Method of manufacture for fluid handling barrier ribbon with polymeric tubes
OwnerKevin Bergevin, Greg A. Campbellinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for making fluid handling structures, made by positioning multiple polymeric tubes spaced apart by at least 1½ tube diameters measured center-to-center 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 thereof, 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.
Claims21
A method for making a fluid handling apparatus comprising a plurality of polymeric tubes arranged in parallel and placed at least 1½ tube diameters apart measured center-to-center, said tubes being surrounded by and sealed to a laminated foil, said foil having two faces, one facing toward the tubes, and the other facing away from the tubes, said foil comprising at least one layer of metal with at least one polymer layer on at least the side facing the tubes,
- said tubes having an inner diameter in the range of 0.5-4 mm and a wall thickness in the range of 0.05-0.3 mm,
- said foil having a total thickness in the range of 0.05-0.25 mm and a metal thickness in the range of 0.002-0.1 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.