Buried pipeline systems are commonly used to transport water, sewage, oil, natural gas and other materials. In the conterminous United States, there are about 77,109 km (47,924 miles) of crude oil pipelines, 85,461 km (53,114 miles) of refined oil pipelines and 67,898 km (42,199 miles) of natural gas pipelines (FEMA, 1991). The total length of water and sewage pipelines is not readily available...

An electro-conjugate fluid (ECF) is a kind of functional fluid, which produces a jet flow (ECF jet) when subjected to high DC voltage. This study introduces the ECF jet to develop a novel inchworm like in-pipe mobile robot which mainly consists of two clamping units (a clamping actuator, an ECF jet generator and an ECF tank) and a propelling unit (a propelling actuator, an ECF jet generator and...

Flap gates are commonly used at the end of pipe drains and pump outlets to prevent backflows of water and entry of small animals. Flap gates are relatively inexpensive, with low maintenance costs, but can trap debris in their hinge systems. Many texts refer to studies performed on flap gates at the University of Iowa in 1936, which may be limited in value because they are for specific “lightwei...

Major noise sources of a home air conditioner are fan and compressor. Fan generates air flow noise main& and compressor is the main source of the vibration induced noise. In this study, finite element analysis, a method for design of experiment and a topology optimization method were used to find optimum shape of rubber mount, copper pipe and compressor base plate of a home air conditioner. For...

This paper describes development of a three somites earthworm type mobile inspection robot which is able to move in long pipes. We have many small diameter pipes which are gas or water pipes for individual or corporate houses and boilers or hot water pipes for industries. They are settled in the ground horizontally or in the narrow spaces vertically and some of them are covered by casings or ha...

This paper presents the approach for the assessing of the operational reliability of a multi-layer thick-walled tube made of rubber with textile reinforcement. The analysis of the fatigue accumulation process is carried out within the framework of the concept of the continuum mechanics of damage. The mathematical model, which takes into account the accumulation of damages in case of a random sp...

Carbon nanotube is a kind of the special structure of material. Its radial length is nano-level and axial length is micron order of magnitude. Both ends of this one-dimensional quantum tube are basically sealed. Several dozens of layers of coaxial pipe is made up of the hexagonal arrangement of carbon atoms. In this paper, the Organic polymer Composite Materials Modified by Carbon Nanotube is i...

The alternating impact machine with high temperature and pressure resistance is a kind of equipment to make the fatigue experiment for rubber pipe in the auto industry. This article mainly introduces the work principle and the design of hydraulic pressure system and temperature control system of the alternating impact machine. This system uses Siemens S7-200 Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) ...

This work aimed to determine the influence of different chlorine doses to inactivate of Listeria monocytogenes biofilm cells collected from six types of pipe materials, which are commonly used in household at different biofilm ages. A laboratory-scale simulated distribution system, that consists of a design based on six different pipe materials which are: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene...

A core-based intrinsic fiber-optic absorption sensor has been developed and tested for the detection of volatile organic compounds. The distal ends of transmitting and receiving fibers are connected by a smal l cylindrical section of an optically clear silicone rubber. The silicone rubber acts both as a light pipe and as a selective membrane into which the analyte molecules can diffuse. The sen...