Improved pipe pig and method of manufacturing same

Abstract

A pipe pig 100 for travelling along a bore of a pipe, comprising a body 110 formed of a deformable material, e.g. foam, a pressure vessel (402, fig. 40) disposed within the body, the pressure vessel being configured to contain one or more electronic components (406, fig. 4), and a plurality of ultrasonic sensors 112 provided externally of the pressure vessel and radially aligned with the deformable material. The plurality of ultrasonic sensors is configured to direct ultrasound energy towards a wall of the pipe and receive reflected ultrasound energy, such that data about the pipe wall can be obtained as the pipe pig travels along the bore of the pipe. The ultrasonic sensors can be removably couplable to the body so that they may be removed from the body and subsequently attached to the body of another pipe pig. The pipe pig can further comprise a plurality of carriers attached to the body with each of the ultrasonic sensors coupled to one of the carriers. The carriers can comprise a recess for receiving an ultrasonic sensor and a channel extending from the recess for receiving a cable extending from the sensor. Figure 1