PIPE INSULATION SLEEVE

摘要

Pipe insulation sleeve and adhesive construction therefor, having a reduced amount of stress applied to the adhesive. A flexible foamed elastomeric tubular pipe insulation sleeve (20) has a longitudinally extending slit (28) which enables the sleeve (20) or jacket to be placed around a pipe (22) or portion thereof. An adhesive is applied to opposite walls (30, 32) of the slit (28), forming an adhesive joint, in order to hold the construction together after the insulation sleeve (20) has been placed around a section of pipe (22). Stress on the adhesive joint is minimized or reduced in either of two ways. First, the tubular sleeve (20) is formed with a V-shaped slit (28) in which the opposite faces (30, 32) or walls of the slits (28) intersect at an acute angle (8). In a preferred embodiment, the V is inverted (i.e., the open end of the V faces inwardly) and formed essentially along the minor axis of the elliptical shape which the sleeve (20) assumes over time. In a completed construction in which the tubular sleeve (20) encircles a portion of pipe (22), the walls (30, 32) of the slit (28) are in facing engagement with each other, and held in engagement by adhesive. In a second construction for reducing stress, adhesive is applied both to the opposite walls (30, 32) of the slit (28) as well as to longitudinally extending portions of the inner surface (24) of the sleeve (20) which are immediately adjacent to the slit (28), so that the sleeve (20) can be adhered to itself along the slit (28) and to the pipe (22) which it encircles. These two constructions can be combined. The stress on the adhesive at the slit (28) is less in either construction as compared to pipe insulation construction in which a tubular sleeve is formed with a conventional radial slit and pressure-sensitive adhesive is applied either to walls of the slit or to outer surfaces of the sleeve adjacent to the slit by means of a flap which bridges the slit.