Liner Welding Rail for Full Penetration Butt Joints
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing casings for swimming pools, tarps, or containment enclosures, such as those for nuclear power plants, face challenges in ensuring 100% sealing and mechanical strength due to difficulties in controlling welds made using a slat technique, which can lead to residual defects and potential fractures under stress conditions like pressure variations and earthquakes.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the assembly of adjacent sheets with a monolithic sheet partially thinned for welding and fixed to anchoring plates, along with a rail to create a control space for the weld bead, ensuring fully penetrated butt welds that are visually and structurally sound, independent of anchoring elements, and allowing for leak and X-ray inspections to guarantee tightness and mechanical strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If welding is performed using a batten positioned behind the sheets, then the welding process can be implemented, but a 100% watertight seal cannot be guaranteed due to residual defects and crack initiations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the batten element from the welding system and replaces it with a rail positioned in front of the sheets. This extraction of the problematic batten component eliminates the source of residual defects and crack initiations while maintaining the welding capability through the new rail-based configuration
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a rail as an intermediary element that performs multiple functions: it guides the welding process, provides a reference for achieving full penetration, and eliminates the need for a batten. This intermediary rail ensures both manufacturability and watertightness by mediating between the welding tool and the metal sheets
2Manufacturing precision
If a rail is placed between sheets to create a viewing gap for weld inspection, then weld quality can be controlled, but the complexity of the assembly increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rail serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as a positioning reference for the welding process, creates the viewing gap for quality inspection, guides the welding torch, and provides a physical barrier to maintain proper spacing. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components, thereby managing complexity while achieving precise weld control
3Manufacturing precision
If monolithic plates are partially thinned to allow welding, then fully penetrated butt welds can be achieved, but the mechanical strength of the thinned area is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The monolithic plate is selectively thinned only in the specific region where welding is required, while the rest of the plate maintains its full thickness and mechanical strength. This local thinning creates an optimized geometry that enables full penetration welds at the joint while preserving the structural integrity of the plate body
Solution Approach 2:
The plate is pre-thinned before the welding operation to prepare the joint geometry for full penetration welding. This preliminary shaping of the plate ensures that when welding occurs, the weld bead can completely penetrate through the thickness, creating a strong, defect-free joint without requiring excessive welding parameters that could damage the material
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method guarantees 100% weld quality and mechanical strength, dissociating sealing from mechanical functions, reducing production costs, and ensuring compliance with calculation codes for containment enclosures, while providing a reliable and durable casing.
Implementation Method 1
the welding of the plates to each other to form part of a surface of the casing by making a weld bead, said weld being a fully penetrated butt weld
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4~6
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for producing a liner for a pool, tank or containment vessel. The method comprises the following steps, namely: mounting a series of adjacent metal sheets, including at least: a) attaching a monolithic sheet (2a, 2b) to at least one anchoring plate (3a, 3b) positioned opposite, said monolithic sheet (2a, 2b) being partially tapered so that, in the tapered portion, it can be welded to at least one sheet that has no anchoring elements (1) and so that, in the non-tapered, it can be mechanically secured to the anchoring plate (3a, 3b), and b) installing a rail (8) which, together with the adjacent sheets (1, 2a, 2b), defines a space for inspecting the weld bead (9), in line with the welding zone; and welding the sheets (1, 2a, 2b) together to form part of a surface of the liner, producing a weld bead (9) that is a full-penetration butt weld.