WO2019116223A1

WO2019116223A1 - Cable transit module

Info

Publication number: WO2019116223A1
Application number: PCT/IB2018/059872
Authority: WO
Inventors: Massimo Spinelli
Original assignee: Wallmax S.R.L.
Priority date: 2017-12-12
Filing date: 2018-12-11
Publication date: 2019-06-20

Abstract

Cable transit module (10) extending along a longitudinal direction (X) and comprising two half-shells (11, 11') of elastically compressible material having two respective semicylindrical seats or cradles (12) that define, by juxtaposition of the two half-shells (11, 11'), a cylindrical seat or duct for the passage of a cable or tube, the cable transit module (10) being characterised in that the opposite longitudinal ends of each half-shell (11, 11') are coupled directly or indirectly to respective casings (16, 17), the casings (16, 17) being shaped so as to define, by juxtaposition of the two half-shells (11, 11'), a hole for the passage of said cable or tube, the casings (16, 17) being open towards said hole and filled with intumescent material (18).

Description

CABLE TRANSIT MODULE

The present invention relates to a cable transit module intended to be mounted on a wall to allow cables or pipes to pass through the wall itself in a sealed manner .

The cable transit modules typically used today are, in particular, provided to ensure a sealed passage of liquids, gases or other particles.

In fact, these cable transit modules are very useful during the implementation of electrical or hydraulic systems in structures such as ships or aeroplanes in which there are no walls where it is possible to integrate ducts for the passage of cables but only thin walls that separate the different environments and that must be passed through by the cables.

Generally, the cable transit modules known today are made of bodies of elastically compressible material that have a duct intended to be passed through by a cable or a pipe.

The compressible bodies of the cable transit modules typically are composed of two half-shells that have two respective semicylindrical seats or cradles which, when the module is assembled, form the duct for the passage of the cable or pipe.

Each half-shell can have on the semicylindrical seat a series of removable or peelable layers, approximately 1 mm thick, that allow to adapt the diameter of the duct to the diameter of the cable or pipe.

The cable transit modules can be grouped in rows set side by side and/or superposed in special frames applicable to the walls, or they can also be installed individually in related openings in the walls.

The seal against gases, liquids or particles of the ducts is obtained by appropriately compressing the modules themselves packed into the frame or into the openings in the walls, so that the ducts are enclosed and compressed sealingly around the cables or the pipes that pass through them.

In addition to the aforementioned seals, the cable transmit modules must also assure adequate protection against fire, i.e. they must prevent a fire from propagating through the opening of the wall in which they are mounted.

For this purpose, it is known to arrange two cable transit modules in the same opening, one after the other, so as to form a single duct, interposing a ring of intumescent material between the two modules. In this way, in case of fire when the heat reaches in proximity to the ring, the intumescent material expands radially, compressing the cable or pipe that passes through the duct of the cable transit module until making it collapse, thereby closing and thermally insulating the duct.

This solution, however, has some drawbacks.

A first drawback is that the ring of intumescent material, being in intermediate position along the longitudinal extension of the duct formed by the two cable transit modules, expands only after the heat produced by a fire propagates along the duct to the aforesaid intermediate position. In particular, heat must first overcome one of the two cable transit modules which, on the other hand, being made of rubber, i.e. of an excellent thermal insulator, retard the propagation of heat. The expansion of the intumescent material, then, can take place later than what would be necessary in order to insulate the duct thermally and prevent the fire from propagating.

A second drawback is that, to drive the radial expansion of the layer of intumescent material towards the duct, the cable transit modules must necessarily be inserted in sleeves. These sleeves can be made of plastic or metal, entailing however drawbacks in either case. In fact if the sleeves are made of plastic they risk melting in the presence of a flame, thus being unreliable for the function they have to perform. On the other hand, while metallic sleeves provide greater safety than plastic ones, still entail a considerable increase in cost and weight.

A purpose of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks and in particular to devise a cable transit module able to ensure a timely thermal insulation of the duct in case of sudden fire.

This and other aims according to the present invention are achieved by making a cable transit module as recited in claim 1.

Further features of the cable transit module are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

The features and advantages of a cable transit module according to the present invention will be more apparent from the following description, which is to be understood as exemplifying and not limiting, with reference to the schematic attached drawings, wherein: - figure 1 is a first perspective view of an embodiment of a cable transit module according to the present invention; figure 2 is a second perspective view of an embodiment of a cable transit module according to the present invention;

- figure 3 is a plan view of one of the two half-shells of the cable transit module of figures 1 and 2;

- figure 4 is a first perspective view of the half shell of figure 3;

- figure 5 is a second perspective view of the half shell of figure 3;

- figures 6a and 6b are two opposite front views of the half-shell of figure 3.

With reference to the figures, a cable transit module is shown, indicated overall with number 10, which extends in length along a longitudinal direction X.

Said cable transit module 10 comprises two half-shells 11, 11' that have two respective semicylindrical seats or cradles 12 which define, by juxtaposition of the two half-shells 11, 11', a cylindrical seat or longitudinal duct for the passage of a cable or tube.

For example, the half-shells 11, 11' can be made of rubber .

The cable transit module 10 can have any shape, for example it may be in the shape of a parallelepiped or have substantially cylindrical shape as shown in the accompanying figures.

According to the present invention, the opposite longitudinal ends of each half-shells 11, 11' are coupled directly or indirectly to respective casings 16, 17; these casings 16, 17 are so shaped as to define by juxtaposition of the two half-shells 11, 11' a hole for the passage of the cable or tube. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the casings 16, 17 are shaped as an arc of an annulus.

The casings 16, 17, moreover, are open towards the hole and filled with intumescent material 18.

In this way, in case of fire the intumescent material 18 contained in the casings 16, 17 positioned at the end of the cable transit module 10 facing towards the fire will expand in a timely manner radially towards the cable or tube that passes through the cable transit module 10. The expansion of the intumescent material 18 is guided towards the duct by the casings 16, 17 that contain it, which for this purpose are open towards the duct .

Preferably, the casings 16, 17 are made of metal. In this way, advantageously, the cable transit module 10 can also be inserted in plastic sleeves, because the function of guiding the expansion of the intumescent material is performed exclusively by the casings 16, 17 which, being metallic, are more resistant to high temperatures .

In the particular embodiment illustrated, the opposite longitudinal ends of each half-shell 11, 11' are directly coupled respectively with a first half-flange 13 and a second half-flange 14 by a plurality of screws 15; in this case, the casings 16, 17 are coupled to the free faces of the respective half-flanges 13, 14 of each half-shell 11, 11', thus resulting to be coupled indirectly to the longitudinal ends of the two half shells 11, 11' . The half-flanges 13, 14 in the particular embodiment illustrated are shaped as annulus arcs. In any case the half-flanges 13, 14 are shaped so as to define, by juxtaposition of the two half-shells 11, 11', a hole having a diameter substantially equal to the maximum diameter of the duct for cables or pipe. Each half-shell 11, 11' and the respective half-flanges 13, 14 have through longitudinal holes able to be passed through by the screws 15. In particular, the through holes of the second half-flange 14 are threaded so as to be able to engage with the threaded end of the screws 15. In this way, when the cable transit module 10 is assembled and installed the screws 15 are inserted in the respective through holes and when tightened they collaborate with the half-flanges 13, 14 so as to compress the respective half-shell 11, 11' determining a radial expansion thereof.

The casing 16 coupled to the first half-flange 13 is holed at the through holes for the screws 15, thus allowing access to the heads of the screws 15 themselves for tightening operations.

Preferably, each half-shell 11, 11' has on the semicylindrical seat 12 a plurality of multilayer structures 19, 20, 21 of peelable layers superposed on each other.

The layers of the series 19, 20, 21 can advantageously be peelable manually.

These multilayer structures 19, 20, 21 are placed side by side in succession along the longitudinal direction so as to be adjacent to each other and are able to modify the diameter of the semicylindrical seat 12 making it adaptable to the diameter of the cable or tube to be installed in the respective cable transit module 10.

In particular, a first multilayer structure 19 and a third multilayer structure 21 are positioned at the longitudinal ends of the semicylindrical seat 12 while a second multilayer structure 20 is interposed between the first series 19 and the third series 21.

The diameter of the duct is, in this case, defined by the diameter resulting from the juxtaposition of the opposite multilayer structures of the two half-shells 11, 11' and thus it depends on the number of peelable layers of each multilayer structure present on the semicylindrical seat 12.

The possibility of adapting the diameter of the conduit is, thus, provided by the fact that peeling the layers of the multilayer structures 19, 20, 21 of the two half-shells 11, 11', ducts with progressively larger diameter are defined.

Advantageously, the layers of the first multilayer structure 19 and of the third multilayer structure 21 are made of intumescent material.

The layers of the second multilayer structure 20 are made of a different material from that of the layers of the first 19 and of the third 21 multilayer structure, for example of rubber. In this way, an adequate mechanical seal is also assured, due to the higher mechanical strength of the rubber compared with the intumescent material.

Preferably, the minimum diameter of the semicylindrical seat describable by the first multilayer structure 19 and by the third multilayer structure 21 is substantially equal to the minimum diameter of the semicylindrical seat describable by the at least a second multilayer structure 20.

In this case, preferably, the layers of the multilayer structures 19, 20, 21 have substantially the same thickness and are in equal number; alternatively, the thickness of the layers of intumescent material of the first series 19 and of the third series 21 can be a multiple or submultiple of the thickness of the layers of the second series 20 and consequently the number of the layers of the first series 19 and of the third series 21 is respectively a corresponding submultiple or multiple of that of the second series 20. In these cases, peeling the layers of the multilayer structures 19, 20, 21 arranged side by side it is always possible to obtain three placed side by side seats of substantially equal diameter.

It is possible that the diversity of the materials of the layers of the multilayer structures 19, 20, 21 does not allow to obtain semicylindrical seats of substantially equal diameter. It may thus occur that there is a space between a tube and the innermost layer of the first 19 and of the third 21 multilayer structure. This space would however have a small thickness of the order of a millimetre that would not entail a significant delay in the action of expansion of the intumescent material in case of fire.

Preferably, the minimum diameter of the semicylindrical seat describable by the first multilayer structure 19 and by the third multilayer structure 21 is no greater than the minimum diameter of the semicylindrical seat describable by the second multilayer structure 20. This allows to avoid the possible presence of a space between a tube and the portions of the semicylindrical seat 12 described by the first series 19 and by the third series 21.

In any case, the thicknesses of the layers of the multilayer structures 19, 20, 21 can for example be comprised between 1 mm and 2 mm.

In any case the casings 16, 17 are shaped so as to define, by juxtaposition of the two half-shells 11, 11', a hole having a diameter substantially equal to the maximum obtainable diameter of the duct.

The presence of the multilayer structures of layers of intumescent material 19, 21 increases the effectiveness of the thermal insulation action of the cable transit module 10 in case of fires.

Consider for example the case in which a pipe passes through the duct of the cable transit module 10 with minimum diameter. In this case, between the casings 16, 17 and the pipe there is a passage because the hole defined by the casings 16, 17 has a greater diameter than the minimum diameter of the duct. If a fire develops from the part towards which the first multilayer structure 19 faces, the heat invests the intumescent material 18 contained in the casings 16, 17 and the intumescent material of which the layers of the first multilayer structure 19 are made. In this case, the expansion of the intumescent material of the first multilayer structure 19 assures a timely compression action on the pipe since the first multilayer structure 19 is already in contact with the pipe unlike the intumescent material contained in the casings 16, 17 whose expansion must first compensate the clearance between pipe and casings 16, 17.

From the above description the features of the cable transit module object of the present invention, as well as the advantages thereof, are evident.

Finally, it is clear that the cable transit module as conceived herein is susceptible to many modifications and variations, all falling within the invention; furthermore, all the details are replaceable by technically equivalent elements. In practice, the materials used, as well as their dimensions, can be of any type according to the technical requirements.

Claims

1) Cable transit module (10) extending along a longitudinal direction (X) and comprising two half shells (11, 11') of elastically compressible material having two respective semicylindrical seats or cradles (12) that define, by juxtaposition of the two half shells (11, 11'), a cylindrical seat or duct for the passage of a cable or tube, said cable transit module (10) being characterised in that the opposite longitudinal ends of each half-shell (11, 11') are coupled directly or indirectly to respective casings (16, 17), said casings (16, 17) being shaped so as to define, by juxtaposition of the two half-shells (11, 11'), a hole for the passage of said cable or tube, said casings (16, 17) being open towards said hole and filled with intumescent material (18) .

2) Cable transit module (10) according to claim 1 wherein said casings (16, 17) consist of metal.

3) Cable transit module (10) according to claim 1 or 2 wherein each of said half-shells (11, 11') has on said semicylindrical seat (12) a plurality of multilayer structures (19, 20, 21) of peelable layers superimposed on each other, said multilayer structures (19, 20, 21) being adapted to modify the diameter of said semicylindrical seat (12), said multilayer structures (19, 20, 21) being placed side-by-side in succession along said longitudinal direction (x) such as to be adjacent to each other, a first multilayer structure (19) and a third multilayer structure (21) of said plurality of multilayer structures (19, 20, 21) being placed at the longitudinal ends of said semicylindrical seat (12), a second multilayer structure (20) of said multilayer structures (19, 20, 21) being interposed between said first multilayer structure (19) and said third multilayer structure (21), the layers of said first multilayer structure (19) and of said third multilayer structure (21) consisting of intumescent material .

4) Cable transit module (10) according to claim 3 wherein the minimum diameter of the semicylindrical seat describable by said first multilayer structure (19) and said third multilayer structure (21) is not greater than the minimum diameter of the semicylindrical seat describable by said second multilayer structure (20) .

5) Cable transit module (10) according to claim 3 or 4 wherein the minimum diameter of the semicylindrical seat describable by said first multilayer structure (19) and said third series (21) is substantially equal to the minimum diameter of the semicylindrical seat describable by said second multilayer structure (20) .

6) Cable transit module (10) according to claim 5 wherein the layers of said three multilayer structures (19, 20, 21) have substantially the same thickness and are in equal numbers .

7) Cable transit module (10) according to claim 5 wherein the layers of said first multilayer structure

(19) and said third multilayer structure (21) have a thickness which is a multiple of the layers of said second multilayer structure (20), the number of the layers of said first multilayer structure (19) and said third multilayer structure (21) being a corresponding submultiple of that of said second multilayer structure

(20) . 8) Cable transit module (10) according to claim 5 wherein the layers of said first multilayer structure

(19) and said third multilayer structure (21) have a thickness which is a submultiple of the layers of said second multilayer structure (20), the number of the layers of said first multilayer structure (19) and said third multilayer structure (21) being a corresponding multiple of that of said second multilayer structure

(20) .

9) Cable transit module (10) according to one or more of the preceding claims wherein said casings (16, 17) are shaped so as to define, by juxtaposition of the two half-shells (11, 11'), a hole having a diameter substantially equal to the maximum obtainable diameter of said duct.

10) Cable transit module (10) according to one or more of the preceding claims wherein each of said half shells (11, 11') is coupled at the opposite longitudinal ends respectively to a first half-flange (13) and a second half-flange (14) by means of a plurality of screws (15), said casings (16, 17) being respectively coupled to the free faces of said half flanges (13, 14 ) .