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

[0021]A closely related example of a prior art heated enclosure employed when the probe is remotely spaced from the conditioning and analyzing equipment is of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,162,933 to Thompson et al. This structure minimizes the risk of hydrocarbon dew point dropout following pipeline sample extraction. The significant difference between that prior art enclosure and the present invention is the optimal access to the enclosed components provided by diagonally oriented clamshell bifurcation that maximizes the access opening size without increasing the enclosure size.

[0022]Given the following detailed description, it should become apparent to the person having ordinary skill in the art that the invention herein provides a novel pipeline mounted instrumentation housing significantly enhancing accessibility to the housing interior by field workers.

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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