WO2014029977A1 - Modular cable hanger systems - Google Patents

Abstract

A modular support element for elongate articles such as cables to be laid along a tunnel wail has a pillar (100) and one or more support brackets 20each having a vertical part (22) adapted to fit over the front face of the pillar and a shelf part (24) on which in use the elongate articles rest. The pillar 100 has vertical undercut channels (110), (112) of uniform section at its front side and the support brackets (20) have corresponding interlocking rail sections on their rear side, the pillar further having a stop (120) for holding the weight of the support brackets (20). The vertical part (22) of each bracket,including spacers (48) if appropriate, is of substantially greater extent in the vertical direction than is the shelf part (24), so that cables can be laid on the shelves (24).

Description

Modular cable hanger systems

The present invention relates to devices for supporting cables and other elongate structures on a wall, such as a tunnel wall. The cables can be high-current electrical cables or control cables, and the particular aim of the invention is to supply a modular system that allows the simple assembly of supports for different sizes, numbers and specifications of cable. The supports could also be used for pipes and other elongate items as appropriate. Such support systems can be made of galvanised steel, for instance, but this tends to lead to brackets with sharp edges, which then have to be machined smooth to avoid cutting the cables. Also, for every new order where a particular configuration is required, a new system has to be designed and manufactured, which is labour-intensive.

Furthermore, it is a requirement of many systems, particularly systems along tunnels which are obviously hard to access, that they do not corrode. While galvanised steel or aluminium parts are adequate, there is a move towards systems made of plastics.

An example of a very simple versatile system is shown in CH 594302 (Etasa AG) , which has vertical U-profile members, not unlike shelf supports, with spaced apertures. Step-shaped brackets have shaped ends that locate in two of these apertures, surrounding a pipe or cable. This has to be assembled in situ. Plastic support brackets are shown in US 2011/062292 (McCoy) , for instance, which describes steel or plastics support stanchions to which the brackets or arms can be attached by pins. The pins allow upward rotation of the arm, to allow for play and cable movement, but the mounting is not very secure.

Arrangements are known for holding pipes and/or cables in corresponding elements mounted in a channel-shaped base; see for instance GB 1134255 (Westland Aircraft) . Here the elements are made of plastics and are compressed together in the channel by clamp fixtures, one at each end. The arrangement is intended for horizontal fitting and is not designed to support substantial weight in the direction along the channel, and the pipes/cables are packed together along the channel direction, so that they are inaccessible once the device is closed.

The invention is defined in claim 1 and refined in the dependent claims, to which reference can now be made.

According to embodiments of the invention, there is provided a modular cable support system or element

consisting of a pillar or stanchion/backplate and a set of brackets to be mounted on the pillar, wherein the pillar has, except for stop means, and possibly other accessories, a continuous profile along its height, and the brackets have a corresponding profile interlocking with the pillar profile, so that brackets can be slid down onto the pillar until arrested by the stop means. In the assembled state, the distance between the shelves is sufficient to allow easy insertion or placement of a cable onto a shelf of the bracket. This is achieved by making the shelf height (i.e. its vertical extent) considerably less than (e.g. no more than 50% of) the total bracket height, including spacer if present.

Preferably the pillar is extruded, say of aluminium, with a constant cross-section and continuous dovetail or T- section undercuts facing the brackets, onto which the brackets are slid. There can be two or more channels for secure guidance. The brackets are most effectively moulded of plastics material, with rear-facing rails corresponding to the channel (s) . The rails and channels could of course be interchanged, or even mixed, as between the pillar and the brackets. They do not need to extend over the whole height of the brackets, being present preferably at least over the top part of the bracket height. The aluminium pillars will have one or more small windows or bosses punched into them, preferably after mounting the brackets, to form the stop means which the brackets will sit on. Top and bottom end caps are

preferably applied to completely hide and protect the aluminium.

In another aspect the invention is directed to a modular cable support system or element consisting of a pillar or backplate and a set of brackets to be mounted on the pillar, wherein the pillar is extruded and has, except for stop means, and possibly other accessories, a

continuous profile along its height, and the brackets have a corresponding profile interlocking with the pillar profile, so that brackets can be slid down onto the pillar until arrested by the stop means, the profile being

constituted by two or more interlocking channels and/or rails in the pillar and brackets respectively. This gives rise to a stable mounting arrangement needing no further clamps . In a still further aspect the invention is directed to a modular cable support system of interlocking pillars and brackets as above, where the brackets entirely surround the front and sides of the pillar.

For a better understanding of the invention,

embodiments of it will now be described, by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows the way cables are hung, for instance along a tunnel;

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a single support element in the assembled state, representing an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 3 shows the aluminium pillar or stanchion on its own;

Figure 4 a cross-section of pillar and bracket shelf support; Figure 5 shows a rear view of the pillar;

Figure 6 shown a typical modular bracket element; and Figure 7 shows a modified type of bracket element.

Figure 1 illustrates the context of the invention. A set of vertical backplanes or pillars 1 are fixed to a structure, such as a tunnel wall, at intervals along the length of the tunnel. Some form of cable support bracket, such as a cleat 5, and typically several such over the height of the pillar, is in turn fixed to the pillar.

Cables 3 can then be supported on the cleats 5.

For the cables not to sag too much between pillars, a suitable spacing has to be specified, which might be up to 2m, depending on circumstances. An intermediate, free^¬ standing strap-like clamp 10 can be applied to hold the cables together, as a form of short-circuit protection. Such a clamp is described in the applicant's earlier application WO 2011/089425. The present invention is concerned with the pillar supports, and in particular with a modular system for such supports. Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment of the invention.

The pillar, here given the reference 100, is not actually visible in the drawing except by inference from the

vertical parts of the brackets 20 which encase it. These modular brackets or shelf parts 20 are plastics mouldings which each consist of the said vertical part 22 and an integral shelf or saddle ("cleat") 24. The height, or depth, of the shelf 24 is considerably less than that of the vertical section 22 (especially when spacers 48 are taken into account, as discussed below) . This is to enable cables to be placed on the shelves after assembly.

The vertical part 22 of the brackets has a channel profile with several dovetail or undercut rails or channels on the rear side, not visible in Figure 2 but described later. On its front face is a shelf 24 having the form of a semicircular tubular section extending with a horizontal axis, except slightly curved downwardly to left and right, to accommodate the sag of the cables and avoid any tendency to cut into them at the ends. Mid-way along its length is a central reinforcing rib 26. At the rear, the shelf is integral with the vertical part 22. The shelf part may be made of any appropriate polymer or cast material, e.g.

fire-retardant glass-filled nylon, or cast aluminium alloy.

End caps 40 and 42, of similar profile to and

preferably the same material as the vertical sections 22 of the shelf parts 20, are fitted to the top and bottom of the pillar 100. This embodiment also has spacers 48 of similar cross-section to the vertical sections of the brackets but no shelf. This allows a desired spacing to be set between the brackets in the assembled product, if the height of the vertical sections 22 is not enough. The spacing between the shelves 24 should be significantly greater than the diameter of the cable to be inserted, say at least 150% of the diameter, or of the front-to-back extent of the shelf. The pillar 100 is shown in Figure 3. It is an

aluminium extrusion of uniform section, apart from certain machined portions described below. Typical dimensions would be 400-600 mm in length (i.e. height), 60 mm width and 7 mm thickness. Its rear face is smooth, but its front face has various channels of inverted-T section, here a wide central channel 110 and two narrow channels 112 to each side, the bar of the T being in the interior of the pillar. However, other designs can be contemplated with more or fewer channels, of varying depths, symmetrically arranged (as here) or asymmetric.

The pillar also has one or more protruding stops 120 to support the plastics parts when assembled. These can be formed simply by indenting the bar from the rear face with a sharp object. The pillar also has fixing holes 130 near the top and bottom ends . As shown in the cross-sectional view of Figure 4, the vertical sections 22 of the modular parts (i.e. the shelf parts, the spacers and the end caps) have corresponding protruding vertical rails, which slot into the channels in the aluminium pillar, preferably with little if any play. That is, there is a central T-section rail 220 and two smaller (but equally deep) side T-rails 222 on each side. In principle, the rails/channels could be interchanged from the design shown, but generally the plastics part should have more material by volume. The designations "rail" and "channel" are somewhat arbitrary, and it can be seen that in many cases they could be interchanged.

It can also be seen from Figure 4 that the side

edges 223 of the vertical parts 22 of the brackets extend round the edges of the aluminium pillar 100, so that the pillar is completely enclosed, as seen from the front.

This is aesthetically pleasing and protects the user from any sharp edges.

The shelf brackets shown, e.g. in Figure 6, are only by way of example. They could be of different diameter to the 120 mm saddle example shown, or they could have different lengths in the left-right direction, or could be adapted for multiple cables or pipes, or could also incorporate a clamp or cleat mechanism. Possibilities will be evident to the skilled man.

Figure 7 shows a variant bracket in a rear view. Here the rails do not extend all the way down the height of the bracket but stop about half-way down, in the case of the central rail 220a, and less than that for the side

rails 222a. This is because only the upper part of the rail is under tension when the bracket is loaded in a vertical configuration. Also, the undercut 221 at the base of the central rail conveniently rests on the stop 120 of the pillar once it is formed. To construct a support assembly, a suitable set of support shelves or brackets is chosen once an order is received. These could be the same or different. The brackets are slid onto the pillar from the top in the order desired. The first one comes to rest on the stop 120, or the stop can be formed after the bracket has been slid into the desired position. Successive brackets can simply rest on those below, or, for additional support, further such stops can be formed in the pillar. Two are shown in the rear view of Figure 5.

Finally, the end caps 40 and 42 are applied, closing off the metal of the pillar completely except at the rear face. The end caps have holes 44, 46 corresponding to the fixing holes in their pillar. The finished part is then ready for use, e.g. for fixing to the wall of a train tunnel. Usually a large number of similar parts will be assembled in this way for a given project. Cables and other elongate members can then be laid in, or fitted to, the supports.

Claims

Claims

1. A support element for elongate articles, comprising a pillar (100) and one or more support brackets (20) each having a vertical part (22) adapted to fit over the front face of the pillar and a shelf part (24) on which in use the elongate articles rest,

in which the pillar (100) has a vertically extending undercut channel (110, 112) of uniform section at its front side and the support brackets (20) have a

corresponding interlocking rail section on their rear side, the pillar further having a means (120) for bearing the weight of the support brackets (20);

and in which the distance between adjacent shelf parts is substantially greater than the vertical extent of the shelf part (24) .

2. A support element according to claim 1, in which the support means is one or more indented parts (120) of the pillar.

3. A support element according to claim 1 or 2, in which the interlocking rail section of the brackets is formed by two or more linear projections (220, 222) of

overhanging section, such as dovetail or T-section, and the pillar (100) has corresponding channels (110, 112) .

4. A support element according to claim 3, in which the interlocking sections comprise a wide central rail/ channel (110, 220) and one or more narrow rails/ channels (112, 222) on both sides of the central channel .

5. A support element according to any preceding claim, in which the shelf part (24) includes a semi-tubular saddle .

6. A support element according to any preceding claim, in which the shelf part includes a cleat for fixing high- voltage cables.

7. A support element according to any preceding claim,

further including end caps (40, 42) covering the top and bottom of the pillar.

8. A support element according to any preceding claim, in which the vertical sections (22) of the brackets, and of the end sections (40, 42) and spacers (48), if present, extend (223) round the sides of the pillar.

9. A set of support elements according to any preceding claim, each arranged vertically on a wall and

horizontally spaced along the wall, to support cables or pipes.

10. A method of assembling a support element according to any of claims 1 to 8, in which the brackets are slid down successively onto the weight -bearing means (120) .

11. A method according to claim 10, in which several such support elements are assembled and fixed along a wall.

12. A method according to claim 11, in which, following

assembly, cables or other elongate articles are placed on the support brackets (20) .