Patent ID: 7762105

Claim:
A backup structure for an uprising pipe or a downfalling pipe of a vacuum degassing apparatus including the uprising pipe, a vacuum degassing vessel and the downfalling pipe, comprising: the uprising pipe or the downfalling pipe being made of platinum or a platinum alloy and having refractory bricks disposed therearound; and the refractory bricks having a thermal expansion relief member disposed on a top end thereof, the thermal expansion relief member comprising a material selected from a metal material and a ceramic material having a creep strength (JIS Z2271: 1993) of 35 MPa or above at 760° C., wherein the refractory bricks are a fused cast refractory having a thermal linear expansion rate (JIS R2207: 2003) of 0.5% or above at 1,500° C., the refractory bricks are stacked in layers, flanges are disposed between adjacent refractory bricks and on a top side of the thermal expansion relief member, and the flange on the top side of the thermal expansion relief member is a larger diameter than the remaining flanges.