DESC:FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)

Title of invention:
APPARATUS FOR CLAMPING OF PIPES

Applicant:
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited
A company Incorporated in India under the Companies Act, 1956
Under Ministry of Defence,
(A Govt. of India Undertaking)
Having address:
Dockyard Road, Mazagon,
Mumbai - 400010, Maharashtra, India

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND PRIORITY
[001] The present application claims priority from Indian patent application no. 201821041374, filed on November 01st, 2018 the complete disclosure of which, in its entirety is herein incorporated by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[002] The present subject matter described herein generally relates to an apparatus for clamping of pipes, and more specifically to an apparatus for clamping of pipes in order to facilitate welding of pipe joints.
BACKGROUND
[003] Piping is a very important component of a submarine for transport of gas / liquid in the submarines. Pipes are joined together to supply gas / liquid from one part of the submarine to another part of the submarine. In some cases a portion of the pipe is joined to another pipe portion. In current process, firstly a pipe is clamped on a bench vice to weld a joint. After welding half portion during a first run of welding, the pipe has to be removed from the bench vice. Secondly, the pipe has to be again clamped in the bench vice for remaining half portion of the first run and same procedure needs to be followed for remaining runs of the joint. Thirdly, since the pipes used in the submarines are usually very big hence on an average there are four iteration runs per joint welding, the procedure further involves as many iterations of removal and clamping of pipes from the bench vice. Fourthly, as the pipes are heavy in weight, frequent handling of the pipes resulted in fatigue to the welder.

SUMMARY
[004] Before the present apparatus is described, it is to be understood that this application is not limited to the particular machine or apparatus, as there can be multiple possible embodiments that are not expressly illustrated in the present disclosures. It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application. This summary is provided to introduce aspects related to an apparatus for clamping of pipes, and the aspects are further elaborated below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify essential features of the proposed subject matter nor is it intended for use in determining or limiting the scope of the proposed subject matter.
[005] The present subject matter describes an apparatus to clamp a pipe to facilitate the operation welding on the pipe. The apparatus comprises a clamping device, an indexing unit, a rotary unit and a height adjustment unit. Further the clamping device comprises at least one fixed jaw and at least one movable jaw. During the welding operation the pipe is positioned between the at least one movable jaw and the at least one fixed jaw. The indexing unit is rotatably connected to the clamping device and the indexing unit selectively positions the pipe in a first plane. The rotary unit is rotatably connected to the indexing unit and the rotary unit selectively positions the pipe in a second plane. The height adjustment unit is fixedly connected to the rotary unit. The height adjustment unit adjusts height of the pipe in a vertical direction.
[006] It is an object of the present subject matter to provide an apparatus to clamp the pipe to perform welding operation on the pipe while also allowing to position the pipe in multiple planes to reduce the time of welding operation as well as to reduce fatigue to the welder performing the operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[007] The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the disclosure, there is shown in the present document example constructions of the disclosure, however, the disclosure is not limited to the specific methods and apparatus disclosed in the document and the drawing.
[008] The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figure, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the drawing to refer like features and components.
[009] Figure 1 illustrates an apparatus for clamping a pipe, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0010] The figure depicts various embodiments of the present disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0011] Some embodiments of this disclosure, illustrating all its features, will now be discussed in detail. The words "comprising", “having”, and "including," and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any apparatuses and methods similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present disclosure, the exemplary, apparatuses and methods are now described. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the disclosure, which may be embodied in various forms.
[0012] Various modifications to the embodiment will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the generic principles herein may be applied to other embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments illustrated, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.
[0013] As described above, pipes are joined together to supply gas / liquid from one part of the submarine to another part of the submarine. In some cases a portion of the pipe is joined to another pipe. In current process, a pipe is clamped on a bench vice to weld a pipe joint. After welding half portion during a first run of welding, the pipe has to be removed from the bench vice. Also the pipe has to be again clamped in the bench vice for remaining half portion of the first run and same procedure needs to be followed for remaining runs of the joint. Since the pipes used in the submarines are usually very big hence on an average there are four iteration runs per joint welding, the procedure further involves as many iterations of removal and clamping of pipes from the bench vice. As the pipes are heavy in weight, frequent handling of the pipes resulted in fatigue to the welder. In the view of these shortcomings of the current process to weld a pipe joint, there is a requirement of an improved apparatus which can reduce the time and efforts to weld the pipe joints.
[0014] The present subject matter relates to an apparatus for clamping of pipes in order to facilitate welding of pipe joints. The apparatus comprises a clamping device, an indexing unit, a rotary unit and a height adjustment unit. Further the clamping device comprises at least one fixed jaw and at least one movable jaw. During the welding operation the pipe may be positioned between the at least one movable jaw and the at least one fixed jaw. The indexing unit may be rotatably connected to the clamping device and the indexing unit selectively positions the pipe in a first plane. The rotary unit may be rotatably connected to the indexing unit and the rotary unit selectively positions the pipe in a second plane. The height adjustment unit may be fixedly connected to the rotary unit. The height adjustment unit adjusts height of the pipe in a vertical direction. In an embodiment, the clamping device further comprises a locking stud to axially move the at least one movable jaw. In an embodiment, the apparatus comprises a base plate wherein the base plate may be fixedly connected to the height adjustment unit. In another embodiment, the height adjustment unit may be disposed on the ground.
[0015] The apparatus configured in such a way may be used to clamp a pipe to perform welding operation on the pipe joints. The pipe, on which the welding operation needs to be performed, may be positioned between the at least one fixed jaw and the at least one movable jaw of the clamping device in a first position. A welder may perform the welding operation on a first half of the pipe joint. After completing the first half, he may rotate the pipe by rotary unit and may selectively position the pipe in the second plane. In this way the other half of the pipe joint gets positioned for remaining part of the pipe joint welding. The welder completes the first run of welding the pipe joint without need of removing the pipe from the clamping device.
[0016] Hence the present subject matter provides advantages such as reduced time and less human efforts to weld a pipe joint over the conventional method to weld the pipe joint where the pipe needs to be removed from clamp after every half run of the weld.
[0017] Referring now to figure 1, an apparatus 100 to clamp a pipe 110 is shown. The apparatus 100 may comprise a clamping device 102, an indexing unit 114, a rotary unit 118, and a height adjustment unit 122. The clamping device 102 may comprise an at least one fixed jaw 104 and an at least one movable jaw 106. The pipe 110 may be positioned between the at least one fixed jaw 104 and the at least one movable jaw 106 of the clamping device 102. The indexing unit 114 may be rotatably connected to the clamping device 102, wherein the indexing unit 114 selectively positions the pipe 110 in a first plane “A”. The rotary unit 118 may be rotatably connected to the indexing unit 114, wherein the rotary unit 118 selectively positions the pipe 110 in a second plane “B”. The height adjustment unit 122 may be fixedly connected to the rotary unit 118. The height adjustment unit 122 may adjust the height of the pipe 110 in a vertical direction.
[0018] In an embodiment, the clamping device 102 of the apparatus 100 may further comprise a locking stud 108. The locking stud 108 may comprise a first end 108a and a second end 108b. A handle 112 may be disposed on the first end 108a of the locking stud 108 and the at least one movable jaw 106 of the clamping device 102 may be disposed on the second end 108b of the locking stud 108.
[0019] In an embodiment, the locking stud 108 may be rotated to axially move the at least one movable jaw 106. In another embodiment, the apparatus 100 may comprise a base plate 130 wherein the base plate 130 may be fixedly connected to the height adjustment unit 122. In another embodiment, the height adjustment unit 122 may be disposed on the ground.
[0020] To perform the welding operation on the pipes, the pipes are first temporarily joined by some means. In some cases the pipes are tack welded and then brought to the apparatus 100 for proper welding. In an example for implementation of the present subject matter, the pipe 110 may comprise three portions (110a, 110b, 110c). In this case, the pipe portions (110a, 110b, 110c) are to be joined together to form a single pipe 110. The pipe portions (110a, 110b, 110c) are tack welded to temporarily join the pipe portions (110a, 110b, 110c) and to make a single pipe 110. After that the pipe 110 may be brought to the apparatus 100 for further welding operation.
[0021] The pipe 110 may be positioned in between the at least one fixed jaw 104 and the at least one movable jaw 106 of the clamping device 102. Based on the diameter of the pipe 110, the handle 112 of the locking stud 108 may rotated to clamp the pipe 110 between the at least one fixed jaw 104 and the at least one movable jaw 106 of the clamping device 102. When the handle 112 is rotated, it results into axial movement of the locking stud 108 and hence the at least one movable jaw 106 of the clamping device 102 moves with the locking stud 108. Hence the pipe 110 is positioned on the apparatus 100 in a first position. The height of the pipe 110 may be adjusted by the height adjustment unit 122 based on the convenience of the welder.
[0022] Further the pipe 110 may be adjusted in plane “A” by the indexing unit 114. Based on the need and comfort of the welder, the indexing unit 114 may adjust the position of the pipe 110 in the plane “A”. In this arrangement, a half of the pipe joint (111a, 111b) may be welded without any major change in the setup of the apparatus 100. After this there is a need to perform welding on the other half of the pipe joint (111a, 111b). To perform the welding on the other half of the pipe joint (111a, 111b), the pipe 110 may be rotated in the second plane “B” by the rotary unit 118. By rotating the pipe 110, the pipe 110 will be positioned to perform the rest of the welding operation on the other half of the pipe joint (111a, 111b). In this way one run of a weld on the pipe joint (111a, 111b) will be completed. The same process will be repeated for further runs of the weld on the same pipe joint (111a, 111b). In general, three to four runs of welding are performed on the pipe joints (111a, 111b) based on the diameter of the pipe 110.
[0023] In an embodiment of the subject matter, the second plane “B” may be perpendicular to a horizontal plane. In another embodiment, the first plane “A” may be perpendicular to the second plane “B”.
[0024] In an embodiment, the indexing unit 114 may comprise a first locking pin 116 wherein the first locking pin 116 locks the position of the pipe 110 in the first plane “A”. In another embodiment, the rotary unit 118 may comprise a second locking pin 120 wherein the second locking pin 120 locks the position of the pipe 110 in the second plane “B”. In one more embodiment, the height adjustment unit 122 may comprise a third locking pin 124 wherein the third locking pin 124 locks the vertical position of the pipe 110.
[0025] Exemplary embodiments discussed above may provide certain advantages. Though not required to practice aspects of the disclosure, these advantages may include the following.
[0026] Some embodiments of the apparatus enable the increased safety of the welder while performing the welding operation on the big pipes.
[0027] Some embodiments of the apparatus reduce time for welding the pipe joints. The pipe is not required to be removed in between the welding operation on a pipe. After welding a half of the pipe joint, the pipe can be positioned again to weld the other half of the pipe joint without removing the pipe from the apparatus. As this welding operation needs to be performed multiple times for a pipe joint, the present subject matter significantly reduces the time to weld the pipe joints.
[0028] Some embodiments of the apparatus reduce fatigue on the welder as by use of present subject matter, the pipes are not required to be removed from the apparatus during welding operation on a pipe.
[0029] Some embodiments of the apparatus reduce a requirement of manpower to handle the removal and clamping of the pipe on the apparatus.
[0030] Although implementations for the apparatus 100 have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be understood that the appended claims are not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as examples of implementation for the apparatus 100.

,CLAIMS:
1. An apparatus (100) to clamp a pipe (110), wherein the apparatus (100) comprising:
a clamping device (102) comprising:
an at least one fixed jaw (104) and
an at least one movable jaw (106), wherein
the pipe (110) is positioned between the at least one fixed jaw (104) and the at least one movable jaw (106);
an indexing unit (114) rotatably connected to the clamping device (102), wherein the indexing unit (114) selectively positions the pipe (110) in a first plane (A);
a rotary unit (118) rotatably connected to the indexing unit (114), wherein the rotary unit (118) selectively positions the pipe (110) in a second plane (B); and
a height adjustment unit (122) fixedly connected to the rotary unit (118), wherein the height adjustment unit (122) adjusts height of the pipe (110) in a vertical direction.
2. The apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clamping device (102) further comprises:
a locking stud (108), wherein the locking stud (108) comprises:
a first end (108a) and
a second end (108b), wherein
a handle (112) is disposed on the first end (108a) of the locking stud (108) and the at least one movable jaw (106) is disposed on the second end (108b) of the locking stud (108).
3. The apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the handle (112) is rotated to axially move the at least one movable jaw (106).

4. The apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1, further comprises a base plate (130) wherein the base plate (130) is fixedly connected to the height adjustment unit (122).

5. The apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the height adjustment unit (122) is disposed on ground.

6. The apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second plane “B” is perpendicular to a horizontal plane.

7. The apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first plane “A” is perpendicular to the second plane “B”.

8. The apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the indexing unit (114) comprises a first locking pin (116) to lock the position of the pipe (110) in the first plane ”A”.

9. The apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotary unit (118) comprises a second locking pin (120) to lock the position of the pipe (110) in the second plane “B”.

10. The apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1, the height adjustment unit (122) comprises a third locking pin (124) to lock the vertical position of the pipe (110).

11. The apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apparatus (100) is used to clamp the pipe (110) to perform welding of the at least one of the pipe joints.