ES2660841B1 - Multi-purpose modular floating flexible polymer system - Google Patents

Description

D E S C R I P C I O N

MODULAR MULTIPLE FLEXIBLE FLEXIBLE POLYMERIC SYSTEM

SECTOR OF THE TECHNIQUE

The proposed invention aims to economically solve the location in aquatic environment of various types of large-area facilities, of lesser weight (real or apparent, as long as the volume is partially submerged), distributed homogeneously in time and space, through the use of lightweight polymeric materials, which integrate a system of volume and / or variable density bags, a system of injection and evacuation of fluids into these bags, a system for controlling the whole and several auxiliary systems necessary for the functionality of each installation in concrete and that do not form part of the invention

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As the human population grows and the environmental and social requirements become more demanding, it becomes more attractive the possibility of transferring to the sea, lakes or large rivers certain facilities or activities, some of which require considerable surfaces. The need to create support structures, floating or supported on the seabed, is evident in the case of off-shore platforms or foundations for offshore wind.

When it comes to installations that require a large surface, especially if they are to be located in areas of high sea or with strong winds, the design problems are related to (i) the need to resist adverse atmospheric and / or meta-oceanic conditions. which, although they occur generally during relatively short times, condition the design and lead to costly and / or non-functional solutions and (ii) the type of loads to be supported as part of the function that the platform must have.

The invention proposed is suitable for relatively minor loads, which do not vary significantly over time, distributed homogeneously over large areas, and whose functionality is not particularly sensitive to movement induced by the waves. Since the meaning of the invention is to go to low costs, the resistance to adverse conditions will always be limited, so large surface loads or installations must withstand immersion periods of hours or days while the adverse wind or wave conditions persist. The depth of the dive will depend on the significant wave size of the site, reaching depths of 15 m.

When components or equipment that can not be submerged or are sensitive to movement are required, they should be located on much smaller auxiliary platforms that are described below.

Example: background of a preferred embodiment of the invention, as support for a photovoltaic plant to be installed in an aquatic environment.

Currently, many photovoltaic generation plants are installed almost entirely on land, there are very few examples of photovoltaic parks on water, whether lakes, reservoirs or the sea.

In port areas some photovoltaic generation plants have been developed, whose photovoltaic panels are supported by rigid metallic structures, similar to those that are mounted on land, adding some type of floating device.

Analogous facilities in terms of their basic principles have been developed on rigid floating elements on sheets of water in lakes or reservoirs.

The use of rigid supports for photovoltaic panels in these applications complicates the operation and maintenance of the plates and increases the construction cost. In addition, the rigidity of the structure makes them quite vulnerable to inclement weather, especially in the marine environment.

Finally, to try to obtain photovoltaic generation facilities in off-shore areas, that is, over the sea, multidisciplinary floating platforms have been conceptually developed, or supported on the seabed, which require a large investment of construction, commissioning and maintenance, so that these platforms, for the moment have been limited to ideas or projects that are not carried into commercial industrial practice. In addition, these platforms are rigid structures, which, like installations in ports, makes them vulnerable to inclement weather.

None of the references found in Espacenet (i.e. US20150298774A1, KR20160017555 (A) or PH12014000229 (A1) among others) has characteristics similar to the invention proposed. In particular, none is designed so that it can submerge and emerge at will in anticipation of excessive wind or wave conditions.

EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

The system is designed for installation on sheet water, either in off-shore areas or in lakes, reservoirs or rivers

In a succinct way, it is a plurality of associated floating bags in elements of at least two individual bags, of approximately rectangular section each one of them, stuck together so that one is on top of the other Fig. 1 (b1), (b2), but which may be of different materials and characteristics, so that (for example in the application of photovoltaic plant, Fig. 1) in their upper part they support an additional approximately triangular bag that, occupying approximately half of the upper face of the assembly, gives rise to two faces approximately flat, one horizontal and one inclined (c1) (with fixed or variable inclination at will). This inclined face supports the surface or solar sheet (a), while the horizontal part (b) can serve as support for the electrical and mechanical installation, as well as access road for installation and maintenance work. Several of these elements can be joined laterally (Fig. 2) to give rise to a module, p e. of solar field (Fig. 3), Several of these modules can be grouped, joining them together and platforms anchored to the seabed (Fig 4, (d)), p e. to form a solar plant (Fig. 4). In the cases in which the installation for marine environment is designed, it will be necessary to provide it with a diving system before the prediction of meteorological situations (waves, wind) that may damage the structures. For this, the capacity of filling or emptying of air at will some of the elementary bags will be used to submerge the structure to the desired depth, in which it is not affected by the swell, and would emerge when the circumstances giving rise again allow your safe operation. The location in water allows designing the bag that serves as a direct support to the solar surface so that it can be an air duct or cooling water of this solar surface to improve its performance. The field can be completed with an automated cleaning system (see Fig. .1 spnnklers), including the use of desalinated water to be produced in any of the auxiliary platforms. In a preferred embodiment, these auxiliary platforms are joined by submarine cables to reinforced points of the perimeter of the field, which allows avoiding the drift thereof by the action of wind or currents, as well as, through a system of winches, producing the slow turn of the field to follow the daily trajectory of the sun during the day and to return to the starting situation during the night, which can also be achieved by locating propulsion propellers with electric motors in the right places. The systems of filling and emptying of air, control system and other auxiliaries depending on the specific applications can be located on land, in an area close to where the system is located, or on auxiliary platforms, which can be of the semi-submersible type, since they must resist the wind and the waves, and have a good anchoring system or supported to the bottom, and that are not the object of this invention, since there are several alternatives for its construction and installation. For example, in the case of photovoltaic plant, these platforms must contain all mechanical, electrical and electronic equipment that is not submersible.

The invention proposed is suitable for relatively minor loads, which do not vary significantly over time, distributed homogeneously over large areas, and which have no special sensitivity to movement induced by the waves. Since the meaning of the invention is to go to low costs, the resistance to adverse conditions is limited, so that the loads that make up the installation, except those housed in the auxiliary platforms, must withstand periods of immersion for hours or days while the adverse wind or wave conditions. The depth of the dive will depend on the significant wave size of the site, being able to reach depths of 15 m.

Although polymeric materials have been used for a long time with great success in the construction of floating boats and dikes, the type of use described in this report we believe is novel in that it has the following characteristics:

- It is characterized by grouping prismatic linear structures, using semirigid polymeric materials, with geometry and density of the variable set at will through one or more systems of filling and emptying of fluids regulated by a distributed control system, which acts according to needs of operation of the installation or to submerge this to safeguard it from waves or excessive wind

- It is therefore characterized because such a system allows the immersion and emersion at will of the set

- It is characterized because the design of the system and the materials used allow the industrial manufacture on land and the easy putting into water of large modules

- The lightness of the system and its design features allow grouping several modules to make very large surfaces

- In the predominantly floating applications, the design allows to play with the mass and rigidity of each set, through the combination of different types and sizes of bags, and its partial or total filling with different types of fluid, to absorb part of the energy of the waves and limit the movements of the elements located on the support structure

- It has great flexibility to make concrete designs easily adaptable to multiple applications

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complete the description that is being made and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, a set of drawings is included as an integral part of said description, in which, illustrative and not limiting, represented the following:

Fig. 1- Shows a section of two elements constituted by sets of three elongated bags joined together that float horizontally, elements that in turn are laterally joined together, used for a preferred application of photovoltaic plant, the section of each element being of orientative dimensions of 3x3 m2.

Fig.2.- It shows a plan view of how several elements would be joined to form a module, with an approximate length of each element of about 60 m and that would group, merely by way of guidance, 40 of these elements, resulting in a module of about 60x120 m2 (dimensions also for guidance)

Fig. 3 - Illustrates the union of many modules to form a solar field

Fig. 4 - Illustrate a solar field with the support platforms on two of its sides

Fig. 4bis - Illustrates a solar field with a single central platform

Fig. 5 - Shows a section of a fluid reservoir that is lighter than the water that you want to store between two waters, p e. a reservoir of desalinated water in the sea

Fig. 6 - Shows a set of tanks, also with a lighter fluid than water

Fig. 7 - Illustrates the concept of the system supporting a light and flexible structure, for example for a playground

Fig 8 - Illustrates an arrangement of a wave damping field

Fig. 9 - Shows a complex bag section for photobioreactor

Fig 10.- Illustrates a photobioreactor field with a central platform

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

The system comprises a plurality of semirigid polymeric structures of a modular nature, where several linear elements are grouped in a module, which in turn is grouped with other modules to give rise to the final assembly, for example a solar photovoltaic field. This final set, for example a photovoltaic solar field, can be controlled from one or more platforms, fixed or floating, moored or supported on the bottom, much smaller and built in steel or concrete, which support the auxiliary systems of the plant, and that they are different for the different applications.

In the preferred embodiment of photovoltaic plant, each element consists of several elongated bags approximately prismatic of different section Fig.1 (b1), (b2), (b3), joined longitudinally one on top of another, and which constitute, taken together, a variable section element, which, in this configuration, has an additional upper pocket with circular sector section (b3) whose angle can be changed between 0o (when the sun is at its maximum height above the horizon at midday of the solstice) summer) and 90 ° (at sunrise and sunset). The face corresponding to what would be the mobile radio of this section (c1) serves as support to sheets or photovoltaic panels of any technology (a) (based or not on silicon, crystalline or not, in the form of "thin film" or on any other photovoltaic technology (which is not the object of this invention)), this is each elementary polymer structure serves as support for at least one photovoltaic surface.

In short, the upper part of the element has two roughly flat faces with a common edge; one of the flat faces has an approximately horizontal orientation and the other flat face (c1), of variable or fixed inclination, houses the photovoltaic sheets (a).

The variation of the angle between the two faces is made, where appropriate, to optimize the incidence of sun rays on the photovoltaic sheets, and is achieved by modifying the air pressure in the bag of approximately triangular section (b3) that supports the photovoltaic sheets.

On the other hand, this same upper chamber (b3) can serve to circulate the air or water through it, cooling the hidden face to the sun of the panels or photovoltaic materials (a), thus contributing to avoid excessive heating that negatively affect its performance.

Of the two lower chambers, the one above (b2) will be inflated with air, so that the buoyancy is maintained at the desired height above the surface of the water, and the one below (b1) will be filled with water, so that provides inertia to the set to limit the effect of waves and wind.

There is no limitation "a priori" with respect to the dimensions In a preferred embodiment, the width of the individual bags, for reasons of ease of manufacture, assembly, operation and maintenance, would be around 3 m, and their length in around 50-60 m.

Each element of several stacked bags is handled independently by the control system, which fills or empties the air or water bags at will, depending on the mode of operation that is programmed (ie, normal operation, immersion, submerged maintenance or emersion). ). If necessary, any of the bags can be divided longitudinally to improve the control of movement or flotation, adding inlet and outlet valves to each individual section

To compose the modules, each element is fixed to the neighbor either by a longitudinal welding of the polymeric material Fig.1 (d) or by means of a system of rings fixed to longitudinal cables that are joined to other transverse elements to constitute the whole solar field.

In one of the preferred configurations, in which it is desired to sink the platform in the water to avoid the effects of the waves crashing, the extraction of air from the intermediate chamber (b2) causes the assembly to stop floating, sinking slowly; When reaching the desired depth, a small injection of air increases the buoyancy again, so that it can be regulated at will to keep the whole at the desired depth. The plurality of elements and modules linked together avoid effects of unevenness of the assembly by accumulation of air at either end.

The photovoltaic generation plant object of this preferred embodiment, in one of the possible variants, has a plurality of associated modules by means of a mooring system that joins them together and to the fixed platforms where the devices and systems that can not be submerged are located. . In Fig 4 and Fig 4bis two top views of solar fields are shown, one of them with two lateral platforms and the other with a single central platform. The most appropriate system will depend on the costs of mooring the platforms, the solar field to these and the solar field itself in the background, in the latter case when the tracking of the sun on the vertical axis is renounced and the depth is not excessive and expensive Too much this solution.

The photovoltaic generation plant object of the preferred embodiment of the invention has a tracking system of the daily solar path on a double axis, which modifies the position of the photosensitive faces and the park as a whole. The tracking system of the vertical solar path uses a chain or cable system that joins the plurality of polymeric structures with the platforms fixed to the seabed, so that, releasing or picking up the chains or cables, a turn is provided to the set, which results in a tracking of the path that the sun makes during its daytime journey. In another preferred embodiment, electric propellers are used at strategic points to achieve the rotation of the assembly in the direction and speed desired.

The system described above, operated in a coordinated manner from platforms anchored to the seabed, also means that the photovoltaic generation plant can sink into the sea (remember that an application is to carry out photovoltaic generation facilities in off-shore areas) protecting the whole of the direct action of waves or excessive winds.

Given the possible location of the photovoltaic generation plant object of the invention in off-shore areas, the photovoltaic sheets can be covered with dirt (mainly saltpeter) either because the photovoltaic generation plant has been submerged, by splashes or deposits or by any other reason, therefore to clean the photovoltaic sheets, one of the preferred embodiments of the photovoltaic generation plant object of the invention has an automated photovoltaic sheet cleaning system, which drives desalinated water on the photovoltaic sheet through sprinklers The maintenance platform on the flat part of the upper chamber will be used for less frequent cleanings that require physical actions beyond the irrigation with fresh water, as well as for inspection and maintenance of the cables and other electrical or mechanical elements of the installation.

Some of the general advantages of the system have already been listed in part in 2 above. Additional advantages for all applications are:

- Economics of costs, as they are economical and easily recyclable materials

- Ease and economy of manufacturing, construction and putting into water, as described below

- Minimum environmental impact; recyclable material, minimum demolition costs

- Very short construction and installation time, generally limited by the elements of the concrete use more than by the support system

- Possibility of locating the facilities in areas of low environmental and social impact - Ease to transport the elements in the water and assembly of the set; ease to move it if necessary

^{Other specific advantages for one of the preferred applications, the marine solar plant} , ^are described below by way of example:

Solar energy has a relatively low density, so its uptake requires large areas, whose availability on land can be problematic, because the available surfaces are expensive or inappropriate.

With the reduction of costs of electricity generating materials with solar irradiation (for example, photovoltaic panels) the costs of land, foundations, support and assembly structures are an increasing part of the total costs of solar land plants. The invention that arises, in the measure that proposes to use polymeric materials of low cost, we believe can be competitive in many occasions.

On the other hand, the possibility of orienting the surface in double axis and cooling the solar sheets to keep them at optimal temperatures allow to ensure very high levels of performance. From the point of view of irradiation, while it is true that marine moisture reduces direct irradiation, it is also true that this reduction affects much less the global irradiation, which is what, for example, allows photovoltaic generation.

In summary, a plant like the one described must provide equal or better yields than an equivalent plant on land with the same surface and photovoltaic material. On the other hand, the constructive system conceived allows the industrialized construction and putting in water of modules of considerable size, reducing the assembly operations in water to the minimum.

In terms of operation and maintenance, it is conceived automatically and remotely, just a few preventive maintenance visits a year.

Additional applications of the invention

Fluid storage in aquatic environment

The storage of fluids in the aquatic environment, using polymeric materials, allows saving by replacing tanks or tanks on the surface of the land with semi-rigid bags that, when submerged in seawater, must withstand efforts that are comparatively much smaller than deposits on land. In addition to the lower efforts derived from the lower apparent density of the fluid to be stored, seismic efforts or snow or wind loads are saved. The fluids to be stored can be aqueous (e.g., desalted water, potable water), hydrocarbons (e.g. crude, gasoline, naphtha) or other fluids, such as chemicals. Naturally, the storage of potentially polluting fluids requires designs and precautions similar to those that should be considered on land, but adapted to the nature of the medium (eg double or triple containment layer, with leak detectors in each layer). In Fig. 5 a typical section of a preferred embodiment for this application is shown, in which the main bag (b) of storage of a fluid less dense than the water which in this case has been supposed to be stored between two waters, at a certain distance from the surface of the water (a), the side bags (c) for control of possible breakage or damage to the main bag to avoid dumping into the sea or lake, and the moorings to the dead or anchors located in the bottom (d). Fig. 6 shows a section of a set of bags (b) that are kept anchored thanks to a cable system or a network that embraces them and connects them with the moorings to the dead or bottom anchors. The connections between the bags for filling or emptying and the transfer of the fluid to and from the installations on land where it is produced or consumed correspond to well-known technology that is not described in this invention.

Protection of the surface of reservoirs or lakes to limit evaporation or prevent contamination

In areas where fresh water is a scarce resource, sometimes obtained by desalination, and stored in ponds or open-air reservoirs, evaporation losses can be significant. A similar problem occurs in reservoirs for the settlement of mining or industrial waste, where evaporation losses are to be avoided. In this case a system such as the one described can be easy to implement and economical, and limit these losses very considerably. In this case, the joints (d) Fig. 1 must be continuous, to avoid evaporation. Support for surfaces that do not have to support excessive concentrated weights

In places (eg mountainous islands) where flat surfaces are virtually non-existent, the system can support a flat top platform (eg also constructed of polymeric materials) to create a broad flat surface provided the load requirements are not excessive, for example to create recreational or sports spaces. These spaces they can submerge with excessive waves, or simply when they are not used, to preserve the installation. In Fig. 7 an example is illustrated where a light surface with some flexibility (a) rests on a set of modules similar to those described above, composed in this case by elements of two bags, one filled with air (b) and another water (c) to stay at a certain height on the surface (d) of the water. The detailed design is such that, when it is not used, or when wind or waves are forecast, the system submerges to a depth where it is not affected by the action of the waves.

Artificial breakwater to limit the waves around ships or fixed platforms to which other vessels must be tied or tied

This use can be very convenient around ships or platforms dedicated to bunkering, especially to bunkering of liquefied natural gas, which has more stringent wave requirements than liquid fuels.In Fig. 8 this is illustrated where the bags filled with water (c) are much more bulky and heavier than those of air (b), since it is that the whole absorbs part of the energy of the waves, the specific design will obviously depend on the conditions meta-oceanic of the installation site In any case, the system must submerge when conditions are excessively adverse and there is a risk that it will be damaged by tensions beyond those of design.

As a photobioreactor for algae culture

One of the major components of the cost of growing algae, especially marine ones, is e! photobioreactor, which must necessarily have a large extension to capture solar energy, basis for the reaction of photosynthesis. The use of a version of the invention for this purpose allows to build a photobioreactor both on calm waters (lakes, large rivers) and on open waters (off-shore), being submersible in this second case during periods of bad weather.

An embodiment with this concept is illustrated in Fig. 9; through the bags (b) circulates the water in which the algae culture grows, supposed in this case in continuous process; for the bags (a), which are communicated at intervals with (b), air (or another gas, such as C02) circulates to regulate the composition of the gases dissolved in the water; the bags (c), optional in this case, can serve to give stability to the whole. Flexible pipes (eg polyethylene) that can be added to the assembly to transport nutrients throughout the bag system are not represented. The photobioreactor field is necessarily completed with one or more platforms, located in the center of the field or in some of its sides, where the pumping mechanisms for immersion and emersion and the auxiliary systems of the crop are located, and where it is collected and , optionally, a first treatment of the final water flow loaded with the cultivated algae is carried out, in a similar way to that exposed for the photovoltaic field. Figure 10 illustrates the positioning of a fixed platform in the center of the field; In this case, where the solar tracking is less critical, the field is posed as fixed, and it can be tied to the bottom directly, besides being tied to the central platform, which in turn is tied to the bottom or supported on it.

Claims (9)

1 Floating system to support or perform different types of light installations on water, characterized by being composed of a plurality of elements, each composed of at least two elongated prismatic bags of polymeric materials semirigid, water resistant in which they must operate, longitudinally joined together. of which the lower bag contains water of the same characteristics (or at least of density equal or very similar) to that in which the whole floats, and the upper air or other fluid of lower density than the water of the lower bag, with a flotation control system that allows the immersion or emersion of the assembly at will by filling or emptying fluid from the upper bag, so that the density of the assembly becomes greater than that of the water on which it floats (immersion) ) or lower (emersion). Such elements are joined to form modules that in turn are associated with each other, and that are placed horizontally on the surface of the water, and can form extensive, horizontally varied deformed surfaces, from a few hundred to several million m2. 2 - System according to claim 1, characterized by adding a third longitudinal bag on the upper bag and attached to it, of approximately triangular section and side approximately half the width of the upper bag, and whose upper face, to which is fixed a Generating photosensitive surface, which may be in the form of a solar panel (and which is not part of this invention) may be bent at will by inflating or deflating the triangular bag using the same or other independent flotation control system. 3 - System according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that a system is added so that the system as a whole can rotate on a vertical axis to track the daily trajectory of the sun, either thanks to a system of cables or chains that they are handled from winches located on the fixed platforms or by means of a propeller drive system located on the perimeter. 4 - System according to one or more of the preceding claims characterized in that part of the systems, mechanisms and auxiliary devices are located on one or more auxiliary non-submersible platforms 5 - System according to claim 2 characterized in that by the bag of triangular section, air or other fluid is circulated 6 - System according to one or more of the preceding claims characterized in that the upper part of the elements gives support a generally flat, light and flexible surface 7 - System according to one or more of the previous claims characterized by incorporating longitudinal bags or flexible pipes for the fluid distribution 8 - System according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized by incorporating a system for cleaning by spraying fresh water 9. System according to one or more of the preceding claims characterized in that all or some of the elements is added a longitudinal platform, fixed to the upper bag, for support of cables, pipes or passage of personnel or automated tools for assembly or maintenance .