Patent Application
20160153604
It is a common practice that many enclosures often have connections and openings that are sealed with a weld. While performing regular maintenance, repairing and refurbishing of the internal equipment, the enclosure often has to be cut open and later resealed with a new weld. Welding seals can require an expensive operator and can greatly increase the maintenance, repair or refurbishing time. This can be particularly difficult when working with submerged connections and openings. A system and method for sealing any number submerged openings for a piece of submerged equipment, however, are not presently available.
In one exemplary embodiment, a system to seal any number of submerged openings for a piece of submerged equipment may be described. The system can have a pump having an uninterruptable power supply and a display, the uninterruptable power supply includes a battery back-up that provides a constant source of electrical energy; a tube connection extended from the pump, the tube connection providing a pressurized media to the system; a submerged enclosure receiving the pressurized media from the tube connection extending from the pump, the submerged enclosure includes one or more internal bellows, a submerged opening and an electronic module with a differential pressure transducer; a pressure control signal emitted from the differential pressure transducer, the pressure control signal transmitted to and displayed on the display; and an internal leak protector providing an alarm output signal to the display when the pressurized media is leaking.
In another exemplary embodiment, a method for sealing any number of submerged openings for a piece of submerged equipment may be shown and described. The method can include maintaining a positive internal pressure within a submerged enclosure enclosing the piece of submerged equipment with a pump; sensing an external pressure approaching the positive internal pressure with a differential pressure transducer; sending a pressure control signal from the differential pressure transducer to the pump to increase the positive internal pressure; increasing the positive internal pressure to exceed the external pressure with a pressurizing media; displaying the positive internal pressure and the external pressure on a display for monitoring and data collection; and providing an internal leak protector with an alarm output signal to the display when the pressurizing media from the pump is leaking.
Advantages of embodiments of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments thereof, which description should be considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals indicate like elements, in which:
Aspects of the present invention are disclosed in the following description and related figures directed to specific embodiments of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will recognize that alternate embodiments may be devised without departing from the spirit or the scope of the claims. Additionally, well-known elements of exemplary embodiments of the present invention will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the present invention.
As used herein, the word “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance or illustration.” The embodiments described herein are not limiting, but rather are exemplary only. It should be understood that the described embodiments are not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Moreover, the terms “embodiments of the present invention”, “embodiments” or “present invention” do not require that all embodiments of the present invention include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.
Still referring to exemplary
The pump 110 in exemplary
Further, and still referring to exemplary
The method for sealing any number of submerged openings for a piece of submerged equipment 200 may include a steps of maintaining a positive internal pressure within a submerged enclosure enclosing the piece of submerged equipment with a pump 210. The method can further have a step of sensing an external pressure approaching the positive internal pressure with a differential pressure transducer 220. In further embodiments, there may be a step of sending, by the differential pressure transducer, a pressure control signal to the pump that can increase or decrease the positive internal pressure 230, as desired. This may further include a step of increasing the positive internal pressure to exceed the external pressure with a pressurizing media 240. Next, there may be a step whereby a display is displaying the positive internal pressure and the external pressure on a display for monitoring and data collection 250 and providing an internal leak protector with an alarm output signal to the display if the pressurizing media from the pump is leaking 260.
The method 200 may further include a step of actively regulating the positive internal pressure within the submerged enclosure. The method 200 thus may provide a situation or environment where the positive internal pressure within the submerged enclosure prevents a submerging liquid from seeping into the piece of submerged equipment. Additionally, in an exemplary embodiment, the step of maintaining a positive internal pressure 210 may further include the positive internal pressure within the submerged enclosure eliminating decommissioning. The step of sensing an external pressure approaching the positive internal pressure 220 may further include the pressurized submerged enclosure allowing one or more standard sealing methods for one or more connections and openings without welding. Step 230 may also include placing the pump above a liquid submerging surface and supporting the pump with a battery back-up with an uninterruptable power supply. Additionally, the sending of a pressure control signal to the pump that can increase the positive internal pressure 230 may include sending or relaying additional information. For example, any data sent may also include internal pressure data of the submerged enclosure, external pressure data of the submerged enclosure, and a difference between the internal pressure data of the submerged enclosure and the external pressure data of the submerged enclosure.
In still further exemplary embodiments of
As shown in these exemplary embodiments, several benefits of the system and method for sealing submerged openings for a piece of submerged equipment become apparent. For example, a submerged electrical box may not require expensive welding joints for sealing but instead may utilize other standard methods of sealing openings for mechanical and electrical connections. The utilization of standard sealing methods may not rely on an expensive, trained operator for welding seals. The utilization of standard sealing methods may further eliminate decommissioning and the pressure tests that take place after the placement of new welded seals. The utilization of standard sealing methods therefore may greatly reduce the cost and time for regular maintenance, repair and refurbishing of equipment.
The foregoing description and accompanying figures illustrate the principles, embodiments and modes of operation of the present invention. However, the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the particular embodiments discussed above. Additional variations of the embodiments discussed above will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
Therefore, the above-described embodiments should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that variations to those embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.
