This application is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 national stage filing of International Application No. PCT/IN2014/000669, filed on Oct. 21, 2014, which claims benefit of and priority to Indian Patent Application No. 3333/MUM/2013, filed on Oct. 24, 2013. The contents of each of the foregoing applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The present subject matter described herein, in general, relates to blowout in pipes or tubes, and more particularly to detection of blowout in pipes or tubes.
Blowouts are holes in pipes/tubes generally caused by foreign material in an extrudate, which forms the pipes/tubes, creating a weak or open area during a period of stretching and pulling as the extrudate enters the vacuum tank water bath before the extrudate cools off to finally the pipes/tubes.
Blowouts can be small micro perforations or huge holes that will actually rupture the pipes/tubes and stop the production line. The large holes that shut down the line are easy to detect, they are right at the tube break off point. The micro perforations are more difficult to find as they may simply run through the line undetected. A customer in the field may find them when the customer wants to carry out an irrigation project and turns the water on. Many blowouts detected at that time often manifest either as a geyser or a flooded pool. If the pipes/tubes are buried, as is often the case it is a long job digging in the mud to locate and repair every place where a blowout occurred. Since there is seldom a single occurrence of a blowout, the field could be littered with them, creating a tremendous amount of work for the customer, and a warranty nightmare for the manufacturer of the pipes/tubes.
This summary is provided to introduce aspects related to a blowout detector for detecting blowouts or fault during the manufacturing of the pips/tubes. This summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter nor is it intended for use in determining or limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In one implementation, a method for detecting a blowout in an irrigation pipe is disclosed. The method may comprise manufacturing by extruding the irrigation pipe. Further the method may further comprise creating a positive air pressure in the irrigation pipe during the manufacturing. The positive air pressure may be created by circulating air through the irrigation pipe being manufactured. The method may comprise feeding the irrigation pipe, with the positive air pressure, into a tank. The tank may comprise a coolant liquid. Further the method may comprise trapping and sensing at least one air bubble at a surface of the tank.
The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer like features and components.
The present subject matter discloses a blowout detector for detecting blowouts or fault during the manufacturing of the pips/tubes.
The method of detection of blowout employs a differential between a positive air pressure inside the pipe/tube and a negative pressure of a vacuum tank. When the vacuum tank is filled with cooling liquid, the positive air pressure inside the pipe/tube will push through the defect and create bubbles in the cooling fluid while pipe/tube travels a length of the vacuum tank. An apparatus captures a stream of these bubbles as the pipe/tube travels under it and feeds (funnels) these bubbles to a central area in the tank where they are allowed to break the surface of the cooling liquid. The bubbles break the cooling liquid surface inside a small diameter tube and are transported by the tube along with a quantity of the cooling liquid to a point where the bubbles can be detected by a sensor. An output signal can be set to sound an alarm, or stop production, or any other manner of alerting.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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3333/MUM/2013 | Oct 2013 | IN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IN2014/000669 | 10/21/2014 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2015/075737 | 5/28/2015 | WO | A |
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20060202381 | Bach et al. | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20140150509 | Wisler | Jun 2014 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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102323012 | Jan 2012 | CN |
2012160121 | Nov 2012 | WO |
Entry |
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International Search Report dated Jun. 29, 2015 for International Application No. PCT/IN14/00669, 3 pages. |
Written Opinion dated Jun. 29, 2015 for International Application No. PCT/IN14/00669, 4 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20160273993 A1 | Sep 2016 | US |