US 12,404,952 B2
Clamping pipelines
Florent Menet, Leer (DE); and Hugo Martin, Croissy-sur-seine (FR)
Assigned to ACERGY FRANCE SAS, Suresnes (FR)
Appl. No. 18/019,819
Filed by ACERGY FRANCE SAS, Suresnes (FR)
PCT Filed Aug. 4, 2021, PCT No. PCT/IB2021/000532
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 6, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/029493, PCT Pub. Date Feb. 10, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2012272 (GB), filed on Aug. 6, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0287995 A1, Sep. 14, 2023
Int. Cl. F16L 1/20 (2006.01); F16L 3/10 (2006.01)
CPC F16L 1/20 (2013.01) [F16L 3/1066 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of fixing a clamp around a pipe, the method comprising:
supporting the pipe between clamp parts that are disposed in mutual opposition about the pipe, in a cradle of part-circular cross-section, the cradle being one of the clamp parts;
engaging the pipe, when supported in the cradle, with at least one shell of part-circular cross-section, the or each shell being another of the clamp parts;
maintaining a gap within at least one interface between the clamp parts;
forming a weld in the or each gap, the or each weld being formed between a support of a shell and an outrigger of the cradle at a location offset laterally from a longitudinal axis of the pipe; and
cooling and shrinking the or each weld to draw together, and to compress the pipe between, the clamp parts.