Plug kit for pressured components
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorAbdullah M. Al-Otaibi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for plugging a bore of a tube sheet, the apparatus includes cantilevered members that project radially outward from a body on the inner surface of the tube sheet. Slots can be drilled into a tube the projects into the bore and the cantilevered members set into the slots. The cantilevered members can slide radially outward from within the body, or can be pivotingly attached on an end of the body. One end of a bolt threadingly attaches to the body, and attaches on its other end to a nut circumscribing the tube sheet bore on its outer surface. A deformable collar circumscribes the bolt between the body and nut and provides a seal within the tube sheet bore. The apparatus can also be used to plug bores that do not include tubes.
Claims11
A plug kit for plugging a bore in a tube sheet comprising:
- an annular plug body having an axis, an outer periphery, a passage axially extending therethrough, and rectangular slots extending radially through the plug body between the passage and the outer periphery and along a portion of a circumference of the plug body;
- rectangular planar members that are separate from the plug body and are in a plane perpendicular with the axis of the body and selectively moveable in the slots between a retracted position encompassed by the plug body outer periphery, and a deployed position having a portion of the planar members projecting past the plug body outer periphery and through openings formed in a sidewall of a heat exchanger tube attached to the tube sheet;
- an annular member coaxial with the passage;
- and
- a threaded fastener engaged on one end with the plug body and engaged on an opposite end with the annular member having an unthreaded portion with an outer surface with a constant radius, and that unthreaded portion comes into direct contact with and biases the planar members into the deployed position when the threaded fastener is engaged with the plug body, so that when the planar members are in the deployed position and disposed on one side of a tube sheet, the annular member is disposed on a side of the tube sheet opposite the planar members, and the threaded fastener passes through the bore of a tube sheet, engaging the threaded fastener to the plug body and the annular member sealingly plugs the tube sheet bore;
- wherein the threaded fastener comprises a bolt with a conically shaped end that is unthreaded and that when urged axially through the plug body urges the planar members radially outward and away from the axis so that the entire portion of the threaded fastener that biases the planar members radially outward is unthreaded, and wherein the threaded fastener has threads proximate the bolt head that are threadingly fastened to the plug body when the planar members are in the deployed position, and wherein the threaded fastener further comprises threads on an end distal from the bolt head that are threadingly fastened to the annular member when the planar members are in the deployed position;
- and
- an annular packing member that sets between the tube sheet and the annular member.
A heat exchanger comprising:
- a tube sheet,
- a bore formed through the tube sheet and having an axis;
- a heat exchanger tube inserted into the bore;
- slots preformed completely through a sidewall of the heat exchanger tube;
- a plugging member comprising:
- planar members having elongate lengths that are normal to the axis of the bore and each having a portion projecting radially outward from the axis past the outer periphery of the bore, and through the slots formed in the sidewall of the heat exchanger tube;
- an annular plug body inserted in an end of the bore and coupled to the planar members;
- a planar seal member directly coupled to the plug body and disposed over an opening of the bore opposite the plug body and a sealing interface between the bore and the seal member;
- an annular member directly threaded to a bolt outside of the bore;
- the bolt directly threaded to the plug body and the seal member, and having an unthreaded conically shaped end that directly leads to a constant radius section that is also unthreaded that when urged axially through the plug body, from the direction the plugging member enters the bore, urges the planar members radially outward through the slots;
- and
- a sealing interface between the bore and the seal member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.