Modular Pipe Rack Towers With Biaxial Moment Connections
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for highly customizable, cost-efficient, and structurally strong pipe support structures that can support pipes of diverse sizes and fluidic flow volumes through varying outdoor natural conditions, including extreme temperatures, high winds, and seismic events.
Innovation Solution
The system comprises modular towers with four vertical corner columns and horizontal beams connected via biaxial moment connecting collars, allowing each tower to be independently self-supporting and capable of cooperatively supporting a continuous pipe along a transport path.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional pipe support structures are used, then structural strength is achieved, but customization flexibility and assembly efficiency are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The pipe support structure is divided into modular tower units, each comprising four vertical columns and horizontal beams that can be independently manufactured and assembled. This segmentation enables customization of different tower configurations while maintaining standardized connection interfaces, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The standardized biaxial moment connecting collars serve as universal connection interfaces that can accommodate various tower configurations and pipe arrangements. This universality allows different tower modules to be assembled using the same connection technology, enhancing customization flexibility without proportionally increasing structural complexity.
2Productivity
If modular tower design is implemented, then assembly efficiency is improved, but material usage and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The biaxial moment connecting collars are pre-fabricated and attached to the ends of horizontal beams during manufacturing. This preliminary action enables rapid field assembly by eliminating on-site connection fabrication, improving assembly efficiency while the standardized design allows for optimized material usage through repeated production.
Solution Approach 2:
The modular tower design allows for parameter optimization in the standardized components, such as column dimensions, beam spans, and collar configurations. By optimizing these parameters for mass production, material efficiency is improved while maintaining the assembly efficiency benefits of modularization.
3Strength
If biaxial moment connections are used, then structural strength under extreme conditions is achieved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The biaxial moment connecting collars are designed with self-aligning features that accommodate minor dimensional variations in the connected members. This self-service capability reduces the stringency of manufacturing precision requirements while still achieving the necessary structural strength for extreme environmental conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection design incorporates tolerance compensation features that cushion against manufacturing variations before they affect structural performance. This beforehand cushioning allows for relaxed manufacturing precision requirements while maintaining the high structural strength needed for withstanding extreme temperatures, winds, and seismic events.
4Ease of operation
If independent self-supporting towers are used, then assembly flexibility is improved, but overall structural stability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
While individual towers are independently self-supporting for assembly flexibility, the system achieves enhanced structural stability by having pipes span continuously across multiple towers. This merging of the pipe structure across towers creates a composite system where the pipes provide lateral bracing and stability, compensating for the independence of individual tower units.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for supporting one or more pipes is disclosed. The apparatus includes a first tower, a second tower, and each tower includes four vertical columns, and a first set of horizontal beams. Each beam is configured to span and connect two of the vertical columns via biaxial moment connecting collars. The towers are aligned to support a first pipe on beams from both towers along a primary pipe support axis, and none of the columns in the first tower is connected to a column of the second tower by a biaxial moment connecting collar.