Apparatus for and method of manufacturing a helically wound tubular structure

Abstract

An apparatus (50) for and method of manufacturing structures (116) includes coaxial rotating faceplates (74, 89, 97), capable of rotation at different angular speeds. A plurality of forming rollers (76) and diameter defining rollers (78) are mounted on the inner faceplate (74, 89), which, in operation, cause a strip material (80) to be plastically deformed into a helical winding which may be lain down in abutting or self-overlapping relationship to form said tubular structure (116). A plurality of support rollers are mounted in a circle on the inner faceplate (74, 89) at a distance from the axis exceeding that of the outermost forming roller and serve to support the stock of strip material.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a United States national phase application under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Patent Application No. PCT / GB2010 / 050054 filed on Jan. 14, 2010, and claims the benefit of Great Britain Patent Application No. 0900721.2 filed on Jan. 16, 2009, both of which are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference. The International Application was published as International Publication No. WO 2010 / 082058 on Jul. 22, 2010.FIELD[0002]The present invention relates to a winding apparatus and a method of manufacturing structures and relates particularly to the manufacture of pipes and longitudinal structures formed by winding strips of material, such as metal, Kevlar, plastic, glass fibre, composites of such materials or strips formed from layers comprising one or more of said materials in a helical relationship. Other structures such as storage vessels, towers and support structures may also benefit from features described he...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005]It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for and method of manufacturing tubular structures which reduces and possibly overcomes some of the problems associated with the prior art.

[0007]Advantageously, this arrangement permits the outer and inner portions of the stock of material to be rotated at different speeds, facilitating the controlled consumption of stock at the forming station. Additionally, variation of angular speeds of different elements in the arrangement permits a reduction or even elimination of downtime for reloading of stock, by continuing consumption during the reloading. This allows for greater uniformity of the manufactured helical winding.

[0010]According to another aspect of the invention loading may be performed with minimal interruption or without interruption of the inner winding process, by which strip material taken from the inner portion of the stock is wound on to a central core or mandrel. This reduces downtime and may facilitate continuous supply of the strip material toward to the core, so that the final helical winding is uniform along the length of the manufactured pipe.

Problems solved by technology

This is a complex process.

This can be a very lengthy process.

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