magnets 38 (see
Depending on the parameters of a given pipe cleaning operation, however, the configuration and use of overall pipe cleaning system 20 may be adjusted. For example, various types of actuators 32 may be used to transition the pipe cleaning system 20 between operational positions and to withdraw system 20 from pipe 24. Additionally, the number, type, and arrangement of magnets 38 may be selected according to the type of particulates to be removed and on the environment in which pipe cleaning system 20 is employed. The shroud 34 and spring member 42 may have a variety of sizes and configurations selected according to the specifics of the pipe cleaning operation. Various additional and/or other components and features also may be incorporated into the overall pipe cleaning system 20.
Although a few embodiments of the disclosure have been described in detail above, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible without materially departing from the teachings of this disclosure. Accordingly, such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the claims. The scope of the invention should be determined only by the language of the claims that follow. The term “comprising” within the claims is intended to mean “including at least” such that the recited listing of elements in a claim are an open group. The terms “a,” “an” and other singular terms are intended to include the plural forms thereof unless specifically excluded.
The present document is based on and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/092,804, filed Oct. 16, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US21/54774 | 10/13/2021 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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63092804 | Oct 2020 | US |