Method of manufacture for fluid handling polymeric barrier tube
OwnerKevin Bergevin, Greg A. Campbell +1inventors
InventorsKevin Bergevin, Greg A. Campbell, Kenneth Earl Stevens
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Abstract
A method for making fluid handling structures by arranging and positioning polymeric tubes spaced on a sheet of foil made of metal, with plastic on at least the side facing the tubes, adding another such foil to bond on the other side of the tubes, and heating the resulting assembly, either before or after adding the second layer of foil, to bond it into a structure with spaced apart tubes encapsulated in foil on both sides.
Claims19
A method for making a fluid handling apparatus comprising at least one polymeric tube, said tube surrounded by and sealed to a laminated foil, said foil having two faces, one facing toward the tube, and the other facing away from the tube, said foil comprising at least one layer of metal with polymer layers on at least the side facing the tubes,
- said tube having an inner diameter in the range of 0.5-50 mm and a wall thickness in the range of 0.1-1.0 mm,
- said foil having a total thickness in the range of 0.05-0.25 mm and a metal thickness in the range of 0.0020-0.1 mm,
- said method comprising the steps of
- contacting the tubes on one side with a first foil,
- contacting the tubes on the other side of the tubes with a second foil,
- heating the tubes with the foil on at least one side to adhere the foil to the tubes before or after contacting the tubes with said second foil, conforming said first and second foils to the tubes to essentially eliminate air bubbles or gaps, and optionally completing the heat sealing of both the first and second foils to the tubes with a second heating step.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.