Method and device for laying a line in the ground

Abstract

In order to lay a line (2) in a bedding layer (6) formed from bedding material (5) in a trench (18), wherein the line (2) is laid in a channel of the bedding layer (6), the invention proposes that the channel (19) is produced by removing bedding material (5) from the bedding layer (6) and the channel (19) is produced with a depth which is greater than the diameter of the line (2). The invention further proposes a device suitable for carrying out this method.

Description

[0001] Method and device for laying a pipe in the ground

[0002] The invention relates to a method for laying a pipe in the ground and a device for carrying out the method.

[0003] Pipelines can include both conduits, which carry a medium flowing through them, and cables, which typically contain an electrical conductor and transmit electrical energy. Cables can also be used to transmit information, for example, optical fibers for optically encoded information or electrical signal conductors for electrically encoded information. Finally, conduits or cable protection pipes can also be considered conduits. In these cases, the actual cable, which transports heat, electrical energy, or signals, is laid later, after the conduit has been installed, by being pulled into the conduit or cable protection pipe.

[0004] For the sake of simplicity, the invention will be referred to generally as a cable in the following text, and will be explained using the example of laying an underground electrical cable, without limiting the invention to this application and this type of cable. Underground cables used for transmitting electrical energy heat up due to the current flow, which increases the internal resistance of the cable. It is desirable to dissipate this heat in order to keep the internal resistance of the underground cable as low as possible and thus improve the efficiency of energy transmission.

[0005] In practice, it is common to cut a groove into the bottom of a trench without adding bedding material. The cable is then laid in the groove. The irregular structure of the naturally occurring soil in the trench bottom can be problematic, as it may prevent the uniform heat dissipation that is desirable for an underground cable. Furthermore, areas of varying firmness or looseness within the soil can lead to the erosion of certain soil components along the cable by precipitation. This can cause the cable to shift within the ground, resulting in settlement, and can also lead to the interruption of contact between the cable and the surrounding soil in certain sections, which is particularly detrimental to the aforementioned heat dissipation.

[0006] A second, well-established method also involves laying a pipe in the naturally occurring soil, similar to plowing, where the pipe is plowed directly into the ground without first creating a trench. Here, too, the irregular structure of the naturally occurring soil can pose problems, for example, regarding potential settlement or the desired heat dissipation for the laid pipe.

[0007] A method known from practical experience represents the closest equivalent to the state of the art, in which bedding material is applied to the bottom of a trench and compacted. While the bedding material initially exists as a loose fill in the trench, it is referred to as the bedding layer after compaction. The pipe is then laid on the surface of this bedding layer and covered with a covering material. This covering material is also subsequently compacted, creating a so-called pipe zone in the ground consisting of the compacted bedding and covering material, which can be several decimeters high, for example, approximately 70 cm.Below the equator of the cable, gaps form which are often only incompletely filled with bedding material and which are particularly less compacted than the rest of the covering material, so that heat dissipation, which may be desirable for an underground cable, is impaired.

[0008] In practice, it is also known to use a type of sled to pull a trench. The sled has several chambers: bedding material is brought into the trench from the first chamber, the pipe emerges from a second chamber and is laid on top of the bedding material, and a cover material is brought into the trench and onto the pipe from a third chamber of the sled. Here, too, the problem arises of the gaps below the pipe's equator that can only be partially filled and compacted.

[0009] The bedding material is typically a mineral granulate, such as sand. Compaction increases, firstly, the strength and thus the dimensional stability of the respective bedding or covering layer; secondly, it improves contact with the cable by pressing the covering material against the cable; and finally, it reduces the pore volume of the granular material, thereby improving, for example, its thermal conductivity, which can be advantageous for desired heat dissipation in the case of a heat-emitting underground cable.

[0010] The invention is based on the objective of improving a generic method in such a way that it enables rapid laying progress and optimal sheathing of the cable under standardized conditions in the ground.

[0011] Features of the invention are specified in claims 1 and 9. Embodiments are the subject of the dependent claims.

[0012] The invention assumes that a trench is provided in which the pipe is to be laid. The trench can be a natural one or artificially created, for example, using a rotary tiller, an excavator, or the like. Regarding the fundamental consideration of laying the pipe in the natural soil or in a bedding material, the invention proposes the use of a bedding layer. In contrast to laying the pipe directly in the naturally occurring soil, which has varying properties along its length, the use of bedding material ensures defined environmental conditions for the pipe within the soil.For the aforementioned heat dissipation in underground cables, the best possible thermal conductivity of the bedding layer may be desirable, whereas, for example, for the installation of district heating pipes, the best possible thermal insulation of the bedding layer may be desirable. In this case, a different, correspondingly suitable bedding material can be used, such as a granulate with a high porosity. Creating defined environmental conditions for the pipe can also be advantageous with regard to parameters other than thermal conductivity. According to the invention, the bedding material is first compacted, and only then is a groove cut into the already compacted bedding material, i.e., the bedding layer, by removing bedding material from the bedding layer.In comparison, creating the groove by locally compacting the bedding layer allows for a significantly deeper groove. The removal of bedding material from the bedding layer can be accomplished in various ways, for example, using a ripper tooth that is first pressed into the bedding layer to the desired depth and then moved lengthwise through the bedding layer, e.g., by pulling it. Similar to a plow, the ripper tooth can have guide surfaces that draw bedding material upwards from the bedding layer, so that this upwardly drawn bedding material is now missing from the bedding layer, and the resulting void forms the groove.As an alternative to such a ripper tooth, which is immobile apart from the longitudinal movement with which it is moved through the bedding layer, bedding material can be removed from the bedding layer by means of driven, movable elements which, for example, convey material from the bedding layer by means of their movement, similar to a milling tool, a bucket wheel excavator or the like.

[0013] According to the invention, the groove is produced with a depth greater than the diameter of the conductor, so that the conductor can be fully, and not just partially, placed in the groove. The conductor is inserted into this groove and, either now or in a later process step, pressed down to the bottom of the groove, so that the conductor runs at a defined depth within the bedding layer. Since the depth of the groove is greater than the diameter of the conductor, a space remains above the conductor in the groove, into which cover material is later placed to conceal the conductor.If the cover material differs from the bedding material, the material consumption for the cover material can be kept as low as possible, which is economically advantageous, since the cover material does not need to be spread across the entire width of the bedding layer, but only needs to be filled into the trench above the pipe. If the bedding material and the cover material are identical, the work progress is improved because, after laying the pipe, the cover material does not need to be placed and compacted across the entire width of the desired pipe zone in the trench, but only the cover material placed in the trench needs to be compacted.

[0014] In one embodiment, the bedding material is placed in the trench in a layer thickness sufficient to create the entire pipe zone. Although it is thus created practically monolithically, the pipe zone can be conceptually divided into a lower bedding layer and an upper cover layer. The bedding layer comprises the portion of the pipe zone that extends downwards from the pipe, while the cover layer comprises the portion of the pipe zone that lies above the pipe, thus covering it from above. Because bedding material is extracted from the bedding layer to create the trench, this extracted material can then be used as cover material to fill the trench after the pipe has been laid.It does not need to contribute significantly to the height of the pipe zone; rather, since part of the trench is filled by the pipe, a small excess of material will result when the trench is backfilled with the previously removed material. This excess material can then be distributed on the surface of the bedding layer without significantly altering the height of the pipe zone. Introducing the bedding material into the trench in a layer thickness sufficient to essentially create the entire pipe zone simplifies the process and can contribute to the fastest possible progress. Furthermore, the required equipment design is simplified because no separate feeding and distribution systems are needed for applying a comparatively large quantity of cover material to build up a substantial cover layer.

[0015] Compared to a conventional method for laying pipes, in this procedure both the bedding and the cover layer are first placed in the trench, i.e. the pipe zone is created over its entire height, and only then is the pipe laid in the pipe zone.

[0016] In one embodiment, the shape of the groove cross-section is adapted to the geometry of the conductor cross-section, thus optimizing the contact between the conductor and the surrounding bedding layer. When laying a conductor with a circular cross-section, this means that a groove is created which is approximately curved at its base, with a radius nearly identical to that of the conductor. The bedding layer therefore fits the conductor particularly well, thus facilitating both heat transfer from the conductor to the bedding layer and optimal guidance and fixation of the conductor within the surrounding material of the conductor zone. Accordingly, the groove cross-section can ideally have a semicircular base whose radius is identical to that of the conductor.Due to the semicircular groove cross-section, the pipe lies completely against the bedding layer below its equator, and gaps that are difficult to fill and compact with covering material are completely avoided.

[0017] The bedding material removed from the bedding layer can, for example, be returned to a storage container, from which it is taken and placed in the trench to create the bedding layer. If the bedding material and the cover material are identical, the bedding material removed from the bedding layer can be fed into a storage container, from which it is placed in the trench as cover material above the pipe after it has been laid. In one embodiment, however, the bedding material removed from the bedding layer is deposited laterally next to the groove on the bedding layer, i.e., heaped next to the groove. After the pipe has been placed in the groove, this heaped material is placed back into the groove and can then be compacted, if necessary with additional cover material.This simplifies not only the process flow but also the required equipment, as both a storage container and, in any case, the conveying equipment that would otherwise be necessary for transporting the material are no longer required.

[0018] In one design, instead of creating just one groove in the bedding layer, two grooves are created side by side. Consequently, two parallel pipes are later laid in these grooves. This facilitates faster work progress by allowing the same trench and bedding layer to accommodate not just one, but two pipes. Because both grooves are created simultaneously during the initial groove-creation process, the second groove does not need to be created if a first pipe has already been laid. The risk of damaging an existing pipe during subsequent work is therefore minimized by creating both grooves from the outset and then laying a pipe in each before the trench is covered with the backfill material.According to the invention, more than two grooves can also be created for multiple conductors.

[0019] The two or more grooves can be arranged irregularly relative to each other. In an embodiment considered advantageous, however, they are produced in such a way that the two grooves run parallel to each other. The two grooves can serve to accommodate different conductors, whereby different distances between the conductors are not critical. The parallel groove orientation, and thus a uniform distance between the conductors, advantageously creates constant environmental conditions for each of the two conductors.Regarding the installation of an underground electrical cable and the associated desirable heat dissipation, a sufficient quantity of bedding material can be ensured around the cable to absorb heat, without any localized, accidental proximity of the adjacent cable impairing heat dissipation and leading to undesirable local heating of the underground cable. The bedding layer can be created gradually, section by section, for example, by placing a specific quantity of bedding material into the trench and then further processing it, namely compacting and creating a groove.In one embodiment, however, the bedding layer is produced continuously, thus avoiding discontinuities or seams between adjacent sections of the bedding layer and promoting the creation of the most homogeneous environment possible for the pipe located in the pipe zone. For this purpose, an intermediate storage unit and a material dispensing unit are preferably moved continuously along the trench.

[0020] The intermediate storage unit contains bedding material and can, for example, be designed as an open-topped trough. The bedding material is conveyed from the intermediate storage unit to the material dispensing point, for example simply by gravity, in which the intermediate storage unit is positioned higher than the material dispensing point, or alternatively by specially provided, powered conveying devices such as a conveyor belt or the like.

[0021] The material output can be designed, for example, in the form of a chute and serves to introduce the bedding material into the trench in a defined manner, for example distributed over a certain width and with a certain layer thickness.

[0022] The intermediate storage unit acts as a buffer to ensure a continuous supply of bedding material to the material dispensing unit while both the intermediate storage unit and the material dispensing unit are continuously moved along the trench. The intermediate storage unit is filled from the outside with fresh bedding material, defined as material that is not yet, or has not previously been, in the system. This fresh bedding material can be supplied by a moving device, such as a conveyor belt, which continuously feeds bedding material into the intermediate storage unit as the system moves. In this case, the intermediate storage unit serves to maintain a consistent flow of bedding material before the material dispensing unit, regardless of any fluctuations in the amount of bedding material being delivered to it.Alternatively, the intermediate storage tank can be filled discontinuously, i.e., in batches or at intervals, with fresh bedding material, for example, from a tipper truck, a dumper truck, or the like. This discontinuous loading of the intermediate storage tank reduces the equipment required at the construction site, as there is no need to provide and precisely control a bedding material conveying system that travels with the intermediate storage tank and material dispensing unit and continuously delivers a nearly constant quantity of bedding material. The invention further relates to a device that can be used in carrying out the method according to the invention. The device has a driven chassis so that it can be moved longitudinally along the trench. The chassis can have wheels and / or tracks.The device can travel alongside the trench on one side, or the chassis can have such a narrow track width that the device can travel within the trench, or the track width of the chassis can be so wide that the device runs alongside the trench on both sides. Furthermore, the device according to the invention includes a groove former, i.e., a tool that creates the groove intended to receive the pipe, wherein the groove is created in the already laid and compacted bedding material, i.e., in the bedding layer, by removing bedding material from the bedding layer. To accommodate the pipe to be laid, the groove former is designed such that the depth of the groove is greater than the diameter of the pipe.

[0023] In one embodiment, the device according to the invention also includes the intermediate storage unit mentioned above, which is designed to hold the bedding material. The intermediate storage unit has an outlet through which the bedding material exits the intermediate storage unit.

[0024] In a further development of the embodiment described above, the device according to the invention also includes the material dispensing unit mentioned above, which is designed to receive the bedding material exiting the intermediate storage unit through its outlet and introduce this bedding material into the trench. While the bedding material can generally simply fall from the intermediate storage unit into the trench through its outlet, the material dispensing unit achieves a more controlled introduction of the bedding material into the trench, for example, if the material dispensing unit is designed as a chute and deposits the bedding material into the trench at a defined width. Furthermore, the material dispensing unit can preferably also include means for metering the amount of bedding material introduced into the trench, so that a defined layer thickness of the bedding material can be achieved.

[0025] In one embodiment, the device includes a compactor. The compactor serves to compact the bedding material that has been placed in the trench, thus creating a bedding layer consisting of the compacted bedding material.

[0026] In one embodiment, the device includes a laying unit designed to guide the cable to be laid, such that the cable is placed into the groove of the bedding layer by means of the laying unit. When the device is equipped with a laying unit, it can also be referred to as a cable laying device.

[0027] In one embodiment, the device includes a cover layer. The cover layer is designed to cover the pipe with cover material. Depending on the configuration of the groove, the cover layer can be designed differently: if the pipe is not fully seated in the groove, the cover layer, similar to the material dispensing mechanism for the bedding material, can distribute the cover material over a width significantly greater than the width of the groove or the diameter of the pipe. For example, in this case, the cover layer can distribute the cover material over the entire width of the bedding layer. However, if the pipe is fully seated in the groove, the cover layer can be designed to simply fill the groove with cover material, such as the bedding material that was previously removed from the bedding layer by the groove former.

[0028] In a further development of this embodiment, the device equipped with a cover layer includes a compactor designed to compact the cover material and is therefore referred to as a cover compactor to distinguish it from the compactor mentioned above. This may be a second compactor of the device, for example, if the device also has a separate first compactor for compacting the bedding material.

[0029] Particularly advantageously, the device, acting as a pipe-laying machine, can incorporate all the components described above, allowing the bedding material to be introduced into the trench by means of the device, which is moved along a prepared trench. This material is then compacted into a bedding layer, a groove can be created in the bedding layer, the pipe can be laid in the groove, the pipe can be covered with a top layer, and this top layer can be compacted. Accordingly, with a pipe-laying machine equipped in this way, the entire pipe zone, including the pipe laid within it, can be created in a single pass. This process can be carried out continuously, corresponding to the travel speed of the pipe-laying machine.

[0030] According to a further development, the device can have several so-called working units, each working unit comprising a chassis and preferably one or more tools. For example, a first working unit can be configured to provide a bedding layer. For this purpose, the first working unit can, in particular, include the aforementioned compactor to compact the bedding material placed in the trench. Preferably, a second working unit can be configured to create the aforementioned groove in the bedding layer, especially by including the described groove former. Furthermore, the aforementioned laying unit can create the tool of another working unit, preferably including, for example, both the groove former and the laying unit. The described working units can be self-propelled and preferably designed to be coordinated and controllable.Multiple work units can significantly increase flexibility on-site, as, for example, maintenance interruptions to one work unit do not necessarily have to interrupt the other work units. Furthermore, transporting several, relatively small work units is considerably easier, as, for example, several transport vehicles can each carry one work unit without requiring any special permits or similar authorizations.

[0031] In one embodiment, the device according to the invention has a sensor upstream of the material dispensing unit that detects the course of the trench bottom, for example, a mechanical sensor in the form of a support wheel or a sensing skid running on the trench bottom, or non-contact in the form of an ultrasonic sensor or the like. Based on the sensor signals or simply by mechanical coupling, e.g., with the mechanical sensor, the material dispensing unit maintains a specific height above the trench bottom and thus ensures the constant adherence to a desired, adjustable layer thickness of the bedding material in the trench.

[0032] In a preferred alternative embodiment, the device according to the invention allows the bedding material to be applied in defined but varying layer thicknesses. This compensates for irregularities in trench depth and maintains a specific level at which the top of the bedding material is located, ensuring that, relative to the soil surface, the top of the compacted bedding layer always runs at a predetermined depth alongside the trench, regardless of whether the trench bottom varies in depth, for example, due to irregular excavation work. This ensures that the pipeline always runs at a predetermined depth below the soil surface after the trench has been backfilled and its surface leveled to the surrounding soil surface.

[0033] This method of introducing bedding material of varying thicknesses into the trench utilizes the fact that the device travels on the already compacted bedding layer and its center of gravity is located above it. The front of the device extends beyond the compacted bedding layer and can therefore lose contact with the trench bottom without the device tipping forward. Consequently, depending on the elevation of the trench bottom, different distances result between the device – for example, its material dispensing point – and the trench bottom. During the device's travel, varying amounts of bedding material are dispensed onto the trench bottom, always sufficient to reach the predetermined level.

[0034] The level reached can be automatically detected by a sensor, for example mechanically using a roller or skid, or contactlessly using an ultrasonic sensor or similar device. The device's travel speed can be varied depending on the amount of bedding material to be applied. A slower speed ensures sufficient bedding material is applied when the trench bottom is relatively deep. Alternatively, the travel speed can be kept constant by varying the amount of bedding material applied per unit of time, based on the sensor-determined distance to the trench bottom. For example, a driven metering unit can be operated at different speeds to control the flow of bedding material.

[0035] To ensure that the top of the compacted bedding layer is always at a predetermined depth, and that the pipe is also at a different but equally determined depth, the elevation of the surrounding soil surface can be determined as a reference height using sensor signals, such as those from ultrasonic or radar sensors, or GPS signals. The level to which the bedding material is placed in the trench is then determined relative to this reference height. This determination of the reference height and the subsequent steps described above are repeated either continuously or at intervals as the pipe is laid in the trench. Thus, as work progresses along the trench, the pipe's laying depth is constantly adjusted to the locally adjacent soil elevation.

[0036] Further features, details and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the wording of the claims and from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the purely schematic drawings. These show:

[0037] Fig. 1 shows a side view of a cable layer laying a cable in a bedding layer.

[0038] Fig. 2 shows a top view of the pipe-laying machine from Fig. 1 within a construction site, with bedding material being supplied to the pipe-laying machine from the outside, and the

[0039] Figures 3 and 4 show perspective views of the situation in Figure 2 from different angles. Figure 1 depicts a device designated as a cable-laying machine 1 during the laying of two cables 2. The cable-laying machine 1 is designed as a self-propelled vehicle and has a drive motor and a driven chassis 3, which, in the illustrated embodiment, travels on the ground using tracks 4, with the direction of travel in Figure 1 being to the left. The ground consists of a bedding layer 6 made of compacted bedding material 5, which is created by the cable-laying machine 1 itself during travel, as will be explained in more detail below.

[0040] The pourable bedding material 5 is first filled into an intermediate storage tank 7 of the pipe-laying machine 1. In Fig. 1, the intermediate storage tank 7 is designed as an open-topped trough, and the schematically indicated pile of bedding material 5 extends above the top edge of the intermediate storage tank 7. From the intermediate storage tank 7, the bedding material 5 slides through an outlet 8 onto a material discharge chute 9, which distributes the bedding material 5 onto the bottom of a trench. In Fig. 1, a discharge ramp is schematically indicated as the front end of this bedding material 5 as it is distributed into the trench. The outlet 8 can optionally be closed by means of a flap 10 to prevent uncontrolled outflow of the bedding material 5 from the intermediate storage tank 7, for example, when the pipe-laying machine 1 is not in operation.During the laying work, when the pipe-laying machine 1 is in operation, the locking flap 10, which is swung into its open position, serves as a chute, via which the bedding material 5 is conveyed from the outlet 8 to the material output 9 by gravity.

[0041] A support wheel 11 running on the trench bottom in front of the material dispenser 9 maintains the dispenser at a specific height above the trench bottom, thus ensuring a desired layer thickness of the bedding material 5 in the trench. The material dispenser 9, together with the support wheel 11, is vertically adjustable from the chassis 3 via a parallelogram linkage 12, allowing the desired layer thickness of the bedding material 5 to be set. In this case, the support wheel 11 follows the contour of the trench bottom, ensuring that the bedding material 5 can be applied to the trench bottom at a constant layer thickness.

[0042] In contrast to the described operating method of the pipe-laying machine 1, the bedding material 5 can optionally be applied with varying layer thicknesses to compensate for irregularities in the trench depth. This allows a specific level to be maintained up to which the bedding material 5 is placed in the trench. After compaction, the top of the bedding layer 6 therefore always runs at a predetermined depth relative to the ground surface to the side of the trench, regardless of whether the trench bottom varies in depth, for example, due to irregular excavation work. This operating method takes advantage of the fact that the pipe-laying machine 1's center of gravity is located above the already compacted bedding layer 6.The front section of the pipe-laying machine 1, including the support wheel 11, can therefore lose contact with the trench bottom without changing the orientation of the entire machine 1, i.e., without the machine 1 tipping forward. For laying work in a trench with an irregular depth, where the trench bottom varies in depth along its length, this means that varying amounts of bedding material 5 are dispensed from the material output 9 during the pipe-laying machine 1's travel. The amount dispensed is always sufficient to reach a specific height, namely the predetermined level. Reaching this level can be detected automatically by a sensor, for example, mechanically using a guide roller or skid, or contactlessly using an ultrasonic sensor or similar device.The travel speed of the pipe-laying machine 1 can be kept constant by varying the amount of bedding material 5 dispensed. This can be achieved, for example, by means of a metering roller located in the area of ​​the outlet 8, so that bedding material 5 does not flow uncontrollably from the intermediate storage 7 onto the shut-off flap 10, which serves as a chute, but rather a different flow of bedding material 5 is drawn from the intermediate storage 7 depending on the rotational speed of the metering roller.

[0043] To ensure that the top of the bedding layer 6 remains at the desired level, which is determined relative to the surrounding soil surface, the elevation of the surrounding soil surface is automatically determined using sensor signals, for example, GPS signals or signals from a radar or similar sensor. The elevation of the surrounding soil surface is used as the reference elevation, and the level to which the bedding material 5 is placed in the trench is determined relative to this reference elevation.

[0044] Downstream of the material output 9, and in the direction of travel ahead of the tracks 4, a compactor 13 is arranged, which acts on the bedding material 5 lying in the trench and compacts it. Due to the purely schematic representation, the uncompacted layer of bedding material 5 in front of the compactor 13 is shown to be the same height as the compacted bedding layer 6 behind the compactor 13. The tracks 4 run on the bedding layer 6, so that the pipe-laying machine 1 travels on the ground it has created itself.

[0045] In the direction of travel, behind the chassis 3, two groove formers 14 are attached to the pipe-laying machine 1. In the illustrated embodiment, each groove former has a rigid tool designed in the form of a plow or ripper tooth. However, in contrast to the illustrated embodiment, the groove former 14 can also have a movable tool, which, for example, can be designed like a milling cutter. Each groove former 14 is mounted on a boom 15 so that it can be selectively raised to a rest position or, as shown in Fig. 1, lowered into the bedding layer 6. Both groove formers 14 can be mounted together on a common boom 15 for height movement. However, a separate arrangement of each groove former 14 on its own boom 15 allows selective lifting of only one of the two groove formers 14 to a rest position, thus enabling the pipe-laying machine 1 to be used to create a single groove.The groove former 14 guides bedding material 5 from the bedding layer 6 upwards, creating a groove in the bedding layer 6. The groove former 14 has guide surfaces for the bedding material 5, which are shaped such that the bedding material 5 taken from the bedding layer 6 is guided upwards and deposited on the surface of the bedding layer 6 next to the groove, in the illustrated embodiment on both sides of the groove.

[0046] Downstream of the groove former 14, the cable-laying machine 1 pulls a laying unit 16, which is explained in more detail with reference to the following drawings. This unit serves to insert the cables 2 into the previously created groove and then to cover the cables 2 with cover material. The two cables 2 are provided in the direction of travel in front of the cable-laying machine 1, either by laying relatively rigid cables 2 in or alongside the trench, or by providing relatively flexible cables 2 on a rotatable spool. The two cables 2 are guided on both sides of the intermediate storage container 7. The illustrated embodiment of the cable-laying machine 1 has annular guide lugs 17 through which the cables 2 are guided.

[0047] Fig. 2 shows a top view of the aforementioned trench, which is labelled 18 in Fig. 2, has two grooves 19, and in which the pipe-laying machine 1 travels, with the direction of travel in Fig. 2 directed upwards. The laying unit 16 has two elongated, trough-shaped sections 20, each of which is lowered into one of the two grooves, as can also be seen in Fig. 1. In each trough-shaped section 20, several guide rollers 21 are arranged at different heights, so that the pipes 2 are guided deep into the grooves 19 within the trough-shaped sections 20 by means of the guide rollers 21.

[0048] In the illustrated embodiment, the depth of the grooves 19 is significantly greater than the diameter of the cables 2. As can be seen in Fig. 1, the cables 2 are inserted into the bedding layer 6 so deeply that they are located at a distance from the top surface of the bedding layer 6. Fig. 2 shows a cover layer 22 over each of the two grooves 19 at the rear end of the laying unit 16 in the direction of travel. In the illustrated embodiment, each of the two cover layers 22 is designed as an upright, approximately V-shaped sheet metal plate that is open in the direction of travel, so that the bedding material 5, which has been accumulated on both sides of the groove 19 by the groove former 14, is guided into the groove 19 and thus covers the cable 2 laid there. The cover layer 22 is supported on the bedding layer 6 by a skid 23.

[0049] In the illustrated embodiment, the same material is used both as bedding material 5 to create the bedding layer 6 and as cover material to cover the pipes 2. In contrast to the illustrated embodiment, a cover material different from the bedding material 5 may be used. In this case, the pipe-laying system 1 would have a second storage element similar to the intermediate storage element 7.

[0050] As can be seen from Fig. 2, the cable-laying unit 1, located behind the intermediate storage unit 7 in the direction of travel, not only has a technical compartment 24, in which, for example, the drive motor for the chassis 3 as well as a fuel tank and / or an electrical energy storage unit are arranged. Behind the technical compartment 24, a control station 25 (not shown in Fig. 1) is arranged as part of the cable-laying unit 1. This control station is movably and thus adjustable, so that an operator can optionally look forward along the intermediate storage unit 7 to the right or left in the direction of travel, or can monitor the function of the laying unit 16 and the cover layer 22 from different viewing angles.

[0051] Finally, Fig. 2 also shows that a construction road 26 runs alongside the trench 18, over which further bedding material 5 is transported by a truck 27. The truck 27 drives onto a ramp 28, which also has a crawler track system with running tracks 4 and can therefore move parallel and synchronously with the pipe-laying machine 1. The ramp 28 is equipped with a pivoting platform 29, so that the truck 27 can first be driven longitudinally along the construction road 26 onto the ramp 28 and its platform 29, and then, together with the platform 29, pivoted transversely to the construction road 26 into the position shown in Fig. 2. In the illustrated embodiment, the truck 27 is equipped with a tipper body, which is shown in its raised position in Fig. 2, so that bedding material 5 can be filled from the truck 27 into the intermediate storage 7. In this way, continuous operation of the line layer 1 is possible.

[0052] Fig. 3 shows the situation of Fig. 2 from a different perspective and allows a better view of the design of the ramp 28 and the laying unit 16 including the cover layer 22, although for the sake of clarity not all elements described above are provided with reference numerals.

[0053] Fig. 4 shows the situation of Fig. 2 from a different viewpoint, showing the front area of ​​the cable layer 1 in the direction of travel.

[0054] The invention is not limited to one of the embodiments described above, but can be modified in a variety of ways. All features and advantages arising from the claims, the description, and the drawings, including design details, spatial arrangements, and process steps, can be essential to the invention both individually and in various combinations.

[0055] Reference list

[0056] 1 line layer

[0057] 2 lines

[0058] 3 Chassis

[0059] 4 running chain

[0060] 5 Bedding material

[0061] 6. Bedding layer

[0062] 7 buffers

[0063] 8 Outlet

[0064] 9. Material distribution

[0065] 10 Locking flap

[0066] 11 Support wheel

[0067] 12 Parallelogram fitting

[0068] 13 compressors

[0069] 14 Nutformer

[0070] 15 outriggers

[0071] 16 laying units

[0072] 17 Guide eyelet

[0073] 18 trenches

[0074] 19 Nut

[0075] 20 trough-shaped section

[0076] 21 Leadership role

[0077] 22 Cover layers

[0078] 23 skids

[0079] 24 Technical Room

[0080] 25 Tax stand

[0081] 26 Construction Road

[0082] 27 trucks

[0083] 28 Ramp

[0084] 29 Platform

Claims

Patent claims 1. A method for laying a pipe (2) in the ground, wherein a) a trench (18) is first prepared in the ground, b) bedding material (5) is placed in the trench (18), c) and the bedding material (5) is compacted to form a bedding layer (6), d) a groove (19) is cut into the bedding layer (6) in the longitudinal direction of the trench (18), e) the pipe (2) is placed in the groove (19), f) and the laid pipe (2) is covered with a covering material, wherein the bedding layer (6) and the covering material together form a so-called pipe zone in the trench (18), characterized in that g) the groove (19) is produced by removing bedding material (5) from the bedding layer (6), h) and the groove (19) is produced with a depth which is greater than the diameter of the pipe (2).

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the cross-section of the groove (19) is adapted to the geometry of the cross-section of the conduit (2).

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the bedding material (5) taken from the bedding layer (6) is placed laterally next to the groove (19) on the bedding layer (6) and is later introduced into the groove (19) as cover material after the line (2) has been placed in the groove (19).

4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that two grooves (19) are produced next to each other in the bedding layer (6) and subsequently two conductors (2) are placed next to each other in the grooves (19).

5. Method according to claim 4, characterized in that the grooves (19) are produced parallel to each other.

6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bedding layer (6) is produced continuously, wherein an intermediate storage unit (7) containing bedding material (5) and a material output (8) are continuously moved along the trench (18), and wherein the bedding material (5) is conveyed from the intermediate storage unit (7) to the material output (8), and the bedding material (5) is introduced from the material output (8) into the trench (18), and wherein fresh bedding material (5) is continuously or batchwise supplied to the intermediate storage unit (7).

7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bedding layer (6) is produced with a layer thickness which essentially corresponds to the layer thickness of the conductor zone.

8. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized by the following method steps: i. The height of the soil surface surrounding the trench (18) adjacent to the area where bedding material (5) is to be introduced into the trench is determined as the reference height; ii. The depth at which the top of the bedding layer is to be located in the soil is determined; iii. Depending on this determined depth, a level is determined relative to the reference level to which bedding material (5) is introduced into the trench, such that after compaction of the bedding material (5), the top of the bedding layer (6) is located at the determined depth; iv. Bedding material (5) is introduced into the trench (18) until it reaches the predetermined level. v. the bedding material (5) is compacted in such a way as to create a bedding layer (6) whose top surface is at the specified depth, vi. steps i to v are repeated during the progress of the work along the trench (18).

9. Device for carrying out the method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the device comprises: • a driven chassis (3) designed to move the device in the longitudinal direction of the trench (18), • and a groove former (14) designed to penetrate the bedding layer (6) and to create a groove (19) with a depth greater than the diameter of the conduit (2) by removing bedding material (5) from the bedding layer (6).

10. Device according to claim 9, characterized by an intermediate storage unit (7) which is configured to receive bedding material (5) and which has an outlet (8) for the bedding material (5).

11. Device according to claim 10, characterized by a material output (9) which is configured to receive bedding material (5) from the outlet (8) of the intermediate storage (7) and introduce it into the trench (18).

12. Device according to one of claims 9 to 11, characterized by a compactor (13) which is configured to compact bedding material (5) introduced into the trench (18) and thus create a bedding layer (6).

13. Device according to one of claims 9 to 12, characterized by a laying unit (16) which is configured to guide a line (2) and lay it in the groove (19).

14. Device according to one of claims 9 to 13, characterized by a cover layer (22) which is configured to cover the conductor (2) inserted into the groove (19) with cover material.

15. Device according to one of claims 9 to 14, characterized by a cover compactor which is configured to compact the cover material applied to the pipe (2).

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