KR101359651B1 - Supporting leg apparatus of floating structure - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a support leg device for a floating structure. Of the present invention. In one embodiment, a support leg device for a floating structure having a jack-up mode includes: one or more legs in contact with a sea bottom to support the floating structure; A blade rotatably installed at a lower end of the leg; And driving means for rotating the blade.

Description

SUPPORTING LEG APPARATUS OF FLOATING STRUCTURE}

The present invention relates to a support leg arrangement of a floating structure.

As the demand for environmentally friendly energy development grows, the development using wind power generators is getting popular all over the world. However, installation of wind turbines requires strict environmental conditions. For example, the place where the wind turbine is installed should be a place where a certain level of wind speed can be guaranteed to obtain significant rotation of the blade, and the pollution caused by the noise generated when driving the wind turbine should not be an issue do. Even if these environmental conditions are satisfied, a very large area of space is required to install a wind turbine generator.

In recent years, interest in offshore wind turbines has increased, which is relatively free from the above-mentioned constraints. Offshore wind generators can be installed in a variety of ways, but in general, the parts can be divided into several units to be manufactured on land, and then installed by moving the manufactured units to the sea assembling.

A ship that moves offshore wind turbine units on the sea to the sea and installs offshore wind turbine generators is commonly referred to as a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV).

Wind turbine installation The ship can be operated in the transit mode and the jackup mode according to the characteristics of the operation. Specifically, the ship installed with the wind turbine moves to the navigation mode to the position where the off-axis wind turbine is to be installed. In navigation mode, the legs may remain moved upward of the body to reduce resistance by seawater. After that, the ship installed with the wind power generator is switched to the jack-up mode, the leg is lowered into the sea floor, and then the main body is lifted up along the leg so that the main body is separated from the sea level by a certain distance. When the main body reaches a certain position, the wind turbine installation ship stops the movement of the main body and installs the offshore wind turbine generator. When the installation is completed, proceed in the reverse order to move to the next installation position.

Floating structures, including wind generator installation vessels, infiltrate the legs into the seabed in jackup mode. The lower part of the leg is provided with a spud-can for facilitating penetration into the seabed and for increasing the gripping force, and the leg is fixed to the seabed by penetrating the spud can with a certain depth into the seabed.

Generally, the spud can penetrates the seabed at a preset speed under the control of the main body. If the strength of the sea bottom is lower than expected or there is an empty space on the sea floor, the spud can is instantaneously or faster than expected. It can penetrate deep at speed (this problem is called punch through), and the body can be out of balance and wrecked.

(Patent Document 1) United States Patent Application Publication No. US2010 / 0067989 (published on May 18, 2010)

(Patent Document 2) United States Patent Application Publication No. US2008 / 0247827 (published on September 10, 2008)

One embodiment of the present invention is to provide a support leg device for a floating structure that can increase the stability by spreading the blades on the legs of the floating structural mole.

According to one aspect of the invention, the leg device of the floating structure having a jack-up mode, one or more legs in contact with the sea bottom to support the floating structure; A blade rotatably attached to a lower end of the leg; And driving means for rotating the blade.

When one end of the leg penetrates into the bottom of the sea floor by the load of the floating structure, the driving means may rotate the blade to be drawn out of the leg.

The drive means includes a water jet injection tube installed inside the cord of the leg, and the drive means is swing ready to swing out the blade outwards by a water jet injected through the water jet injection tube (Swing Out) Preparation) can be performed.

The leg may include a spud can mounted to a lower end of the leg, and the blade may continuously rotate as the soil generated by the seabed penetration of the spud can enter the lower portion to be unfolded in a full swing out state.

The leg may include a stopper to prevent rotation of the blade beyond the critical range.

The blade may further include a toothed portion at the end to increase the gripping force.

One embodiment of the present invention can improve the stability of the floating structure by spreading the blade mounted on the leg.

In addition, by spreading the area for supporting the floating structure by the spread blade it is possible to prevent the punch-through through the stability of the floating structure.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a floating structure according to an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a view showing a jack-up state of the floating structure of FIG. 1,
3 is a view showing a support leg device of a floating structure according to an embodiment of the present invention,
4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 3,
5 is a diagram illustrating a swing-out ready state;
6 is a plan view showing the state of FIG. 5,
7 is a view showing a full swing out state,
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 7.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a floating structure according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a jack-up state of the floating structure of FIG.

1 and 2, a floating structure 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 10 capable of floating in water, a leg 20 extending vertically through the main body 10, And leg supports 30 for relatively moving the legs 20 and the main body 10 in the vertical direction and supporting the legs 20.

The floating structure 1 may be a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) or a jack-up platform. In this embodiment, the floating structure 1 is a wind turbine installation vessel I'll explain it to you. However, the spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto, and may include a floating structure having a jack-up mode to be described later.

The body 10 may have a planar structure of a floating rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 1, and may be formed in a structure having a wide width, a low height, and a short length as compared with a general commercial line (for example, a container line) . However, this is only an example, and the main body 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention may have any three-dimensional structure in which the leg 20 and the leg support 30 may be installed.

The main body 10 can be loaded with the load 2 according to the function of the floating structure 1. A blade, a nacelle, a tower, or the like, which is a part of an offshore wind power generator, can be loaded as the object 2 to be loaded on the main body 10 and the loading unit 2 for fixing the object 2 to the main body 10 (12) may be provided. The type and loading method of the load 2 shown in Fig. 1 are merely an example, and the load 2 can be loaded in various forms within the scope of the present invention. For example, the blades and nacelle can be loaded separately from each other, and the load 2 can be a riser pipe if the floating structure 1 is a jack-up platform.

In addition, the main body 10 may be provided with a propulsion device (not shown) for movement and position control.

A plurality of legs 20 may be provided depending on the purpose of use of the floating structure 1. In the embodiment of the present invention, a total of four legs 20 are provided, one pair at each of the port and starboard sides of the main body 10 I will explain what is provided as an example.

The leg 20 is installed to penetrate the main body 10 in a vertical direction and a leg well (not shown) through which the leg 20 passes is formed in the main body 10. The legs 20 can be moved downward of the main body 10 and fixed to the seabed so that they are rigid enough to withstand the load of the main body 10 in the jack-up state of FIG. 2, , A triangular truss structure, or the like.

The leg support portion 30 is provided at a position corresponding to the leg well so that the leg 20 can pass therethrough and supports the leg 20 so that the leg 20 and the main body 10 can relatively move in the vertical direction . Specifically, the leg support portion 30 is provided with a driving device such as a motor, and the leg portion 20 is moved up and down with respect to the main body 10 by the operation of the driving device, In the vertical direction. For example, a pinion gear and a motor are provided on the leg support portion 30, and a rack gear is formed on the leg 20, so that the leg 20 and the main body 10 Exercise can be achieved.

The vertical movement of the leg 20 and the main body 10 in the present embodiment means that the leg 20 moves in the vertical direction with respect to the main body 10 and that the main body 10 moves in the vertical direction relative to the leg 20 It will be understood that the present invention includes both moving in the up and down direction.

On the other hand, the main body 10 may be provided with a crane 40 capable of installing the offshore wind power generator by transporting the loads 2 such as blades, nacelles, and towers.

The floating structure 1 having the above configuration can be operated in a transit mode and a jackup mode.

The floating structure (1) moves to the navigation mode to the position where the offshore wind turbine is to be installed. In the general navigation mode, the floating structure 1 can move in a state in which the legs 20 are moved upward in order to reduce the resistance by the legs 20.

The floating structure 1 can be moved to the target position and then accurately positioned for lowering the leg 20 using dynamic positioning. The automatic position control can be continued until the leg 20 descends and touches the seabed.

Thereafter, the floating structure 1 is switched to the jack-up mode to insert the legs 20 into the seabed B. Fig. In this process, the legs 20 can be moved downwardly of the main body 10 by the gravity and the driving device of the leg support 30.

When the lower end of the leg 20 touches the seabed B, the leg 20 can no longer move downward. In this state, the floating structure 1 actuates the driving device of the leg support 30 to move the main body 10 upward along the legs 20. The load of the main body 10 acts to force the leg 20 into the seabed B so that the leg 20 penetrates into the seabed B and is fixed.

The main body 10 may be spaced apart from the sea surface S by moving the main body 10 upward along the legs 20 so that the main body 10 is separated from the sea surface S, The state that is different from the set work position can be referred to as a jack-up state.

The floating structure 1 is installed in the jack-up state by using the crane 40, and when the installation work is completed, the operation can be started again in the reverse order of the above procedure.

The method of switching the floating structure 1 to the jack-up state is merely an example, and various changes can be made within the scope of the present invention.

Figure 3 shows a support leg device of a floating structure according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 shows a cross section taken along the line A-A of FIG.

As shown in Figure 3 and 4, the support leg device of the floating structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is the one or more legs 20, the legs 20 of the support for the floating structure in contact with the bottom surface It may include a blade 140 rotatably installed at the lower end and a driving means (not shown) for rotating the blade 140.

Leg 20 serves to support the body 10 of the floating structure. Leg 20 has a blade 140 may be installed to be rotated to the lower end. In addition, the leg 20 may be equipped with a spud-can 50 at the lower end in order to stably support the floating structure body 10 on the sea bottom.

More specifically, in the leg 20, a cord 120 serving as a pillar is supported in a lattice form by a brace 110, and a spud-can ( 50 may be formed in a polygonal (eg, triangular) truss structure to which it is connected.

The cord 120 of the leg 20 is formed with a blade attachment portion 122 to mount and rotate the blade 140, the blade 140 may be rotatably attached to the blade attachment portion 122. As another example, the blade 140 is rotatably attached to the bottom side of the cord 120 of the leg 20, and may be rotated or moved at a predetermined angle by a driving means (not shown).

Referring to FIG. 5 in advance, a blade attachment groove 124 is formed in the blade attachment portion 122, and the blade 140 rotates outward about the hinge shaft 130 positioned on the upper portion of the blade attachment groove 124. The blade 140 may be extended. For example, the blade attachment groove 124 may be formed on the outer surface of the cord 120 to correspond to the rotational direction of the blade 140.

In addition, the cord 120 of the leg 20 may further include a stopper 132 to prevent excessive rotation of the blade 140. When the blade 140 is rotated at an angle greater than or equal to the critical range when the blade 140 is unfolded, the cross-sectional area substantially supported by the blade may be reduced, which may hinder the stability of the floating structure. Therefore, the stopper 132 may increase the posture stability of the floating structure by preventing excessive rotation of the blade 140 to bring a substantial support surface area.

Specifically, referring to FIG. 5, the cord 120 may include a water jet injection tube 150 and a water jet injection tube 150. The driving means (not shown) may further include a pump (not shown) for supplying and ejecting water through the water jet injection pipe 150.

The water jet injection pipe 150 is connected to a water jet injection pipe 150 connected along a line of the leg 20 or a cord 120 of the leg 20 to operate in a floating structure (not shown). ) Can be connected.

Referring to Figures 5 to 8 the operation of the leg device of the floating structure of the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

5 and 6 show the swing-out ready state of the blade in the leg device of the floating structure of the present invention, Figures 7 and 8 shows a state in which the braid of Figures 5 and 6 full swing out.

For example, one end of the leg 20 may penetrate into the seabed B by the load of the floating structure in the jackup mode. In this case, by rotating the blade 140 mounted on the side of one end of the leg 20 penetrated into the seabed to the outside of the leg by the drive means can spread the blade 140 to the outside of the leg.

More specifically, first, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, Swing Out Preparation is performed to swing out the blade 140 outward at a predetermined angle, and then the legs are loaded by the load of the floating structure. As the soil 20 slowly penetrates into the seabed, the soil penetrates between the side of the blade 140 and the leg 20 opened at a predetermined angle, thereby inducing rotation of the blade 140. Accordingly, the blade 140 may be deployed in a full swing out state. At this time, when the blade 140 is rotated to a critical range (eg, up to 90 °), the blade 140 may be stopped by the stopper 132. Accordingly, the support area by the cord 120 is widened as the blades 140 are unfolded, so that the cross-sectional area supporting the floating structure 1 is relatively wide, thereby increasing the posture stability of the floating structure 1. have.

Looking at a specific embodiment, as the jet of water jets through the injection hole 126 to the blade 140 located in the lower side surface portion of the leg 20 by the drive means, the blade 140 is a predetermined angle outward Swing out as much as this, called Swing Out Preparation.

Then, when raising the floating structure through the lifting in the jack-up mode, the spud can 100 located at the bottom of the leg 20 can penetrate into the seabed. However, when the ground of the seabed where the spudded can 100 is located is weak or empty, the spud can 100 may be instantaneously moved, thereby causing a punch through phenomenon.

Therefore, in the support leg device according to an embodiment of the present invention, when the spud can 50 continuously penetrates into the sea floor by the weight of the floating structure 1 after the preparation for swinging out, shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. As shown, the blade 140 may be automatically rotated to be full swinged out.

In this way, the full swing-out by the automatic rotation of the blade 140 can increase the cross-sectional area of the blade 140 in contact with the seabed ground, thereby improving the posture stability of the floating structure (1). It also prevents punch through due to sudden descent.

7 illustrates a full swing out state according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG. 7.

Meanwhile, referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the blade 140 in one embodiment of the present invention may include a tooth portion 142 at an end thereof to increase the gripping force. At the time of rotation of the blade 140, the soil of the seabed enters between the blade 140 and the cord 120, which are unfolded at a predetermined angle in a ready to swing out state, by improving the gripping force on the seabed soil by the teeth 142. , The posture stability of the floating structure (1) can be improved.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, You will understand. For example, a person skilled in the art can change the material, size and the like of each constituent element depending on the application field or can combine or substitute the embodiments in a form not explicitly disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and that such modified embodiments are included in the technical idea described in the claims of the present invention.

1: Floating structure 2: Loaded material
10: main body 20: leg
30: leg support portion 40: crane
50: sprung can 52:
110: brace 120: code
122: blade attachment portion 124: blade attachment groove
126: injection hole 130: hinge axis
132: stopper 140: blade
142: tooth part 150: water jet injection pipe

Claims (6)

In a supporting leg device of a floating structure having a jack-up mode,
One or more legs supporting the floating structure;
A blade rotatably installed outward from the leg at a lower end of the leg; And
Support leg device of the floating structure comprising a drive means for rotating the blade. The method of claim 1,
When the one end of the leg penetrates into the sea bottom by the load of the floating structure, the drive means to rotate the blade to be drawn out of the leg, the support leg device of the floating structure. 3. The method of claim 2,
The driving means includes a water jet injection pipe installed inside the cord of the leg,
The driving means is a support leg device of the floating structure to perform a Swing Out Preparation (Swing Out Preparation) to swing the blade outwards by a predetermined angle by the water jet injected through the water jet injection pipe. The method of claim 3,
The leg includes a spud can mounted to the lower end,
The blade is a support leg device of a floating structure that is continuously rotated as the soil generated by the seabed infiltration of the spud can enters the lower portion to the full swing out (Full Swing Out) state. 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The leg is a support leg device of the floating structure further comprises a stopper to prevent rotation of the blade beyond the critical range. 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The blade support leg device of the floating structure comprising a tooth portion at the end to increase the gripping force.

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