Pipes and tubular conduits – Combined – With external support structure
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-14
2001-10-23
Hook, James (Department: 3752)
Pipes and tubular conduits
Combined
With external support structure
C138S106000, C248S067700, C248S068100, C248S074100, C248S074400
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305424
ABSTRACT:
The subject of the present invention is a system for supporting pipes in service galleries, particularly in the nuclear industry.
A support system, which has an entirely original tubular structure is—generally developed to have a modular design, is advantageously used in service galleries where, in a relatively small volume, there is a high concentration of pipes distributed in horizontal and/or vertical and/or inclined rows. These may, in particular, be service galleries in the chemical, petrochemical, or nuclear industries, and more specifically in the latter context, for example, so-called active service galleries of irradiated nuclear fuel reprocessing workshops. These service galleries form, so to speak, the main artery of the said workshops; the central artery along which all the pipes conveying active fluids (fluids which exhibit radioactivity) connecting equipment installed in the active cells located on each side, and all distributions of utilities (cooling fluids, heating fluids, etc.) pass from the accessible rooms to the equipment located in the live region.
The support system of the invention is particularly well suited to this nuclear context (although it is not restricted thereto) insofar as it can be designed to be earthquake-proof and optimized, on the one hand, in terms of the organization of design work; on the other hand, in savings in the weight of stainless steel; and finally, in terms of worksite organization. In particular, the system can be preassembled, pre-equipped with its pipes and then installed and completed at a later stage. The person skilled in the art will appreciate all the advantages of the said system of the invention (inherent in its intrinsic characteristics and particularly well suited to the context of the nuclear industry) by studying the description which follows and the figures which are appended to the description.
According to the prior art, the said service galleries of the nuclear industry, and particularly of the reprocessing workshops, contain, for supporting the pipes (particularly the earthquake-proof pipes), a metal structure which is complicated, heavy, and one-piece (continuous) once assembled. The prior art structure is actually assembled almost completely in situ by welding and bolting, generally at the centre of the galleries. It is secured to the walls of the galleries by reinforced-concrete beams; the concrete are highly reinforced. The structure, sometimes called a platform or framework, is based on standard sections used in mechanical construction, which have a cross-section, at right-angles to their longitudinal axis, in the shape of a U or H (I).
The structure is in fact used:
initially (during the construction phase) for mounting the pipes; and
subsequently (in service) for supporting the said pipes and possibly for supporting miscellaneous small equipment items and for access to the said pipes should intervention be required.
In order to be declared earthquake-proof, such support structures have to support the pipes with a supports spacing shorter than or equal to the maximum authorized supports spacing. This maximum spacing obviously depends on the diameter of the pipe supported and on the fluid conveyed. At the present time, recent stipulations fix this maximum spacing at 1.5 m for small-diameter pipes. Such stipulations are becoming ever more strict. In order to comply with them, the support structures of the prior art, which are already heavy, almost inexorably need to be made considerably heavier still.
With reference to the new stipulations, it has been proposed that the support structures of the prior art be supplemented by additional support structures grafted onto the beams which secure them to the walls of the service gallery. It has also been proposed to supplement the structures of the prior art with horizontal metal bars; such horizontal bars are also advantageously offset and attached to the walls of the service gallery.
In such a context, the Applicant Company has developed a novel design of a support system for pipes in active galleries: this is a modular design with modules based on tubular sections. The modules in question consist of a single portal frame or, advantageously, consist of a combination of a number of portal frames, generally two or three. This is desired in detail later.
The support system of the invention characteristically comprises at least one portal frame made, not of standard sections of the type recalled hereinabove, but of metal tubes. The metal tubes that form the said portal frame are welded together and set out as a main framework and rungs, secured to the said main framework; the (tubular) rungs are intended to support the pipes that have a horizontal or inclined longitudinal axis.
Characteristically, the support system of the invention is a tubular structure. The tubular structure may be anchored to the structural works in numerous alternative ways, generally involving attachment pieces and/or welding. The tubular structure may, in particular, be attached by welding to a metal structure a (framework, fascia or built-in mounting plate) or may itself be fitted with means for anchoring it to the structural works. There are various embodiments of such means which may, in particular, include mounting plates, connecting pieces which spread the load of the support system over the concrete structure of the walls of the active gallery in which the system is located. The mounting plates, secured to the main framework of the system, are suitable for anchoring using fixing studs. For this purpose they comprise positioning marks. The marks are used for drilling, in situ, the diameter of the studs.
It is intended that one, advantageous and original, embodiment of such anchoring means of the mounting-plate type be specified below.
As indicated above, the said mounting plates are secured to the main framework of the portal frame(s) involved in the structure of the support systems of the invention and are appropriate for anchoring using the fixing studs. To this end, they advantageously each comprise at least one series of positioning marks; the distances between centres of the positioning marks of the series are calculated to allow at least one stud definitely to be fitted through one of the positioning marks of the series or at the centre of the series.
When knowing the reinforcement or even the over-reinforcement of the structural works into which the support system of the invention is to be anchored, at least one appropriate series of positioning marks is produced on the anchoring (attachment) plates thereof in such a way that at least one stud can be positioned through one of the marks of the series (at worst, at the centre of the said series), avoiding all of the reinforcing bars in the concrete. Using such mounting plates it is therefore possible to anchor the support system in theoretical reference areas defined during the support studies while at the same time preserving the integrity of the reinforcements in the structural works. To achieve this, soundings are made. If the sounding through a first positioning mark of the series interferes with a reinforcing bar, then another sounding is made through another mark in the series, and so on.
The mounting plates advantageously comprise at least two series, and preferably four series, of such positioning marks; the series are advantageously offset and/or distributed symmetrically at the surface of the mounting plates. Thus, each mounting plate can be anchored at a minimum of two points, and preferably, at four points; such multi-point anchorage is advantageously optimized by the distribution of the points on the surface of the mounting plates.
In a particularly advantageous alternative form, each of the series comprises four positioning marks arranged at the four corners of a square the side of which is longer than the diameter of the reinforcing bars in the structural works and shorter than the distance between two of the reinforcing bars. In the context of this alternative form there are preferably four series of this sort dis
Delouvee Bernard
Potard Philippe
Compagnie Generale des Matieres Nucleaires
Hook James
Wolf Greenfield & Sacks P.C.
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