GB2360484A - Pipe or conduit fitting with an internal seal - Google Patents

Abstract

A pipe/conduit end fitting with integral thermoplastic elastomer seal. Seal can be applied to many types of pipe/conduit fitting in many industrial applications. The seal being internal and integrated offers the producer marketing advantages due to the technically superiority over loose assembled seals. ```(Elimination of one leakage path) ```(Cannot be pushed out of position on assembly) Manufacture of such parts is 'cost effective. Assembly 'on site' of such parts is cost effective as it is quicker. The integrity of the seal excellent as one leakage path is eliminated and the second leakage has sealing at two points. The seal is injection moulded in a second stage of the injection moulding process through an orifice or feed point in the sidewall of the fitting moulded in the first stage. The fitting may be produces with a 90 degree bend.

Description

2360484 PLASTIC 'PIPE,'CONDIJIT EArD'WITHINTL.GRAL'INTF-,RNAL,1F-AL Quick

Seal SHT. 1,13 A plastic pipe fittingllbendlconduitl'water trap has a pipe end to receive a pipelconduit The pipelconduit end has an internal annular (could be rectangular, oval, elc) Thermoplastic Elastomer seal which is injection moulded through an orifice or'feedpoint'in the sidewall ofa moulded fitting/bend/conduit/Water trap outletlinlet stage injection moulding) RefDwg 1.

This process could be used to manufacture pipelconduil bends 9011351180degree or any other angle required 11 could also be applied to tubular 'water traps' RefDwg's 2and3.

It offers a technically superior product as the naturally occurring 'crosslinking'of the polymers provides excellent adhesion1Jusion giving an integrated pipelconduit endwhich eliminates one leakage path The seal being integrated cannot be dislodged when pushing in the pipelconduil The seal is internal and therefore protectedfrom damage TO S UMMA RISE Immovable integrated seal Technically superior sealing due to elimination of one leakage path Reduced manufacturing costs as parts can be made Automatically Significant 'on site'cost savings k Quick-Seal SHT213 The manufacturing of these parts involves P and.2 nd stage injection moulding of two resins, one being a thermoplastic elastomer TOOLING FOR PRODUCTION OF PARTS The injection mould tooling requi 1 red to produce such parts as stated would require] and 2" stage injection moulding The] stage of the moulding sequence would be to injection mould the 'rigid'pipelconduitfilling and the 2"d stage to injection mould the internal seal This would involve design and manufacture ofso called 'side core' tooling in which the 'core- pulling'would be sequenced The design of the pipe endfacifilates this as there is an angular 'ramp' METHOD As previously stated the Is' instance an injection moulded 'rigid'fitting is produced e.g. 90degree pipe bend (ref Dwg. 2) The 'side cores are sequentially extracted to allow the pipelconduit end to expand and allow the central 'side core'lo clear the undercut There would be a limit on the depth of the undercut At this stage the entrypoint (orifice) for the t.p.e. seal is also produced in the injection mould Ref Dwg. 4.

The part is then moved to another point to mould the seal through this orificel"feed point' This constitutes the 2nd stage of the moulding process The moving of the part (after Is'stage moulding) can be manual or automatic If the two moulding stages are to be achieved automatically (which is preferred) then a robot'could be used to pick andplace' A typical injection mould layout is shown as an example Ref Dwg. 5. (90deg. Bend) C) Quick-Seal SHT 313 CONCLUSION

To summarise there re-The manufacture this ivpe ofp' e end can be fi) 1P produced using relative tooling methods in dedicated injection mould tooling and production processes The plastic resins referred to are currently available in today's 'marketplace' The examples given in the drawings refer mainly to the manufacture of 'waste water 'fillings as used in the plumbing industry but would not exclude other pipelconduit applications 2 CLAIM Ouick-Seal

The pipelconduit end has an internal seal which has been moulded in the d stage ofthe injection mouldingprocess This seal being integral eliminates one of the leakage paths (there are two leakage paths in loose assembled V -seals) For this reason the seal is technically superior to loose assembled seals The seal being internal cannot easily be damaged The seal being integral (polymer cross linked and bonded) cannot be pushed out ofposition on assembly The 'on site'assembly is quicker and therefore 'cost effective' The manufacture ofsuch parts can be automatic in 1 s, + -"d stages of injection moulding and therefore 'cost effective'to produce There would be a compe titive advantage for a company producing parts in this way The remaining leakage path of the seal has two '0 -ring shaped sealing points d (Sequential 'core pulling' is used in both f' and j stage moulding) The resin (Thermoplastic elastomer) is specifically injection moulded through an orificelfeedpointthrough the side wall o the rigidfitting )f RefDrwg 1) The orificelfeedpoint'isformed during the P stage of the injection mouldingprocess The fitting produced in the Is'slage of the injection mouldingprocess is a 'rigid'filling The fitting produced in the P' stage of the injection moulding process is moved to another position within the toolltools to allow the 2 nd stage of the injection moulding process to take place (The T P. E. seal) An example ofa mouldedpart produced in this way is shown in Dwg.2 4-