Patent ID: 9046209
Filing Date: 2015-06-02
Classification: F16L,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A thermally insulating undersea junction pipe providing a junction between two thermally insulating undersea pipe portions, said junction pipe comprising a rigid bent inner pipe, and presenting a radius of curvature that is three to ten times its outside diameter, and coated in a thermally insulating material, comprising: an outer jacket surrounding said inner pipe, the jacket being made of flexible or semirigid material matching the bent shape of said inner pipe in a coaxial manner; and the tubular wall of said outer jacket including structural reinforcing elements of annular or helical shape suitable for enabling said tubular wall of the outer jacket to be bent while keeping its cross-section substantially uniform, and coaxial with the cross-section of said inner pipe, in spite of being bent to match the bent outline of said inner pipe with its said radius of curvature; wherein the junction pipe includes: a plurality of support elements, referred to as centralizer elements, made of rigid plastics or composite material interposed between said inner pipe and said outer jacket so as to keep the cross-sections of said outer jacket and said inner pipe substantially coaxial, said centralizer elements being spaced apart in the axial direction of said pipe at intervals of at least 1 m, a plurality of longitudinal guide elements made of rigid or semirigid material placed at a substantially constant distance from the surface of the bent inner pipe, extending between two successive centralizer elements having the ends of said longitudinal guide elements resting on the peripheries thereof, said longitudinal elements being constituted by section members of composite plastics material or steel capable of supporting said outer jacket without deforming; and a quasi incompressible thermally insulating material in the form of a gel completely filling the annular space between said inner pipe and said outer jacket.