A vacuum transport tube vehicle (12) for evacuating a vacuum transport tube (16) has a first end (54), a second end (66), and a body (70) comprising a piston head (54a). The vehicle (12) has a blade-actuator assembly (211), comprising a circumferential blade member (213) sealed to the piston head (54a) and having a blade perimeter portion (214) defining a first end outer surface (56) forming an annular gap (116) with an inner surface (34a) of the vacuum transport tube (16). The vehicle (12) further includes a plurality of blade segment actuators (234) arranged circumferentially around the piston perimeter portion (71) and configured to actively adjust a radial position of the blade member (213) at the corresponding blade circumferential locations (216) in a manner accommodating non-uniformities (272) in an inner surface (34a) profile of the vacuum transport tube (16), and maintaining the annular gap (116) at a substantially constant and relatively short gap distance (118) during movement of the vehicle (12) through the vacuum transport tube (16).
VACUUM TRANSPORT TUBE VEHICLE, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR EVACUATING A VACUUM TRANSPORT TUBE
VAKUUMTRANSPORTROHRFAHRZEUG, SYSTEM UND VERFAHREN ZUM EVAKUIEREN EINES VAKUUMTRANSPORTROHRS
VÉHICULE À TUBE DE TRANSPORT SOUS VIDE, SYSTÈME ET PROCÉDÉ D'ÉVACUATION D'UN TUBE DE TRANSPORT SOUS VIDE
2023-02-01
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
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