Methods and system for preparing and installing brick assemblies on the floor of an electrolysis cell

Abstract

Brick assemblies are prepared for covering the floor of an electrolysis cell. A tiling pattern is overlaid on a floor plan. Virtual tiles of the tiling pattern have a size and a shape of a template. Each brick assembly is formed to match zero or more departures from the template of a portion of the floor overlaid by each virtual tile. The brick assemblies are placed in piles and successively picked up for placement in adjacent positions on the floor of the electrolysis cell. Successive brick layers may be installed, in which tiling patterns are shifted to avoid overlap of the edges of bricks of the successive brick layers. A system comprises a working bench to prepare the brick assemblies, a vacuum brick lifter carried by a motorized structure to pick up and position the brick assemblies, and a controller to control the preparation and installation of the brick assemblies.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for preparing a plurality of brick assemblies for covering a floor of an electrolysis cell, comprising:
 overlaying a tiling pattern on a plan of the floor of the electrolysis cell, each virtual tile of the tiling pattern having a size and a shape of a template;   identifying, for each virtual tile of the tiling pattern, zero or more departures of a portion of the floor of electrolysis cell overlaid by the virtual tile of the tiling pattern from the size and the shape of the template; and   for each given virtual tile of the tiling pattern having at least one departure from the size and the shape of the template, adjusting a size and a shape of a corresponding brick assembly so that the corresponding brick assembly matches a size and a shape of a given portion of the floor of the electrolysis cell overlaid by the given virtual tile of the tiling pattern.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein adjusting the size and the shape of the corresponding brick assembly comprises cutting one or more bricks of the corresponding brick assembly. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein cutting one or more bricks of the corresponding brick assembly comprises adjusting a size and a shape of each brick of the corresponding brick assembly according to a standard brick size and a standard brick shape. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the template comprises a predetermined number of bricks; and   adjusting the size and the shape of the corresponding brick assembly comprises forming the corresponding brick assembly by combining fewer bricks than the predetermined number of bricks.   
     
     
         5 . A method for covering a floor of an electrolysis cell, comprising:
 preparing a plurality of brick assemblies using the method as defined in  claim 1 ;   placing one or more subsets of the plurality of brick assemblies in one or more piles;   laying the brick assemblies of a given pile on the floor of the electrolysis cell by:
 successively picking up the brick assemblies of the given pile from a top of the given pile, and 
 placing each successively picked up brick assembly on the floor of the electrolysis cell in an adjacent position to a previously picked up brick assembly. 
   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising successively picking up and placing on the floor of the electrolysis cell the brick assemblies of a second pile after having picked up and placed on the floor of the electrolysis cell the brick assemblies of a first pile. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the plurality of brick assemblies are placed on the floor of the electrolysis cell by:
 laying a first number of adjacent brick assemblies along a width of the electrolysis cell to form a first row of adjacent brick assemblies extending across the width of the electrolysis cell; and   laying a second number of adjacent bricks along the width of the electrolysis cell so to form a second row of adjacent bricks extending across the width of the electrolysis cell, the second row of adjacent bricks being contiguous to the first row of adjacent brick assemblies.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein a first brick assembly picked up from the first pile is placed in a first corner of the floor of the electrolysis cell. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein a last brick assembly picked up from a bottom of a last pile is placed in a second corner of the floor of the electrolysis cell at an opposite end from the first corner. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the tiling pattern is a first tiling pattern for a first brick layer for covering the floor of the electrolysis cell;   the brick assemblies are first brick assemblies of the first brick layer;   the method further comprising:   overlaying, on the plan of the floor of the electrolysis cell, a second tiling pattern for a second brick layer, each virtual tile of the second tiling pattern having the size and the shape of the template, the second tiling pattern being shifted in relation to the first tiling pattern in a first direction by less than a first dimension of bricks of the first brick layer and in a second direction by less than a second dimension of the bricks of the first brick layer;   identifying, for each virtual tile of the second tiling pattern, zero or more departures of a portion of the floor of electrolysis cell overlaid by the virtual tile of the tiling pattern from the size and the shape of the template; and   for each given virtual tile of the second tiling pattern having at least one departure from the size and the shape of the template, adjusting a size and a shape of a corresponding second brick assembly so that the corresponding second brick assembly matches a size and a shape of a given portion of the floor of the electrolysis cell overlaid by the given virtual tile of the second tiling pattern.   
     
     
         11 . A method for covering a floor of an electrolysis cell, comprising:
 preparing the brick assemblies of the first and second pluralities of brick assemblies using the method as defined in  claim 10 ;   placing one or more first subsets of the first plurality of brick assemblies in one or more first piles;   placing one or more second subsets of the second plurality of brick assemblies in one or more second piles;   forming the first brick layer for covering the floor of the electrolysis cell by:
 successively picking up the first brick assemblies of a given first pile from a top of the given first pile, and 
 placing each successively picked up first brick assembly on the floor of the electrolysis cell in an adjacent position to a previously picked up first brick assembly, wherein the first brick assemblies are successively picked up from the one or more first piles until the floor of the electrolysis cell is covered by the first plurality of brick assemblies; and 
   forming a second brick layer for covering first brick layer by:
 successively picking up the second brick assemblies of a given second pile from a top of the given second pile, and 
 placing each successively picked up second brick assembly on top of the first brick layer in an adjacent position to a previously picked up second brick assembly, wherein the second brick assemblies are successively picked upon from the one or more second piles until the first brick layer is covered by the second plurality of brick assemblies. 
   
     
     
         12 . A system, comprising:
 a working bench adapted to prepare brick assemblies;   a vacuum brick lifter adapted to hold and release the prepared brick assemblies;   a motorized structure adapted to move along sides of an electrolysis cell and to carry the vacuum brick lifter; and   a controller comprising:
 an input/output device operatively connected to the working bench, to the vacuum brick lifter and to the motorized structure, 
 a processor operatively connected to the input/output device, and 
 a memory device comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon machine executable instructions for performing, when executed by the processor, the method as defined in  claim 1 .