PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16083623
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-09
Publication Date: 2019-03
Patent Classification: ["428", "034700"]

Abstract:
There is provided an insulation foam in a tubular form, comprising at least one seamless layer of crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) closed-cell physical foam. The tubular foam can favourably be used to thermally insulate tubes that convey water, refrigerants or other fluids, in particular, copper tubes for Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC&R) applications, as well as plastic tubes for use in domestic plumbing systems, hydronic radiant heating and cooling systems. There is also provided a method for manufacturing a crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) closed-cell physical foam in seamless tubular form, an insulation foam material using the same and a polymer blend for its manufacturing.

Claim (Index 1):
A method for manufacturing a crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) closed-cell physical foam in seamless tubular form, wherein the method comprises the steps of:\n i) feeding an extruder with raw materials or a mixture thereof, wherein the raw materials or the mixture thereof further comprises at least a polyethylene base resin, a crosslinking agent and a crosslinking catalyst a crosslinking means, a cell regulator, a cell regulator additive, a cell stabilizer, a cell stabilizer and an antistatic agent, and optionally a color agent or/masterbatch, a fire-resistant additive and one or more other additives; ii) feeding foaming gas inside the extruder, adjusting the volume of the highly pressurized gas to obtain a desired foam density, and maintaining the pressure within the extruder to prevent premature foaming upon homogenizing the mixture of melt and blowing gas by the action of the extruder screw, wherein the foaming gas is injected into the extruder at a pressure of 40 to 70 bar anti the pressure is maintained within the extruder to prevent premature foaming; iii) extruding the mix of materials through a corresponding die giving the desired tubular form, wherein the sudden pressure drop upon exit of the extrusion die leads to the formation of physical closed-cell foam; iv) optionally cooling the extruded physical closed-cell foam; and v) crosslinking the extruded physical closed-cell foam so as to attain a crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) physical closed-cell foam in seamless tubular form.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 39.0
- Percentile: 97.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.64
- Patent Class: 428.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: none
- Component Type: 0
- Foreign Priority: True
- Related Applications: ['14144986', '15637723', '14586745', '14586781', '15581503']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8900937015503708
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5052552587736365
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.8516098572726974
- Mean Citation Score: 227.260522
- Max Citation Score: 238.64873
- Similarity Product: 165.9220597551411

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test