This application claims the benefit of priority from Israel Patent Application No. 276310, filed Jul. 27, 2020, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to the field of sewage pipes. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for diagnosing leaks thereof.
If diagnosing a leak 26A at a horizontal sewage pipe 20B, it is conventionally applied by the following steps.
At the first step, an elongated inflatable body 32 is inserted through a sewage inlet 12 into horizontal sewage pipe 20B.
At the second step, an air pump 34 inflates elongated inflatable body 32 through a pipe 35, thus blocking horizontal sewage pipe 20B.
At the third step, water is poured into sewage inlet 12 into horizontal sewage pipe 20B, thus increased amount of water leaks and thus leak 26A being discovered.
However, and referring again to
There is a long felt need to provide a solution to the above-mentioned and other problems of the prior art.
An apparatus is provided for diagnosing leaks, including an adaptable body, and a semi rigid cable for pushing the adaptable body.
Embodiments, features, and aspects of the invention are described herein in conjunction with the following drawings:
The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.
The invention will be understood from the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, which are meant to be descriptive and not limiting. For the sake of brevity, some well-known features are not described in detail.
The reference numbers have been used to point out elements in the embodiments described and illustrated herein, in order to facilitate the understanding of the invention. They are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting. Also, the foregoing embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated in conjunction with systems and methods thereof, which are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting.
An apparatus 10 for diagnosing leaks includes according to one embodiment an adaptable body 46; and a semi rigid cable 56 for locating adaptable body 46.
At the first step, adaptable body 46 is inserted into horizontal sewage pipe 20B by pushing semi rigid cable 56.
According to one embodiment, adaptable body 46 adapts, thereby blocks horizontal sewage pipe 20B, thus water may be poured into horizontal sewage pipe 20B, for discovering leak 26A.
At the second step, adaptable body 46 is further inserted into junction pipe element 24, by further pushing semi rigid cable 56.
Consequently, adaptable body 46 adapts to be wider than the diameter 68A of horizontal sewage pipe 20B.
At the third step, the user pulls (69) adaptable body 46 back towards horizontal sewage pipe 20B, thus blocking the end 62 of horizontal sewage pipe 20B being adjacent to junction pipe element 24.
Water is then poured into sewage inlet 12 into horizontal sewage pipe 20B, thus leak 26B is diagnosed.
Semi rigid cable 56 may be disposed centralized by centering elements 55A and 55B.
Adaptable body 46 may be inflatable, for being inflated through pipe 35 by air pump 34.
Springy leaves 48A and 48B may extend from adaptable body 46.
Upon the insertion of adaptable body 46 into junction sewage 24, springy leaves 48A and 48B adapt to the walls of junction pipe element 24.
Springy leaves 48A and 48B do not block water.
A vacuum sticker 50 may be attached to any of springy leaves 48A and 48B, for attaching a portion thereof to junction pipe element 24, for improving the blocking provided by adaptable body 46.
Adaptable body 46 may include a flat round surface 70; and a round inflatable tube 72, for deploying flat round surface 70.
Semi rigid cable 56 may be fixed to flat round surface 70; and pipe 35 may communicate to round inflatable tube 72.
Body 46 may be adaptable to seal diameter 68B larger than diameter 68A of sewage pipe 20B, by initially having diameter 68B. Even though, body 46 is insertable into sewage pipe 20B by rotating (90A) body 46 in relation to semi rigid cable 56 about a hinge 63, by pulling (69) a wire 82, end thereof fixed to a side of body 46.
Rotation 90A of body 46 in relation to semi rigid cable 56 about hinge 63 allows insertion of body 46 into sewage pipe 20B only regarding the surface of rotation 90A depicted in the top view of
Insertion of body 46 into sewage pipe 20B regarding the surface of the side view of
Rotation 90A is required for allowing housing axis 71B of body 46 having size 68C being larger than diameter 68A of sewage pipe 20B within sewage pipe 20B.
The user presses (78) semi rigid cable 56 until body 46 enters junction pipe element 24.
At this state compression 74 ceases, thus the size of body 46 at both axes is again 68B.
At the next step, the user pulls (68) semi rigid cable 56, without pulling wire 82. Since diameter 68B of body 46 is larger than diameter 68A of sewage pipe 20B, pulling 68 rotates (90B) body 46 to be right angled to semi rigid cable 56.
Thus, pulling 68 blocks sewage pipe 20B at both axes in a sealed manner.
Thus, in one aspect, the invention is directed to an apparatus (10) for diagnosing leaks (26A,26B) of a sewage pipe (20B), the apparatus including:
thereby the adaptable body (46) adapts to the diameter (68B) being larger than the diameter (68A) of the sewage pipe (20B),
thereby the adaptation of the adaptable body (46) followed by the pressing (69) of the adaptable body (46) onto the sewage pipe (20B) from beyond the end (62) of the sewage pipe (20B), sealably blocks the end (62) of the sewage pipe (20B).
The at least one element (48A,48B,56,82,63) for pressing the adaptable body (46) may include a semi rigid cable (56), configured for pulling the adaptable body (46) towards the end (62) of the sewage pipe (20B).
The at least one element (48A,48B,56,82,63) for pressing the adaptable body (46) may include at least one springy leaf (48A,48B), for being adapted to the junction pipe element (24).
The apparatus (10) may further include a vacuum sticker (50), for attaching a portion of the at least one springy leaf (48A,48B) to a portion of the junction pipe element (24).
The at least one element (48A,48B,56,82,63) for pressing the adaptable body (46) may include:
The adaptability of the adaptable body (46) may be: expandability, inflatability, resiliency, rotatability.
The apparatus (10) may further include an air pump (34) for inflating the adaptable body (46).
The adaptable body (46) may include:
In the figures and/or description herein, the following reference numerals (Reference Signs List) have been mentioned:
The foregoing description and illustrations of the embodiments of the invention have been presented for the purpose of illustration, and are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the above description in any form.
Any term that has been defined above and used in the claims, should be interpreted according to this definition.
The reference numbers in the claims are not a part of the claims, but rather used for facilitating the reading thereof. These reference numbers should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any form.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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276310 | Jul 2020 | IL | national |