CA2291846A1

CA2291846A1 - Grain bin reinforcement

Info

Publication number: CA2291846A1
Application number: CA002291846A
Authority: CA
Inventors: John P. Welch
Original assignee: Twister Pipe Ltd
Current assignee: Twister Pipe Ltd
Priority date: 1999-12-07
Filing date: 1999-12-07
Publication date: 2001-06-07

Abstract

-7- A reinforcement member is used for reinforcing corrugated panels, especially the corrugated metal panels of grain bin walls. The reinforcement member is an elongate structural member with a corrugated web and at least one flan ge projecting from the web. The preferred structure is a channel structure with two flanges along opposite sides of the web. The web nests into the corrugations of the grain bin, eliminating pockets between the panel and the reinforcement membe r and providing vertical support to the corrugations. The reinforcement members ma y be used inside or outside a grain bin wall or, where additional strength is required, both.

Description

GRAIN BIN REINFORCEMENT
The present invention relates to the reinforcement or stiffening of corrugated panels. It has particular application to the reinforcement of corrugated steel walls of grain bins.
Grain bins are conventionally made of curved, corrugated steel panels connected together to form a circular bin wall with circumferential corrugations. To resist the loads imposed on the bin wall by a full bin of grain, the walls are usually made of heavy gauge steel panels. The walls are sometimes reinforced with vertical structural members fastened to the wall on the inside. This reinforcement leaves undesirable pockets between the corrugations and the support. These capture grain, which is undesirable for the user. From a structural point of view, a large shear load is placed on the connections between the wall and the support as the hoop stress in the corrugations causes them to collapse vertically.
The present invention proposes a novel reinforcement for corrugated panels and particularly grain bin walls.
According to the present invention there is provided a reinforcement for a corrugated panel having a plurality of parallel panel corrugations therealong, the reinforcement comprising:
an elongate reinforcement member having:
a corrugated web having corrugations spaced therealong, the corrugations of the web being configured to nest into the corrugations of the panel with the web lying along the panel in a direction transverse to the panel corrugations;
and at least one flange projecting from one side of the web and extending therealong transverse to the web corrugations.
The reinforcement member thus nests into the corrugations of the wall

-2-to support the corrugations against vertical collapse. At the same time, there are no grain trapping pockets behind the reinforcement member. In preferred embodiments, the reinforcement member is a channel with a corrugated web and two divergent flanges along its opposite edges. The flanges have base panels diverging from the edges of the web, lateral panels projecting from the outer edges of the base panels and edge panels extending at an angle from the edges of the lateral panels.
Several reinforcement members of this structure provide sufficient support to a bin wall that the wall may be made from a significantly lighter gauge material. This results in lower production and transportation costs.
The invention also provides a grain bin with walls reinforced with the reinforcement member. The reinforcement member may be applied on the inside or the outside of the bin wall, or it may be applied to both sides, advantageously with two reinforcement members confronting one another on opposite sides of the bin wall.
In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the present invention:
Figure 1 is an isometric view of a reinforcement member according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is an end view of the reinforcement member of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a longitudinal cross-section along line 3-3 of Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a vertical section through a grain bin wall showing the application of the present reinforcement member thereto; and Figure 5 is an isometric view of a grain bin.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, there is illustrated an elongate reinforcement member 10 for a corrugated panel of a grain bin wall. The reinforcement member has a web 12 that is transversely corrugated, that is it has corrugations 14 comprising parallel ridges 16 and grooves 18 alternating along its

-3-length. Each corrugation 14 has a fastener opening 20 in its apex and a second fastener opener 20 in its trough. The reinforcement member also includes two flanges 22 projecting from one side of the web 12, along its opposite edges.
The flanges include base panels 23 that diverge outwardly from the web to a longitudinal edge 24 which is the common edge with a lateral panel 25 projecting outwardly from the base panel. At the outer edge 26 of the lateral panel there is an edge panel 28 that projects from that edge generally in the direction of the web 12. The edge panels 28 diverge from one another and from the base panels in the direction from the lateral panels 25 towards the web 12.
The opposite ends 30 and 32 of the reinforcement member 10 are located at positions between the ridge 16 of a corrugation and an adjacent groove 18.
As illustrated, the ends are on opposite sides of the adjacent ridge, so that a ridge 16A is adjacent the end 30 and a groove 18A is adjacent the opposite end 32.
This asymmetric arrangement allows the corrugations of the reinforcement member to nest with the corrugations of a grain bin wall with the end of the reinforcement member resting on the bin floor. This is illustrated most particularly in Figure 4, where the reinforcement member 10 is shown in conjunction with the wall 34 of a grain bin 36 (Figure 5). The bin wall is composed of several panels of horizontally corrugated sheet steel. The corrugations 38 in the wall match up with the corrugations in the reinforcement member. The reinforcement member is connected to the bin wall with fasteners in the form of bolts through the fastener openings 20. The bottom end of the reinforcement member rests on the floor 39 of the bin.
As illustrated in broken line in Figure 4, an additional reinforcement member 10A may be applied to the opposite side of the bin wall 34 so that the two reinforcement members confront one another and are fastened to the bin wall by the same fasteners 40. As will be observed, the second reinforcement member 10A is

-4-inverted so that it too will rest on the bin floor while meshing with the corrugations 38 in the bin wall.
While one embodiment of the present invention has been described in the foregoing, it is to be understood that other embodiments are possible within the scope of the invention. Thus, it is possible to use a reinforcement member with an "L"-shaped cross-section, with a single flange projecting from the web. A
reinforcement member of that type may be used alone or in pairs to provide a channel configuration similar to that of the exemplary embodiment. Various configurations will occur to those knowledgeable in the art. The present invention is therefore to be considered limited solely by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A reinforcement for a corrugated panel having a plurality of parallel panel corrugations therealong, the reinforcement comprising:
an elongate reinforcement member having:
a corrugated web having corrugations spaced therealong, the corrugations of the web being configured to nest into the corrugations of the panel with the web lying along the panel in a direction transverse to the panel corrugations;
and at least one flange projecting from one side of the web and extending therealong transverse to the web corrugations.

2. A reinforcement according to Claim 1 wherein the reinforcement member is substantially channel shaped, including two spaced apart flanges along opposite side edges of the web, with both of said flanges projecting to said one side of the web.

3. A reinforcement according to Claim 2 wherein the flanges include respective base panels diverging outwardly from the web.

4. A reinforcement according to Claim 3 wherein each flange further includes a lateral panel extending laterally from the base flange.

5. A reinforcement according to Claim 4 wherein each flange further comprises an edge panel extending from an outer edge of the lateral panel.

6. A reinforcement according to Claim 5 wherein the edge panel diverges from the base panel in a direction towards the web.

7. In a grain bin having a wall with a plurality of parallel wall corrugations, a reinforcement, comprising:
an elongate reinforcement member having:
a web lying along the wall in a direction transverse to the wall corrugations, the web having web corrugations spaced therealong and nesting into the wall corrugations web;
at least one flange projecting from one side of the web and extending therealong transverse to the web corrugations; and fasteners securing the web to the wall.

8. The invention according to Claim 7 wherein the reinforcement member is substantially channel shaped, including two spaced apart flanges along opposite side edges of the web, with both of said flanges projecting to said one side of the web.

9. The invention according to Claim 8 wherein the flanges include respective base panels diverging outwardly from the web.

10. The invention according to Claim 9 wherein each flange further includes a lateral panel extending laterally from the base flange.

11. The invention according to Claim 10 wherein each flange further comprises an edge panel extending from an outer edge of the lateral panel.

12. The invention according to Claim 11 wherein the edge panel diverges from the base panel in a direction towards the web.

13. The invention according to any one of Claims 7 to 12 comprising two reinforcement members positioned on respective inner and outer sides of the wall and confronting one another.