GB2282556A

GB2282556A - The assembly of flanged beams

Info

Publication number: GB2282556A
Application number: GB9320663A
Authority: GB
Inventors: George Bradshaw
Original assignee: WATSON STEEL Ltd
Current assignee: WATSON STEEL Ltd
Priority date: 1993-10-07
Filing date: 1993-10-07
Publication date: 1995-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2013-10-07
Also published as: GB9320663D0; GB2282556B

Abstract

A machine for assembling beams such as I beams holds the web 13 horizontally and then fixes the positions of the flanges 14, 15 relative to the edges of the web. The machine moves stepwise along the web with the flanges being tack-welded to the web at each step. The web and flanges are held by hydraulic clamps and the machine is adjustable for different component sizes. <IMAGE>

Description

THE ASSEMBLY OF FLANGED BEAMS The invention relates to the assembly of flanged beams.

Flanged beams, particularly steel flanged beams, are widely used in construction and civil engineering. They comprise a flat web with, generally, a flange extending along each edge of the web.

In the majority of such beams, the web has parallel edges and the flanges extend in planes normal to the plane of the web. In some instances, however, the web may not have parallel edges and/or one of the flanges may be required to lie in a plane which is angled away from the normal relative to the plane of the web. Such beams must be specially manufactured and assembled.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an assembly machine for beams formed by a web and at least one flange comprising a frame including a first clamp for securing a web of a beam in a fixed position relative to the frame, and also including a device for holding a flange of the beam in a fixed position relative to an edge of the web.

In this way, the flange and the web can be accurately aligned before, for example, being tack-welded in position prior to final welding.

The device may include a second clamp for holding the flange in said required position relative to the web.

The second clamp preferably fixes the position of the flange in the plane of the flange, means being provided for fixing the plane of the flange relative to the plane of the web.

The second clamp may comprise an hydraulic jack and a stop which engage respective opposite edges of the flange to fix the position of the flange relative to the web in the plane of the flange.

The fixing means may comprise a pad carried by the frame and having a surface lying in a plane parallel to the required plane of a flange, a flange surface being urged against the pad surface so that the plane of the flange is parallel to the pad surface.

A second hydraulic jack may act on an edge of the web remote from said flange to urge the flange against the pad.

Where the beam is to have two flanges, the frame preferably carries a second device for holding a second flange of the beam in a fixed position relative to a second edge of the web.

The second device may comprise a sub-frame including a third clamp for holding said second flange in said required position relative to the web. In this case, the sub-frame may be movable relative to the frame to accommodate changes in the width of the web.

The third clamp preferably comprises a third hydraulic jack and a third stop which engage respective opposite edges of the second flange to fix the position of the flange relative to the web in the plane of the flange.

The sub-frame may include a fourth hydraulic jack which engages a web to clamp the web against a fourth stop carried by the frame.

Where the sub-frame is movable, the fourth stop may also be movable relative to the frame to accommodate changes in the width of a web.

Where a second hydraulic jack acts on an edge of a web remote from said first mentioned flange to urge the flange against a pad, said second hydraulic jack may be carried by said sub-frame.

In any of the above arrangements, the frame is preferably carried on a base and comprises a pair of parallel spaced members, one member carrying at least one stop and the other member carrying a corresponding number of co-operating hydraulic jacks, the stop and jack forming said first clamp, the or each jack and the associated stop clamping the web to fix the position of the web relative to the frame.

The frame may lie generally in a vertical plane to clamp a generally horizontally extending web, the frame being movable relative to the base in a vertical direction.

The base may also be movable so that the frame can be moved along the length of the web.

In this case, the base is preferably provided with wheels which engage and travel along a track.

The machine may further comprise a plurality of pairs of supports, each pair of supports being for supporting a web at respective side edges thereof and for supporting the flanges, and the pairs of supports being spaced along the length of the web and the flanges.

Each support may be retractable from a position in which the support engages a web and a flange.

A control system is preferably provided for controlling said first clamp, said device, said base movement and said support so that the frame is moved along a web in steps, the first clamp and the device being released by the control system during said step and operated at the end of said step, and each pair of supports being retracted by the control system as the frame reaches said supports and being re-engaged with the beam after the frame has passed said supports.

The first clamp preferably holds the web in a position in which the web of the frame is at a vertical position spaced upwardly from the vertical position in which the web engages the supports.

The invention also includes within its scope a method of assembling a web and a flange of a beam comprising positioning the web and then positioning the flange relative to the web at successive positions along the web commencing from one end of the web and continuing to the end of the web opposite said one end.

The method may also comprise tack-welding a flange to the web at each step.

The following is a more detailed description of an embodiment of the invention, by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of an assembly machine for beams showing the carriage movable along a track and pairs of spaced supports alongside the track, Figure 2 is a laterally split elevational view, the left-hand part of Figure 2 being a view on the arrow B of Figure 1 and the right hand side of Figure 2 being a view on the arrow C of Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a view on the arrow A of Figure 1, certain parts being shown in cross-section for clarity.

Referring first to Figure 1, the machine comprises a carriage 10, a track 11 and three pairs of retractable support legs indicated generally at 12. The machine is for assembling a flanged beam indicated in chain dotted line in the Figures and formed by a web 13 and two flanges referred to as the left-hand flange 14 and the right-hand flange 15 as a result of their disposition in Figure 3. The web 13 has a width between its side edges 16 which may increase along the length of the web 13. For example, both edges 16 may be curved but with the left-hand edge 16 (as viewed in Figure 3) having a lesser curvature than the right-hand edge 16 (as viewed in Figure 3). In addition, the web 13 may be cranked - i.e. one length of the web 13 may lie in a plane angled to the plane of the remainder of the web 13. Two or more cranks may be provided. A typical beam may be 2.6 metres wide at one end and 3.3 metres wide at the other end and 26 metres long with the crank occurring about halfway along the web 13.

The two flanges 14,15 have parallel edges 17,18 respectively. They may be of different widths; for example, the left-hand flange may be 600mm in width and the right-hand flange 800mm in width.

The right-hand flange 15 is to be assembled to the web so that the right-hand edge 16 of the web 13 extends intermediate the side edges 18 of the right-hand flange 15 and with the plane of the right-hand flange 15 normal to the plane of the web 13. The left-hand flange 14 is to be assembled so that the left-hand edge 16 of the web 13 extends along the left-hand flange 14 intermediate the edges 17 of the left-hand flange 14. The left-hand flange 14 may be arranged to lie in a plane normal to the plane of the web 13 or in a plane inclined to the normal.

Further, the plane of the flange 14 may lie at an angle to the plane of the web 13, the angle varying along the length of the web 13.

The carriage 10 comprises a trolley base 19 provided with two pairs of wheels 20 with the wheels 20 of each pair engaging and running on respective rails 21 of a track.

The wheels 20 may be driven by a compressed air motor (not shown).

The base 19 carries a frame formed by upper and lower parallel horizontal spaced beams 23,24 respectively. The ends of the upper and lower beams 23,24 are interconnected by struts 25 to define a generally rectangular aperture.

The base 19 carries two pairs of supports 26 each defining a slot which receives a portion of the lower beam 24. The base of each slot carries an hydraulic jack 27 which engages the undersurface of the lower beam 24 so that the lower beam 24 can be raised or lowered in the slot to lift or lower the frame relative to the base 19.

The upper beam 23 carries a central stop 28 and two side stops 29,30. The stops 28,29,30 have end faces which are co-planar. The centre stop 28 and one of the side stops 29 are fixed rigidly to the upper beam but the other side stop 30 is carried on the upper beam 23 for sliding movement along the upper beam 23 for reasons that will be given below.

The lower beam 24 carries an hydraulic jack 31 on a mounting 32 so that an actuator of the jack 31 is adjacent the end surface of the central stop 28.

The lower beam 24 also carries left and right flange mounting assemblies indicated generally at 33 and 34. The left-hand flange mounting assembly 33 is located on the lower beam 24 and comprises two mountings carrying respective hydraulic jacks 37,38. One hydraulic jack 38 has an actuator close to the end of the fixed side stop 29. The other hydraulic jack 37 is adjacent the associated strut 25 and spaced from the upper beam 23 for clamping the left-hand flange 14 in a manner described below.

The right-hand flange mounting 34 is formed by a sub-frame which includes a shoe 39 (see Figure 3) slidable along the lower beam 24 and connectable to the lower beam 24 in a number of spaced positions along the lower beam 24 by a pin 40 passing through registering holes in the shoe 39 and one of a number of pairs of co-operating registering holes 41 in the lower beam 24 (see Figure 3).

The shoe carries a beam 42 which at its upper ends carries a pair of plates 43 which embrace spaced side surfaces of the upper beam 23 and are provided with registering holes through which passes a second pin 44 that also passes through one pair of a number of spaced pairs of holes 43 extending along the upper beam and corresponding to the holes 41 in the lower beam 24.

The beam 42 carries a hydraulic jack 46 having an actuator movable in a horizontal plane and aligned generally with the plane of the ends of the stops 28,29,30. The shoe 39 carries an upwardly extending mounting 47 having at its end an hydraulic jack 48 whose actuator is adjacent the end surface of the movable side stop 30. A further hydraulic jack 49 is provided on the shoe 39 between the beam 42 and the mounting 47 for engaging the right-hand flange 15 in a manner to be described below.

Each support leg 12 comprises, as best seen in Figure 1 and the right-hand side of Figure 2, a pair of columns 50 carrying at their upper ends an H-shaped support 51 with a pivotal connection between the columns 50 and the associated support 51. As seen in Figure 1, compressed air ram 53 extends between the support 50 and the mounting so that, on operation, the compressed air ram 53 can swing the support 51 between a vertical position shown at the left and right-hand ends of Figure 1 and the horizontal inoperative position of the central support 51 in Figure 1. These operative and inoperative positions are shown respectively on the right and left-hand sides of Figure 2 although in Figure 2, the compressed air rams 53 are omitted for clarity.

A beam is assembled in the following way.

First, the carriage 10 is moved to one end of the track as shown in chain dotted line in Figure 1. The supports 51 are moved to their vertical operative positions with the left-hand flange 14 being inserted in the slots of the H-shaped supports 51 to one side of the rails 21 and the right-hand flange 15 being placed in the slots of the H-shaped supports 51 to the other side of the rails 21.

The web 13 is arranged horizontally with the undersurface of the web 13 adjacent its side edges 16 resting on upper ends 54 of the inner limbs 55 of the H-shaped supports 51. This is seen in the right-hand side of Figure 2.

Of course, the support legs 12 are arranged to match the changing width of the web 13 and the depths of the slots in the H-shaped supports 51 arranged to match the width of the left and right-hand flanges 14,15.

The compressed air drive to the wheels of the carriage 10 and the hydraulic jacks on the carriage 10 are connected to a control system. When the carriage 10 is in the chain dotted line position of Figure 1, all the jacks 31,37,38,46,48 and 49 are in their fully retracted positions. The control system then adjusts the hydraulic rams 27 so that the gaps between the ends of the stops 28,29,30 and their associated jacks 31,38 and 49 are generally aligned with the web 13. In addition, the gap between the left-hand strut 25 and the adjacent stop 29 is aligned with the left-hand flange 14 and the right-hand sub-frame is moved by adjustment of the pins 40,44 to a position in which the gap between the beam 42 and the mounting 47 is aligned with the right-hand flange 15. The position of the movable web stop 30 is adjusted accordingly.

The control system then moves the carriage 10 until the end of the web 13 and the ends of the left and right-hand flanges 14 and 15 enter the associated gaps. The carriage 10 is then stopped and the control system actuates the hydraulic jack 38 to engage a lower edge 17 of the left-hand flange 14 and urge it against the upper beam 23. Where, as in the case illustrated in Figure 3, the left-hand flange 14 is narrower than the right-hand flange 15, a spacer 56 may be provided on the upper beam 23 to ensure that when clamped the left-hand flange 14 has its edges 17 equidistantly spaced from the web 13.

The control system also actuates the hydraulic jack 46 on the beam 42 which, via the right-hand flange 15, pushes the web 13 and the left-hand flange 14 towards the strut 25 adjacent the left-hand flange 14. A pad 57 is provided on this strut 25 and has a surface 58 which lies in a plane parallel to the required plane of the left-hand flange 14 relative to the plane of the web 13. As shown, the pad 57 has a surface 58 which lies in a plane normal to the plane of the web 13. However, pads 57 having surfaces 58 lying in any desired plane may be used. Of course, different pads 57 can be used along the length of the web 13 if it is desired to change the angle of the left-hand flange 40 relative to the web 13 along the length of the web 13.

The action of the hydraulic jack 46 on the beam 42 is to press the left-hand flange 14 against the pad and so ensure that the plane of the left-hand flange 14 follows the plane of the surface 58 of the pad 57.

The hydraulic jack 49 on the shoe 39 is then actuated to clamp the right-hand flange 15 against the upper beam 23.

The hydraulic jacks 31,37 and 49 are then actuated to clamp the web 13 against the stops 28,29,30.

When clamping is complete a tack weld is formed between the flanges 14,15 and the web 13.

The control system then relaxes the hydraulic jacks 31,37,38,46,48 and 49 and moves the carriage 10 stepwise forward where the clamping process is repeated, with any change of pad 57 that may be necessary. The step may, for example, be lm. Further tack welds are formed. This continues along the whole length of the web 13 but, as the carriage approaches a pair of support legs 12, the clamping action of the web and the flanges lifts the flanges, 14,15 and the web 13 out of engagement with the H-shaped supports 51 so allowing the supports 51 to be swung down by their associated compressed air rams 53 to the position shown on the left-hand side of Figure 2 and in the centre of Figure 1. When in this position, they are clear of the projecting ends of the lower beam 24 so allowing the carriage 10 to pass the support legs 12.

Once past, the supports 51 can be raised again for re-engagement with the beam.

The presence of any crank is dealt with by the rams 27 on the trolley base 19 which allow the whole frame 22 to be raised or lowered to accommodate any such crank.

The machine described above is for assembling an H-shaped beam. It will be appreciated, however, that it could be used for assembling other shapes of flanged beam.

Further, although as shown the web 13 engages the flanges 14,15 intermediate their edges 17,18, the web 13 could engage the flanges 15,16 adjacent one of the edges 17,18 of the flanges 14,15. This would be achieved by adjustment of the lengths of the stops 28,29,30.

It will also be appreciated that the position of the sub-frame for the right-hand flange 15 may need to be adjusted as the carriage 10 moves along the web 13. This is done by removing the pins 40,44, sliding the shoe 39 along the lower beam 24 and then re-engaging the pins 40,44 through new sets of holes 41,43 on the upper and lower beams 23,24.

The machine described above with reference to the drawings has the advantage that the beam is assembled in its own length so that the beam requires only its own length of floor space for assembly. It has the ability to set flanges at variable angles to the web, as described above. Further, as described above, it has the ability to change the angle of the flange relative to the web along the length of the girders by changing the pad 57 during assembly.

Dimensional control is easily achieved since the machine uses only the web shape and flange width in determining the relative positions of the parts. It does not require any temporary attachment for purposes of assembly.

In addition, it allow a wide variety of beams to be produced. There can be curvature out of plane and the flanges can be connected to the web both on or off the centre lines of the flanges. As described above, it can produce T or I or C shaped sections with variable widths of flanges top to bottom.

Claims

1. An assembly machine for beams formed by a web and at least one flange comprising a frame including a first clamp for securing a web of a beam in a fixed position relative to the frame, and also including a device for holding a flange of the beam in a fixed position relative to an edge of the web.

2. A machine according to claim 1, wherein the device includes a second clamp for holding the flange in said required position relative to the web.

3. A machine according to claim 2, wherein the second clamp fixes the position of the flange in the plane of the flange, means being provided for fixing the plane of the flange relative to the plane of the web.

4. A machine according to claim 3, wherein the second clamp comprises an hydraulic jack and a stop which engage respective opposite edges of the flange to fix the position of the flange relative to the web in the plane of the flange.

5. A machine according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the fixing means comprise a pad carried by the frame and having a surface lying in a plane parallel to the required plane of a flange, a flange surface being urged against the pad surface so that the plane of the flange is parallel to the pad surface.

6. A machine according to claim 5, wherein a second hydraulic jack acts on an edge of the web remote from said flange to urge the flange against the pad.

7. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6 for beams having two flanges, the frame carrying a second device for holding a second flange of the beam in a fixed position relative to a second edge of the web.

8. A machine according to claim 7, wherein the second device comprises a sub-frame including a third clamp for holding said second flange in said required position relative to the web.

9. A machine according to claim 8, wherein the sub-frame is movable relative to the frame to accommodate changes in the width of the web.

10. A machine according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the third clamp comprises a third hydraulic jack and a third stop which engage respective opposite edges of the second flange to fix the position of the flange relative to the web in the plane of the flane.

11. A machine according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the sub-frame includes a fourth hydraulic jack which engages a web to clamp the web against a fourth stop carried by the frame.

12. A machine according to claim 11, wherein the sub-frame is movable, the fourth stop being movable relative to the frame to accommodate changes in the width of a web.

13. A machine according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein a second hydraulic jack acts on an edge of a web remote from said first mentioned flange to urge the flange against a pad, said second hydraulic jack being carried by said sub-frame.

14. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the frame is carried on a base and comprises a pair of parallel spaced members, one member carrying at least one stop and the other member carrying a corresponding number of co-operating hydraulic jacks, the stop and jack forming said first clamp, the or each jack and the associated stop clamping the web to fix the position of the web relative to the frame.

15. A machine according to claim 14, wherein the frame lies generally in a vertical plane to clamp a generally horizontally extending web, the frame being movable relative to the base in a vertical direction.

16. A machine according to claim 14 or claim 15, wherein the base is movable so that the frame can be moved along the length of the web.

17. A machine according to claim 16, wherein the base is provided with wheels which engage and travel along a track.

18. A machine according to any one of claims 14 to 18 and further comprising a plurality of pairs of supports, each pair of supports being for supporting a web at respective side edges thereof and for supporting the flanges, and the pairs of supports being spaced along the length of the web and the flanges.

19. A machine according to claim 18, wherein each support is retractable from a position in which the support engages a web and a flange.

20. A machine according to claim 19 when dependant on claim 16 wherein a control system is provided for controlling said first clamp, said device, said base movement and said support so that the frame is moved along a web in steps, the first clamp and the device being released by the control system during said step and operated at the end of said step, and each pair of supports being retracted by the control system as the frame reaches said supports and being re-engaged with the beam after the frame has passed said supports.

21. A machine according to claim 20, wherein the first clamp holds the web in a position in which the web of the frame is at a vertical position spaced upwardly from the vertical position in which the web engages the supports.

22. An assembly machine for beams substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

23. A method of assembling a web and a flange of a beam comprising positioning the web and then positioning the flange relative to the web at successive positions along the web commencing from one end of the web and continuing to the end of the web opposite said one end.

24. A method according to claim 23 and comprising tack-welding a flange to the web at each step.

25. A method of assembling a beam substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.