Patent ID: 7534326

Claim:
A method of clamping a bottom head cover of a coke drum to a bottom flange of said coke drum, comprising: determining a minimum number of clamps needed to maintain an effective seal between said bottom head cover and said bottom flange of said coke drum; mounting at least said minimum number of clamps around a periphery of said bottom flange to secure said clamps to said coke drum; and actuating said mounted clamps using a control unit from a remote location to clamp said bottom head cover to said bottom flange wherein said multiple individual clamps are spaced apart by no more than a maximum distance determined based on one or more of a diameter and geometry of said bottom flange, a stiffness of said bottom flange, a resiliency and response under varying load of a gasket disposed between said bottom flange and said bottom head cover, and a pressure exerted on said bottom head cover from liquid inside said coke drum.