Patent Grant
9524805
The present invention relates to a protection device for providing protection against ionizing radiation, and to a confinement enclosure fitted with such a device.
The technical field of the invention is that of fabricating articles for providing protection against ionizing radiation.
It is known to process or handle objects or materials that emit ionizing radiation—and in particular gamma (γ) rays—inside a confinement enclosure, and in particular inside a glovebox.
For this purpose, at least one wall of the enclosure is pierced by an orifice giving access to the inside of the enclosure and/or enabling material to be passed through the wall.
Such an enclosure is maintained at a pressure that is lower than that of the surroundings or the building in which the enclosure is located in order to avoid dangerous dust that is contained in the enclosure migrating out from the enclosure as a result of the dust (powder or material that can be put into suspension) passing through the orifice.
Such an orifice may be defined by a bushing structure (and may be fitted with such a structure) that is of generally annular shape, passing through the wall of the enclosure and secured to said wall.
Such a wall bushing structure is sometimes referred to as a “glove port” or a “bag port”.
In order to protect an operator's hand, forearm, and possibly also upper arm passing through the orifice and into the inside of the enclosure, and in order to confine dust, it is known to secure a glove to the wall bushing structure by engaging the open end of the sleeve of the glove around an annular portion of the structure, which annular portion projects from the outside face of the wall of the enclosure.
Such a glove may include, and/or may be made out of, a material that attenuates ionizing radiation, e.g. an elastomer material containing a metallic filler. The filler may be a metallic powder or a metallic oxide powder. The materials used for this purpose may be lead, tungsten, bismuth, or lanthanum, as described for example in patent FR 2 948 672.
Patent FR 2 254 409 describes a sleeve fastened to a glove port facing a manual access panel to a confinement enclosure that is under pressure—unlike a glovebox containing a radioactive material—and that makes it possible to evacuate the space defined by the sleeve and the panel before an operator's hand penetrates into the confinement enclosure.
Patents FR 2 500 355 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,009,164 describe gloveboxes adapted to handling radioactive materials, in which the gloves are made up of two portions: a sleeve fastened to a glove port and a glove fastened in releasable manner to the sleeve and extending the sleeve.
The radiation attenuating power of those gloves is limited in particular because of the small thickness of the membrane/wall of the glove. Nevertheless, that small thickness enables the glove to conserve sufficient flexibility needed for the manipulations performed by an operator whose hand and arm are engaged in the glove.
As a result, the ionizing radiation given off by the object or the material contained in the enclosure can pass through the glove and the orifice made in the wall of the enclosure.
In order to reduce this radiation, proposals have been made to fit not only the wall bushing structure, but also a cap that covers the orifice while allowing an operator's hand and arm to pass through the cap and the orifice so as to enable the operator to put on the glove or to take it off, without separating the cap from the wall bushing structure.
Such caps including radiation-attenuating deformable wall elements in the form of straps or flaps are described in the following patents: GB 1 455 863; FR 2 590 198; FR 2 642 221; and FR 2 920 334.
When the glove is not in use and the enclosure is maintained at reduced pressure, the glove may become deployed inside the enclosure because of the low pressure therein, and that can interfere with the processing or the manipulation of the object(s) or material(s) inside the enclosure by an operator using another glove secured to another wall bushing structure fitted to the enclosure, and it can also lead to risks of gloves being torn off or damaged by rotary or heater appliances arranged inside the enclosure.
In order to avoid such deployment of an unused glove into the inside of the enclosure, patent FR 2 642 221 proposes pulling the glove to the outside of the enclosure and anchoring the glove by means of the deformable wall elements of the cap. The drawback is that, in that configuration, the wall elements of the cap extend around the glove and the central portion of the cap then no longer performs fully its role of attenuating radiation.
Furthermore, each time an operator removes a hand from the glove, it is recommended to tie a knot in the sleeve of the unused glove, which knot needs to be untied before putting a hand and an arm once more into the glove. The presence of said cap greatly hinders such operations.
Another drawback of caps including deformable wall elements is that the deformable wall elements impede the movements of the hand and the arm of an operator whose hand and arm are engaged in the glove through the cap.
There also exists a need to reinforce the protection against ionizing radiation of the arm and of other portions of the body of an operator engaged in a glove fastened to a wall bushing structure, while not reducing the flexibility of the glove.
An object of the invention is to propose a protection device for providing protection against ionizing radiation, which device is for fastening to a wall bushing structure and is improved and/or remedies, at least in part, the shortcomings or drawbacks of known devices for providing protection against ionizing radiation.
An object of the invention is to provide a protection device for providing protection against ionizing radiation, for fastening to a wall bushing structure, that satisfies at least one, and preferably more than one of the preceding and following objects:
An object of the invention is to provide a confinement enclosure fitted with such a protection device.
The invention applies in particular to a protection device for providing protection against ionizing radiation passing through an orifice defined by a wall bushing structure, said device including a structure for attenuating ionizing radiation passing through the orifice, which structure is suitable for covering or indeed closing off the orifice, and including fastener means arranged to enable the structure for attenuating ionizing radiation to be releasably fastened to the wall bushing structure.
According to an aspect of the invention, the structure for attenuating ionizing radiation is constituted essentially by a sleeve that is open at both ends, that is deformable under its own weight, and that is arranged to be fastened to the wall bushing structure by said fastener means at a first open end of the sleeve.
The sleeve preferably presents a shape, dimensions, and suitably low stiffness (i.e. suitably high flexibility) to enable it to be turned inside out and extend in part inside the wall bushing structure through the orifice defined thereby and in part beyond the structure, i.e. inside a confinement enclosure having a wall fitted with the bushing structure, thereby reinforcing the protection of an operator's arm engaged in the sleeve and in the orifice.
The sleeve may be secured to said fastener means, the fastener means being provided at a first open end of the sleeve, or being located in the vicinity thereof.
The sleeve is sufficiently large and flexible to cover this first open end when the sleeve is suspended by said fastener means from the wall bushing structure so as to close off the orifice defined by the wall bushing structure when the sleeve is suspended from said structure by said fastener means.
The flexibility of the sleeve, and in particular its capacity for deforming under its own weight, may result from the flexibility and/or the thickness of the material from which the sleeve is made.
In particular, the sleeve may present thickness situated in a range going from approximately 50 micrometers (μm) or 100 μm to approximately 500 μm, 1000 μm, or 2000 μm.
The sleeve may be made of an elastomer material containing a metallic filler, e.g. from a material as described in patent FR 2 948 672, and where appropriate using a method described in that patent.
Said fastener means may be incorporated in the sleeve, in particular in the form of a projection (e.g. a bead) extending along the first open end.
The dimensions of the sleeve are matched to the dimensions of the wall bushing structure and/or to the dimensions of the orifice defined by said structure.
The shape of the sleeve may be straight—i.e. the sleeve may be cylindrical—or it may be flared.
The sleeve may include at least one cylindrical portion that may be extended by at least one flared portion.
In other words, and in another aspect of the invention, the structure for attenuating ionizing radiation is a sleeve that has a first open end arranged to be secured to the wall bushing structure and a second open end that is arranged to pass (is suitable for passing) a glove secured to the wall bushing structure; the sleeve presents capacity for (reversible) deformation that is sufficient to ensure that when the sleeve is suspended by its first end from the wall bushing structure, said first end extending along a plane that is inclined little relative to the vertical, the second opening at its second open end becomes pinched, and a portion of the sleeve extending from the second end becomes flattened, in particular under the effect of the weight of this portion of the sleeve; and the sleeve also presents a shape and dimensions such that in this configuration, when the sleeve is suspended from the wall bushing structure, the sleeve extends over the entire orifice defined by the wall bushing structure so as to cover or close off the orifice and attenuate the ionizing radiation passing through the orifice.
The sleeve may include a first sleeve portion extending in the vicinity of the first open end of the sleeve and presenting a first density; and the sleeve may include a second sleeve portion extending in the vicinity of the second open end of the sleeve and presenting a second density greater than the first density, thereby making it easier to curve and flatten the suspended portion of the sleeve under its own weight.
For this purpose, the sleeve may include ballasting and/or reinforcing means extending in the vicinity of the second open end of the sleeve, e.g. a cuff formed on the sleeve at its second open end.
When the orifice defined by the wall bushing structure is circular, the length of the sleeve portion suspended from said structure is at least equal to the diameter of the orifice, so as to enable the orifice to be covered, and is generally little greater than the diameter; in particular, the ratio of this length to the diameter may lie in a range going from approximately 1 to approximately 1.5, 2, or 4.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a confinement enclosure having a wall including a wall bushing structure fitted with a glove and with a protection device as defined or described in the present application.
The stiffness of the sleeve may be of the same order of magnitude as the stiffness of a glove fitted to the enclosure, and in particular not less than that of a glove fitted to the enclosure; in particular, the ratio of the stiffness of the sleeve to the stiffness of the glove may lie in a range going from approximately 0.1 to approximately 10, and in particular in a range going from approximately 0.5 to approximately 2 or 3.
In order to obtain a sleeve of stiffness that is small enough, the sleeve may be made from a material presenting a Young's modulus (modulus of elasticity) lying in a range going from approximately 106 Pascals (Pa) to approximately 108 Pa.
Other aspects, characteristics, or advantages of the invention appear from the following description, which refers to the accompanying drawings and illustrates embodiments of the invention, without any limiting character.
Unless indicated explicitly or implicitly to the contrary, elements or members that are structurally or functionally identical or similar are designated by identical references in the various figures.
With reference to
The sleeve 11 extends along an axis 12 and is open at both ends 13 and 14.
By way of example, the thickness 15 of the membrane forming this sleeve may be about 100 μm (μm) to 2000 μm.
On its inside face 17 and close to its first open end 14, the sleeve 11 has an annular projection (e.g. a bead) 16 of rounded section extending all around the contour of the opening 14 and at a distance therefrom, being designed to engage in an annular groove formed in a wall bushing structure, as shown in
The protection device 10 shown in
With reference to
The three sleeve portions 110 to 112 may present a common axis 12 of circular symmetry.
In the embodiment shown in
In addition, in this example, a terminal fraction 1110 of the portion 110 of the sleeve is folded (or turned over) onto the sleeve portion, forming an outside cuff presenting density close to twice the density of the sleeve portion 110, and increased stiffness.
This cuff can serve as ballast encouraging the sleeve 11 to curve relative to the axis 12, and it may serve as reinforcement or stiffening limiting the extent to which the opening 13 is pinched and limiting the flattening of the portion 110 of the sleeve under the effect of the weight of this portion, as described in greater detail with reference to
With reference to
With reference to
The structure 22 also has a first annular shoulder 25 of axis 24 extending inside the enclosure 18 at the end of the portion 23 that extends inside the enclosure 18, and from the outside surface of this portion 23 to which the shoulder 25 is secured.
The structure 22 also has an annular abutment 26 of axis 24 that extends outside the enclosure 18 from the outside surface of the portion 23 to which the abutment 26 is secured.
The structure 22 is thus arranged to press against the inside face 190 of the wall 19 by the shoulder 25, and to press against the outside face 191 of the wall 19 via the abutment 26.
The fraction of the tubular portion 23 that extends outside the enclosure 18, projecting from the outside face 191 and the abutment 26, includes a first annular groove 27 receiving an elastic ring 29 provided at the (open) free end of the sleeve 30 of a glove 31 in order to secure the glove 31 in removable manner to the wall bushing structure 22.
The fraction of the tubular portion 23 that extends outside the enclosure 18, projecting from the outside face 191 and the abutment 26, also includes a second annular groove 28 receiving the elastic ring 16 provided at the open first end of the sleeve 11 of the device 10, in order to secure the device 10 in removable manner to the wall bushing structure 22.
The groove 28 for fastening the sleeve 11 is set back from the groove 27 for fastening the glove 31, such that the sleeve 11 can be secured to the structure 22 in any one of the configurations shown in
The fastening of the device 10 to the structure 22 need not be leaktight, and may be obtained by other means for fastening the sleeve, e.g. a clamping collar surrounding the sleeve close its the open first end.
When, as shown in
Under such circumstances, the perimeter of the outline of the opening 14 of the sleeve 11 is less than the perimeter of the outline of the portion 23 when the sleeve is “at rest”, i.e. when the sleeve is not being elastically deformed in order to enlarge the opening 14.
The outline of the opening 14 of the sleeve 11 then fits closely against the outline of the portion 23 of the structure 22, e.g. a circular outline as shown in
The device 10 and the sleeve 11 are thus arranged so as to deform reversibly and in particular to take up each of the following three configurations:
For this purpose, the length (references 33 in
Furthermore, in this closed-off configuration, the second opening at the second open end 13 becomes pinched, as shown in
The sleeve 11 and the device 10 make it possible to change between any of these three configurations without requiring significant effort from the operator, and they enable the additional protection provided by the sleeve not to cause any significant impediment for the operator.
Furthermore, the sleeve 11 and the device 10 enable the glove 31 to be shortened and housed in the space defined by the sleeve 11 and the structure 22 while the glove 31 is not in use.
For this purpose, and starting from the configuration shown in
From the configuration shown in
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 00391 | Feb 2013 | FR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/FR2014/000040 | 2/19/2014 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2014/128368 | 8/28/2014 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3009164 | Frey | Nov 1961 | A |
| 3395957 | Peele | Aug 1968 | A |
| 3907389 | Cox et al. | Sep 1975 | A |
| 4251123 | Brackenbush | Feb 1981 | A |
| 5299243 | Picco | Mar 1994 | A |
| 7927558 | Kirollos | Apr 2011 | B2 |
| 20060048268 | Loos | Mar 2006 | A1 |
| 20120217423 | Larmigny | Aug 2012 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2 254 409 | Jul 1975 | FR |
| 2 500 355 | Aug 1982 | FR |
| 2 685 244 | Jun 1993 | FR |
| Entry |
|---|
| International Search Report Issued Apr. 28, 2014 in PCT/FR14/000040 Filed Feb. 19, 2014. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20160005502 A1 | Jan 2016 | US |
