Flexible pipe including thermal insulation
View Patent ↗Apparatus for providing a thermal insulation layer in a flexible pipe, including one or more encapsulated regions of aerogel material disposed in a layer of flexible pipe body is disclosed. In addition, flexible pipe body including such apparatus, and a method of manufacturing flexible pipe body is disclosed.
1. A tape for providing a layer in flexible pipe body, comprising:
an elongate tape body portion, wherein the tape body portion comprises a wholly hollow body portion comprising a cross section having an inner profile and an outer profile, the inner profile encapsulating a channel region holding aerogel material,
the tape having an imaginary centre line, a nose at a first edge region of the tape which is inwardly turned towards the centre line, and a further nose at a further edge region of the tape which is inwardly turned towards the centre line.
2. A flexible pipe comprising the tape as claimed in claim 1 .
3. The tape as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
the cross section of the tape is corrugated, said channel region holding an undulating sheet of aerogel material.
4. A flexible pipe comprising the tape as claimed in claim 3 .
5. The tape as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the encapsulated channel is substantially Z-shaped.
6. The tape of claim 5 , wherein the aerogel material has a Z-shaped cross section.
7. The tape of claim 1 , wherein the inner profile of the cross section has substantially the same shape as the outer profile of the cross section.
8. The tape of claim 7 , wherein the aerogel material has a cross section that substantially corresponds to the cross-section of the outer profile of the tape.
9. The tape as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
the first and further noses are turned in opposite directions.
10. A flexible pipe comprising the tape as claimed in claim 9 .
11. The tape as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising:
the cross section of the tape is substantially Z-shaped and comprises a hooked region and a valley region.
12. A flexible pipe comprising the tape as claimed in claim 11 .