Modular Pipe Rack Towers for Customizable Seismic Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for pipe support structures that are highly customizable, cost-efficient, easy to assemble, and structurally strong enough to support diverse pipe sizes and fluidic flow volumes under varying outdoor conditions, including extreme temperatures, high winds, and seismic events.
Innovation Solution
The system employs modular towers with four vertical columns and horizontal beams connected via biaxial moment connection collars, allowing each tower to be independently self-supporting and capable of supporting pipes without shared connections, enabling flexible and robust pipe support configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional pipe support structures are used, then structural strength can be achieved, but customization and ease of assembly are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The pipe support structure is divided into modular towers that can be independently configured and assembled. Each tower is a self-contained unit with standardized components (columns, beams, collars) that can be combined in various configurations to support different pipe sizes and arrangements, achieving customization without excessive complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The modular towers are designed with universal components that can serve multiple functions. The standardized columns, beams, and biaxial moment connecting collars can be arranged to support various pipe diameters and configurations, allowing a single modular system to adapt to diverse pipe support requirements
2Adaptability or versatility
If highly customized pipe support structures are created, then adaptability improves, but manufacturing and assembly costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the structure into standardized modular towers, the system achieves customization through configuration rather than custom manufacturing. Each module uses standardized components that can be mass-produced, keeping manufacturing costs low while allowing field assembly variations for different pipe requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The system achieves customization by changing the arrangement and configuration parameters of standardized components (tower spacing, beam configurations, collar positions) rather than changing the fundamental design parameters through custom manufacturing, thereby maintaining cost efficiency
3Ease of operation
If modular independent towers are used, then ease of assembly improves, but structural strength for shared support may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The structure is segmented into independent modular towers that can be assembled separately and then positioned to support pipes together. Each tower maintains its structural integrity independently through biaxial moment connections at its own beam-column joints, ensuring strength is not compromised by the modular segmentation
Solution Approach 2:
While the towers are modular and independently assembled, they are combined in space to collectively support the pipe system. The beams from adjacent towers align to provide continuous support along the pipe run, achieving both ease of assembly and structural strength
4Strength
If biaxial moment connections are used at all column connections, then structural strength increases, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Biaxial moment connecting collars are applied selectively at specific locations where structural strength is most needed (beam-to-column connections within each modular tower) rather than uniformly at all possible connections. This localized application provides necessary strength while reducing overall complexity compared to universal moment connections throughout the entire structure
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.