Apparatus for making pipe insulation
AssigneeFibrex Insulations, Inc.
InventorGeoffrey H. Moore
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A roll forming apparatus used for rolling a material around a cylindrical core that comprises a core support, a roll support means, and a material supply means. The core support has an associated core rotation means for rotating the core about an axis at a controllable rate. The roll support means supports a plurality of forming rolls positioned to surround the core about the core rotation axis. The roll support means has a roll control means operable to both radially position the plurality of forming rolls relative to the core rotation axis so that they are equally spaced from the rotation axis. The material supply means is for supplying the selected material to the core at a material supply rate, and has an associated material supply control means for controlling the material supply rate.
Claims10
An apparatus for receiving a selected curable material and for retaining the selected curable material during a forming stage and a curing stage, the selected curable material being formed into a desired configuration during the forming stage and being heated during the curing stage to harden the selected material in the desired configuration, the apparatus comprising:
- a core mounted for rotation about an axis of rotation, the core having
- an associated core rotation means for rotating the core about an axis of rotation,
- an outer permeable surface for receiving and retaining the selected curable material, and
- fluid communication means for receiving air flow from the outer permeable surface;
- a curing means for heating the selected curable material to at least a curing temperature to harden the selected curable material in the selected configuration, wherein the curing means includes
- a curing station for supplying a curing air supply around the core, and
- air heating means for heating the curing air supply to at least the curing temperature;
- and, the vacuum means includes
- a forming air outlet for receiving the forming core air flow from the fluid communication means,
- a recirculation outlet for receiving the curing core air flow from the fluid communication means and for recirculating the curing core air flow back to the curing station, and
- a valve means for controlling fluid communication between the forming air outlet and the fluid communication means and for controlling fluid communication between the recirculation outlet and the fluid communication means;
- and,
- a vacuum means in fluid communication with the fluid communications of the core for
- drawing a forming core air flow through the fluid communication means, the outer permeable surface of the core and the selected curable material retained on the core during forming of the selected curable material retained on the core, the forming core air flow having a temperature below the curing temperature, and
- drawing a curing core air flow through the outer permeable surface and the fluid communication means of the core and the selected curable material retained on the core during curing of the selected curable material retained on the core.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.