CA1078154A - Arrangement for manufacturing spherical reservoirs - Google Patents

Abstract

ARRANGEMENT FOR MANUFACTURING SPHERICAL
RESERVOIRS
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Arrangement for manufacturing spherical reservoirs from meridional petal-like flaps, wherein the base has mounted there-on a supporting frame for the reservoir, and, successively over-lying this frame: a shaft for accom?odating the lids of the reservoir and for rotating the latter in the process of its manufacture, and a welding unit accom?odated on a support beam.
The shaft is journalled on posts mounted on the base, for rot-ation about a horizontal axis, while the supporting frame has a curvilinear surface for the meridional flaps to be placed thereupon, the shape of this surface corresponding to the curvil inear surface of the meridional flaps, the frame being carried by vertical guides for motion therealong, to bring the meridio-nal flaps to the lids of the reservoir. The support beam has made thereon arcuate guideways of a radius somewhat greater than that of the sphere of the reservoir, to accom?odate the welding unit for motion therealong in the course of welding the reservoir. The arrangement of the present invention is highly efficient and structurally simple; it provides for performing the entire production sequence of assembling a reservoir, while not requiring great production space for its accom?odation.

Description

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~ he i~vention relates to arrangeme~t~ ~or manu~acturing spherical reservoir3 from a plurality o~ mexidional p~tal-like ~laps.
~ he arra~gem~t o~ the pre~ent inve~tio~ ca~ be e~icient-b utilized ~or manufacturl~g ~pherioal re~ervolrs from pre-cut meridional ~lap~, either relatively thin a~d originall~
flat, or el~e relatively th~c~ and ~hapad by pre~ing, ~ollow~
iug thoir cuttin~ out, to a double ~urvatur~.
There are known arran~eme~ts ~or welding ~pherical reser-voir~, w~erei~ a ba~e has mo~nted thereon a ~upporting ~rame ~or a reservo~r to be walded, made up o~ two portions, viZo of a ~tationar~ ona and o~ a movable on~
~ e movable porbion of ~he ~upporting ~rame of the know~ ~ -arrangement a3 a~ arcuate member ha~g the e~d~ thereoi inter- : -connected by a ~ha~t adapted to ac¢ommodate the lid3 a~d the bod~ of tb~ reSerYoir~ pre-a~embl~d in anot~sr arra~gem3nb and requirinæ ~in~l welding.
~ ou~ted to overlie t~e ~upporti~g ~rame i~ a welding u~it immovably mounted on a ~upport b~am con~ected wit~ the base.
~ hs movable portioQ supporti~g the re~ervoir pre-a~sembl-ed from the flaps i~ mounted 4~ the ~tationary portion o~ t~e supporti~ frame for rotation in a vertical ~la~e, ~o a~ to prov~de fsr the weldl~g o~ t~e ~ntire le~gth of a ~oint de;

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-2-~ined by th~ ad~ac~nt ~laps o~ t~e re~er~oir~
~ he shait i5 operative~y oouplad with a drive adap~ed to rotate it about a horizontal aæi~, and thus to rotate the r~-s~rvoir, whereby the joi~t~ b~tween th~ ad~ao~nt :~laps o~ the reservoir are successively brought ~ the weldi~g un~t.
~ he known arrangeme~ts are sol~ly~Gapabl~ o~ al weld-i~g o~ a reservoir pre aæ~embled in other arrang~me~t~.
T~er0~0re, -the antir~ proc~ss o~ manu~acturing a reser~
voir r~quir~s several arrangeme~ts, whiGh impair~ the. ~fici-e~cy o~ the manufacturing process, i~vo1ves greater production ~pace and inorea~e3 the amount o~ metal in the production ~a-cilitie~.
~ urt~ermora, w~en a re~ervoir as3embled from ~eridional petal-like ~laps ~ust provisionall~ æeeured tog~th~r b~ spot welding i~ tr~ns~rred ~rom one arrangement i~to a~other o~e, mor~ o~te~ tha~ ~ot additio~al work i~ required to make good it~
local de~ormatlon, whic~ ~urther af~ct~ th~ ~ficiency of the ma~u~acturing process.
It is a~ ~bject o~ the pre~e~t invention to provide a~ ar-rangeme~t for ma~u~acturing spheri~al re~ervoirs7 which ~hould have expand~d production capacitie~ and ~herei~ the supporting fram~ ~or the re~rvo~r and the ~upp~rt beam ~or accommodat-i~g the ~eldi~g u~it should be o~ a ~tructure which~ while rela- -.

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tively simple, should provide ~or per~orming i~ a single arrange ment the a~s~mbling and welding of a compl~ted reservoir made o~ indiYidual ~lement~ . o~ meridional petal-like .~lap~.
It is another object o~ the pre~ent inve~tion to ~tep up the e~ici~ncy o~ the production process of ma~u~actur~ng sphe-rical reservoirs r It is a ~urther ob~ect o~ the pr~ent i~vention to ~impli-the production proca~s of manu~acturing ~pherioal r~servoir~
It is still another object o~ the present invention to re-duce the amount o~ the production ~pace r~quired for the manu-facture o~ spherical reservoirs.
It is yet another obje¢t o~ the present inventio~ to reduce the amou~t o~ metal in a pla~t for manufacturing 3p~eric-al ~es~rvoirs.
It is a ~till iurther object o~ the pre~ent i~e~tion to provide for manu~acture o~ req~rvoirs havi~g ~nhanced ope-rational properties, ~uch as their iluldtig~tness and strengt~.
With the~e and other obaects i~ view~ there i~ herein disclosed an arrangement for manufacturing spherical re~ervoirs ~rom meridional petal-like flaps~ wha.rein a ba~ has ~ou~t8d t~ereo~ a supporti~g ~rame ~or a reservoir and, successivel~
overlying this ~rame, a s~a~t for accommodatio~ o~ the lid~
o~ the re~er~oir a~d ~or rotati~g t~e latter i~ the process of its man~acture, and a welding unit supported by a suppQrt :~

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beam, i~ which arrangement, i~ accordance with the prese~t inventio~, the s~a~t is journalled on posts secured to t~e base~ ~or rotation about a horizontal a~is, while the support-ing ~rame has a curvilinear surface shaped to correspond to ths shape o~ the curv.ilinear surface of the maridional ~laps and i9 carrled by vertical guid~s~ for motion ~herealo~g~ to bring t~e m~ridional flaps to the lids of khe reservo.ir, the ~uppor~ beam having arcuate guideways of a radius somewhat greater than the radius o~ the sphere o~ the reservoi~, for accommodatio~ o~ the welding u~it adapted to move alo~g these guidaways in the course o~ weldi~g the resarvoir.
It is expedient that o~e of the vertical guides o~ the ~upporting frame should have mount~d thereon a member limiting the travel of t~e supporting fra~e, spaced ~rom the sha~t by a di~ta~ce substantially equal to the radius of t~ lid o~ the reservoir bei~g manufactured.
~ his would enhance exa¢t positioni~g o~ a meridional flap on the curvili~e~r sur~ace of th~ supporting ~rame, while the former ~as its e~ds welded to the lids o~ the reserYoir.
It is ~ot less e~pedient that ths support beam wik~ the arcuate guidawa~s should be mou~ted on one of the posts sup_ -porti~g the s~a~t9 $or rotation relative thereto in a ~ori-zont~l plan~

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This would enable to hav~ su~fieie~t ~pa~e ~or removing a completed reservoir from the arrangement.
- It is further expedie~t that the other one of the po~t~
supp~rting the sha~t ~hould have mountad ~h~r~on ~or rotation in a horizontal plana a cantilever beam having guidewa~ ~or accommodation of a driven troll3y carrying a loadHhandling me-cha~i~m adapted to li~t meridional ~laps and ~o place them on-to the curYilinear su~ ace of the ~upporting :erame ~ and also ko remove a completed re~ervoir~
~ ha incorporation in the arrangement o~ a load-handling mec~a~i~m weuld enabl~ to bring machinisatio~ i~to th~ opera-tio~s of placing t~e meridional ~laps and o~ removing a com pleted re~ervoir, and alæo to reduce the production space re-quirement~ and to cut dow~ the ~ me of m~aking a ressr~oir.
It i~ al~o e~pedient that t~e driven trolley ~hould be operatively co~nected tbrough a ~le~ible eleme~t with the weld-ing unit, for moving sama along t~e arcuat~ guideways.
~ his would ~bviate the ~esd in an i~dividual drive ~or the welding unit and enable to simplify t~e structure o~ the e~tire arran~ement 9 and al90 to r~duca it~ weight and energy co~sumption.
~ n arra~ge~ent ~or ma~u~acturi~g spherical reservoirs in aocordance with the pre~e~t i~vention, althoug~ of a relati~a~ ~
ly ~imple struGture, provides for per~orming both as~embling o~ -~ . . -, . : - . ~ -.: : - . .

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a reservoir ~rom indiYidual flap~, with provisio~al welding o~
the joint3 therebatwee~ in localized area9, and fi~al welding `to a ~inal ~luid-tight condition.
~ he arrangeme~t o~fer~ a high e~ici~ncy, occupie~ a re-la~ively ~mall amount o~ productio~ 9pRCe and ~gni~icantly simpli~ies the process o~ manufaoturi~g a raservoir.
~ ollowing her~i~below iæ a de~cription o~ an embodiment o~ the pr~s~nt ~v~t:i.on9 with reference b01~ had to the ac-oompa4yi~g drawings, whereln:
Fig. 1 is a gen~ral front view o~ an arran~sement for ma-~u~acturi~g spherical reservoir~g in accorda~ce with tha inve~-tion; : :
~ ig. 2 i8 a sectio~al view taken on li~ II of ~ig. l;
Fig. ~ ~hows the arrangament for manu~acturing ~phericalre3ervoiræ i~ t~e initial positio~ o~ a~ operatin~ cycleS
~ ig. 4 ~how~ ~h~ arra~gement for manufacturi~g ~p~erical re~erYoirs i~ the po~ition of its components, corre~po~ding to removi~g a manufactured ~pherical reservoir.
Re~erring n~w in particular to the appe~d~d drawin~;s, the arra~gem~t ~or manu~ac~uri~g ~pherical reservsirs comprise~
a ba~e 1 ~:~?ig. 1~ having moullted thereon posts 2 and 2a and a supportin~ ~rame 3 herei~a~ter re~srred to a3 "the ~rame". :
The îrame 3 has a curviliniaar surfac~ 4 ~Fig~ 1 and 2) shaped to correspond to the curvili~lear ~ ace ~ the meridio~ial ~laps .. ~ , .. ..~ . , . ... -.

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5 o~ a completed reservoir, i.e. having double curvatura (in the longitudinal and transv~rse directions).
~ he base 1 has ~ecured thereto vertical guides 6, 6a (Fig. 1) carr~ing thereon the frame 3 reciprocable ther~along in a verti~al direction. :Reciprocatio~ o~ th~ ~rame 3 alo~g the vertical guide~ 6 and 6a is effec~ed by two d.riving mea~
7 and 7a whioh in ~he pre~antl~ described embodiment~ are i~
the form o~ ~luid cylinder~ desi~nated, respe~tively~ 7 and 7a~
The re~pective movable member ~ (8a) o~ each ~uid cy-li~dar 7 (7a) i9 oonnected with the ~rame 3; and the stationar~ . "
element 9 (9a) is connected with the post 2 ~2a)0 B~tendlng between the posts 2 and 2~ abo~e the ~rame 3 is a horizo~tal sha~t 10 made up o~ a long or main span 11 and two shorter ter~inal portions 12 and 12a, the shorter terminal portions 12 and 12a being coupled with t~e main span 11 by res- ~-pectiYe couplings 13, 13a and being aournalled ~or rotatio~ in beari~ 14 ~nd 14a supported by the respe¢tiv~ vertical guides 6 a~d 6a.
~ e main ~Pan 11 o~ the ~haft is adapted to accommodate thereon the opposite lid~ 15 of a spherical reservolr 16 be-ing manu~actureda to be hereina~ter re~erred to as ~'the reser-voir~7 a~d ~or rotation of tha latter in tbe proces~ o~ it3 ma- ~
nufaoturi~g~ :
The multicompo~ent sha~t 10 is associated wi~h a drive .
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including a~ electric motor 17, a coupli~g 18 and a reduc~r 19, and a mea~s 20 for tra~smitting incremental rotation througl:l successive an~les 360:n, where "n'l is -~he number o~ the meri-dional ~laps in the reservoir being manu~actured, the means 20 b~in~ i~ the ~orm o~ a Ge~eva cros~, or else itl any other suit-able known per se form~
To tr~mit the rota~ion o~ the sha~t 10 to the l~d~ 15 o~ th~ reservoir, there can b~ employed either a key-and-slot con~ection 21 (schem~tically indicated in the drawi~ or any other suitable mea~ designed ~or thi~ purposeO
~ he vertical guide~ 6a of the ~rame 3 has mounted thereon, : .
spaced ~rom the sha~t 10 by a distance s~b~tantially ~ualli~g the radiu~ of the lid 15 of t~e res~r~oir9 a travel-limiting member 22 which i~ the presentl~ described embodime~t is a li- ~;
mit switch ~onnected with the dri~e mea~s 7 and 7a and thu~ adap ted to limit the vertical travel o~ the ~rame 3 toward the lid~
15 of the reservoir.
~ he post 2a ha~ mou~ted thereon a suppnr~ beam 23 ~ig.l) ~ith arouate guiaeways 24 adapted to acoommodate a welding unit 25. The radius of the arcuate guideways 2~ is somewhat greater than th t of the sphere o~ the reserYoir 16. The weld-ing u~it 25 is adapted to travel along thsse guidewa~s 24, e~
o~ rollers ~whic~ are ~ot shown in the drawing~ ~or Glari~y sake ~ he ~upport beam 23 tto be hereinafter referred to as .

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g_ "the beam") is also o~ an areuate shape. The beam 23 is pivot-able o~ the post 2a in a horizontal plane, about a pivot a~le 26 mounted on the post 2a. The a~le 26 ha~ mou~ted thereon ~ree-ly rotatable bushes 27 a~d 28 associated with a drive 29 (~che matically show~ in the drawings) ~or ~f~ecting their rotation.
~he drive a~d the drivi~g connection ean be of any ~uitable known structure. Ths bushes 27.a~d 28 are coupled with th0 beam 23 via bracket~ 30 and 31, respectively.
The post 2 ha~ mounted thereon a stem 3~ having pivotably mou~ted thereo~ with aid of ~ rotatable bush 33~ a horizo~tal oantilever beAm 34 rotatable i~ a horizo~tal plane by being operatively co~eat~d with a drive 35 (~Ghematlcally indicated in the drawings) of any sui~able known ~tructure~ :
The cantilever beam 34 has guideways 36 accommodati~g a reciprocabl~ drive~ -trolley 37 remotely controlled from gro-und level.
The driven trolley 37 carries a ~i~ch 38 with a ~le~ible element 39 ~onneo~d with a load-~a~dling or load-e~gagi~g mechanism ~0 ~ig. 3) which i~ the pre~ently described embodi-ment i9 in t~e form of a hoo~.
The load-e~g~ging mec~ani~m 40 mounted with aid o~ the trolley 37 o~ the cantilever beam 34 rotatable i~ a horizontal plane is inte~ded to engage meridio~al ïlap~ 5 outside the ar-r~n~;ement and to pla~e them onto the curvilinear su~ace 4 o~ t~e 9 ~ .
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~rame 3, a~d also to remove a completed reservoir ~rom the ar-rangement.
To ensure that the end~ o~ a meridio~al ~lap 5 snu~ly ~it the curvilinear sur~ace 4 o~ the ~rame 3 9 the latter haq mounted thereon pivoted retaining member~ 41 permitti~l~ limibed d~-placem~t o~ a meridio~al ~lap 5 along the curvili~ear ~ur~ao~ 4 when one o~ the edges o~ the meridional ~lap 5 e~gage~ the li-m~tin~ member 22 durin~ the vertical up~ard trav~l of the frame 3~
To re¢iprocate the welding unit 25 along the arcuate guide w~y9 24, the presantlg-described arrangement u~e~ the same driven trolley 37 and the wi~ch 38 of which the ~le~ible ela-ment 39 is connected with the weldi~g unit 25.
~ he drive ~f~eoting reciprocation of the weldi~g unit 25 along t~e guideway~ 24 may be, howevar, of any other know~ per se ~tructure,~uitable for the purpo~e.
The her~in described arra~gement ~or manu~aoturing ~ph~
rical resarvoirs i9 operated, as follow~.
Let us ~irst de~cribe the operation o~ manu~acturi~g a ~pheri~al re~er~oir from pre-cut originally flat meridio~al petal-like ~laps.
~ he ~upport beam 2~ with ~he welding unit 25 carried thereby a~d the beam 34 carr~ing the load-engagî~g mechani~m 40 are initiall~ piYoted a3ide~ outsid~ the arrange~e~t.

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1~ 8i A flat meridional ~lap 5 is suspended ~rom the hook o~
the load-engaging mechanism 40 so that it bends under its own weight, and in this bent state the beam 34 with the load~e~-gaging mechanism 40 is operated to hoist the flap 5 ana to place it o~to the curvilinear surface 4 of the suppoxting ~rame o~
the arrangement 9 by engaging and dise~Kaging at appropriate moments the drive 35 rotating the beam 34.
In thi~ case, th~ meridional flap 5 b~oome~ ben ~ong-itudinally, ~ollowing the curvature o~ the ~ur~ace 4 o~ the supporting frame 3 i~ the same direction.
5hould the edges o~ ~he meri~ional ~lap 5 be deformad by a stress residing from the be~ding, while suspended, to a de gree that they would ~ot hug the curvili~ear ~urface 4 o~ tha ~upporting ~rame 3, the memb~r3 41 are pivoted to e~gage these edges or end portions, and thu~ to en~ura that the meridional flap 5 snugly fits the curvili~ear sur~ace 4 along the e~tire length thereof ~
~ he supporting frame ~ with t~e meridio~al ~lap 5 firmly engaging it is li~ted by the dxive~ 7 a~d 7a bei~g engaged~ -Wl~ile movi~; ulpwardly, o~e o~ the edges o~ the meridioaalflap 5 a~ the first to encou~ter the r~spective lid 15 o~ the spherical resorvoir toDbe 9 b~r engagi~ either directly the bot~
tommo~t point o~ the lid 15~ or el~e the travel limiting member ~2. I~ the ~irst case, t~e drives 7 a~d 7a are overloaded by , - - .: . ~ . .
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the en~u~ng rasista~ce, so that they are automatically di3en-gaged i~ any suitable k~own man~er 9 and the ~upporti~g frame is halted. I~ the second ca~e~ it is the travel~ iting member 22 whic~ se~ds a command to disenga~e the drivss 7 and 7a and th~s to halt ~he frame 3.
When the either end og the meridional ~lap 5 ~nga~ea the edge of the respective lid 15, the meridio~al ~lap 5 become~
ali~ned on ~he curvilinear ~ur~ac~ 4 oi ~he ~upporting ~rame in the longitudinal dire¢tio~ ~; and it~ other e~d or edge en-gage~ tha edge o~ the other lid 15.
In this position the ends o~ t~e meridional ~lap 5 aré
provisionally locally w~lded ma~ually to the lid~ 15.
The~ the dri~es 7 and 7a are e~ga~ed to louer the now empty ~rame 3 along the vertical guidss 6 a~d 6a into its lower- .
ms~t i~itial position.
Simultan~ously, the dri~ 17 o~ t~e ~ha~t 10 i8 engaged to drive the lattar thr~u$h ~ an~le 360:~ wh~re 'ln", as it has bea~ already e~plai~d9 is the ~umb~r o~ ~he meridional ~laps m ~i~g up the re~ervoir.
~ h~ the abovedescribed cycle of placing the succes~ive maridio~al ~lap 5 i9 repeated.
~ he c~cl~ enas:with thi~ successive meridio~al flap 5 being brought against t~e lid~ 15 and provisionally ~ecured thereto by ma~ual~welding, Be~ides, thi~ SUGCe~iVe Plap 5 i~

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7~ 5 provisionally secured at several point~ therealong to th~ pre-vious meridional ~lap by manual welding9 either internally or extsrnally o~ the reservoir.
Should t~fl tWo meridional ~lap~ ~ail ~o 3nugly engage each ot~er ~hroug~hout th~ir le~gth9 th~ ~haft 10 i~ rotated thro~
ugh a ¢orresponding small angle to e~sure their ~nug engag~ment~
~ he cycle~ of positioninK and provisionally ~ecuri~ the m~rid~onal ~laps by manual welding are repeated, wi~h pla~in~
the successive ~lap~ onto the curvilinear surface 47 until ths corltour o~ ~he reservoir ls closed in the t:ra~sver~e dire¢tion.
~ ollo~ing the placin~ o~ the la~t meridional ~lap, the cantilever beam 34 i9 le~t to overlie the ~ram0, whereas the supporting ~rame 3 itsel~ i8 lowered i~to its initial po~ition.
~e~ the ~upport b~am 23 with tha welding u~it 25 is rotated from i t9 initial positio~ outside the arrangeme~t to overlie t~e frame 3~ b~ its drive 29 being op~rated .
~ he welding unit 25 i~ driven alo~g the arcuate gu~deways ~4 into the o~tre~ le~t (in t~e drawing~) po~itio~ b~ co~-ns~ti~g it wit~ aid of the ~lesible el~m~t 39 to t~e remotely ~ontrolled trolle~ 37 o~ the ~antilever beam 34~ In tbi~ way ~he weldi~g unit 25 i5 prepar0d for t~e weldin~ operatio~.
~ hen t~e drive 17 o~ t~e ~ha~t lO i~ eagaged to bring on~ o~ t~ ~oi~t o~ the semi;fl~ished reser~olr agai~t the w~lding member of the ~sldi~ unit 25 occupyi~g it~ i~itlal po- -' '; "'~

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~itio~ at the lePt ~in the drawing8) o~ the support beam 23.
~ he welding u~it 25 is started. Simulta~eously the drive~
trolley 37 is operated to drive the ~elding u~it 25 thro~gh the fle~ible elem~nt 39 along the arcuat3 guidaw~ys 24 of t~e beam 23. In this manner the weldin~; o~ one e:~terP~al joint o~ the re-sexvoir i~ per:eormed.
~ }le~, t~e sha:et 10 i~ rotated tbrough 360:n whsre "n"
i~ the ~umber o~ the meridional ~lap~ m~kin~; up t~e re~rvoir, so t~at the successiv~ jo~nt o~ the sami~in:i~hed reservoir i~
brou~;~t agai~st the weldi~ unit 25 which i~ r~ow at the ~ig~t (in the dra~in4g~) end o~ the 9upport beam 230 T~e drive OI the remotaly controlled trolley 37 is enga~;ed in the rever~ direo- - -tio~9 a~d the welding unit 25 is driven throug~ ~t~ working tr~vel along tha arcuate guidewa;rs 24 Irom right to le;ft, to -w~ld the ~ucce~ive joint o~ t~a re~ervoir~
~ ollowin~3 the completio~ of the welding o:e the ~eco~d joi~t9 tha ~eldin~; unit ~5 i~ once more at tha left e:gtremit~y of the ar~uate ~;uideways 24, wherea:eter the ~haft 10 i~ rotat~d oncs more through 360~n9 by e~gagî~g it~ drive 17. In t~
way~ by reciprocating ~he ~elding ualt 25 tbrou~;~L sUcc~ive Rrorki~g travels from righi; to lef~ and from le~b to right, all the a:zter~al joints o~ the resarvoir a:re ~inally welded~
~ ?ollowi~g tha completion of the automatically perrormed .
~velding sequence ~, the ~upport beam 23 with the weldi~g unit 25 ; '; ' . .

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is pivot~d outside t~e arrang~ment. The ~upporting frame ~ i9 lifted against the reservoir, and liquid under pressure is fed into the latter~ w~ereby the meridional flaps 5 are deformed tra ~sversely, in which way the ~pherical reservoir is finally shap-ed, which is mani~ested by the meridional flap e~gaging the ¢ur-vilinear surface 4 of the frame ~ during thi~ hydraulic expa~
sion hugging thi~ 9ur~ac~ in both dir~ction~ . aoquiri~g doubl e ourvature.
~ he hydraulic expansion i9 al~o the mean~ o~ ~e9ting the guality o~ ~he w~ldin~.
~ I!h3n the supporting frame 3 i~ lowered to clear t~e re-~ervoir.
~ he reservoir is attached with ropeq to the hook of the load-0ngaging me~hani~m 40, as show~ i~ Fi~. 4. ~he coupl~ng~
13 and 13a ara undone, Then the beam 34 with ~he load-engagi~g ~echani~m 40 and the reservoir suspended there~rom is p~voted outsid~ th~ arrange ment. ~he~ the maill qpa~ 11 of the sha~t 10, oonnected wlth aid o~ ths ke~-a~d-~lot con~eG~ion 21 wlth the l~dæ 15 o~ the r~
ervoir, i~ driven of~ the res rvoir by applylng a ~UffiGiant s~foxt to this mai~ ~pan 11 at one of it~ ends. ~ha ope~ing~ in the lids 15, leit a~ter the removal o~ t~e mai~ ~pan 11 o~ - -the ~ha~t 109 are welded, a~d th~ reser~oir is fit ~or service.
A spherical resarv4ir mad~ ~rom relatively thi~g origi~
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.. . - . . . -. . - .
-, - - - . . . . . :. . , . . - , , nally ~lat meridional flaps can b~ made integral with a hollow central post enhancing the rigidit~y OI the thin~wall reservoir.
I~ thi~ case the abovementioned ~ha~t is hollow to serva a~
this hollow post, and at the end of ~ha manufacturing seque~oe it 1~ not removed ~rom the reservoir, its end~ protruding beyond th~ reservoir being cut o~, eDg~ by flame cutting- ..
A ~ph~rical r~s~rvoir is man~fa¢tured from relatively thick petal-like ~lap~ in a ssquenc~ o~ operatio~s basically similar to tha one described hereinabove. However~ t~e proces~
o~ manu~acturing a ra~rvoir ~rom meridional t~lck-wall ~laps pre-~haped by pressi~g in other arrangema~ts i~ more labour-co~-suming i~ compariso~ with the process of manu~aGturing a reser-voir from thin-~all flaps with subse~ue~t hgdraulic ~pan~ion.
T~u~, the abovedescrib~d arra~geme~t ca~ bs used ~or ma:
nu~acturing spherical re~arvoirs from both rel~ively thic~
meridio~al ~laps o~ double ~urvature ~pr~-~hap~d ~ither ~y ~ammari~g or by pre~sicg) a~d tbi~ origl~lly ~lat meridio~al ilaps with ~ubsequent ~ydraulic ~pansio~ and ~e~ti~g the ~luid=.
tight~es~ of the welded joi~ts.
T~ rein disclosed arra~gement ~or maki~g spherical : -reservoir~ ~rom i~dividual meridional flaps i8 e~icie~t and performs a relatively simple production proces~ ~-ccompa~ied by a fluid-tightn0s~ te~t~ It occupies relativelg small ~loor ... ..

178~

spac~ and ha~ a modera-te amount o~ metal in its ~tructure, whereb;y it i9 operable both under factor~ conditio~ a~d di-rectl;~ in sitU~ on a~ i~stallation site.

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Claims (5)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN
EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED
AS FOLLOW:

1. An arrangement for manufacturing a spherical reserv-oir defined by a plurality of meridional petal-like flaps and lids, comprising: a base; posts secured to said base; a shaft supported between said posts for rotation about a horizontal axis; means for rotating said shaft, said shaft being adapted to accommodate said lids of a spherical reservoir and to rotate the latter in the course of its assembling; vertical guides secured to said base; a supporting frame carried by said vert-ical guides, underlying said shaft; a curvilinear surface pro-vided on said supporting frame, said curvilinear surface be-ing shaped to correspond to the shape of the curvilinear sur-face of said meridional flaps and adapted to accommodate said flaps, said supporting frame being reciprocable along said ver-tical guides, to bring said meridional flaps to said lids and to support the reservoir during the assembling thereof; means for effecting reciprocation of said supporting frame; a support beam mounted on said base to overlie said shaft; arcuate guideways provided on said support beam, having a radius somewhat greater than the radius of the sphere of the reservoir being manufact-ured; a welding unit accommodated on said arcuate guideways and reciprocable therealong in the course of welding the reservoir;
means for effecting reciprocation of said welding unit.

2. An arrangement as set forth in Claim 1, wherein one of said vertical guides of said frame has mounted thereon means for limiting the travel of said supporting frame, spaced from said shaft by a distance substantially equal to the radius of said lid of the reservoir being manufactured.

3. An arrangement as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said support beam with said arcuate guideways is mounted on one of said shaft-supporting posts for rotation relative thereto in a horizontal plane.

4. An arrangement for manufacturing a spherical reservoir defined by a plurality of meridional petal-like flaps and lids, comprising: a base; posts secured to said base; a shaft sup-ported between said posts for rotation about a horizontal axis;
means for rotating said shaft, said shaft being adapted to ac-commodate said lids of a spherical reservoir and to rotate the latter in the course of its assembling; vertical guides secured to said base; a supporting frame carried by said vertical gui-des, underlying said shaft; a curvilinear surface provided on said supporting frame, said curvilinear surface being shaped to correspond to the shape of the curvilinear surface of said meridional flaps and adapted to accommodate said flaps, said supporting frame being reciprocable along said vertical guides, to bring said meridional flaps to said lids and to support the reservoir during the assembling thereof; means for reciprocat-ing said supporting frame; a support beam mounted in a canti-lever fashion on one of said posts to overlie said shaft, for rotation relative to said post; means for rotating said support beam in a horizontal plane; arcuate guideways provided on said support beam, having a radius somewhat greater than the radius of the sphere of the reservoir being manufactured; a welding unit accommodated on said arcuate guideways for reciprocation therealong in the course of welding the reservoir; means for re-ciprocating said welding unit; a beam mounted in a cantilever fashion on the other one of said posts for rotation relative thereto in a horizontal plane; means for rotating said last-mentioned beam; guideways provided on said last-mentioned beam;
a driven trolley accommodated on said guideways of said last-mentioned beam; a load-handling mechanism mounted on said driven trolley, adapted for lifting said meridional flaps and placing same on said curvilinear surface of said supporting frame, and for removing a completed reservoir; means for driving said driv-en trolley along said guideways.

5. An arrangement as set forth in Claim 4, wherein said driven trolley is connected with a flexible element to said welding unit for moving the latter along said guideways accom-modating said welding unit.