US Patent 10571065 Nondestructive pipe refurbishment using liner pipe sections

Techniques for refurbishing an existing host pipe, useful in deployments in confined spaces or providing limited access to the host pipe. In currently preferred embodiments, a plurality of cartridges each include (1) a liner pipe section, (2) at least one rod and (3) at least one centering ball, wherein each rod and centering ball is received inside its corresponding liner pipe section such that each rod is stabilized within its corresponding liner pipe section via contact between at least one centering ball and the liner pipe section. Once the first cartridge is inserted into the host pipe, a second cartridge is concatenated to the first by connection of their respective rods and liner pipe sections. The second cartridge is inserted into the host pipe, and so on. Upon completion, the rods and centering balls may be withdrawn from the concatenated string of liner pipe sections.