A system and method for forming a seam in at least one piece of material used to form an inflatable product utilizes a seam forming member that is attached to an inside wall of a piece of product material that comprises the inflatable product. The inflatable product is comprised of one or more pieces of product material and one or more seam forming members located at any location where a seam is necessary. A first portion of the seam forming member attaches to a first edge of a first piece of product material and a second portion of the seam forming member attaches proximate a second edge of the first piece of product material. The seal forming means can be accomplished by radio frequency, ultrasonic, heat or other types of welding, and adhesive or chemical based bonding.

A process of constructing an air tight and water tight seam, comprising cutting a sheet of selected material into two or more panels, sealing the panels at respective selected edges using an ultrasonic machine to form a seam, overlaying the seam with a tape made of the same selected material, and sealing the tape and seam using a radio frequency (RF) welding machine.

A method for repairing rivet tape includes steps of cutting portions of the rivet tape on each side of a break to define at least three aligned coplanar rivet tape edges, abutting the at least three aligned coplanar rivet tape edges to define a seam, and joining the at least three aligned coplanar rivet tape edges to one another. The seam may define a Z shape. One or more rivets may be removed to expose rivet apertures on each side of the break before the steps of cutting, abutting, and joining. The step of joining is accomplished by at least one adhesive strip disposed on a surface of the rivet tape and dimensioned to overlie the at least one or more exposed rivet apertures. Adhesive strips may be disposed on each opposed surface of the rivet tape length. In other aspects, workstations comprise devices for practicing the described methods.

The invention relates to a method for producing flexible tube bodies (18) for packaging tubes from a film substrate (1) which has a print, preferably on an outer side (2), and which has or consists of at least one weldable plastic layer and which comprises a first longitudinal edge side (8), which extends in a longitudinal direction, and a second longitudinal edge side (8′) parallel thereto and spaced apart therefrom, wherein the film substrate (1) is shaped by shaping means (23) to form a tube, and the two longitudinal edge sides (8, 8′) are in particular welded to one another with the formation of a longitudinal weld seam, wherein a strip (12) is arranged, in the region of the abutment point and/or of the longitudinal weld seam, in the interior (17) of the film substrate (1) shaped to form the tube and is connected, in particular welded, to the longitudinal edge sides (8, 8′) at least in certain regions or portions. According to the invention, prior to the formation of the longitudinal weld seam, at least one longitudinal edge side (8′) is shaped, in particular cut, in such a way that, in the film substrate (1) shaped to form the tube, the longitudinal edge sides (8, 8′) bear against one another, in particular in abutting fashion, radially only in the region of the outer side (2) with at least one tip (9) formed by the shaping operation.

Disclosed herein are methods, devices, and systems for manufacturing wind turbine blades which in some instances require using new blade joint designs. The blade joint designs described herein may allow for contact in places where welds will be made, which allows for existing manufacturing tolerances to be used while still enabling the use of thermal welding for wind turbine blades.

A method of manufacturing a wind turbine blade is described, the blade being formed from at least a pair of blade shells being joined together. For at least a portion of the wind turbine blade, the blade shells are joined by an overlamination applied between the edges of the blade shells, thereby substantially reducing or eliminating the need for a structural adhesive to join the blade shells, particularly in the area of the leading edge of the blade or the root region of the blade trailing edge. The overlamination can be formed from the same material as the blade shells themselves, thereby minimising the possibility of structural faults or cracks due to differences in materials or stiffness levels at the interface between the blade shells.

A handrail has a thermoplastic body having a generally C-shaped cross section, a stretch inhibitor in the thermoplastic body above a T-shaped slot and a slider fabric layer. The handrail includes first and second end portions, each comprising a forward part extending from an end surface of the end portion and a rear part adjacent the forward part. A method of forming a joint can include: providing cuts to separate a top section of the thermoplastic body from a base section including shoulder portions; for each end portion, removing at least shoulder portions from the forward part thereof, to leave a central portion including a forward part at the slider fabric layer and a layer of thermoplastic; cutting the forward parts to a required shape; and assembling the first and second end portions together to form a spliced joint for moulding.

A process of constructing an air tight and water tight seam, comprising cutting a sheet of selected material into two or more panels, sealing the panels at respective selected edges using an ultrasonic machine to form a seam, overlaying the seam with a tape made of the same selected material, and sealing the tape and seam using a radio frequency (RF) welding machine.

The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a pipe liner for lining the inside of a pipe, for example a water or sewerage pipe requiring repair. The pipe liner is mainly formed of a fabric sleeve, or a plurality of fabric sleeves, and comprises a fluid-proof barrier coating on the inside surface of the pipe liner. The method involves arranging a strip of carrier material comprising a liquid sealant inside the fabric sleeve of the pipe liner and in registration with two opposing side edges of the sheet of fabric, facing an inner barrier coating of the fabric sleeve. The method can advantageously provide such a pipe liner with an inner barrier coating without everting the pipe liner after manufacture. The present invention may also provide a way of avoiding internal cross-welding of said pipe liners and a method for testing the integrity of the barrier coating of said pipe liners. The present invention also provides an apparatus for carrying out these methods.

A bonding method for bonding an adherend with a high-frequency dielectric heating adhesive sheet is provided. The adherend includes a fluorine-containing surface at least containing fluorine on a surface thereof. The high-frequency dielectric heating adhesive sheet includes a high-frequency dielectric adhesive layer including a thermoplastic resin and a dielectric filler. A surface free energy of the high-frequency dielectric adhesive layer is in a range from 15 mJ/m.sup.2 to 30 mJ/m.sup.2. A melting point of the high-frequency dielectric adhesive layer is in a range from 110 degrees C. to 300 degrees C. The bonding method includes bringing the fluorine-containing surface of the adherend into contact with the high-frequency dielectric adhesive layer and applying a high-frequency wave to the high-frequency dielectric adhesive layer to bond the high-frequency dielectric heating adhesive sheet to the fluorine-containing surface.