Technical Field

The present invention concerns a sealed transit for a pipe through a partition. Especially for a pipe containing a cold fluid.

Prior Art

For passing a pipe through an opening of a wall, a roof, a top, a floor, a bottom of a house, a ship, an electrical cabinet, a container etc., it is often a need to have some kind of sealing. The wall, roof, top, floor and bottom could be expressed as any dividing structure or partition. To simplify, the term“partition” will mainly be used in this description as a general term for the different parts through which the pipe should go.

As used in this description the terms“axial”,“radial” and corresponding terms are in view of a pipe going through the opening of the partition.

One type of seal often used in a pipe or cable transit or transition has a general cylindrical form and is to be received in a sleeve in a partition or directly in an opening of a partition. The seal has a cylindrical compressible body, which is compressed axially between fittings at opposite ends of the compressible body. By the axial compression the cylindrical body will expand radially both inwards and outwards. The compressible body has a central through opening for receiving a cable or pipe.

Another mode of sealing according to prior art is to arrange one or more compressible modules inside a cylindrical or rectangular frame. Each module is to receive a cable or pipe in a central through opening.

The cylindrical frame receiving a number of modules has a cylindrical compressible body. The cylindrical compressible body is compressed axially between fittings at opposite ends of the compressible body. The compressible body has a central through opening, normally having a rectangular form, for receiving a number of compressible modules. The cylindrical frame is received in a sleeve in a partition or directly in an opening of the partition.

For transits having modules received inside a rectangular frame, the rectangular frame is fixed in the opening of the partition. The modules normally have a rectangular cross section. Inside the rectangular frame also some kind of compression unit is arranged. The compression unit is placed between the rectangular frame and the modules inside the rectangular frame in such a way that when the compression unit is expanded the compressible modules will be compressed around the pipes or cables.

The parts receiving a single pipe etc. as discussed above often have a number of peelable layers or sheets on the inside. Said layers are peeled off until the inner diameter of the part is adapted to the outer diameter of the pipe etc. received in said part.

Pipes, especially metal pipes, having a flow of cold fluid, may experience condensation problems. For pipes passing a partition it is common to have a seal placed inside a sleeve. If a seal is used in a transition the sleeve will be chilled and

condensation will be formed. This will give risk of mould forming.

For pipes having a flow of hot fluid there is a risk that the temperature of a possible seal will be too high. A high temperature may affect the material of the seal, such as a rubber material.

One prior art example of solving the problem with condensation is to pull the insulation of the pipe on to the outside of the seal.

Another prior art example is to arrange a separate insulation on the outside of the seal, to reduce chilling of the sleeve.

Summary

To reduce the risk of mould forming one object of the present invention is to create a temperature barrier between a pipe for cold fluid and a seal. Even though the invention has been developed in view of pipes having cold flow, it will also have a function in view of pipes for hot fluids. Thus, in case of a pipe for hot fluid, creating a temperature barrier between the pipe and a seal will reduce the risk of affecting the material of the seal in a negative way.

The above object is achieved with a transit according to claim 1. The dependent claims specify further features of the transit.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be obvious to a person skilled in the art when reading the detailed description below of different embodiments.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The present invention will be described below by way of example and with reference to the enclosed drawings. In the drawings: Fig. l is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of a transit for a pipe through a partition,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a cylindrical seal that can be used in the transit of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of a transit for a pipe through a partition,

Fig. 4 is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of a transit for a pipe through a partition,

Fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a compressible body of a seal half in a preparation state, which compressible body can be used in a transit for a pipe through a partition,

Fig. 6 is a schematic perspective view of the compressible body of Fig. 5 in a state ready for mounting,

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a module that can be received in different types of transits,

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a cylindrical frame receiving modules as shown in Fig. 7, and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a rectangular frame receiving modules as shown in Fig. 7.

Detailed Description of Embodiments

The term“sealing means” will be used in this description for any part designed to receive a pipe in a sealed way. The“sealing means” can for instance be a cylindrical seal or a module having a rectangular cross section.

In the example of Fig. 1 a pipe 1 for cold fluid or hot fluid, passes through a partition 2. The fluid may be gas or liquid. The pipe 1 goes through a sleeve 3 fixed in a through opening of the partition 2. To seal the pipe 1 inside the sleeve 3, the pipe 1 is also arranged to go through a sealing means placed inside the sleeve 3. Further, insulation 5 is placed between the pipe 1 and an inner surface of the sealing means.

In one embodiment the insulation 5 is fastened on the outside of the pipe. In another embodiment the insulation 5 is fastened to the inside of the sealing means. The insulation normally extends the entire axial length of the sealing means.

In one embodiment the sealing means is a cylindrical seal 4 formed of two halves. The cylindrical seal 4 comprises a compressible body 6, a first fitting 7 and a second fitting 8. The first and second fittings 7, 8 are placed at opposite ends of the compressible body 6. Screws 9 are provided to move the first and second fittings 7, 8 towards each other in order to compress the compressible body 6. The compressible body 6 has an axial through opening. A number of peelable layers 10 are placed on the inside of the through opening of the cylindrical seal 4. Said layers 10 are peeled off to adapt the inner diameter of the through opening to the outer diameter of the pipe 1, to be received inside the cylindrical seal 4. In other embodiments the cylindrical seal has no peelable layers, whereby the through opening has a fixed inner diameter.

In the schematic Figs. 1 and 3-6 only the compressible body 6 of the cylindrical seal 4 is shown.

In some embodiments the cylindrical seal 4 is placed directly in a through opening of a partition, especially if the partition is relatively thick. Thus, in such a case there is no sleeve.

In the example of Fig. 3, a shrink tube 11 is placed over the cylindrical seal 4. Opposite ends of the shrink tube 11 are fastened to the pipe 1 on opposite sides of the cylindrical seal 4. The shrink tube 11 is used if the transit needs to be gas tight or water tight. In an alternative embodiment, see Fig. 4, a shrink tube 12 is mounted outside the insulation 5 inside the axial through opening of the cylindrical seal 4.

When the cylindrical seal 4 has peelable layers 10, insulation 13 can be placed around each half of the cylindrical seal 4, as indicated in Figs. 5 and 6. In said figures, a compressible body 14 of a seal half is shown. The insulation 13 extends the entire length of the cylindrical seal 4. The compressible body 14 has a semi-cylindrical recess 15. The through opening of the seal 14 is formed when two seal halves are placed on top of each other with the semi-cylindrical recesses 15 facing each other. In use the appropriate number of layers 10 are first peeled off, if the seal has peelabe layers, with the insulation 13 lifted as indicated in Fig. 5. Then the insulation 13 is placed around each half, including inside the semi-cylindrical recess 15, as indicated in Fig. 6. The seal may then be placed on the pipe 1.

It is possible to have insulation going around each half of a sealing means even if the sealing means have no peelable layers.

In some transits, the pipe 1 is received inside a sealing means in the form of a compressible module 16. Each module 16 has a through opening for receiving the pipe 1 and an insulation 17 and peelable layers 18 inside the through opening. In use the diameter of the through opening is adapted to the outer diameter of the pipe 1 to be received by peeling off an appropriate number of layers 18. Then the insulation 17 is placed inside the through opening of the module 16. The module 16 is formed of two halves, to facilitate placement on the pipe 1.

A number of modules 16 may be placed inside a cylindrical frame 19 or a rectangular frame 22, as is well known to a person skilled in the art.

The cylindrical frame 19 has a compressible body having a central through opening for receiving one or more modules 16. The cylindrical frame 19 has fittings 20 on opposite sides of the compressible body. The fittings 20 are only visible on one side in Fig. 8. The cylindrical frame 19 is to be placed in a sleeve fastened in an opening of a partition or directly in an opening of a partition. By means of screws and nuts 21 the fittings may be moved towards each other, whereby the compressible body of the cylindrical frame 19 is compressed in axial direction. By the compression in axial direction, the compressible body will expand in radial direction inwards and outwards. By said expansion of the compressible body inwards the modules 16 will be compressed and seal against any pipe 1 received inside a module 16. The cylindrical frame 19 will be held in the sleeve or in the opening of the partition by means of the radial expansion outwards of the compressible body.

The rectangular frame 22 is fastened in an opening of a partition, by means of welding or the like. The modules 16 are placed inside the rectangular frame 22 together with stay plates 23 and a compression unit (not shown). The stay plates 23 are placed between rows of modules 16 and are designed to keep the modules 16 inside the rectangular frame 22. By means of the compression unit the modules 16 are compressed inwards around any pipe 2 received inside the modules and outwards against the rectangular frame 22.