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Drawing of a robotic system for sealing multiple cast iron bell and spigot joints
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The goal of the Materials Development Area is to develop smart pipe and in-situ repair technologies for both metal and plastic pipe. Smart pipe technologies include the ability of the pipe to sense damage or other threats to its integrity and provide responses that could range from notification of operators to self-repair, and other capabilities. Repair technologies or tools may be associated with their own mobile platforms for implementation or with robotic platforms developed in for inspection platforms.
There are three sub-areas related to Materials Development:
Repair
This sub-area focuses on the repair of both plastic and metallic pipe materials used in the pipeline system. Techniques being studied include internal repair (using both tethered and untethered platforms) as well as
external “key-hole” technologies to assess and repair damaged pipeline.
Liners
Innovative approaches to the use of sleeves and liners to rehabilitate pipe are being studied in this sub-area. These internal repair technologies offer clear performance and cost advantages in congested, urban environments and inaccessible situations such as road and river crossing, where traditional excavation and repair are not feasible.
Smart Pipe
The ultimate vision for both transmission and distribution pipes is the ability of the pipe itself to sense its status, integrity, and/or any damage it may have sustained. The pipe would then communicate the information to the gas system operator, and possibly even repair itself. Initial steps in the development of this smart pipe are addressing the detection of stress throughout an entire segment of pipeline.
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About NETL
E&P Technologies
