Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63B—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; EQUIPMENT FOR SHIPPING 
  • B63B59/00—Hull protection specially adapted for vessels; Cleaning devices specially adapted for vessels
  • B63B59/06—Cleaning devices for hulls
  • B63B59/08—Cleaning devices for hulls of underwater surfaces while afloat
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63B—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; EQUIPMENT FOR SHIPPING 
  • B63B59/00—Hull protection specially adapted for vessels; Cleaning devices specially adapted for vessels
  • B63B59/06—Cleaning devices for hulls
  • B63B59/10—Cleaning devices for hulls using trolleys or the like driven along the surface

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an underwater vehicle for cleaning underwater surfaces.
• the waste is generally sucked by a stream of water created by a turbine which also keeps the robot against the hull of the boat by creating a depression.
• robots comprise displacement means, such as wheels or caterpillars, ensuring the movement of the robot against the hull.
• the invention relates to an underwater submerged surface cleaning machine comprising a frame and at least one cleaning brush for the surface rotated by a motor around a central axis, the brush being mobile, by relative to a fixed part of the machine, in translation along its axis of rotation so as to be pressed against the surface to be cleaned under the effect of a depression created by the rotation of the brush, the brush comprising a shaft of rotation inserted into a sleeve integral in rotation with the brush and rotated by a drive system.
• This cleaning machine is characterized in that the brush is secured in rotation with the sleeve by fingers fixed on the sleeve and inserted into holes of the brush with the possibility of sliding parallel to the axis of rotation of the brush.
• such a cleaning machine may incorporate one or more of the following features, taken in any technically permissible combination:
• the machine comprises transmission means, between the brush and the fixed part of the machine, a plating force of the brush on the surface to be cleaned generated by the depression created by the rotation of the brush.
• the transmission means of the plating force comprises a spring mounted between the brush and the sleeve and adapted to exert a force tending to bring the brush of the fixed part of the machine.
• the machine includes moving members on the surface to be cleaned.
• the machine comprises two ring-shaped brushes each centered around its axis of rotation.
• the displacement members comprise two wheels driven in pairs on two opposite sides of the frame by two belts each driven by a motor.
• the brush is movable in translation along its axis of rotation between a first position, wherein the brush is recessed relative to the contact surfaces between the wheels and the surface to be cleaned on the side of a bottom of the frame, and a second position, in which the brush is protruding from the contact surfaces between the wheels and the surface to be cleaned, opposite the bottom of the frame.
• the machine has rollers interposed between the wheels and on which the belts come into support.
• the belts are mounted in grooves set back from the outer edges of the wheels.
• the invention also relates to a use of an underwater cleaning apparatus as mentioned above for the cleaning of submerged hulls of boats.
• FIG. 2 is a perspective view from below, the cleaning machine of Figure 1;
• FIG. 3 is a side view of the cleaning machine of FIGS. 1 and 2;
• FIG. 4 is a section along the plane III in Figure 3;
• FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of detail VI in FIG. 5;
• Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 5, in a second brush positioning configuration of the cleaning machine, in contact with the hull of a boat;
• FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIGS. 5 and 7, for a third position configuration of the brushes of the cleaning machine
• FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 6, in the configuration of FIG. 8.
• the underwater cleaning apparatus 2 shown in the figures comprises a frame
• X-X ' denotes a longitudinal axis of the vehicle 2 parallel to the side walls 41 and 42.
• the machine 2 is provided with displacement members comprising two pairs 6 and 7 of synchronized wheels mounted parallel to the side walls 41 and 42.
• the pairs 6 and 7 respectively comprise two toothed wheels 63, 64 and 73, 74.
• the wheels 63 , 64, 73 and 74 are driven and synchronized in rotation by the drive belts 61 and 71 about axes parallel to a transverse axis YY 'of the machine 2, perpendicular to the axis X-X'.
• the belts 61 and 71 are mounted in central grooves 700 of the outer edges of the wheels 63, 64, 73 and 74.
• ZZ ' denotes an axis perpendicular to the axes XX' and Y-Y 'and which defines the normal to the contact surfaces between the wheels 63, 64, 73 and 74 and a submerged surface to be cleaned, here the hull of the boat referenced C and shown only in Figure 7.
• the invention can also be implemented to clean other types of submerged surfaces, including submerged surfaces of a mast of a wind turbine installed at sea, pool walls, lock gates, pontoons or pontoons. aquarium walls.
• the machine 2 comprises two motors M1 and M2 each adapted to rotate one of the belts 61 and 71.
• the motors M1 and M2 each comprise a drive system 65 and 75 possibly comprising speed reduction means.
• the drive systems 65 and 75 include gears 66 and 76 for transmitting the rotational torque to the belts 61 and 71. These drive systems 65 and 75 are protected by covers 710.
• the belts 61 and 71 are also adapted to cooperate with the shell C by acting as caterpillars to increase the traction of the machine 2 on the hull C.
• the machine 2 also comprises a turbine 8, driven in rotation by an engine
• the motor M3 is preferably an electric motor powered by cables connected to a surface power supply.
• the volume V10 is delimited, on the side of the lateral faces 41 and 42 and the side of the rear wall 46, by a flexible peripheral skirt January 1 having side brushes 12 and a rear brush 14. This flexible peripheral skirt 1 1 can limit the passage of water to the volume V10, to promote the depression of this volume by the action of the turbine 8.
• the vacuum is generated by the suction of water along the arrow F1 of the volume V10 to the 2 inside the machine 2, the stream of water drawn F1 is filtered and the cleaning waste is stored in a storage tank waste, not shown, installed inside the machine 2. After filtering, the water is discharged from the machine 2 by a discharge outlet 82.
• the water flow sucked can be discharged directly from the machine 2 and be filtered in an external device.
• the flexible skirt 11 may be made using flexible rubber walls or other materials.
• the machine 2 is equipped with two cleaning brushes 16 and 18.
• the brushes 16 and 18 each comprise a plate 160 and 180 of annular shape from which brush bristles 162 and 182 arranged in a visible annular configuration extend. in particular in Figure 2. According to this configuration, the bristles 162 and 182 are disposed near the outer edges of the trays 160 and 180 and the central areas of the trays are devoid of hair.
• the brushes may comprise cleaning elements of different types such as sponges.
• the brush bristles 162 and 182 may also be arranged in a cylindrical configuration and occupy the entire surface of the trays 160 and 180.
• the brushes 16 and 18 each comprise a central rotation shaft 161 or 181 fixed to the plate 161 or 181 by a flange 170.
• X16 and X18 denote the respective axes of rotation of the brushes 16 and 18, parallel to the Z-Z axis.
• Each brush 16 or 18 is rotated by a drive system comprising a blind sleeve 163 or 183 mounted with possibility of rotation about the axis X16 or X18 in an intermediate partition 48 of the frame of the machine 2 and in the bottom 10.
• the rotation of the sleeve 163 relative to the partition 48 and the bottom 10 is ensured respectively by bearings 172 and 173, visible in particular in Figures 6 and 9 in the form of ball bearings.
• Each sleeve 163 or 183 is integral in rotation with a toothed wheel 165 or 185.
• the toothed wheel 165 is rotated by a pinion 200, itself driven in rotation by a motor M4 via unrepresented torque transmission means.
• the second gear 185 is rotated by the gear 165 via a gear train 202.
• the shafts 161 and 181 are mounted in the respective open ends of the sleeves 163 and 183 with possibility of translation along the axes X16 and X18, that is to say parallel to the axis ZZ '.
• the plates 160 and 180 of the brushes 16 and 18 are integral in rotation with the sleeves 163 and 183 by means of fixed fingers 190 relative to these sleeves, extending from a radial portion of the sleeves 163 and 183 parallel to the axis ZZ 'and inserted in corresponding holes 192 of the trays, with the possibility of sliding parallel to the axis ZZ' relative to the brushes 16 and 18.
• the flange 170 has holes 175 allowing the passage of the fingers 190.
• the fingers 190 make it possible to drive the brushes 16 and 18 in rotation, while allowing the brushes 16 and 18 to be translated along the axes X16 and X18, parallel to the axis ZZ '.
• the translational guidance of the brushes 16 and 18 is also ensured by the sliding of the shafts 161 and 181 in rings 177 fixed at the center of the radial portions of the sleeves 163 and 183.
• Springs 194 are interposed between the shafts 161 and 181 and the sleeves 163 and 183 about the axes X16 and X18. More specifically, the springs 194 are mounted inside the sleeves 163 and 183 between the rings 177 and rings, only one of which is visible in FIGS. 6 and 9 with the reference 161 1, fastened to the ends of the opposite shafts 161 and 181. to the plates 160 and 180.
• the springs 194 each exert a compression force F194 on the end rings of the shafts 161 and 181. The force F194 tends to move the ring 161 1 and the end ring of the shaft 181 away from the rings 177, thus tending to bring the brushes 16 and 18 closer to the partition 48.
• the hydraulic effect created by the brushes 16 and 18 also accentuates the plating of the machine 2 against the hull C of the boat thanks to the action of the springs 194, in cooperation with the depression created by the turbine 8 and which applies between the bottom 10 and the shell C.
• the springs 194 constitute a transmission means of the plating force Fp between the brushes 16 and 18 and the fixed part of the machine 2, via the sleeves 163 and 183, which are fixed in translation relative to the bottom 10 and to the intermediate partition 48.
• the machine 2 may not include springs 194 for returning the brushes 16 and 18 towards the fixed part of the machine.
• the brushes do not participate in the plating of the machine 2 against the hull C.
• the freedom in translation of the brushes 16 and 18 towards the upper part of the machine 2 is limited by a bottom 196 of the sleeves 163 and 183.
• the mobility in translation of the brushes 16 and 18 towards the shell C is limited by a stop not shown .
• the translation movements of the brushes 16 and 18 may be independent of each other in order to adapt, as shown in FIG. 7, to localized level differences in the hull C of the boat. Also, in order to adapt to differences in the level of the shell that may exist between the pairs of wheels 6 and 7 and in particular to convex portions of the shell C, the brushes 16 and 18 have the possibility of retracting in such a way that the position of the brushes is set back from the contact surface between the wheels 63, 64, 73 and 74 and the hull of the boat.
• the freedom in translation of the brushes 16 and 18 also makes it possible to clean the surfaces of the hull C of the boat which are locally concave, that is to say that the brushes can be positioned in a position in which they project relative to each other. to the contact surfaces between the wheels 63, 64, 73 and 74 and the hull C of the boat.
• the cleaning machine 2 further comprises a roller 22 interposed between the wheels 63, 64 on the wall 41 and a roller 24 interposed between the wheels 73 and 74 on the wall 42.
• the belts 61 and 71 rest on the rollers 22 and 24.
• These rollers 22 and 34 allow a cooperation of the belts 61 and 71 with a protruding surface that could present the shell C, so as to prevent the locking of the machine 2, in case the projecting surface would be positioned between two Wheels 63, 64 or 73 and 74 on the same side 41, 42 of the machine 2 and improve the traction in such a case.
• the cleaning machine 2 may comprise a single cleaning brush or comprise more than two brushes.
• the machine 2 is devoid of displacement means such as the wheels and rollers mentioned above. This is particularly the case when the machine 2 is mounted at the end of a handling pole.

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Ocean & Marine Engineering (AREA)
• Cleaning In General (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=46420190

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (8)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 2011
  • 2011-06-29 FR FR1155805A patent/FR2977231B1/fr active Active
• 2012
  • 2012-06-28 EP EP12730958.1A patent/EP2726367A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2012-06-28 WO PCT/EP2012/062588 patent/WO2013001015A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2012-06-28 US US14/125,770 patent/US20140116316A1/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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