Machine for constructing the side wall of a cylindrical tank
US7086576B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 16, 2003 |
| Grant date | Aug 8, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 14, 2024 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T29/53974
- WIPO fieldMachine tools
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
The machine is adapted to supply, manipulate and position steel strip, fed from a coil, so as to bring it into gapped relationship beneath the side wall of a partly constructed, elevated tank. This is done so that the strip can be welded to the side wall to add a course. It is the objective to ensure that the tank wall is plumb (vertical) and in radius (both as to curvature and relative to the center of the tank) and that the width of the gap is optimized, at the weld point. The machine comprises a ‘floating’ main frame or platform suspended on a mobile undercarriage by four pivotally mounted cylinders. The cylinders are independently responsive to instruments monitoring the elevation, levelness and plumbness of the tank wall and the width of the gap. The main frame carries the coil and carries the strip and the tank wall in the vicinity of the weld point. The instruments control the cylinders to vary the elevation, radius and attitude of the main frame to thereby achieve the objective and ensure desirable ‘fit up’ and gapping at the weld point.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.