Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – Heat exchanger
Patent
1994-10-27
1997-04-22
Hughes, S. Thomas
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
Heat exchanger
294265, 29890031, 294264, B23P 1526
Patent
active
056219660
ABSTRACT:
A tube puller, also called a traveler, removes tubes from the tube sheet of a heat exchanger for replacement. The tubes must first be broken free from the tube sheet and moved several inches by another device not associated with the traveler. The traveler includes a frame mounting a hydraulic motor. Inside the frame, a single driver mounted on the shaft of the motor is a wheel having a toothed circumference. The teeth of the driver engage one side of the tube to be removed. An unpowered idler is positioned on the opposite side of the tube from the driver. An actuator may move the idler selectively toward and away from the driver for altering the nip between the driver and idler to initially receive the tube. The actuator then presses the idler against the opposite side of the tube, holding the tube against the driver, but has no power to advance the tube longitudinally. Together, the idler and driver apply lateral forces that tend to deform the tube and may crush the tube completely as it is pulled. The idler may be equipped with a unidirectional clutch to prevent backward rotation, particularly during initial engagement of the tube by the driver and idler.
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patent: 5203072 (1993-04-01), Boisture
patent: 5291651 (1994-03-01), Frame
Kvenvold Charles J.
Kvenvold Judith M.
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