Patent ID: 6880195

Claim:
A vehicle for a pipe, having a power generator driven by fluid flowing past the generator, at least one drive means adapted to propel the vehicle axially along the pipe, and a power transmission mechanism connecting the power generator to the drive means, wherein the power from the generator is transmitted from the generator via the transmission mechanism to the drive means to power the drive means and to propel the vehicle axially along the pipe, and wherein the drive means includes at least one drive head rotatable relative to the vehicle around the axis of the vehicle and biased radially outward from the vehicle against the inside surface of the pipe, and wherein the attitude of the drive head with respect to the axis of the pipe can be set at a selected value between 0° and 90°, whereby rotation of the drive means around the axis of the vehicle drives the head in a helical path on the inner surface of the pipe, thereby propelling the vehicle axially along the pipe.