EP1343682A1

EP1343682A1 - Device and method for cleaning parts of a boat immersed in water

Info

Publication number: EP1343682A1
Application number: EP01998478A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jean-Philippe Tible
Original assignee: Advanced Boat Cleaning Technology
Current assignee: Advanced Boat Cleaning Technology
Priority date: 2000-11-29
Filing date: 2001-11-28
Publication date: 2003-09-17
Anticipated expiration: 2021-11-28
Also published as: EP1343682B1; ATE383306T1; HRPK20030434B3; FR2817230B1; WO2002044020A1; DE60132359D1; US20040074431A1; AU2002222068A1; US6840187B2; NO20032454L; HRP20030434A2; FR2817230A1; NO20032454D0; ES2300389T3; DE60132359T2

Abstract

An apparatus for cleaning the underwater portions of a boat having at least one cleaning unit with an ejection element for generating a jet of cleaning fluid under high pressure, and a manifold for generating jets of gas under low pressure. The manifold enables a space to be defined around the cleaning fluid jet in which space density is considerably reduced relative to the density of the surrounding water, such as a space that is free or practically free from water; this space extends from the ejection element to the surface for cleaning of the underwater portions. The apparatus is applicable to cleaning boats, such as sail boats, motor boats, and canal boats, without it being necessary to take them out of the water.

Description

DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CLEANING PARTS OF A BOAT UNDERWATER

The present invention relates to a method of cleaning the submerged parts of a boat capable of being implemented without it being necessary to take the boat out of the water.

The invention also relates to a cleaning device for carrying out this method.

The protection of the submerged parts of a boat, and in particular of the hull, the keel and the rudder, is generally done by the application of a special paint, known under the English terminology of paint "antifouling". This paint gives off toxic agents (copper oxides, arsenate of mercury) which slow down the proliferation and fixing of algae and shells on the hull of the boat. However, this paint has a limited action in time and the residues of this paint, as well as the algae and shells which have nevertheless settled on the hull, must be periodically removed in order to apply a new layer of "antifouling" paint. In addition, it is necessary to keep a clean hull to preserve the performance and speed of the boat during navigation.

The cleaning of the hull is generally carried out using mechanical means, such as brushes, tools or a jet of pressurized water making it possible to brush, scrape or strip the hull. However, to be able to perform such cleaning properly, the boat must be taken out of the water.

To put the boat either dry, you can either use a lifting device to take it out on a quay, but this operation is long, delicate and expensive, or position the boat on a fairing wedge, at high tide, and wait until the sea drops enough to work dry. However, this latter solution leaves little time to clean the hull until the next tide and also assumes that there is sufficient tidal range to discover the entire hull.

Already known from documents WO 91/18785 and FR 2 723 908, installations for cleaning afloat boats using rotary brushes, similar to what exists for washing cars.

Also known, from document FR 2 369 964, is a cleaning device and a device for rinsing the hulls of submerged boats. The cleaning device comprises a rotary brush actuated by a motor and arranged under a cover. A device makes it possible to send air jets inside the hood in order to reduce the loss of engine power which would normally occur if the brush turned in water. However, this cleaning device does not use water jets.

Furthermore, the rinsing device comprises means for forming jets of water under high pressure, mounted under a cover filled with air, in order to isolate said jets of water from the surrounding water. However, this device does not provide for sending jets of gas under low pressure around these jets of rinsing water.

The two aforementioned devices, provided with a cover, must therefore be applied against the shell to be cleaned, which limits the surface which it is possible to clean at each passage of the device.

We also know from GB 2 078 546, an apparatus for cleaning submerged structures of offshore oil platforms using simultaneously a jet of water and a jet of pressurized air, the latter making it possible to greatly reduce the noise of such a device in order to thus improve the working conditions of divers using this device.

For this purpose, this device includes a high speed water generation nozzle, surrounded by an annular orifice through which air is ejected.

However, in such a device, the annular air sleeve is only present for sound insulation and the cleaning water jet always works in water. Consequently, the diver is forced to apply this device very close (a few centimeters) to the submerged structure to be cleaned to prevent the jet speed from being too slowed down by sea water. This limits the surface area that can be cleaned with each pass of the device. The total cleaning time is therefore increased.

Finally, according to the abstract of Japanese patent n ° 60-029394, a cleaning device operating underwater and comprising, on the one hand, means for generating a jet of pressurized water through a tube and secondly, means for ejecting a jet of air under high pressure, through an annular passage surrounding said tube.

The jet of water under high pressure passes inside a cylinder whose walls are formed by a layer of air but which nevertheless contains water. The water jet must therefore cross an area of high density water to reach the hull, which significantly reduces its efficiency. The aim of the present invention is to develop a device and a method for cleaning the submerged parts of a boat, making it possible to use a nozzle for ejecting a conventional high-pressure cleaning fluid, which without the invention would be rendered inoperative by the water present around the boat to be cleaned or at least would be less effective. The invention also aims to clean a large area of the hull each time the device passes and therefore to reduce the total duration of cleaning, while performing good quality cleaning and without taking the boat out of the water.

To this end, the invention relates to a device for cleaning the parts of a boat which are immersed in water, of the type comprising at least one cleaning unit which comprises first means for generating a jet of cleaning fluid under high pressure and second means for generating gas jets.

According to the invention, said first generation means make it possible to produce a jet of cleaning fluid having the form of a blade of fluid and in that said second means comprise a ramp provided with a series of nozzles, connected to a booster and a reservoir or a gas supply, this ramp making it possible to generate jets of gas at low pressure, defining a space in which the density is significantly reduced compared to that of the surrounding water, such as a free space - or practically free - of water, around said blade of cleaning fluid, this space extending over the entire length of said blade of cleaning fluid, from said first generation means to the surface to be cleaned of said submerged parts, said ramp being disposed under said first generation means, so that its longitudinal axis extends substantially in the same vertical plane as that passing through the axis of ejection of said blade of cleaning fluid, the latter extending substantially vertically inside said space free - or practically free - of water.

Thus, the blade of fluid under high pressure, which opens into this space, does not lose energy to repel the water in which the boat is bathed. Such a device enables correct cleaning of the hull while placing the cleaning unit approximately 5 to 30 cm from the hull. It thus becomes possible to clean a large surface of the shell in a single pass of the device.

In addition, such a device is environmentally friendly since it uses only mechanical cleaning means. According to other possible but not limiting advantageous characteristics of the invention:

- Said first generation means comprise a nozzle connected to a compressor and to a reservoir or a supply of cleaning fluid, - the cleaning device comprises means for generating a reaction force compensating for that resulting from the ejection of the fluid cleaning by said first means,

said means for generating a compensatory reaction force consist of additional means capable of generating a jet of fluid in the opposite direction to that of the jet of cleaning fluid,

the cleaning device comprises means for channeling the gas jets generated by said second means, such as at least one deflector disposed longitudinally along said ramp,

said cleaning unit is mounted on an articulated arm authorizing a movement of said unit in three directions perpendicular to each other, the movement of said articulated arm being controlled by a computer or a programmable controller, according to the profile of said submerged parts,

- The device comprises several cleaning units, mounted on an articulated support so as to be able to follow the shape of the hull of the boat to be cleaned, this support being mounted on at least one guide rail provided on a quay or a pontoon at the edge of which the boat to be cleaned is moored, this support being able to slide on this guide rail while being controlled by a computer or a programmable automaton, so as to move said cleaning units over the entire length of the boat, as a function of the profile of said submerged parts, - The device includes sensors for measuring the shape of the submerged parts to be cleaned, connected to said computer or programmable controller to control the movement of the cleaning unit or units to the shape of the shell.

The invention also relates to a method of cleaning the parts of a boat which are submerged in water, by simultaneously spraying a jet of cleaning fluid under high pressure onto said submerged parts and gas jets.

This process is remarkable in that said jets of gas are generated at low pressure, under said jet of cleaning fluid, so as to define a space in which the density is significantly reduced compared to that of the surrounding water, such as a space free or practically free of water, around said jet of fluid, to isolate it from the surrounding body of water, this space extending over the entire length of said jet of cleaning fluid.

Preferably, the fluid is water or hot or cold water vapor and the gas is air. In addition, this method can be implemented using the aforementioned device.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on reading the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention. This description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a cleaning unit of the device according to the invention,

- Figure 2 is a schematic sectional view of the blade of cleaning fluid and the space free or practically free of water, taken along line II-II of Figure 1, - Figure 3 is a diagram d a first alternative embodiment of the cleaning device according to the invention, and

- Figure 4 is a diagram of a second alternative embodiment of the cleaning device according to the invention.

The device according to the invention comprises at least one cleaning unit 1 such as that shown in FIG. 1, intended to clean the submerged parts 2 of a boat.

In the following description and claims, the term "submerged parts" of a boat means not only the hull but also the keel, the rudder, the propeller and the propeller shaft. In the drawings and for simplification purposes, the submerged parts are shown diagrammatically by the hull of the boat.

The cleaning unit 1 according to the invention can be of known type. It comprises means 10 for generating a jet of cleaning fluid under high pressure. These means are for example an ejection nozzle 100, connected by a pipe to a reservoir or a supply 102 of cleaning fluid, a compressor 101 being interposed between said reservoir and said nozzle 100. As a guide, the high ejection pressure of the fluid is of the order of 120.10 ⁵ Pa to 200.10 ⁵ Pa.

The cleaning fluid is advantageously water or steam, hot or cold. Advantageously, the ejection nozzle is configured so that the jet of cleaning fluid has the shape of a blade or of a brush of fluid 103 and not a simple cylindrical jet. In other words, seen from the side in FIG. 1, this blade 103 has a flared, triangular shape, between the ejection end of the nozzle and the hull 2 of the boat and, seen from the front, in FIG. 2 , an oblong shape of small width Lj. This blade 103 extends vertically. As an example, at the point of contact between the fluid blade 103 and the surface to be cleaned 2, the width Lj of this blade is approximately 0.2 to 1 cm and its height H is approximately 5 to 30 cm. In addition, the nozzle 100 is maintained between 5 and 30 cm from the surface to be cleaned, depending on the energy required to unhook the accumulated dirt and the programming of the means allowing the displacement of the cleaning unit 1, and which will be described later. Consequently, the length L ₂ of this sheet of water also varies from approximately 5 to 30 cm.

Finally, the ejection nozzle 100 is advantageously provided on its rear face opposite to that where the fluid blade 103 is ejected, with means 104 for generating a reaction force compensating for that resulting from the ejection of the cleaning fluid 103. These means 104 are for example fluid ejection means intended to counteract the reaction force exerted on the nozzle 100 under the propulsion effect generated by the fluid blade 103. These means 104 may be constituted by a nozzle for ejecting a liquid or a gas supplied from outside the cleaning unit 1 or by a pump allowing the recirculation of the sea water in which the cleaning unit 1 is bathed.

The cleaning unit 1 also comprises means 11 for generating a jet of gas at low pressure. In practice, it is sufficient for the gas pressure to be greater than the pressure prevailing at the depth of water at which cleaning takes place. This pressure is for example from about a tenth of a bar to a few bars (1 bar being equal to 10 Pa).

These means 1 1 comprise a ramp 110 provided with a series of nozzles 1 11, connected to a tank or to a gas supply 113 via a booster 112. This gas is advantageously air for reasons of availability.

All of the bubbles and air jets 116 created at the level of the ramp 110 make it possible to define a space 114 free or practically free of water, (sea water for example, if the boat is in a port or fresh water if the boat is on a lake), extending in cross section in a shape, slightly flared upwards, towards the surface of the water, (see Figure 2). More specifically, the space or volume 1 14 contains a mixture of a little of the water in which the boat is bathed and a lot of gas coming from the ramp 110. Consequently, inside this volume, the density is significantly reduced compared to that of the surrounding water. This ramp 110 is integral with the nozzle 100, it is arranged under the latter, so that its longitudinal axis extends substantially in the same vertical plane as that passing through the axis of ejection of said nozzle 100, this is ie the axis of ejection of the fluid blade 103 and that the nozzles 111 of said ramp are located under the fluid blade 103. The fluid blade 103 is therefore located inside the space 114 free or practically free of water, this space 114 extending longitudinally over the entire length of said blade 103, from the nozzle 100, to the surface of the shell 2 to be cleaned.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, this ramp 110 can be articulated relative to the nozzle 100 so as to have a slight downward inclination, by an angle α, relative to the axis of ejection of the nozzle 100. This makes it possible to orient the gas flow so that it always surrounds the blade of fluid 103, whatever the point of the shell opposite which is the cleaning unit 1. Preferably, the angle α is calculated so that the base of the triangular jet of cleaning fluid is parallel to said ramp. Optionally, advantageously and as illustrated only in FIG. 2, the ramp 110 is provided with means for channeling the gas jets 116, such as one or more deflectors 115 extending over its entire length, making it possible to channel the bubbles and the gas jets 116 in the zone surrounding the blade of the fluid 103. As illustrated in FIG. 3, according to a first alternative embodiment of the invention, the cleaning unit 1 is mounted on an articulated arm 3, itself connected to a fixed support 30, mounted on a quay or a pontoon 31. This articulated arm 3 makes it possible to move said unit 1 in three directions perpendicular to each other. In other words, the unit 1 can move in three dimensions in order to follow the shape of the shell 2 to be cleaned.

This articulated arm 3 can be controlled by a computer 4 or programmable controller.

A second alternative embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 4. In this case, several cleaning units 1 are mounted on a support 5, articulated so as to be able to match the shape of the hull 2 of the boat to be cleaned. This support 5 is mounted on at least one guide rail 50, provided on the quay or the pontoon 31 at the edge of which the boat to be cleaned is moored. This support 5 can slide on this guide rail 50, being controlled by a computer or a programmable controller identical to that mentioned above, (but not shown in the figures), so as to move said cleaning units 1 over the entire length of the boat. The installations as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 can also include sensors for measuring the shape of the submerged parts 2 to be cleaned, connected to said computer or programmable controller to control the movement of the cleaning unit or units 1 to the shape of the shell 2.

These measurement sensors can be of any known type, in particular mecanic (feelers) or optoelectrical, for example similar to those used in certain automatic car cleaning installations, and as described for example in document EP 0 507 757. The The measurements taken are stored in a computer and transmitted to a means for controlling the movement of the articulated arm 3 or of the articulated support 5. After the measurement carried out by these sensors, it is thus possible to clean the boat in a single pass from the device of the Figure 4 or in three or four passages of the device of Figure 3.

The invention also relates to a method for cleaning the parts submerged in the water of a boat. This method comprises the steps consisting in directing a jet (or blade) of cleaning fluid under high pressure, onto said immersed parts 2, while simultaneously ejecting under said fluid jet, gas jets 116, so as to define a space 114 filled with very little water and lots of gas or only gas, in which the density is significantly reduced compared to that of the surrounding water. A space 114 - free or practically free of water - is thus formed around said jet of cleaning fluid 103, to isolate said jet of fluid from the surrounding body of water. This space 114 extends over the entire length of said jet of cleaning fluid 103.

This method can for example be implemented using the aforementioned device.

Claims

1. Device for cleaning the parts (2) of a boat which are immersed in water, of the type comprising at least one cleaning unit (1) which comprises first means (10) for generating a jet of fluid cleaning (103) under high pressure and second means (11) for generating gas jets, characterized in that said first generation means (10) make it possible to produce a jet of cleaning fluid having the form of a blade fluid (103) and in that said second means (11) comprise a ramp (110) provided with a series of nozzles (111), connected to a booster pump (112) and to a reservoir or a gas supply (113 ), this ramp (110) making it possible to generate jets of gas at low pressure, defining a space (114) in which the density is significantly reduced compared to that of the surrounding water, such as a free space - or practically free of water, around said blade (103) of cleaning fluid, this space (114) s' extending over the entire length of said blade of cleaning fluid (103), from said first generation means (10) to the surface to be cleaned of said submerged parts (2), said ramp (110) being disposed under said first generation means (10), so that its longitudinal axis extends substantially in the same vertical plane as that passing through the axis of ejection of said blade (103) of cleaning fluid, the latter extending substantially vertically inside said space free - or practically free - of water (1 14).

2. Cleaning device according to claim 1, characterized in that said first generation means (10) comprise a nozzle (100) connected to a compressor (101) and to a reservoir or a supply (102) of cleaning fluid.

3. A cleaning device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises means (104) for generating a compensating reaction force to that resulting from the ejection of the cleaning fluid (103) by said first means ( 10).

4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that said means (104) for generating a compensatory reaction force consist of additional means capable of generating a jet of fluid in the opposite direction to that of the jet of cleaning fluid (103) .

5. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means for channeling the gas jets generated by said second means (1 1), such as a deflector (115) disposed longitudinally along said ramp (110 ).

6. Cleaning device according to claim 1, characterized in that said cleaning unit (1) is mounted on an articulated arm (3) allowing movement of said unit in three directions perpendicular to each other, movement of said articulated arm being controlled by a computer or a programmable automaton (4), according to the profile of said submerged parts (2).

7. Cleaning device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises several cleaning units (1), mounted on a support (5) articulated so as to be able to match the shape of the hull (2) of the boat to be cleaned , this support (5) being mounted on at least one guide rail (50) provided on a quay or a pontoon (31) at the edge of which the boat to be cleaned is moored, this support being able to slide on this guide rail while being controlled by a computer or a programmable controller (4), so as to move said cleaning units (1) over the entire length of the boat, according to the profile of said submerged parts (2).

8. Cleaning device according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that it comprises sensors for measuring the shape of the submerged parts (2) to be cleaned, connected to said computer or programmable controller (4) to control the movement of the 'unit or cleaning units (1) in the shape of the hull.

9. Method for cleaning the parts (2) of a boat which are immersed in water, by simultaneously spraying a jet of cleaning fluid (103) under high pressure onto said submerged parts, and gas jets, characterized in that said jets of gas are generated at low pressure, under said jet of cleaning fluid (103), so as to define a space (114) in which the density is notably reduced compared to that of the surrounding water, such as a space free or practically free of water, around said fluid jet (103), to isolate it from the surrounding body of water, this space (114) extending over all of the length of said jet of cleaning fluid (103).

10. A cleaning method according to claim 9, characterized in that the fluid is water or water vapor, and in that the gas is air.

11. A cleaning method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that it is implemented using the device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.