Back purging robotic crawler

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12558737-B2
Application number	US-202318472023-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2023
Priority date	Sep 21, 2023
Publication date	Feb 24, 2026
Grant date	Feb 24, 2026

Abstract

A robotic crawler for back purging a weld location in a piping circuit includes a body, one or more conveyors coupled to the body for transporting the robotic crawler within the piping circuit, first and second seal assemblies configured to generate an interference seal with an interior of the piping circuit, a pair of extendable arms, each extendable arm supporting a respective one of the first and second seal assemblies on an opposite side of the body, each respective extendable arm selectively extendable and retractable with respect to the body to adjust a position of the respective seal assembly with respect to the body, and an inert gas flow valve for providing an inert gas into a sealed area defined between the first and second seal assemblies.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A system, comprising:
a robotic crawler for back purging a weld location in a piping circuit, the robotic crawler including:
a body;
one or more conveyors coupled to the body for transporting the robotic crawler longitudinally within the piping circuit;
first and second seal assemblies configured to generate an interference seal with an interior of the piping circuit;
a pair of extendable arms, each extendable arm supporting a respective one of the first and second seal assemblies on an opposite side of the body, each respective extendable arm selectively longitudinally extendable away from the body and longitudinally retractable toward the body to adjust a position of the respective seal assembly with respect to the body;
an inert gas flow valve for providing an inert gas into a sealed area defined between the first and second seal assemblies;
a memory storing thereon one or more modules for instructing the one or more conveyors, the pair of extendable arms, the inert gas flow valve, or a combination thereof; and
a controller configured to receive instructions from one or more modules of the memory to operate the one or more conveyors, the pair of extendable arms and the inert gas flow valve to control back purging at the weld location.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second seal assemblies includes an inflatable seal member formed of an elastic material for generating the interference seal.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the robotic crawler further includes a camera integrated into the body.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the robotic crawler further includes one or more sensors configured to monitor an oxygen concentration within the sealed area.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the conveyors are selected from the group consisting of motorized wheels, track and wheel sets, actuatable leg pairs, and any combination thereof.

6 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a gas delivery tube within the piping circuit and in fluid communication with the robotic crawler.

7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more wireless modules for communication between the robotic crawler and an external computing device.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the memory and the controller are components of the external computing device, and wherein the external computing device is operable by an operator to control the robotic crawler.

9 . The system of claim 8 , further comprising a display in communication with the external computing device.

10 . A method, comprising:
conveying a robotic crawler, via conveyors of the robotic crawler, longitudinally through a piping circuit and towards a weld location; extending, via one or more arm actuators, a pair of extendable arms of the robotic crawler longitudinally away from a body of the robotic crawler, each extendable arm supporting a respective one of first and second seal assemblies spaced longitudinally away from the body on an opposite side of the body of the robotic crawler; generating an interference seal within an interior of the piping circuit, via the first and second seal assemblies of the robotic crawler; introducing, via an inert gas flow valve, an inert gas into a sealed area defined between the first and second seal assemblies; releasing, via an oxygen release valve, oxygenated air from the sealed area into a remainder of the piping circuit; and welding an exterior of the piping circuit while the interior of the piping circuit at the weld location is shielded by the inert gas.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising inflating an inflatable seal member of each of the first and second seal assemblies to generate the interference seal.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the inflatable seal member of each of the first and second seal assemblies is inflated with the inert gas.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising inspecting, via a camera integrated into the body of the robotic crawler, a quality of a heat-affected zone and an internal weld bead generated while welding the exterior of the piping circuit.

14 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising monitoring, via one or more sensors of the robotic crawler, an oxygen concentration within the sealed area.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
communicating, via one or more wireless modules, the oxygen concentration to an external computing device; and receiving instructions for controlling the inert gas flow valve, the oxygen release valve, the conveyors, the arm actuators, or a combination thereof from one or more modules of the external computing device.

16 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising conveying the robotic crawler to a subsequent weld location.

17 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising returning the robotic crawler to an entrance of the piping circuit for extraction.

18 . A robotic crawler for back purging a weld location in a piping circuit, the robotic crawler comprising:
a body; one or more conveyors coupled to the body for transporting the robotic crawler longitudinally within the piping circuit; first and second seal assemblies configured to generate an interference seal with an interior of the piping circuit; a pair of extendable arms, each extendable arm supporting a respective one of the first and second seal assemblies spaced longitudinally away from the body on an opposite side of the body, each respective extendable arm selectively extendable away from the body and retractable toward the body in a longitudinal direction with respect to the body to adjust a position of the respective seal assembly with respect to the body; and an inert gas flow valve for providing an inert gas into a sealed area defined between the first and second seal assemblies.

19 . The robotic crawler of claim 18 , further comprising one or more arm actuators coupled to the extendable arms and operable to extend and retract each of the extendable arms.

20 . The robotic crawler of claim 18 , further comprising a 360° camera integrated into the body of the robotic crawler.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Al Qabani Ali Faraj M
• Alnufaili Muhammed Subhi A
• Al Mansour Saleh Mohammed H

Classifications

• F16L55/26

  Pigs or moles, i.e. devices movable in a pipe or conduit with or without self-contained propulsion means · CPC title

• B25J19/023

  including video camera means · CPC title

• B25J13/006

  by means of a wireless system for controlling one or several manipulators · CPC title

• B25J5/00

  Manipulators mounted on wheels or on carriages (B25J1/00 takes precedence; programme-controlled manipulators B25J9/00 {; vehicle aspects B60, B62, e.g. remote-controlled steering for motor vehicles B62D1/24; control of position of vehicles G05D1/00}) · CPC title

• B23K31/125

  Weld quality monitoring · CPC title