US 10,094,735 B2 · Plastic tube sealing and test system

Abstract

A tube sealing positioning apparatus has a tube holder slidable on a vertical guide from a lower to an upper portion of a sealing chamber for positioning adjacent a heating apparatus and a clamping apparatus. The heating apparatus may have a nozzle to direct heated air on an open end of a plastic tube. The clamping apparatus may have two clamping devices slidably disposed to clamp the heated open end of the plastic tube to fuse the tube wall adjacent the open end. A control processor may be connected to control movement and dwell time of the tube holder, and to control heat application and clamp spacing and time. A sealed tube may be attached to a top cover to be positioned in a test container. A sealing disk may close the top cover and may direct fluid pressure into the tube and apply a vacuum to the test container.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A system for testing a strength of a sealed tube, comprising:

a test container having an open interior space and an aperture to receive a mouth of the sealed tube;
a sealing disk having a first fluid port, the sealing disk configured to be engaged with the test container to fluidically couple the first fluid port to the aperture and to seal the open interior space;
a source of a pressurized fluid, the source fluidically coupled to the first fluid port;
and
a control processor to control a speed of a ramp up of a pressure of the pressurized fluid in the sealed tube until a failure of the sealed tube occurs, wherein the control processor is configured to receive a data output representing a pressure in the test container outside the sealed tube, and wherein the control processor is configured to receive a data output representing the pressure of the pressurized fluid in the sealed tube.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Plastic tube sealing and test system

Life of this patent

Plastic tube sealing and test system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims24