Patent Grant
8544311
The present invention relates to a pipe end shape correcting apparatus for improving the roundness of the pipe end of a UOE metal pipe by locally bending the pipe end. More particularly, the present invention relates to a pipe end shape correcting apparatus capable of reducing time and labor required to exchange dies and capable of reducing mechanical damage to a worked portion even in the case where UOE metal pipes having various outside diameters are worked.
Generally, UOE metal pipes such as UOE steel pipes for line pipes are laid after being joined to each other by peripheral welding at the laying site. In performing the peripheral welding, the groove faces formed in the pipe end portions of the UOE metal pipes must be butted against each other with high accuracy. If the butting accuracy is inadequate, peripheral welding quality may be degraded and efficiency may be lowered due to the increase in man-hours for correction and, in the worst case, the UOE metal pipes cannot be joined to each other. In order to increase the butting accuracy of groove faces, the roundness in the pipe end portion must be improved, and tight roundness specifications are imposed on the UOE metal pipes.
Usually, the roundness of a UOE metal pipe is improved by expanding the pipe. However, since the principal objective of the pipe expanding process is to wholly correct a difference between the longitudinal diameter and the transverse diameter of the UOE metal pipe, the fulfillment of requirement for local roundness is limited. In order to improve the roundness, a portion where the shape is difficult to secure, such as surroundings of weld bead, must be corrected locally. Especially in the surroundings of weld bead, a remaining chevron-shaped portion of what is called peaking formed at the time of pressing causes the shape of UOE metal pipe to deviate from the ideal truly round shape. For the UOE metal pipe, the peaking formed in the surroundings of weld bead has been a main cause of hindering the improvement in roundness.
Accordingly, a shape correcting apparatus for improving the roundness of the pipe end of a UOE metal pipe for line pipe has conventionally been proposed. For example, in the correcting machine described in Patent Document 1, the roundness of a steel pipe is corrected by using a pair of circular arc-shaped dies (an outer surface-side die and an inner surface-side die). Specifically, a pressure is applied to the steel pipe by the outer surface-side die and the inner surface-side die while the outer surface-side die is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of steel pipe and the inner surface-side die is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of steel pipe, whereby the roundness of steel pipe can be corrected.
Unfortunately, in the correcting machine described in Patent Document 1, the dies must be replaced for a different size of steel pipe, which decreases the work efficiency. Also, dies having different sizes must be prepared for each size of steel pipe, so that the cost of manufacturing the dies increases. Also, since the weld bead is slightly raised as compared with other portions, the weld zone comes into contact with the die when the roundness is corrected by the above-described correcting machine. Thereby, a flaw may be induced in the weld bead.
The present invention has been made to solve the problems with the prior art, and accordingly an objective thereof is to provide a pipe end shape correcting apparatus capable of improving the roundness without loss of work efficiency and the mechanical damage to a weld bead even in the case where the pipe ends of UOE metal pipes having various outside diameters are worked.
The present inventors conducted various studies to provide a pipe end shape correcting apparatus in which a die need not be exchanged, and a flaw does not occur in the weld bead even in the case where the pipe ends of UOE metal pipes having various outside diameters are worked. As the result, the following findings of items (a) to (e) were obtained.
(a) In order to correct the roundness of the pipe end portion of a UOE metal pipe, the pipe end portion has only to be held between an inner surface-side die, which has an upper surface having a circular arc-shaped cross section and is fixed to the upper part of a base on the inner surface side, and an outer surface-side die, which has a lower surface having a circular arc-shaped cross section and is fixed to the lower part of a base on the outer surface side, and a pressure has only to be applied. At this time, concerning these dies for working the pipe end of the UOE metal pipe, parts of the dies have only to be present in a portion corresponding to the worked portion of the pipe end of the UOE metal pipe. In other words, both of the inner surface-side die and the outer surface-side die need not to be continuous dies corresponding to, and flush with, the inner surface and the outer surface, respectively, of the pipe end of the UOE metal pipe. Therefore, for each of the inner surface-side die having the upper surface having a circular arc-shaped cross section and the outer surface-side die having the lower surface having a circular arc-shaped cross section, a die split into a plurality of parts can be used to work the pipe end of the UOE metal pipe.
(b) Thus, both of the inner surface-side die and the outer surface-side die can be made split-type dies. Since parts of the dies need not be present in a portion not corresponding to the worked portion of the pipe end of the UOE metal pipe, by widening or narrowing the space between the split die parts, the whole of the split-type dies can accommodate to various pipe diameters. Therefore, if the pipe end of the UOE metal pipe is worked by using the dies split into the plurality of parts as described above, both of the inner surface-side die and the outer surface-side die can accommodate a wide change of pipe diameter merely by one kind of dies. Since the width of the space between the split die parts can be changed corresponding to the pipe end diameter of the UOE metal pipe, the dies need not be replaced for each size of metal pipe, and the man-hours for die replacement associated with the variation of pipe diameter can be reduced. Therefore, the work efficiency is improved, and the die manufacturing cost is reduced.
(c) Also, when the pipe end of the UOE metal pipe is worked, in order to prevent a flaw from occurring in the weld bead on the inner and outer surfaces of the pipe end, the dies on the inner and outer surface sides have only to be prevented from coming into contact with the weld bead. That is, the working has only to be performed in the state in which the weld bead is located in the space portion between the split die parts. For this purpose, the split inner surface-side dies and outer surface-side dies have only to be fixed to the upper part of the base on the inner surface side and the lower part of the base on the outer surface side, respectively, so that the space between the split die parts is located in the central portions of the split inner surface-side dies and outer surface-side dies. At this time, the width of the space between the split die parts can be changed corresponding to the width of the weld bead of the UOE metal pipe.
The width of the space between the split die parts should be about 3 to 7 cm corresponding to the width of weld bead. The width of the space in the inner surface-side die is preferably narrower than the width of the space in the outer surface-side die, and the difference between these widths is further preferably about 3 cm.
If a spacer is used to set the space widths between the split die parts in the inner surface-side die and between the split die parts in the outer surface-side die, the adjustment of the space widths can be made easily.
(d) The number of splits of die is not subject to any special restriction. However, from the viewpoint of ease of handling, both of the inner surface-side die and the outer surface-side die should be split into two.
(e) In order to hold the pipe end portion between the inner surface-side die, which has the upper surface having a circular arc-shaped cross section and is fixed to the upper part of the base on the inner surface side, and the outer surface-side die, which has the lower surface having a circular arc-shaped cross section and is fixed to the lower part of the base on the outer surface side, and to apply a pressure, for example, either or both of the raising process of the base on the inner surface side and the lowering process of the base on the outer surface side have only to be adopted. Also, in order to move the bases on the inner surface side and the outer surface side up and down, for example, a hydraulic cylinder has only to be connected to the base on the inner surface side and/or on the outer surface side.
The present invention was made based on the above-described findings, and the gist thereof is the pipe end shape correcting apparatuses for a UOE metal pipe of the following items (1) to (6).
(1) A pipe end shape correcting apparatus for a UOE metal pipe for correcting the roundness of a pipe end portion by applying a pressure to the pipe end portion held between an inner surface-side die and an outer surface-side die, the inner surface-side die having an upper surface having a circular arc-shaped cross section and being fixed to an upper part of a base on the inner surface side, and the outer surface-side die having a lower surface having a circular arc-shaped cross section and being fixed to a lower part of a base on the outer surface side, wherein each of the inner surface-side die and the outer surface-side die is split into a plurality of parts, and is fixed so that a space between the split die parts is located in a respective central portion of the split inner surface-side dies and the split outer surface-side dies.
(2) The pipe end shape correcting apparatus for a UOE metal pipe according to the item (1), wherein the pipe end portion is subjected to pressure by rising the base on the inner surface side and/or lowering the base on the outer surface side.
(3) The pipe end shape correcting apparatus for a UOE metal pipe according to the item (1) or (2), wherein the inner surface-side die and/or the outer surface-side die are configured so that the width of the space between the split die parts can be changed according to the pipe end diameter of the UOE metal pipe and/or the width of a weld bead.
(4) The pipe end shape correcting apparatus for a UOE metal pipe according to any one of the items (1) to (3), wherein the width of the space between the split die parts in the inner surface-side die is set to at most the width of the space between the split die parts in the outer surface-side die.
(5) The pipe end shape correcting apparatus for a UOE metal pipe according to any one of the items (1) to (4), wherein a spacer is used to set the space width between the split die parts in the inner surface-side die and/or between the split die parts in the outer surface-side die.
(6) The pipe end shape correcting apparatus for a UOE metal pipe according to any one of the items (1) to (5), wherein the inner surface-side die and/or the outer surface-side die are split into two parts.
The pipe end shape correcting apparatus in accordance with the present invention can improve the roundness without loss of work efficiency and the mechanical damage to a weld bead even in the case where the pipe ends of UOE metal pipes having various outside diameters are worked.
a), 3(b) and 3(c) are plan, front and side views showing one example of bolt holes for fixing an inner surface-side die onto a base.
A pipe end shape correcting apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In
As shown in
In the central portion of the inner surface-side base 12, a plate-shaped spacer 14 is provided. To the upper part of the inner surface-side base 12, long inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b are fixed with the spacer 14 located in the central portion being held there between. The inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b have upper surfaces 18a and 18b each having a circular arc-shaped cross section, respectively. The cross-sectional shape (the shape of the cross section parallel to the XZ plane) of the inner surface-side die 15a corresponds to an inverted cross-sectional shape of the inner surface-side die 15b.
The inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b can be fixed to any positions on the inner surface-side base 12. In this embodiment, the fixing positions of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b are determined by using the spacer 14, and the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b are fixed to the inner surface-side base 12 by a plurality of bolts 17 (
The spacer 14 is used to position the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b. As the spacer 14, for example, a plate-shaped spacer made of wood, resin, or metal can be used. The spacer 14 may be removed after the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b have been fixed to the inner surface-side base 12. However, the spacer 14 is preferably not removed to make the fixing positions of dies invariable even at the time of pressure application.
On the inner surfaces of the ceiling part 13, an outer surface-side base 20 having an inverted concave shaped cross section is provided so as to be movable up and down. Also, to the central portion of the ceiling 13, a hydraulic cylinder 21 is fixed. The lower end of a piston 22 of the hydraulic cylinder 21 is attached to the outer surface-side base 20. Also, the hydraulic cylinder 21 is connected with an oil pressure generating device 23. In this embodiment, the oil pressure in the hydraulic cylinder 21 is regulated by the oil pressure generating device 23. Thereby, the displacement of the piston 22 is adjusted, and the position in the vertical direction of the outer surface-side base 20 is adjusted.
On one side surface of an inverted concave shaped region 24 (hereinafter, referred to as a concave part 24) of the outer surface-side base 20, an outer surface-side die 26a is provided via a plate-shaped spacer 25a, and on the other side surface thereof, an outer surface-side die 26b is provided via a plate-shaped spacer 25b. The outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b have lower surfaces 30a and 30b each having a circular arc-shaped cross section, respectively. The cross-sectional shape (the shape of the cross section parallel to the XZ plane) of the outer surface-side die 26a corresponds to an inverted cross-sectional shape of the outer surface-side die 26b.
The outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b can be fixed to any positions in the concave part 24. In this embodiment, the fixing positions of the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b are determined by using the spacers 25a and 25b, respectively, and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b are fixed to the lower part of the outer surface-side base 20 by a plurality of bolts 29 (
The spacers 25a and 25b are used to position the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b as described above. As the spacers 25a and 25b, for example, plate-shaped spacers made of wood, resin, or metal can be used. The spacers 25a and 25b may be removed after the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b have been fixed to the outer surface-side base 20. However, the spacers 25a and 25b are preferably not removed to make the fixing positions of dies invariable even at the time of pressure application. The sizes of the spacers 25a and 25b are set so that a space is formed between the outer surface-side die 26a and the outer surface-side die 26b. In this embodiment, as shown in
As shown in
Next, a method of correcting the roundness of a UOE metal pipe using the above-described correcting apparatus 10 is explained.
As shown in
In this embodiment, the fixing positions of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b can be adjusted according to the pipe diameter of the UOE metal pipe 34. Therefore, the correcting apparatus 10 in accordance with this embodiment can be used for the UOE metal pipes 34 having various pipe diameters. Specifically, when the roundness of the UOE metal pipe 34 having a large pipe diameter is to be corrected, the fixing positions of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b are moved so as to be separate from the centerline L. On the other hand, when the roundness of the UOE metal pipe 34 having a small pipe diameter is to be corrected, the fixing positions of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b are moved so as to be close to the centerline L.
Also, in this embodiment, since the arm 32 can be moved up and down by the adjusting mechanism 33, the frame 11 can be moved to a proper position depending on the pipe diameter of the UOE metal pipe 34.
In this embodiment, by preparing the spacers 14, 25a and 25b each having various sizes in advance, the fixing positions of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b can be determined quickly.
At the time of correction, the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b are subjected to a reaction force to the inside, and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b are subjected to a reaction force to the outside. However, since the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b are used with the spacer 14 being held therebetween, and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b are used with the spacers 25a and 25b being held between the dies 26a and 26b and the outer surface-side base 20, the reaction forces are received, and the dies can be held at proper positions.
From the viewpoint of practical use, it is enough to correct the roundness over the range of about 100 mm to 200 mm in the width direction (the X direction in
The height (the length in the Z direction) of each of the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b is preferably not smaller than 40 mm in the thin portion thereof considering the strength at the time when the bolts 29 are screwed into the inner surface-side base 12. On the other hand, the height of each of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b is preferably not smaller than 40 mm in the thin portion thereof for the same reason, and is preferably not larger than 80 mm even in the thick portion thereof so that the die enters a small-diameter UOE metal pipe.
As the material for the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b, a tool steel (for example, SKD61-) is preferably used considering the wear resistance. The hardness of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b is preferably not less than 40 Shore hardness (Hs).
The lengths in the width direction (the X direction) of the space between the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the space between the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b are preferably adjusted according to the width of the weld bead 35 and the diameter of the metal pipe to be corrected. The lengths are adjusted so that the dies are placed in a proper contacting state depending on the diameter of the metal pipe while a length of about 3 cm to 7 cm is secured depending on the bead width to protect the weld bead. At this time, the radius of curvature of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the radius of curvature of the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b may not necessarily agree with the inside diameter and outside diameter of metal pipe, respectively, and it is only necessary to be able to suppress the peaking within an allowable range. In this embodiment, the pipe end shapes of pipes of a wide diameter range can be corrected by using one kind of dies.
The inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b may be manufactured, for example, by splitting one die having an upper surface of a circular arc shape in cross section into two equal parts. In this case, the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b can be manufactured easily with high accuracy. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b can be reduced, and the accuracy of roundness correction can be improved. Similarly, the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b may be manufactured by splitting one die having a lower surface of a circular arc shape in cross section into two equal parts.
As described above, in the correcting apparatus 10 in accordance with this embodiment, spaces are formed between the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and between the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b, and the roundness of the UOE metal pipe 34 is corrected while the weld bead 35 is positioned between these two spaces. Therefore, the contact of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b with the weld bead 35 and the contact of the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b with the weld bead 35 can be avoided. Thereby, the mechanical damage to the weld bead 35 and the occurrence of a flaw in the weld bead 35 can be prevented.
Also, in this embodiment, the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b can be fixed to any positions on the inner surface-side base 12, and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b can be fixed to any positions in the concave part 24. Therefore, the fixing positions of the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b can be adjusted according to the pipe diameter of the UOE metal pipe 34, so that the roundness of the UOE metal pipe 34 can be corrected without replacing the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b. In this case, since a large number of inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b need not be manufactured, the cost can be reduced. Also, since the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b need not be replaced, the work efficiency is improved. By preparing the spacers 14, 25a and 25b each having various sizes in advance, the fixing positions of the dies 15a, 15b, 26a and 26b and the spaces between the dies can be adjusted quickly. Needless to say, the spaces may be adjusted by using a plurality of lapped spacers.
In the above-described embodiment, the inner surface-side base 12 is formed integrally with the frame 11, and the outer surface-side base 20 is provided so as to be movable up and down with respect to the frame 11. However, the configuration of the correcting apparatus 10 is not limited to the above-described one as long as the configuration is such that the UOE metal pipe 34 can be subjected to pressure by the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and/or the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b. For example, the configuration may be such that the outer surface-side base 20 is fixed to the frame 11 and the inner surface-side base 12 is provided so as to be movable up and down with respect to the frame 11. In this case, by raising the inner surface-side base 12 by the hydraulic cylinder 21 (or a hydraulic jack), a pressure can be applied to the pipe end portion of the UOE metal pipe 34 held between the inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b. Thereby, the roundness of the pipe end portion of the UOE metal pipe 34 can be corrected.
Also, in the above-described embodiment, the two inner surface-side dies 15a and 15b and the two outer surface-side dies 26a and 26b are provided. However, three or more inner surface-side dies and/or three or more outer surface-side dies may be provided.
Table 1 gives the results of correction of the pipe end of UOE metal pipe made by actually using the correcting apparatus 10 explained with reference to
[Table 1]
[Table 2]
To demonstrate that the UOE metal pipes having a plurality of sizes can be corrected by only one kind of dies, in examples 1 and 2 and examples 3 and 4, test was conducted by using the same dies (dies (A) and (a) and dies (B) and (b), respectively) and by changing the die-to-die distance only. As the result, in all of examples 1 to 4, the roundness could be improved to not more than 1.5 mm, which was the target value.
From the above-described result, it was revealed that even if the diameter of UOE metal pipe changes in the range of outside diameter of 508 mm (20 inches) to 1524 mm (60 inches), the dies need not be exchanged successively, and the desired roundness can be obtained by only three kinds of dies of dies (A) and (a), dies (B) and (b), and dies (C) and (c).
Further, the weld bead 35 (refer to
The present invention can provide a pipe end shape correcting apparatus capable of improving the roundness without loss of work efficiency and the mechanical damage to a weld bead even in the case where the pipe ends of UOE metal pipes having various outside diameters are worked.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-299538 | Nov 2008 | JP | national |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20110283765 A1 | Nov 2011 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2009/069422 | Nov 2009 | US |
| Child | 13114090 | US |
