GB565186A - Improvements in or relating to devices for supporting and bracing pipe lines - Google Patents

Abstract

565,186. Supporting piping systems. GENERAL SPRING CORPORATION. March 9, 1943, Nos. 3831 and 3832. Convention dates, March 9, 1942, and Nov. 26, 1942. [Class 99 (ii)] [Also in Group XXXII] A steadying device for piping systems for preventing vibration while allowing expansion movements comprises a hydraulic dashpot having piston and cylinder elements, one connected to the piping and the other to a fixed support with a restricted passage between one side of the piston and the other, the said passage allowing unimpeded expansion movements, but being effective to resist the flow necessary to vibratory movement of the piping or movement due to the shock of collision or ex-, plosion. A line 10 passing, for instance, from a steam turbine to a condenser may be suspended from a support 12 by a number of hangers 11 of the spring support type used in combination with the steadies mentioned above. Each hanger comprises a universally suspended rigid tube 13 connected by an eye 22 to a cylinder 20, Fig. 3, having a spring-supported piston 25, the rod of which passes through a stuffing-box 44 in the cylinder end and is connected by an eye 27 to flanges on a ring 30 round the pipe. The piston is supported by a pair of coaxial springs 32, 33, the inner spring having coils of variable pitch (shown as a progressively increasing pitch) to render the system non-resonant. The cylinder 20 is filled with oil which may pass from one side of the piston to the other through passages 37, 40, 41. A sleeve 51 telescopes over the cylinder 20 and coacts with graduations on the cylinder to indicate the position of the piston. The hangers are used at intervals to support the weight of the pipe while steadies are preferably arranged at irregular intervals along and at varying inclination to the pipe-line, Fig. 2. These steadies comprise a rigid tube 13a connected to an oil-filled dashpot cylinder 66, Fig. 5, the piston-rod of which passes through multiple packing 112, preferably'of oil-resisting material such as Neoprene and is connected through a fitting 76 and universal links to the pipe 10. Fluid passing from one side to the other of the piston is controlled by a taperended spindle 98 which may be advanced by a hand-operated screw to vary the orifice 70. Alternatively, a rotary type of valve may be employed. The flow is such that normal expansion movements are freely permitted, but vibrations or sudden shocks are effectively damped. In a modification, the above steady is used in conjunction with hangers of constant support type, such as that described in Specification 467,273, the simple main springs described in this Specification being replaced by spring dashpots. In another modification, the hanger may be of the kind described in Specification 565,189. Specification 535,823 also is referred to.