The destruction of asphaltic-paraffin plugs in oil lines by means of a moving source of HF-radiation

A new method of eliminating asphaltic-paraffin plugs in oil pipelines by means of a moving source of electromagnetic radiation (so-called "electromagnetic pig") is proposed. The "electromagnetic pig" melts a plug by means of a thermal flux, which is generated by the electromagnetic radiation absorption. To provide an efficient melting of the dielectric plug, the "pig" moves along the tube, following the boundary of the solid and liquid phases. The elimination time of the paraffin plug and its dependence on the frequency has been calculated in the model problem. The estimates of efficiency have been made for the proposed method.