Polygon Tumble Assembler for Tubular Heat Exchangers
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manufacturing and transportation of large, complex heat transfer devices with substantially cylindrical, cage-like structures made of long, slender tubular components are challenging due to their non-rigid nature, making them difficult to handle and assemble efficiently.
Innovation Solution
The Polygon Tumble Assembler employs an exo-skeleton structure to assemble these devices in pie-shaped, longitudinal segments, allowing for horizontal or vertical construction and transportation, reducing crane weight requirements, and enabling accurate placement and assembly of complex vessels, particularly suited for non-self-supporting cylindrical structures like syngas coolers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the cage-like structure is made of long, slender tubular components welded by membrane structure, then the structure achieves the required heat transfer function, but the structure becomes non-rigid and difficult to handle and assemble
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the large cylindrical cage-like structure into multiple pie-shaped longitudinal segments. Each segment is assembled separately using the membrane structure tubular components, then the segments are joined together to form the complete structure. This segmentation allows each segment to be handled and assembled more easily while maintaining the overall structural integrity through the joining of segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces temporary support structures and fixtures as intermediaries during the assembly process. These support structures provide rigid frameworks that hold the slender tubular components in place during assembly, enabling workers to assemble the non-rigid membrane structure components without requiring the structure itself to be rigid during construction.
2Strength
If the entire cage-like structure is assembled as one piece, then the structure achieves structural integrity, but the structure becomes difficult to transport and requires excessive crane weight capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the large cage-like structure into multiple smaller pie-shaped longitudinal segments. Each segment weighs significantly less than the complete structure, allowing standard cranes to handle and transport them. The segments are then joined on-site to reconstruct the full structural integrity of the original design, achieving both transportability and structural strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the assembly approach from vertical elevation (requiring heavy cranes to lift the entire structure) to horizontal segmentation. By dividing the structure into segments that can be moved horizontally and then joined, the invention reduces the vertical lifting requirements and crane weight capacity needed while maintaining the final structural integrity.
3Productivity
If the cage-like structure is made with headers and manifolds of substantial diameter and wall thickness, then the fluid conveyance function is improved, but the overall structure becomes more complex and harder to assemble
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the headers and manifolds into smaller components that can be assembled within each pie-shaped segment. Rather than handling one large, complex header-manifold assembly, workers assemble smaller header and manifold sections that are integrated into each segment, reducing the immediate assembly complexity while maintaining the required fluid conveyance capacity in the completed structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus particularly suited to the manufacture and assembly of cage-like, substantially cylindrical structures made of long, slender tubular components which, by themselves, are not self-supporting, employs an exo-skeleton structure to assemble cage-like, tubular structures in pie-shaped, longitudinal segments while in a horizontal or vertical position utilizing longitudinal or circumferential attachments. The apparatus comprises at least two segments which permit construction of subassemblies of the cage-like, tubular structure and their transportation, if necessary, to a remote site where they may be finally assembled.