Duct assemblies with internally bolted expansion joint
AssigneeFluor Technologies Corporation
InventorsDennis W. Johnson, James Hurley Brown, Fred C. Smith, Kim Moody Jackson, Bradley D. Smoak
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A contiguous duct assembly has first and second ducts that share at least one common wall element. An expansion joint is formed at the end of the contiguous duct assembly using a connector element that extends with respective portions into the internal spaces of the first and second ducts. First and second expansion fabrics are coupled to the respective portions from the inside of the ducts using fasteners that are accessible from and disposed within the internal space of the first and second ducts.
Claims13
A contiguous duct assembly, comprising:
- a first duct and a second duct, wherein first and second ducts are fluidly isolated from each other and coupled together such that the first and second ducts share a common wall element along a longitudinal axis of the first and second ducts;
- an expansion joint having a first and a second frame portion that are coupled to respective ends of the first and second ducts;
- a connector element that is coupled to the common wall element and that is configured to form part of the expansion joint, wherein one portion of the connector element extends into an inner volume of the first duct and wherein another portion of the connector element extends into an inner volume of the second duct;
- a first and a second expansion fabric coupled to the one portion and the other portion of the connector element via a plurality of fasteners, respectively;
- and
- wherein the plurality of fasteners are disposed in the inner volumes of the first and second ducts, respectively.
An internally bolted expansion joint comprising:
- a connector element that is coupled to a common wall element and configured to form part of the expansion joint;
- wherein one portion of the connector element extends into an inner volume of a first duct of a contiguous duct assembly and wherein another portion of the connector element extends into an inner volume of a second duct of a contiguous duct assembly, wherein the first duct and the second duct are fluidly isolated from each other and are coupled together such that the first duct and the second duct share the common wall element;
- a first and a second expansion fabric coupled to the one portion and the other portion of the connector element via a plurality of fasteners, respectively;
- and
- a segmented backing bar to allow one sided fastening, and
- wherein the plurality of fasteners are disposed in the inner volumes of the first duct and the second duct, respectively.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.