WO2014179655A1

WO2014179655A1 - Surface preparation device and method

Info

Publication number: WO2014179655A1
Application number: PCT/US2014/036505
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gary Byers
Original assignee: Srt Solutions L.L.C.
Priority date: 2013-05-03
Filing date: 2014-05-02
Publication date: 2014-11-06

Abstract

A method of preparing a hole in a structure includes flowing abrasive media through an abrasive media blaster and redirecting the flow of abrasive media as the media exits the abrasive media blaster. The method may further include inserting an end of the abrasive media blaster into the hole and impinging upon a side of the hole with the flow of abrasive media.

Description

SURFACE PREPARATION DEVICE AND METHOD

BACKGROUND

[0001] Core drilling may be used in various industries to form holes, such as cylinders, within a surface or material. For example, the concrete industry has advanced towards using a diamond-bit core drilling process for installing mechanical anchors into cured concrete structures. Previous methods involved hammer- drilling anchor holes into the concrete structures, which provided a quality internal profile within the hole for increasing bond strength with adhesive materials, such as epoxy. However, the strength of the anchors placed within the adhesive was often inconsistent due to potential micro- fracturing or spalling caused by the hammer- drilling process.

[0002] The current diamond coring methods may preserve the integrity of the concrete better than the hammer- drilling methods, but the core drilling method may still not overcome the challenges of previous methods, or may in fact present new challenges. For example, core drilling may generally make or define holes having smooth, or at least smoother, surfaces, which may not be desirable for achieving higher bond strength with adhesives, such as epoxy. Core drilling is also usually performed wet, which may result in a fine concrete slurry-paste that soaks into the concrete surface and fills air entrainment voids in the concrete. This coring process may wet out the concrete and delay cleaning and/or applying the adhesive. The water or fluid can be trapped in voids behind plugs of the slurry-paste, keeping the core hole damp for an extended time period. Further, once the paste is then dry, the dust resulting therefrom may be difficult to remove and act as a bond breaker for the adhesive or epoxy, as the dust may prohibit the adhesive from penetrating into the concrete.

[0003] In the concrete industry, wire brushing and/or vacuuming of the holes may be used prior to applying adhesive to overcome some of these challenges. However, these processes may not properly profile the hole, clean the hole, and/or remove slurry from voids and capillaries in the concrete. Furthermore, if the wire brushing tools are used too vigorously to clean the core hole, the result may be a metal transfer from the tools to the concrete surface, thereby further impeding the adhesive from penetrating and bonding to the internal surfaces of the hole. Because of these difficulties, it may be necessary to repeat the cleaning steps multiple times for better results.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] For a detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0005] FIG. 1 shows a semi- schematic view of an abrasive media blaster used to prepare a core hole in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0006] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a pattern of abrasive media that flows through and is deflected by a deflector used within an abrasive media blaster in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0007] The following discussion is directed to various embodiments of the invention. The drawing figures are not necessarily to scale. Certain features of the embodiments may be shown exaggerated in scale or in somewhat schematic form and some details of conventional elements may not be shown in the interest of clarity and conciseness. The embodiments disclosed should not be interpreted, or otherwise used, as limiting the scope of the disclosure, including the claims. It is to be fully recognized that the different teachings of the embodiments discussed below may be employed separately or in any suitable combination to produce desired results. In addition, one skilled in the art will understand that the following description has broad application, and the discussion of any embodiment is meant only to be an illustration of that embodiment, and not intended to intimate that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, is limited to that embodiment. [0008] Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular features or components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, different persons may refer to the same feature or component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components or features that differ in name but are the same structure or function.

[0009] In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms "including" and "comprising" are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean "including, but not limited to... ." Also, the term "couple" or

"couples" is intended to mean either an indirect or direct connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct connection, or through an indirect connection via other devices, components, and connections. In addition, as used herein, the terms "axial" and "axially" generally mean along or parallel to a central axis (e.g., central axis of a body or a port), while the terms "radial" and "radially" generally mean perpendicular to the central axis. For instance, an axial distance refers to a distance measured along or parallel to the central axis, and a radial distance means a distance measured perpendicular to the central axis. Further, the use of "top," "bottom," "above," "below," and variations of these terms is made for perspective and convenience, but may not require any particular orientation of the components.

[0010] In one or more embodiments, an abrasive media blaster, such as a small yet highly productive sandblaster, may be used to clean, dry, profile, and/or otherwise prepare an interior of a core hole. An example of an abrasive media blaster may include a small media blaster that is adjustable and suited for intricate work, and may be capable of industrial heavy removal type work as well. Small media blasters have not been used and are not well known in the concrete industry, such as related to construction and with epoxy set anchors. As such, the present disclosure contemplates using a small abrasive media blaster to propel a stream of abrasive media, such as a sandblaster blasting sand, to clean, dry, profile, and/or otherwise prepare an interior of a core hole. [0011] In one or more embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure, an apparatus may be used to prepare a core hole using abrasive media supplied by a hose. The apparatus may include a shaft including a bore with a longitudinal axis for transferring the abrasive media and a connection for attachment of the hose to the shaft. The apparatus may further include a manually operated valve to control flow of the abrasive media into the shaft and a deflector on the end of the shaft to redirect flow of the abrasive media leaving the apparatus at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the bore. The flow of the abrasive media may be redirected with the deflector in a substantially radial pattern about the longitudinal axis of the bore and/or redirected with the deflector at the angle between about 5 degrees and about 90 degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bore.

[0012] Further, in one or more embodiments the present disclosure, a method of preparing a core hole includes propelling a stream of abrasive media through an abrasive media blaster and redirecting the stream of abrasive media from the abrasive media blaster with a deflector positioned at an end of the abrasive media blaster. As such, the method may further include inserting the end of the abrasive media blaster into the core hole, and impinging upon a side of the core hole with the stream of abrasive media through the deflector of the abrasive media blaster. Further, the method may include removing the end of the abrasive media blaster from the core hole, disposing an adhesive material about the anchor and within the core hole, and inserting an anchor within the core hole.

[0013] Referring now to FIG. 1, a semi- schematic view of an abrasive media blaster 100 used to prepare a core hole 150 in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The core hole 150 may be formed within or extending into a surface of a concrete structure 152. For example, the core hole 150 may be formed within the concrete structure 152 using a coring bit. In one or more embodiments, the core hole 150 may be formed to be about 10 in (about 25.4 cm) in depth and about 3 in to about 5 in (about 7.6 cm to about 12.7 cm) in width, such as depending on the application, though the present disclosure is not so limited.

[0014] The abrasive media blaster 100 may receive abrasive media through a hose 102, in which pressurized fluid, such as air, may be used to propel the abrasive media through the abrasive media blaster 100. The abrasive media blaster 100 may include a shaft 104, and the shaft 104 may have a bore defined therethrough about an axis 116. A connection 118 may be used to couple the hose 102 to the shaft 104 to provide abrasive media from the hose 102 and to the abrasive media blaster 100. The abrasive media blaster 100 may also include a valve or a manually controlled trigger 106 on a handheld device to control and direct abrasive media therethrough. For example, the valve or the manually controlled trigger 106 may be used to control when abrasive media flows through the shaft 104, and may also be used to control the amount of abrasive media that flows through the shaft 104.

[0015] Further, the abrasive media blaster 100 may include a deflector 110 (e.g., deflector tip) positioned at an end of the abrasive media blaster 100. As shown, the deflector 110 may be positioned at and/or coupled to an end 108 of the shaft 104. As such, in one or more embodiments, the deflector 110 may be formed about and/or have an axis 120 extending therethrough, in which the axis 120 of the deflector 110 may be coincident or aligned with at least a portion of the axis 116 of the shaft 104. The deflector 110 may be permanently attached to the end 108 of the shaft 104, and/or may be removably coupled to the end 108 of the shaft 104, such as by having the deflector 110 formed as an attachment that may threadably or releasably couple to the end 108 of the shaft 104.

[0016] Referring still to FIG. 1, the abrasive media blaster 100 may also include a guard 112, such as to prevent abrasive media from expelling out of the core hole 150. The guard 112 may be positioned about the shaft 104, in which, in one or more embodiments, the deflector 110 may extend radially outward from and/or substantially encircle the shaft 104. The guard 112 may be positioned near the end 108 of the shaft 104 with the end 108 extending past or through the guard 112. The guard 112 may be fixed to the shaft 104, and/or may be movable upon and/or with respect to the shaft 104. Further, the guard 112 may include or be formed from metal, such as aluminum, and/or plastic, such as from an injection mold.

[0017] Further, the guard 112 may include a relief port 114, in which abrasive media may then exit through the relief port 114, such as by allowing the abrasive media to pass into the environment and/or suctioning the abrasive media through the relief port 114. For example, a vacuum may be coupled to the relief port 114 of the guard 112 to suction and collect abrasive media within the core hole 150. This may enable a user of the abrasive media blaster 100 to be protected and for the abrasive media to be recycled for continued use, if desired.

[0018] In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the end 108 of the shaft 104 of the abrasive media blaster 100 may be inserted into the core hole 150, in which a stream of abrasive media may be propelled through the shaft 104 of the abrasive media blaster 100. The deflector 110 positioned at the end 108 of the abrasive media blaster 100 may then be used to redirect and/or deflect the flow or stream of the abrasive media. As such, the deflector 110 may be used to redirect and deflect the stream of abrasive media from along the axis 116 of the shaft 104 when within the abrasive media blaster

100, to an angle positioned with respect to the axis 116 of the shaft 104 when exiting from the abrasive media blaster 100. The angle of deflection may, for example, range from about 5 degrees to about 90 degrees or more with respect to the axis 116 of the shaft 104. Further, the stream of abrasive media may be deflected by the deflector 110 in a substantially radial pattern and/or centrifugal pattern about the axis 116 of the shaft 104, as particularly shown in FIG. 2.

Therefore, the deflector 110 may enable the abrasive media to be redirected and deflected to impinge upon the sides of the core hole 150 to clean, dry, profile, and/or otherwise prepare the interior of the core hole 150.

[0019] After the abrasive media blaster 100 has been used to prepare the core hole 150, the abrasive media blaster 100 may be removed therefrom to begin the process of setting an anchor within the core hole 150. This may involve removing any residual abrasive media from the core hole 150, disposing adhesive material, such as epoxy or another high strength polymer, within the core hole 150, and inserting an anchor within the core hole 150 such that the anchor may be fixed and adhered to walls of the core hole 150 using the adhesive material. Any excess of the adhesive material may then be cleaned up and removed, as appropriate. As such, this process may improve and increase the bond strength for the anchor within the core hole 150.

[0020] The idea and the plan to apply abrasive media blasting, such as sandblasting, to the surfaces in a small concrete core hole may improve anchor adhesion. Epoxy set anchors may be a critical part of modern construction projects, as well as a growing part of infrastructure repair and restoration worldwide. Further, epoxy set anchors may be used in all aspects of construction and the long term performance of these anchors may be an issue of public safety. Therefore, any enhancement of the adhesion of these materials may be beneficial.

[0021] While the present disclosure has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments may be devised which do not depart from the scope of the disclosure as described herein. Accordingly, the scope of the disclosure should be limited only by the attached claims.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A method of preparing a hole in a structure, the method comprising: flowing abrasive media through an abrasive media blaster; and redirecting the flow of abrasive media as the media exits the abrasive media blaster.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

inserting an end of the abrasive media blaster into the hole; and impinging upon a side of the hole with the flow of abrasive media.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

disposing adhesive material about the anchor and within the hole; and inserting an anchor within the hole.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the adhesive material comprises an epoxy configured to adhere the anchor within the hole.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming the hole within the structure with a coring bit.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the abrasive media blaster comprises a sandblaster and the abrasive media comprises sand.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the abrasive media blaster comprises a shaft with a bore defined

therethrough about an axis; and

the redirecting the flow of abrasive media comprises deflecting the flow of abrasive media from along the axis of the shaft to an angle positioned with respect to the axis of the shaft.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the abrasive media blaster comprises a deflector such that the deflector redirects the flow of abrasive media as the media exits the abrasive media blaster.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the stream of abrasive media is deflected in a substantially radial pattern with the deflector.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the stream of abrasive media is deflected at the angle between about 5 degrees and about 90 degrees with respect to the axis of the shaft with the deflector.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the deflector comprises an attachment configured to couple to the end of the abrasive media blaster.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the abrasive media blaster comprises a guard positioned about a shaft thereof.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the guard comprises a relief port.

14. An apparatus to prepare a hole in a structure using abrasive media, comprising:

a shaft comprising a bore with a longitudinal axis for transferring

abrasive media;

a manually operated valve to control flow of abrasive media into the shaft; and

a deflector on the end of the shaft to redirect the flow of abrasive media exiting the apparatus at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the bore.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a guard to prevent abrasive media from expelling out of the hole.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the guard comprises a relief port such that abrasive media flows through the relief port.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a connection for attachment of a hose to the shaft, wherein the hose is configured to supply abrasive media to the apparatus, and wherein the manually operated valve comprises a trigger.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the deflector is configured to redirect the flow of the abrasive media in a substantially radial pattern about the longitudinal axis of the bore.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the deflector is configured to redirect the flow of the abrasive media at the angle between about 5 degrees and about 90 degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bore.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the deflector comprises an attachment coupled to the end of the shaft of the abrasive media blaster.