Patent Number: 051241129
Section: summary

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sealing joint which is especially suited for repairing leaks which are difficult to reach, for example, in a nuclear reactor. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A nuclear reactor includes a plurality of pipes, pipe sockets and the like, in which cracks, especially in the vicinity of welds, may arise and in which, during repair, one end of the pipe may be released so as to form an open pipe end for fitting a suitable sealing sleeve thereon. In view of the radioactivity in a nuclear reactor, such a sealing sleeve must be capable of being operated at a large distance. The sealing joint according to the invention is especially designed to fulfil this requirement. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The sealing joint comprises at least two sealing bodies contacting each other in a contact surface and provided with through holes. The holes are delimited by an envelope surface in the sealing bodies and form a tubular channel through the sealing bodies and the contact surface therebetween. The invention is characterized in that the sealing bodies are displaceable in relation to each other along the contact surface and that sealing members are arranged around the channel between the sealing bodies. Each sealing body is divided into at least two discs in a plane intersecting the associated envelope surface along a closed curve, and between the discs a slot for a sealing ring is arranged in the envelope surface around the circumference of the hole. The volume of this slot is reduced when the discs, after the sealing joint has been applied around a pipe, are compressed to achieve sealing against the pipe. This causes the sealing ring to be partially pressed out of the slot and to be pressed with sealing force against the pipe.