JPH0927093A - Buoy for maritime meteorological observation - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide the maritime meteorological observation device, which obtains data in real time, in simple structure at low cost without the possibility of disconnections of the power source and/or signal lines by extending a flexible hollow pipe between a float and the maritime meteorological observation device, and inserting a copper wire into the hollow pipe and connecting them by the copper wire. CONSTITUTION: The multifunctional maritime meteorological observation device 1 is divided into a device body 1a and a power source part 1b which serves as an anchor, and fixed at a constant position on the sea bottom with the weight of the power source part 1b. The power source 1b of the multifunctional maritime meteorological observation device 1 and the float 2 are connected by the wire cable 7, and a coil spring 8 is provided on the water bottom side of the wire cable 7. the wire cable 7 has the copper wire 1 and necessary numbers of power and/or signal lines 12 inserted into the flexible hollow pipe 10. The copper wire 11 and power and/or signal lines 12 can slightly move, so they are not pulled forcibly and prevented from being broken.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a buoy for observing sea conditions such as tide level or water level, tide or water flow velocity, water temperature, etc., in the sea, lake, river, etc., and particularly to water bottom (sea bottom, lake bottom, river bottom).
The present invention relates to a buoy for oceanographic observation that can transmit data obtained by a measuring device installed in a buoy to a buoy floating on the water surface by a signal line and wirelessly transmit the data from the buoy to a monitoring device on land in real time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, it has become more and more important to know the sea condition in the ocean in real time in the current business such as safety management of port construction and cargo handling, and in considering urban disaster prevention when a typhoon approaches. ing. Sea state information includes tide levels, storm surges, tsunamis, waves, and current conditions, which are used together with weather information. At present, there are known sea observing devices such as 1) a cable system, 2) a direct writing system, 3) a buoy system, etc., each of which will be briefly described below.

[Cable system] In this system, a detection unit is installed on the bottom of the water, and a monitoring device on land is connected with a bottom cable to supply power and collect data by a signal line in real time. This method has the advantage that the monitoring unit can control the detection unit and that data can be obtained in real time. However, the cable may be broken, and if it is broken, it cannot be easily repaired and reconnected, and the cable must be replaced. Therefore, it will take a long time to recover, and during that time it will be a missing measurement. In addition, even if it is newly installed, the cost will be high, including installation work.

[Direct writing method] This method is used when short-term observation or observation at a large number of points is required, and this method records data in the detection unit installed on the bottom of the water, It is to lift the fish from the bottom of the water, collect the data, and perform analysis processing. According to this method, the observation points can be moved, they can be easily installed and collected, and the cost is low. However, there is a drawback that data cannot be obtained in real time.

[Buoy system] In this system, an accelerometer is mounted on a buoy that floats on the water surface, and the acceleration generated when the buoy moves up and down is captured to observe the moving distance (wave height) by double integration. Equipped with a meter and compass, it also obtains wave direction data. The obtained data is transmitted to a monitoring device on land by a wireless device.

[0006] Although this method can obtain data in real time, on the other hand, the acceleration of a long-period wave may not be detected due to unnecessary vibration and response characteristics of the buoy, and the period of the measurable wave height can be limited. Moreover, since a battery having a considerable weight and volume is installed inside the buoy as a power source, the shape of the buoy becomes large. Further, due to the large size, it may be greatly affected by wind waves, and mooring may become difficult. Furthermore, a mechanism such as a gimbal device is also required, which makes the device complicated.

On the other hand, there has been a demand from a person concerned for a sea observing device which is installed in a sea area away from the on-shore monitoring device and which can obtain real-time data by the monitoring device. Such a sea observing device uses a small buoy equipped with a wireless transmitter / receiver to fix the multi-function sea observing device used in the cable type or direct writing type to the bottom of the water, and to connect the buoy and the sea observing device. It should be obtained by connecting with a power supply and / or a signal line.

[0008]

However, if the sea elephant observation device fixed to the bottom of the water and the buoy floating on the surface of the water are simply connected by a normal cable, when a high wave comes, the cable is shocked. It is subject to a tensile load and is easily cut.
If the cable is made long enough not to be pulled even when the maximum wave comes, the cable will drag the bottom of the water in the valley of the wave, and it will be rubbed and cut.

Further, a normal cable has a low torsional rigidity and does not return to its original shape even if it is twisted, so that the twisting accumulates and eventually the cable is cut by the twisting. In addition, if there is some space in the length of the cable, there is a problem that a ring is likely to be formed in the middle, and this ring suddenly becomes small due to impact force, and eventually it causes a kink, which makes practical application difficult. there were.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is a power supply and / or power source for a sea observing device installed in a sea area away from a land-based monitoring device and capable of obtaining real-time data.
Alternatively, it is an object of the present invention to provide the signal line with a simple structure at a low cost without the risk of disconnection.

[0011]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order for this observation to be performed smoothly, a mooring device that connects a floating body (buoy) floating on the water to a sea observing device fixed to the bottom of the water reliably and stably functions. It is a requirement to do so. Therefore, in the present invention, a hollow flexible pipe is laid between the floating body and the oceanographic observation device, a steel wire is inserted into the hollow pipe, and the floating body and the oceanographic observation device are connected by this steel wire. Is characterized by. Power and / or signal lines are routed along the steel wire in the space inside the hollow pipe. Since air is also contained in the hollow pipe itself, buoyancy occurs and the weight of the steel wire can be reduced.

If a shock absorbing device is installed at the connecting portion between the steel wire and the floating body, the shock given to the steel wire by the floating body moving up and down due to waves is softened. The shock absorbing mechanism has two strong and weak springs, both ends of which are fixed to the sea observing device and the wireless transmission / reception system, and the strong spring has one end on one of the sea observing device and the wireless transmission / reception system. With the structure in which the other end is fixed and fixed, the shock is absorbed by the weak spring when the displacement of the floating body is small, and the shock is absorbed by both the strong and weak springs when the displacement of the floating body becomes large.

When the water bottom side of the hollow pipe is surrounded by the coil spring, the water bottom side portion of the hollow pipe can always be kept upright by the coil spring, and the lower end portion of the wire cable is repeatedly bent. It is possible to prevent cutting due to fatigue, and at the same time, it is possible to prevent the hollow pipe from crawling on the water bottom even when the water surface becomes low.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a sea condition observation apparatus according to the present invention. The multifunctional oceanographic observation device 1 includes a device body 1a.
And the power supply unit 1b which also serves as an anchor, and is fixed at a fixed position on the bottom of the water by the weight of the power supply unit 1b. The apparatus main body and the power supply unit are connected by a cable 1c.

The floating body 2, which is a small buoy, accommodates a radio transmitter / receiver (not shown) inside, whereby an instruction from the ground station is transmitted to the multi-function type oceanographic observation device 1 to enable multi-function. The data measured by the oceanographic observation device 1 is wirelessly sent to the ground station. As a wireless device, a low-cost and highly functional mobile phone can be used through a telephone line, and it is not necessary to obtain approval from the wireless device. This floating body 2 has an antenna 3 for transmission and reception and a lamp 4 for nighttime above,
There is a power supply 5 for lighting and a shock absorbing device 6 below.
The power source 1b of the multi-function oceanographic observation device 1 and the floating body 2 are connected by a wire cable 7, and a coil spring 8 is provided on the water bottom side of the wire cable 7.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the wire cable 7 which is the main part of the present invention. The wire cable 7 has a structure in which a steel wire 11 and a necessary number of power supplies and / or signal wires 12 for power supply and signals are inserted into a flexible hollow pipe 10. The steel wire 11 has great strength, and the hollow pipe 10 made of a vinyl hose protects the steel wire 11 from seawater and imparts buoyancy. The vinyl hose is used because it is elastic, strong against water pressure, and good for repeated bending. What supports the mooring of a floating body is
Allow only the steel wire for other jackets, power supplies and / or signal wires.

The steel wire 11 is used for passing wires, etc.
The tensile strength is selected according to the purpose of use. The following example is shown as an example. Floating body buoyancy Approx. 20 kg Force received by flow velocity Approx. 20 kg Flow velocity 2 m / sec Resistance coefficient 0.5 Based on these data, and as a value that does not cause breakage even if abnormal force is applied to the buoyancy of the floating body The tensile strength of the steel wire 11 was set to 500 kg. However, this value is based on static examination and does not consider shock-like force. For shock-like force, a shock absorbing device 6 described later is also used.

The power and / or signal wires 12 are equipped with a total of six wires, each wire being housed in a loose winding around the steel wire. The wireless device inside the floating body 2 and the device body 1a
Means that data is transmitted and received, for which reason a total of four signal lines 12 are used for each two lines, and the remaining two lines are for power supply. The signal is a serial transmission conforming to RS-422, and can be supported by not only a specific detection unit.

Convenient results have been obtained with the inclusion of air in the hollow pipe 10 without inclusions. That is, when the entire wire cable 7 is bent, the steel wire, the power supply and / or the signal wire can be moved to each other, albeit slightly, so that the power wire and / or the signal wire are prevented from being broken without being forcibly pulled. it can.

In addition, the buoyancy caused by the air reduces the underwater weight of the wire cable 7. This means that the middle of the wire cable 7 can be prevented from hanging downward together with the elasticity of the steel wire.

The floating body 2 sways and rotates due to waves, and the steel wire 11 naturally twists accordingly. However, there is a certain limit value for the twisting, and when twisting further, the twisting direction is released. Torque overcomes the twisting torque and cannot twist any more. At a water depth of 10 m, the length of the wire cable 7 is 1
As a result of an experiment in the case of 5 m, it was confirmed that the twist of the steel wire 11 does not exceed 3 turns.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the state of the experiment.
In this experiment, a cross-shaped anchor 15 was used instead of the multi-function type oceanographic observation device 1, and the floating body 2 was rotated once to the right to see how it returned. Next, after making one turn to the left and seeing the return condition, similarly making two and three turns, the above conclusion was obtained. That is, it is considered that the torque that twists three times or more does not exist in nature.

Next, the kink was examined. If the wire cable 7 has a sufficient length, a ring as shown in FIG. 4 is formed in the middle, and it suddenly becomes small, resulting in a kink. It has been found that the wire cable 7 of the present invention uses the steel wire 11 to form a ring as shown in FIG. 4, and an external force is required to reduce the size of the ring to a certain value. As a result of experimenting on the above steel wire,
The relationship between the ring size and the force indicated by the thick solid line arrow in FIG. 4 was as follows. (1) 4kg when the size of the wheel is 1m (2) 〃 0.5m 〃 10kg

In particular, it is unlikely that a force such as (2) will be generated in the sea, and even if it occurs, it can be flipped in the lateral direction (the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in the figure), which leads to a kink. Conceivable.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of the shock absorbing device 6 described above. It is known that a floating body that floats on the surface of the water vibrates under the influence of wind waves, and that the force that tends to be drawn in due to swells and surface currents causes shocks that are several times greater than those during quiet times in poor sea conditions ing. In the conventional mooring with a shackle or the like, the part is immediately worn and cut.

In the present invention, a shock absorbing mechanism having a strong and weak double coil spring in the cylinder is provided at the lower end of the floating body 2, and the steel wire 11 and the floating body 2 are connected via this mechanism. Further, since this mechanism is located at the lower end of the floating body 2, the center of gravity of the floating body 2 is lowered, which helps the floating body to stand upright.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing details of the shock absorbing device 6. As shown in the figure, a shock absorbing device 6 is attached between the floating body 2 and the wire cable 7. The shock absorbing device 6 has a bellows-like cover 24 attached between a holder 21 fixed to the tip of the steel wire 11 and a bracket 23 fixed to the floating body 2 with a nut 22, and the bellows-shaped cover 24 is kept inside in a watertight manner. An inner cylinder 25 and an outer cylinder 26 are slidably provided via an O-ring 27, and a small diameter cylinder 28 is provided further inside the inner cylinder. The small diameter cylinder 28 is slidable in the bracket 23. Then, a weak spring 29 having a large diameter and a small spring coefficient is elastically provided between the bracket 23 and the tip of the inner cylinder 25, and a strong spring 30 having a small diameter and a large spring coefficient is provided between the bracket 23 and the tip of the small diameter cylinder 28. Has been installed. A cap nut 3 is attached to the tip of the outer cylinder 26.
Since 1 is screwed, the inner cylinder 25 does not come off. The tip of the small diameter cylinder 28 and the tip of the holder 21 are separated from each other by L. Further, in the power supply and / or the signal line 12, a portion to be inserted into the shock absorbing device 6 is
Use a spirally curled wire to accommodate expansion and contraction.

In a quiet state, the operation of the shock absorbing device 6 is such that the weak spring having a large diameter expands and contracts and the stroke is within the range of L at the maximum. It is advisable to add oil between the inner cylinder 25 and the cover 24 to reduce rubbing. About half the amount of oil is enough for the entire cover. In stormy weather, the stroke exceeds L and the strong spring with small diameter 3
The operation reaches 0. Since the strong spring has a large spring constant, it can absorb a large shock.

FIG. 6 is a view showing another embodiment of the shock absorbing device 6. In this embodiment, the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder are not used, and contrary to the embodiment of FIG. 5, a spring having a small diameter is a weak spring 32 and a spring having a large diameter is a strong spring 33. Normally, one end of the strong spring 33 is free, and this free end contacts the holder 21 and acts as a spring when a large shock is applied, as in FIG.

One of the wire cables 7 is fixed to the lower end of the floating body 2 and the other is fixed to the multi-functional oceanographic observation device 1 on the seabed. Since the length of the wire cable 7 is usually about 1.5 times the water depth, an S-shaped curve is drawn as shown in FIG. Therefore, it is conceivable that the portion where the flexible portion transitions to the hard portion, that is, the portion indicated by the arrow in FIG.

Therefore, in the present invention, this portion is also improved so that the force is gradually dispersed so as not to bend suddenly. That is, in the present invention, the wire cable 7
The water bottom side is surrounded by a coil spring 8 so that this part always stands up almost vertically. Standing vertically has another aim. As described above, since the length of the wire cable 7 is set to about 1.5 times the water depth, there is a risk that the middle portion of the wire cable 7 will come into contact with the seabed when the water level drops and the valley of the wave height comes. Come out. If a contact occurs, the wire cable 7 will be rubbed immediately and a hole will be formed, the insulation of the power supply and / or the signal wire will be deteriorated, and the steel wire will also be disconnected.

That is, the fact that the portion of the seabed connected to the multi-function oceanographic observation device 1 rises vertically means that the wire cable 7 does not have an extreme S shape and functions well without contacting the seabed. Can also be said to guarantee. If the coil spring 8 has a coarser pitch toward the tip and is tightly wound at the end of the apparatus, the uprightness at the base can be ensured.
The length of the coil spring 8 is the same as that of the wire cable 7.
The length is about 1/10.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, the oceanographic observation device, which is installed in the sea area away from the land-based monitoring device and can obtain real-time data, is provided with a power source and / or
Alternatively, the signal line is not likely to be cut, and the signal line can be obtained at a low cost with a simple structure. Further, since the steel wire is used, the twisting resistance is strong and there is no risk of kinking.

By providing the shock absorbing device, the force applied to the steel wire is reduced, so that the steel wire can be made thin. Further, if the water bottom side of the wire cable is surrounded by a coil spring, the wire cable can be erected upright, and the base portion of the wire cable can be prevented from being cut by fatigue due to repeated bending.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of a buoy for observing a sea state according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a wire cable.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which the wire cable of the present invention is twisted.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining kink prevention of a wire cable.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a shock absorbing device.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the shock absorbing device.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a state in which a connection portion between a wire cable and a sea condition observation device can be bent.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Oceanographic Observation Device 2 Floating Body 6 Shock Absorbing Device 7 Wire Cable 8 Coil Spring 11 Steel Wire 29, 32 Weak Spring 30, 33 Strong Spring

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A floating body floating on the surface of the water, which is equipped with a sea observing device fixed to the bottom of the water, and a radio transmitting / receiving device for operating the sea observing device and transmitting data measured by the device to a monitoring device on land. A wire cable connecting these two, the wire cable being a flexible hollow pipe, a steel wire inserted into the hollow pipe to connect the sea condition observation device and the floating body, and a space in the hollow pipe A buoy for observing sea conditions, characterized in that the buoy for observing sea conditions has a power source and / or a signal line that is inserted into the sea condition observation device and connects the wireless transmission / reception system. 2. Between the wire cable and the floating body,
The sea buoy observation buoy according to claim 1, further comprising a shock absorbing mechanism. 3. The shock absorbing device has two springs, a strong spring and a weak spring, the weak springs have both ends fixed to the floating body and the wire cable, and the strong spring has one end fixed to one of the floating body and the wire cable. The buoy for observing a sea condition according to claim 2, characterized in that the other end is apart from the other end. 4. The sea buoy observation buoy according to claim 1, wherein the sea observing device side of the flexible hollow pipe is surrounded by a coil spring. 5. The buoy for observing a sea state according to claim 4, wherein the pitch of the coil springs is dense on the water bottom side and sparse on the sea surface side.