Patent Application
20130049309
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to plugs in general and in particular for plugs located in insulated coverings to provide access to an interior thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
In many industries, it is frequently necessary to access pipes or other conduits to conduct inspection, maintenance and the like. One difficulty that arises with such pipes and conduits is that they are often insulated to protect the contents of the conduit from adverse weather and the like. In particular, in the oil and gas industry, it is common to provide insulation around such pipes with a sheath of protective sheet metal therearound.
Conventionally, when it has been necessary to provide access to a pipe or the contents thereof which have an insulating layer therearound, a hole has been cut in the sheet metal and the insulation removed from that region to form a cavity for access to the pipe. After the maintenance, inspection or the like has been performed on the pipe, insulation is reinserted into the cavity and a new layer of sheet metal secured over the hole to provide a patch in the original sheet metal. Problematically, such a patch has been unsatisfactory at providing the original level of insulation and protection of the pipe from adverse weather. In particular, such sheet metal patches have been known to leak when subjected to rain or melting snow.
The compromised insulation and protective sheath poses a problem for the insulation under the patch as well as the surrounding region as the insulation typically used for such applications is of a fiberglass batting or other fibrous material. Such materials are known to be intolerant of becoming wet, and being prone to compacting when damp. Such compacting of the insulation impairs the ability of the insulation to adequately insulate the pipe in that location as well as any surrounding regions which also become wet.
An additional difficulty of such patches are that once they are installed, any subsequent removal thereof for future maintenance of inspection will increase the size of the screw holes thereby further increasing the ability of water to enter the insulation.
According to a first embodiment of the present invention there is disclosed an apparatus for sealing an opening in an insulated covering comprising a waterproof body locatable within the opening, the body having a periphery therearound and a groove located within the periphery. The groove is sized and shaped to closely and sealably engage the opening.
The body may be formed of a material selected from the group consisting of neoprene, rubber or closed cell foam. The body may have an elongate periphery. The periphery is defined by a pair of spaced apart parallel sides having arcuate ends therebetween.
The groove may have a constant radius. The groove may have a radius of less than ½ inch. The groove may be located in the middle of the peripheral edge.
The apparatus may further comprise a leading surface of the peripheral edge extending from the groove by a distance greater than a trailing surface of the peripheral edge. The leading and trailing surfaces of the peripheral edge may be rounded.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention there is disclosed a kit for sealing an opening in an insulated covering comprising a gasket securable around the interior edge of the opening in the insulated covering and a waterproof body locatable within the opening, the body having a periphery therearound and a groove located within the periphery, the groove being sized and shaped to closely and sealably receive the gasket therein.
The gasket may an outer diameter corresponding to the groove in the sealing body. The gasket may have a length corresponding to a periphery of the hole. The gasket may have a slot therein sized to be frictionally received over a sheath layer of the insulated covering.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention wherein similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in each view,
Referring to
With reference to
Turning now to
As illustrated in
The body 30 may be formed of any suitable waterproof material, such as by way of non-limiting example, neoprene, rubber or closed cell foam. The body 30 may be formed of any known suitable method, such as by way of non-limiting example, casting, machining, utilizing a router or molding.
The gasket 60 may be of any suitable type and in one embodiment may have an outer radiused surface 62 and an inner slot. The outer radiused surface is sized to be sealably engaged within the groove 44 and may therefore have an outer radius of up to ½ inch (12 mm), such as by way of non-limiting example, Edge Trim sold as product ID WRE10B34 by Edge Lok Inc. of Buena Park Calif. The gasket may also include an inner slot 64 sized to be relieved over an edge of the sheath layer 14. The gasket may be provided as a roll which may then be cut by a user or may optionally be provided as part of a kit with a length selected to fully surround a hole as cut according to a provided template.
In operation a user may cut an opening 10, optionally with the use of a provided template matched to the body 30 through the sheath layer 14 and insulating layer 12 surrounding a pipe 8. Thereafter the cut out insulation and sheath layer opening portions may be removed to provide access to the pipe for maintenance, inspection and the like. After the user has completed their activities requiring access to the pipe 8, the removed insulation or replacement insulation, generally indicated at 13 in
While specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, such embodiments should be considered illustrative of the invention only and not as limiting the invention as construed in accordance with the accompanying claims.
