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This is a record of a document published elsewhere, first published by the European Patent Office, as EP-4726323-A2, on 15 April 2026. OpenTechnical did not first disclose it. The identifier, hashes and timestamps below record what this library served and when, not when the material became public. View the original.

OT-2026-000000645

Insertion tool for inspection

Published
Permanent URL
Classification
Sensors, Controls & Machine Vision › Position and Presence Sensing
Inventors
FOEHNER JUSTIN MICHAEL, GRADY WAYNE RAY, GRAHAM ANDREW CRISPIN, KOMMAREDDY VAMSHI KRISHNA REDDY, LIU CHANG, MEDHI BISWAJIT, TRIVEDI DEEPAK
Assignee
GEN ELECTRIC
Original source
EP-4726323-A2, the European Patent Office, 15 April 2026
Document SHA-256
734c049ef9e80f7cfde1907dcc11c5ff5064151262b44f739ca8ee333009e598

Abstract

An insertion tool (105) for inspection is provided, including a tube (116) with a flexible section (118) having at least two joints (122) for articulating the flexible section (118) into different shapes, the flexible section (118) selectively configurable between an unrigidized state and at least a first rigid state having a first non-linear shape. The tool (105) includes an end effector (130) coupled to a distal end of the tube (116) with a sensor head (134), the sensor head (134) to direct a beam toward a target area of the equipment to perform a profilometry operation. The tool (105) includes a waveguide (128) extending through the tube (116), the waveguide to transmit the beam from an electromagnetic source (108) to the end effector (130) and to transmit electromagnetic signals from the end effector to a profilometry device, and an end effector actuator (112) to move the beam at the target area. The end effector (130) is axially spaced from an insertion axis of the tool (105) when the flexible section (118) is in the first rigid state to obtain off-axis profilometry measurements at the target area.

Publication information

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Citation

OpenTechnical Publication OT-2026-000000645, “Insertion tool for inspection,” published September 15, 2026 at 19:03:12 UTC, https://opentechnical.org/p/OT-2026-000000645.

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