Fabric (woven – knitted – or nonwoven textile or cloth – etc.) – Felt fabric – Including particulate material other than fiber
Patent
1995-08-21
1997-07-01
Raimund, Christopher
Fabric (woven, knitted, or nonwoven textile or cloth, etc.)
Felt fabric
Including particulate material other than fiber
428 68, 428921, 106 1811, 442326, D04H 108
Patent
active
056436610
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to passive fire protection covers or enclosures particularly but not exclusively for use in the oil and gas industry.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the event of fire it is important to be able to shut off the flow of oil or gas for example from a well and the object of the passive protection is to minimise heat rise in a control valve and its actuator to enable this to be done. Erosive flames resulting for example from ruptured pipe work in which oil or gas is flowing at pressure, are particularly difficult to protect against with conventional materials.
However as will be appreciated the invention may find uses in other applications and other industries.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, a passive fire protection sheer material comprises at least one layer of insulant and at least one layer which includes a cross-linked rubber compound containing a frit based composition.
The rubber material preferably has fire resistant properties. Suitable frit is disclosed for example in U.K. Patents numbered 2188643, 2120208, 2213813, 2232986 and 2234754. Under fire conditions the rubber burns to produce a char which contains the frit, and the, frit fuses to form a protective layer. The rubber may be on the outside of an enclosure, and if so provides erosion protection to the insulant located inside it, enabling the latter to contribute to the fire protection without being physically destroyed. However the rubber may be on the inside and/or there may be alternate layers of both.
The insulant may be ceramic fibres which by their nature are heat resistant and trap air. But other materials are possible for example clay particles or beads trapped in a blanket, quilt or duvet, or calcium silicate as another example.
THE DRAWINGS
One presently preferred embodiment of the invention is now more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional perspective view of a passes fire protection in place;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged and more detailed sectional view of one of the layers of ceramic fibres;
FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing an alternative; and
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of another layer of the material used in FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Turning now to FIG. 1, the reference 10 indicates a steel substrate representing an article which is to be fire protected. It will be understood that this may be a valve or any other article of any shape, often quite complex shape: the drawing shows a simple parallelopiped shape. The reference 12 indicates a first layer of the ceramic fibre material as more particularly described hereunder. This layer 12 is held in position for example by steel straps 14. A second layer 16 is or may be the same as layer 12 and is likewise held in position by further straps 18. An outer layer 20 of the rubber/frit material is also held in place by steel straps 22 and there may be a further protective enclosure not shown.
Turning now to FIG. 2, the ceramic fibre material forming the layers 12, 16 may be loosely or otherwise felted into a sheet material 30 and enclosed in a duvet 32 of a cloth, which may be a felted or woven textile material, or a cloth made by impregnating glass fibre sheet material with a suitable resin mix. The object is to disperse the fibres uniformly through the material 12, 16, and maintain it in position. The ceramic fibre may be held in position within the duvet by the use of ceramic or metallic firing pins 34. This may help to prevent the ceramic fibre from creeping away from duvet edges.
However, it is to be understood that FIG. 2 is particularly diagrammatic and does not necessarily represent the thickness of the sheet as it is in practice. A sheet may be used for example in the order of 12.5, 25, 38 or 50 mm thickness and any combination of layers of this or these thicknesses. The rubber/frit layer or layers may be of the order of 5 mm thick.
FIG. 3 shows an alternative construction for the layer(s) 12, 16, in which the fibres are a long-fibr
REFERENCES:
patent: 4189619 (1980-02-01), Pedlow
patent: 4273879 (1981-06-01), Langer et al.
AIC ISO Covers Limited
Raimund Christopher
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