Adjustable Anchor Plate Locking for Rebar-Avoiding Dowel Placement
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In nuclear power plants, the precise positioning of metal dowels in anchoring plates is challenging due to the need to avoid cutting reinforcing irons during drilling, leading to lengthy on-site interventions and potential drilling errors, which compromise the structural integrity and increase costs.
Innovation Solution
An anchoring device with a support plate featuring orifices that allow dowels to be positioned within a defined range, enabling flexible placement and reversible locking, allowing pre-drilled plates to be used, ensuring mechanical strength compliance and reducing on-site errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If drilling is done on-site to precisely position dowels in anchoring plates, then manufacturing precision is improved, but loss of time increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-positioning dowels in anchoring plates before on-site installation. The dowels are inserted through pre-drilled holes in the plates and temporarily held in place, allowing precise positioning to be achieved in advance rather than during time-critical on-site drilling operations. This eliminates the need for lengthy on-site drilling while maintaining precise dowel positioning.
2Adaptability or versatility
If drilling is done on-site to accommodate iron positions, then adaptability is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to potential drilling errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs the positioning adaptation action in advance by pre-inserting dowels into anchoring plates before on-site installation. The dowels are positioned according to the actual iron locations identified during preliminary surveys, and this positioning is fixed in the plates before transport to site. This eliminates on-site drilling errors while maintaining the ability to adapt to actual iron positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The anchoring plate serves as an intermediary element between the dowels and the civil engineering structure. The plate allows dowels to be pre-positioned according to actual iron locations, and this pre-positioned configuration is then transferred to the final installation. The plate mediates between the need for precise positioning and the need to adapt to variable iron positions, eliminating drilling errors while maintaining adaptability.
3Reliability
If on-site drilling is performed to avoid cutting irons, then reliability is improved, but productivity decreases due to lengthy interventions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves the critical positioning and drilling actions to a preliminary phase before on-site installation. Dowels are inserted and positioned in anchoring plates in advance, allowing thorough verification that iron positions will not be compromised. This preliminary preparation maintains structural integrity reliability while dramatically improving on-site installation productivity by eliminating lengthy drilling operations.
4Ease of manufacture
If mechanical strength studies are based on nominal dowel positions, then ease of manufacture is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to unknown final positions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs mechanical strength verification in advance, before final installation. Dowels are pre-positioned in anchoring plates according to actual iron locations identified during preliminary surveys. Mechanical strength calculations can then be based on these known, actual positions rather than nominal positions, ensuring reliability while maintaining ease of manufacture through upfront planning and verification.
Data Source
AI summary
An anchoring device (1) for anchoring an equipment to a civil engineering structure includes a support plate (5) for the equipment, with at least two orifices (7); for each orifice (7), a longitudinal dowel (13) intended to be rigidly fastened in the civil engineering structure (3); for each orifice (7), a fastening member (25) mounted around the dowel (13); for each orifice (7), a connection (27) of the fastening member (25) to the plate (5), allowing the fastening member (25) to be placed at any given position in a defined region of the orifice (7) in a plane parallel to the plate (5); and for each orifice (7), a reversible lock (55) for blocking the fastening member (25) with respect to the plate in the given position and for blocking the fastening member in position along the dowel (13).