BrinkerTechnology

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  • Brinker hopes to bring leak-fixing artificial platelets to water pipes

    by 
    Donald Melanson
    Donald Melanson
    12.21.2006

    U.K.-based Brinker Technology has been fine tuning its artificial platelet technology for oil pipelines for a while now, but it looks like the company's now looking to bring the leak-sealing solution to a water pipe near your. Unfortunately, the technology doesn't involve nanobots crawling though the pipes and fixing leaks with their pint-sized blowtorches (yet), with Brinker's solution instead relying on "squishy blobs" that flow through the pipes and attach themselves to leaks, forming a temporary "scab" that'll keep the fluids contained until the pipe can be permanently fixed. While the company apparently thinks that the blobs will be just at home in water pipes as they are in oil pipelines, they're currently stuck waiting for the necessary approval to put 'em to the test.