Diagonal clamshell protective enclosure

Abstract

A bifurcated pipeline gas sample takeoff equipment housing having a diagonally oriented access opening to increase the ease of access to enclosed components by increasing the opening size by up to thirty percent without increasing the size of the enclosure.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is an application filed under 35 U.S.C. §111(a) claiming benefit pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e)(1) of application Ser. No. 29 / 376,712, filed on Oct. 11, 2010, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §111(b), the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates generally to enclosures for outdoor pipeline sampling instrumentation. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved diagonal clamshell-type, enclosure structure that protects the enclosed instrumentation devices and maintains the interior enclosure temperature within a select range, while providing significantly facilitated access to the enclosed instrumentation.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Maintenance of sampling and analysis instrumentation and equipment for gas pipelines including LNG pipeline networks, is important for the efficient and accurate delivery of the piped content. Typically, gas samples are ex...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel outdoor protective enclosure for gas sampling from a pipeline to which the housing is mounted and which facilitates access to enclosed components by significantly increasing the area of the access opening without increasing the dimensions of the enclosure.

[0011]It is another object of this invention to provide a bifurcated, heated gas pipeline probe housing providing minimal obstruction to access of its interior which is demountable on the pipeline that encloses the probe, a heater and valves for sample takeoff.

[0012]Further objects of the invention are satisfied by a pipeline mounted housing structure that maintains thermal stability of an extracted gas sample from the source to a remotely situated gas analyzer where the housing permits substantially unobstructed access to enclosed components to facilitated maintenance and repair with increased efficiency.

Problems solved by technology

However, access to the content such as the head of the take-off probe is hampered by close spacing of the upwardly standing walls relative to the enclosed equipment.

As a result of the confined interior, manipulation is impeded, as is utilization of certain tools.

Therefore, unnecessary labor and effort is required for simple adjustment and / or equipment exchange particularly when temporary disassembly of the housing from its pipeline mounting is required.

In the case of field repair or inspection, especially in adverse weather conditions, such an impediment is undesirable to the pace and efficiency of maintenance and repairs.

While effective for enclosing instrumentation on a pipeline, the art does not address an improved housing structure that would minimize interference to the interior space.

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