초록 ▼

Tube plugs in several embodiments are provided for plugging and sealing off a defective tube in a heat exchanger to effect a seal at a location within the tube, spaced away from the tube end. The tube plug includes a deformable cylindrical sleeve member which is placed into the tube end, and has a p

Tube plugs in several embodiments are provided for plugging and sealing off a defective tube in a heat exchanger to effect a seal at a location within the tube, spaced away from the tube end. The tube plug includes a deformable cylindrical sleeve member which is placed into the tube end, and has a peripheral shoulder thereon which abuts against the tube end to position an interior tapered portion of the sleeve, adjacent to its other open end, at the desired location of the seal to be formed within the tube, and a hard plug member, having a comating tapered portion, which is either hammered into the sleeve or tightened and pulled outwardly depending upon the direction of the engaging tapered surfaces, to deform the sleeve and form the tube seal in the zone of the tapered surfaces.

대표청구항 ▼

Apparatus for plugging a heat exchanger tube, comprising an elongated, generally cylindrical sleeve member of deformable metal material and having opposite open ends, a straight and plainly cylindrical outer surface having a diameter which is nominally the same as the inner diameter of said tube so

Apparatus for plugging a heat exchanger tube, comprising an elongated, generally cylindrical sleeve member of deformable metal material and having opposite open ends, a straight and plainly cylindrical outer surface having a diameter which is nominally the same as the inner diameter of said tube so as to be slidably received therein and which is substantially the same throughout the length of said sleeve, and an interior surface comprising integrally formed tapered length and straight cylindrical length portions, said interior tapered length portion having a narrow end and a wide end and extending inwardly from one of said open ends of said sleeve member, and said interior straight cylindrical length portion extending from the other open end and conjoining with said tapered length portion at a location within the length of said sleeve member, and a plug member of hard metal and adapted for insertion into, and for deforming said sleeve member, said plug member having an exterior tapered length portion for comating engagement with said interior tapered length portion of said sleeve member, said plug tapered length portion having a narrow end and a wider end and the same angle of taper as said interior tapered length portion of said sleeve member, said plug narrow end having a diameter less than that of said wide end of said sleeve member interior tapered length portion and said plug wider end having a diameter greater than that of the narrow end of said tapered length portion of said sleeve member, and said interior tapered length portion of said sleeve member having its narrowing length extending a substantial distance beyond said narrow end of said plug tapered length portion when the exterior periphery of said narrow end of the latter first engages the interior periphery of said sleeve member during said insertion of said plug member into said sleeve member to deform the latter, whereby significant plastic deformation of said interior tapered length portion of said sleeve member which corresponds to the length of said plug within said tapered length portion and which extends said substantial distance occurs when the periphery of said wider end of said plug tapered length portion engages the periphery of said tapered length portion of said sleeve member when said plug member is forced into said sleeve member and said sleeve member is fully deformed.