US 5,851,446 AGranted

Rigid cooling tower

AssigneeBaltimore Aircoil Company, Inc.

InventorsCharles J. Bardo, Jesse Q. Seawell, Toby L. Daley, James A. Bland, Gregory S. Mailen

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Abstract

A cooling tower is disclosed that is resistant to lateral displacement while minimizing the number and type of parts, and while limiting the amount of horizontal bracing. The cooling tower has a fiber reinforced material skeletal frame. Moment-transferring connections are provided in the connections between the elements of the skeletal frame. The moment-transferring connections between the frame members are made by bonding the joined elements to a mounting plate. The mounting plate may be held in place by mechanical fasteners that bear construction loads until the bonding material cures. The mounting plate, columns, beam and mechanical fasteners define construction joints that are capable of bearing construction loads until the bonding material cures. The mounting plate, columns, beam and cured bonding material define post-construction joints that are capable of transferring moments from the beam to the columns and are capable of bearing post-construction loads on the joints. The post-construction joints may also include the mechanical fasteners. Deflections of beams with the post-construction joints are more like a model beam with moment-transferring joints than a model beam that is simply supported.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A cooling tower comprising:

a plurality of frame members made of a fiber reinforced material and including a first column, a second column and a beam extending between the first and second columns;
a fluid distribution system for distributing fluid within the cooling tower;
heat transfer material through which air and fluid from the fluid distribution system may pass;
a first joint comprising:
mounting surfaces on the first column and the beam;
a first mounting member having a mounting surface facing the mounting surfaces of the first column and the beam;
a mechanical fastener extending from the first mounting member to the first column;
a mechanical fastener extending from the first mounting member to the beam;
and
bonding material disposed between the mounting surfaces of the first column and first mounting member and between the mounting surfaces of the beam and first mounting member;
a second joint comprising:
mounting surfaces on the second column and the beam;
a second mounting member having a mounting surface facing the mounting surfaces of the second column and the beam;
a mechanical fastener extending from the second mounting member to the second column;
a mechanical fastener extending from the second mounting member to the beam;
and
bonding material disposed between the mounting surfaces of the second column and second mounting member and between the mounting surfaces of the beam and second mounting member;
wherein at least one of the joints has a design load capacity without cross bracing that is at least as great as the design load capacity of one of the frame members.

15 more elements

A cooling tower comprising:

a plurality of frame members made of a fiber reinforced material and including a first column, a second column and a beam extending between the first and second columns;
a fluid distribution system for distributing fluid within the cooling tower;
heat transfer material through which air and fluid from the fluid distribution system may pass;
a first joint comprising:
mounting surfaces on the first column and the beam;
a first mounting member having a mounting surface facing the mounting surfaces of the first column and the beam;
a mechanical fastener extending from the first mounting member to the first column;
a mechanical fastener extending from the first mounting member to the beam;
and
bonding material disposed between the mounting surfaces of the first column and first mounting member and between the mounting surfaces of the beam and first mounting member;
a second joint comprising:
mounting surfaces on the second column and the beam;
a second mounting member having a mounting surface facing the mounting surfaces of the second column and the beam;
a mechanical fastener extending from the second mounting member to the second column;
a mechanical fastener extending from the second mounting member to the beam;
and
bonding material disposed between the mounting surfaces of the second column and second mounting member and between the mounting surfaces of the beam and second mounting member;
wherein the first and second mounting members are free from any connection to a diagonal cross-brace;
and
wherein at a plurality of loads including the design dead load and a higher load, the amount of any deflection of at least one of the frame members is within +/-10% of the amount of deflection of a model beam with moment-transferring joints.

17 more elements

A cooling tower comprising:

a plurality of frame members made of a fiber reinforced material and including a first column, a second column and a beam extending between the first and second columns;
a fluid distribution system for distributing fluid within the cooling tower;
heat transfer material through which air and fluid from the fluid distribution system may pass;
a first joint comprising:
mounting surfaces on the first column and the beam;
a first mounting member having a mounting surface facing the mounting surfaces of the first column and the beam;
a mechanical fastener extending from the first mounting member to the first column;
a mechanical fastener extending from the first mounting member to the beam;
and
bonding material disposed between the mounting surfaces of the first column and first mounting member and between the mounting surfaces of the beam and first mounting member;
a second joint comprising:
mounting surfaces on the second column and the beam;
a second mounting member having a mounting surface facing the mounting surfaces of the second column and the beam;
a mechanical fastener extending from the second mounting member to the second column;
a mechanical fastener extending from the second mounting member to the beam;
and
bonding material disposed between the mounting surfaces of the second column and second mounting member and between the mounting surfaces of the beam and second mounting member;
wherein the first and second mounting members are free from connection to any diagonal cross-brace and wherein the joints have design moment capacities at least as great as the anticipated moments.

15 more elements

A cooling tower comprising:

a plurality of frame members made of a fiber reinforced material and including a first column, a second column and a beam extending between the first and second columns;
a fluid distribution system for distributing fluid within the cooling tower;
heat transfer material through which air and fluid from the fluid distribution system may pass;
the first and second columns and the beam having mounting surfaces;
first and second mounting members, the first mounting member having a mounting surface facing the mounting surfaces of the beam and the first column and the second mounting member having a mounting surface facing the mounting surfaces of the beam and the second column;
a plurality of mechanical fasteners, at least one mechanical fastener extending from each mounting member to the adjacent column, at least one mechanical fastener extending from each mounting member to the beam;
and
bonding material disposed between the mounting surfaces of the mounting members and the mounting surfaces of the columns and beam;
wherein at least one of the mounting members is selected from the group consisting of plates including fiber reinforced material having a thickness greater than one-eighth inch and plates including a metal.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.