Apparatus for facilitating the internal inspection and repair of large pressure vessels

Abstract

An apparatus for temporary installation within a relatively large pressure veseel, especially a boiler-furnace for generating electricity, for facilitating the manual inspection and (if necessary) the repair of things within said pressure vessel. The apparatus includes a generally horizontal platform upon which workers stand, and cables for raising and lowering the platform. The platform is fabricated from relatively small construction elements, each of which has a size that permits it to be inserted through a small access opening in the pressure vessel. The elements are manually assembled within the vessel by pinning them together, using high-strength pins which engage a plurality of prepared aperture. A relatively large platform is constructed in a vertical mode, and subsequenctly rotated to its horizontal and working orientation. In the preferred construction, adjustment of elevation of the platform is accomplished with an electro-hydraulic system which uses hydraulic fluid that is pressurized on the roof of the pressure vessel and utilized by winches mounted on or near the platform. After the vessel has been suitably inspected and repaired (as necessary), the platform is removed in the reverse order in which it was installed; personnel are removed from the platform and it is tilted back to a vertical orientation. Segments are then progressively removed from the lowermost edge--until all of the platform is disassembled and the construction elements have been individually removed through the small access opening. The cables are then withdrawn through the roof of the vessel.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.