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System for surveying fluid transmission pipelines and the like

  • US 4,747,317 A
  • Filed: 12/18/1986
  • Issued: 05/31/1988
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1986
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. In a system for surveying a fluid transmission pipeline to detect changes in curvature of the course of said pipeline, a pipeline pig having a body and support means for supporting said body in said pipeline normally in a laterally fixed position with respect to the longitudinal central axis of said pipeline, said support means being adapted to provide for traversing said pig along said longitudinal axis, the improvement comprising:

  • an inertial reference unit mounted on said body and, including means for sensing accelerations normal to said longitudinal axis, means for sensing angular velocities normal to said longitudinal axis, means for generating signals related to said accelerations and said angular velocities, and means for recording further signals related to said signals generated by said acceleration sensing and angular velocity sensing means, said signal generating means and signal recording means being operable to generate and record signals at a rate which substantially exceeds the natural frequency of lateral vibration of said pig in said pipeline during traversal therethrough, whereby changes in curvature of said pipeline may be determined from signals recorded by said recording means while minimizing errors due to any lateral excursion of said pig in said pipeline.

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