KR101644500B1

KR101644500B1 - Floating structure

Info

Publication number: KR101644500B1
Application number: KR1020140096330A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 박주신
Original assignee: 삼성중공업 주식회사
Priority date: 2014-07-29
Filing date: 2014-07-29
Publication date: 2016-08-10
Also published as: KR20160014290A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a floating structure.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a body having a leg well, A leg passing through the leg well in an up and down direction and including a rack gear and a cord; And an inspection unit for checking whether the legs are damaged while moving in the longitudinal direction of the legs.

Description

{FLOATING STRUCTURE}

The present invention relates to a floating structure.

Floating structures such as Jack-up Platform, Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU), Wind Turbine Installation Vessel (WTIV), etc., are in Transit Mode and Jack-up Mode Can be operated.

Specifically, the floating structure moves to the sailing mode to the drilling point or installation point for drilling or installation of marine facilities. In sailing mode, the legs can be moved upward to reduce resistance by seawater. The floating structure is then switched to the jack-up mode, the legs are lowered into the sea bed, and then the body is lifted along the legs so that the body is spaced a certain distance from the sea level. When the main body reaches a certain position, the floating structure stops moving the main body and performs the drilling or installation work. When the work is completed, the main body moves in the reverse order to the next destination point.

However, the above-described conventional techniques have the following problems.

The floating structure performs the work to be accomplished with the main body being separated from the sea surface for a predetermined time. While the body of the floating structure is spaced apart from the sea surface, a portion of the leg is submerged in water for an extended period of time. In the meantime, corrosion may occur due to seawater in the legs. In particular, cracks are likely to occur at the welded portions of the legs, and there is a risk that the legs will be broken if left untouched. However, in the past, there has been a problem that legged legs are left untouched because no equipment is provided to check whether the legs are damaged.

In addition, foreign matter, such as a barnacle, clams and the like, can be attached to the legs. Such foreign matter acts as a load increasing factor of the legs when lifting the legs, thereby imposing a load on the operating system of the legs, Corrosion of the steel.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0008591

Embodiments of the present invention provide a floating structure that can detect whether a leg is damaged.

It is also intended to provide a floating structure capable of removing foreign matter adhering to the legs.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a body having a leg well, A leg passing through the leg well in an up and down direction and including a rack gear and a cord; And an inspection unit for checking whether the legs are damaged while moving in the longitudinal direction of the legs.

The inspection unit may further include: a conveying unit for engaging with the rack gear to convey the body of the inspection unit in the longitudinal direction of the leg; And an inspection unit mounted on the body and detecting whether the legs are damaged.

The inspection unit may further include an irradiator for irradiating the leg with light; A light receiving unit for receiving the light reflected from the legs and returning; A reading unit for reading the damage of the leg according to an angle of the returning light; And a photographing portion for photographing the damaged portion when the leg is damaged as a result of reading the reading portion.

In addition, the inspection unit may be provided with a floating structure including a foreign matter removing unit for removing foreign matter adhering to the rack gear.

The foreign matter removing unit may include a supporting base mounted on the body of the inspection unit and a brush contacting the rack gear, and the supporting base may be provided with a floating structure including an actuator vibrating in a vertical direction.

Embodiments of the present invention can provide a floating structure capable of detecting whether a leg is damaged or not, while at the same time removing foreign matter adhering to the leg.

1 is a schematic view of a floating structure according to an aspect of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view showing a jack-up state of the floating structure of FIG. 1; FIG.
3 is an enlarged view for explaining a cross-sectional view of the leg well shown in FIG. 2 and the arrangement relationship of the inspection units.
4 is a view showing a coupling structure of the rack gear and the inspection unit shown in FIG.
Fig. 5 is a view showing a structure in which the inspection unit shown in Fig. 4 is engaged with a rack gear and is lifted and lowered.
6 is a view showing the control relationship of the elevating portion, the inspection portion and the control portion of the floating structure of FIG.
FIG. 7 is a view showing how light irradiated from the inspection unit shown in FIG. 4 is reflected at the inspection point.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments for implementing the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the subject matter of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a view schematically showing a floating structure 1 according to one aspect of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing a jacked up state of the floating structure 1 of FIG. 1, and FIG. Fig. 8 is an enlarged view for explaining the cross-sectional view of the illustrated leg well and the arrangement relationship of the inspection units. Fig.

1 to 3, a floating structure 1 according to one aspect of the present invention includes a main body 10 which can float on the sea, legs 20 penetrating the main body 10 in the up and down direction, And a leg guide portion 30 for relatively moving the leg 20 and the main body 10 in the vertical direction and supporting the leg 20.

The main body 10 also includes a crane 40 for carrying a blade, a nacelle, a tower and the like to install an offshore wind power generator, and a derrick (not shown) for installing a pipe for drilling the sea bed B . With this configuration, the floating structure 1 can install a wind turbine generator or selectively perform a drilling operation.

The body 10 may have various types of planar structures that can be suspended and may include leg wells 50. The leg well 50 may be understood as a concept including a space through which the leg 20 is inserted in the leg guide portion 30. [

The leg 20 is installed to penetrate the leg well 50 of the main body 10 in the up and down direction and is movable downwardly of the main body 10 and fixed to the submarine B to thereby support the main body 10. The legs 20 may be formed in various shapes such as a cylinder, a square truss structure, and a triangular truss structure. In the present embodiment, the legs 20 are formed in a triangular truss structure.

When the legs 20 are formed in a triangular truss structure, a cord 22 serving as a pillar is coupled to the cord 22 so as to protrude in pairs on both sides of the cord 22, And a rack gear 21 extending along the direction. And the legs 20 may include a connecting portion 26 connecting the plurality of cords 22. The leg well 50 also includes an inner wall 51 defining a triangular space through which the leg 20 of the triangular truss structure can pass and an outer wall 52 disposed outside the inner wall 51 . Between the rack gear 21 and the leg guide portion 30, an installation space 55 for mounting the inspection unit 100 to be described later may be formed.

The leg guiding portion 30 is provided at a position corresponding to the leg well 50 so that the leg 20 can pass therethrough and the leg 20 and the main body 10 are provided with legs 20 ). Specifically, the leg guide unit 30 includes a driving device such as a motor and moves the legs 20 up and down with respect to the main body 10 by the operation of the driving device, 20 in the vertical direction. For example, a pinion gear (not shown) and a motor are provided on the leg guide portion 30, and a rack gear 21 is formed on the leg 20, and the pinion gear and the rack gear 21 are interlocked with each other, Relative movement of the body 20 and the main body 10 in the vertical direction 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 can be understood as a concept including both the upward and downward movement.

Although the leg guide portion 30 is protruded upward from the main body 10 in the present embodiment, the leg guide portion 30 may be embedded in the main body 10.

Fig. 4 is a view showing a combined structure of the rack gear 21 and the inspection unit 100 shown in Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a view showing a state in which the inspection unit 100 shown in Fig. 4 is engaged with the rack gear 21 FIG. 6 is a view showing the control relationship of the elevation part 120, the inspection part 130 and the control part 150 of the floating structure 1 of FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 is a cross- And the light irradiated from the inspection unit 130 is reflected at the inspection point W. FIG.

4 to 7, a body of the floating structure 1 having the above-described structure is provided with an inspection unit 100 capable of detecting whether the legs 20 are damaged. The inspection unit 100 includes a body 110, a transfer unit 120, an inspection unit 130 and a control unit 150. The inspection unit 100 is provided on both sides of the rack gear 21 with a cord 22 therebetween. Respectively.

The body 110 may be installed in an installation space 55 formed between the rack gear 21 and the leg guide 30. A length of the leg 20 may be formed on one surface of the body 110 facing the leg 20, The mounting groove 111 may be formed in a direction corresponding to the direction of the mounting surface. At least one pin rack 121 of the transfer unit 120 may be mounted on the body 110 and the pin rack 121 may be located on the mounting groove 111. And the rack gear 21 of the leg 20 can be inserted into the mounting groove 111.

Although not shown, the body 110 may be provided with a cable capable of receiving a power or a control signal, and the installed cable may be, for example, an umbilical cable.

The transfer unit 120 has a function of transferring the body 110 in the longitudinal direction of the leg 20. The transfer unit 120 includes a pin rack 121 that can be engaged with the rack gear 21, And a motor (not shown) for driving the rack 121. In addition to the pin rack 121, the feeder 120 may have various gear structures that can be engaged with the rack gear 21, and the feeder 120 may have a pulley structure.

The control unit 150 may calculate the number of the rack gears 21 engaged in the driving process by the feeding unit 120 so that the position information of the inspection unit 100 may be stored in the control unit 150.

The inspection unit 130 has a function of detecting damage to the legs 20 and may be mounted on the body 110 and may be mounted on both sides of the body 110 as an example. The inspection unit 130 can check whether the body 110 is damaged throughout the longitudinal direction of the leg 20 as the body 110 is conveyed along the leg 20 in the longitudinal direction by the conveyance unit 120. [

The cord 22, the rack gear 21 and the connecting portion 26 constituting the leg 20 are mainly welded to each other and damage to the welded portion of the leg 20 due to welding failure or corrosion is prevented Can occur frequently. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the welding point is referred to as an inspection point W to be inspected. However, the idea of the present invention is not limited to the inspection of the welding point, and the inspection unit 130 may check the damage can do. Hereinafter, a damaged portion of the inspection point W will be referred to as a damaged point W1.

The inspection unit 130 may include an inspection unit 131, a light receiving unit 132, a reading unit 133, and a photographing unit 134. The inspection unit 130 may be an inspection device using an optical sensor.

The irradiation unit 131 irradiates light toward the inspection point W and the light receiving unit 132 can receive light reflected from the inspection point W and reflected back. The reading unit 133 may determine whether the inspection point W is damaged by using the angle of the received light (refractive index). The photographing unit 134 photographs the damaged point W1, Lt; / RTI >

However, the inspection unit 130 according to the present embodiment is not limited to the use of the optical sensor when determining the damage, and the inspection unit 130 may use various sensors capable of detecting damage. For example, . When the inspection unit 130 includes a contact sensor, the contact sensor may include a contact pad in contact with the inspection point W. If there is a point on the contact pad that is not in contact with the inspection point W, It can be determined that a crack or the like is formed on the wafer W.

The inspection unit 100 of the floating structure 1 according to the present embodiment may further include a foreign matter removing unit 140.

The foreign substance removing unit 140 has a function of removing foreign substances such as marine life and the like attached to the legs 20 and can be connected to the body 110 by the support stand 142. The foreign substance removing unit 140 can remove the foreign substances adhered to the legs 20 so that the examining unit 130 can accurately grasp whether the legs 20 are damaged.

The foreign substance removing unit 140 is disposed at a position where the foreign substance removing unit 140 can contact the legs 20 and can be mounted on the upper side and the lower side of the body 110, respectively. The foreign material removing unit 140 may include a brush 141. The brush 141 may be compressed when contacting the leg 20, but may be made of a hard material such as synthetic rubber or Teflon.

Although not shown, an actuator or the like that can vibrate in the up-and-down direction may be mounted on the support table 142. In this case, the foreign matter removal effect may be increased as the brush 141 vibrates.

Hereinafter, the operation and effect of the floating structure 1 according to one aspect of the present invention will be described.

The floating structure 1 can be moved to the navigation mode to a position where an offshore wind power generator is installed or a drilling operation is desired. After the floating structure 1 is moved to the target position, the mode is switched to the jack-up mode and the leg 20 is put on the seabed B. In this process, the legs 20 can be moved downward of the main body 10 by the gravity and the driving device of the leg guide portion 30. [

When the leg 20 is completely switched to the jack-up mode, the inspection unit 100 can move along the longitudinal direction of the leg 20 to check whether the leg 20 is damaged.

The pin rack 121 is rotated according to the driving direction of the motor so that the pin rack 121 and the rack gear 21 are engaged with each other, Up or down. At this time, the controller 150 can calculate the number of the rack gears 21 engaged with the pin rack 121, so that the controller 150 can grasp the position of the inspection unit 100 in real time. In this process, the irradiation unit 131 of the inspection unit 130 continuously irradiates light to the inspection point W, and the light irradiated to the inspection point W is reflected again from the inspection point W.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 7, the light reflected from the damaged point W1 is refracted at various angles and has an angle different from the angle of reflected light from the inspection point W without damage. Therefore, the reader 133 can read whether or not the inspection point W is damaged according to the angle of the light introduced into the light receiver 132. When it is read as the damaged point W1, the photographing device 134 can photograph the damaged point W1 and transmit it to the control unit 150. [ The control unit 150 may transmit the image pickup data received from the image pickup unit 134 and the position data of the inspection unit 100 to the display unit of the main body 10. [

The foreign substance removing unit 140 removes foreign substances from the legs 20, so that the inspection unit 130 can more accurately determine whether the legs 20 are damaged. The brush 141 is continuously brought into contact with the leg 20 and the brush 141 having elasticity is deformed in accordance with the shape of the leg 20 and the leg 20 is deformed according to the shape of the leg 20, It is possible to remove all the foreign matter adhering to the protruding portion and the recessed portion of the protrusion. The foreign substance removal effect of the brush 141 can be increased by the vibration of the actuator included in the support member 142.

It is to be understood that the embodiments described above are merely illustrative of some examples of the technical idea and the scope of the technical idea is not limited to the described embodiments, It will be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1: Floating structure 10: Body
20: Leg 21: Rack gear
22: Code 30: Leg guide portion
50: leg well 100: inspection unit
110: body 120:
121: pin rack 130:
131: illuminator 132: receiver
133: reader 134: camera
140: Foreign object removing unit 141: Brush
142: Support

Claims

A body that can float on the sea and has leg wells;
A leg passing through the leg well in an up and down direction and including a rack gear and a cord; And
And an inspection unit for checking whether the legs are damaged while moving in the longitudinal direction of the legs,
The inspection unit includes:
And an inspection unit mounted on a body of the inspection unit and detecting whether the leg is damaged,
Wherein,
An irradiation unit for irradiating the legs with light;
A light receiving unit that receives the light reflected from the legs and returns;
A reading unit for reading the damage of the leg according to an angle of the returning light; And
And a photographing part photographing the damaged part when the leg is damaged as a result of the reading of the reading part.

The method according to claim 1,
The inspection unit includes:
And a transfer unit for engaging with the rack gear to transfer the body of the inspection unit in the longitudinal direction of the leg.

delete

The method according to claim 1,
The inspection unit includes:
And a foreign matter removing unit for removing foreign matters adhering to the legs.

5. The method of claim 4,
The foreign-
A supporting unit mounted on the body of the inspection unit, and a brush installed on the supporting unit and contacting the legs, wherein the supporting unit includes an actuator vibrating in a vertical direction.