Joint system for filament wound aluminum pipe
AssigneeHercules Incorporated
InventorRaymond S. M. Wilde, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for joining aluminum pipe designed as a housing for electrical cable surrounded with oil under pressure is provided. The aluminum pipe sections which are to be joined are filament wound. The pipe sections are joined by welding or soldering. Sealing rings are filament wound into bonding engagement with the exterior of each pipe section near the mating ends thereof. The ends of the pipe are bare aluminum. A sleeve encompassing the joined pipes extends over at least the bare aluminum ends of the joined pipe sections. A cavity formed between the sleeve and the joined pipe sections is filled with a thermosetting polymeric compound which is cured. The joint system is designed to prevent both corrosion of the pipe and oil leakage past the sealing rings in the event of failure of a weld or solder joint.
Claims7
A joint system for filament reinforced aluminum pipe comprising (a) at least a first aluminum pipe section and a second aluminum pipe section, each pipe section having mating ends, and each pipe section being in direct contact with and reinforced throughout its length, except for a small portion of the length of each pipe adjacent the mating ends thereof, with high strength filaments in a matrix material, each pipe section having a seal means contiguous with the external surface of the aluminum pipe about the circumference thereof, said seal means being forced into engagement with the external surface of each pipe by the filament reinforcement wound over said seal means of each pipe and said seal means being spaced from the end of the filament reinforcement at the mating end of each pipe section, said pipe sections being in mating engagement and welded or soldered at the junction of the mating pipe ends, (b) a sleeve encompassing said pipe sections and having an interior surface surrounding and spaced from said joined pipe sections thereby defining a cavity between the exterior surface of said joined pipe sections and the interior surface of said sleeve, said sleeve bridging the junction of said joined pipes, and being of a sufficient length to extend over the portions of each pipe section which is not filament reinforced, and (c) a cured thermosetting compound filling said cavity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.