KR19990080365A - Automatically Inflatable Floating Oil Boom - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an oil boom with a leaf spring that is easy to install on the water surface and easy to store. The oil boom according to the present invention includes a plurality of pair of leaf springs disposed inside the air chamber, hinges coupled to both ends of the leaf spring, and a valve attached to the top of the air chamber so as to communicate with the outside. The leaf springs and hinges are preferably made of a highly corrosion resistant material, for example stainless steel. The oil boom according to the invention does not cause any damage to the fabric forming the float because it uses the elasticity of the leaf spring. In addition, since it has a simple structure combining the leaf spring and the hinge, it can be easily manufactured at a low cost, and can be installed quickly and easily in the event of a spill.

Description

Automatically Inflatable Floating Oil Boom

The present invention relates to a floating oil boom for enclosing oil and other suspended substances and debris floating on the water surface to prevent the leakage thereof. More specifically, the present invention is easy to install and store on the water surface. A floating oil boom with leaf springs that is easy to do.

As maritime traffic increases, many maritime accidents occur due to stranding or collision of ships. Disaster accidents are characterized by the seriousness of environmental pollution due to oil spills as well as loss of life and property. Spilled oil spreads rapidly under the influence of wind, waves, and algae, so it must be removed early in order to minimize damage.

There are two ways to control oil at sea. One way is to use dispersants in a chemical way. However, this method causes secondary environmental pollution and requires great care when used. Alternatively, there is a physical method of using oil booms to prevent oil from spreading and then using a skimmer to recover the oil.

The latter method is preferable to the former method in terms of protecting the marine environment because it is literally a physical recovery method. Therefore, it can be said to be the most effective method if efficient control equipment and excellent control personnel are secured. In particular, the oil boom, which is the most basic and important equipment for oil recovery, not only has the ability to effectively block the spread of oil leaked at sea, but also can be installed quickly, easy to store, and convenient to handle. Light weight construction should be provided.

The existing oil booms are largely classified into fence type and curtain type oil booms.

The basic structure of the curtain oil boom, which is most widely used, is a float 10 which gives the oil boom to float on the water surface, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, and the water surface to prevent the oil from overflowing the oil boom. A freeboard 20 extending to a certain height from (6), a skirt (30) which is installed under the floating body (10) and captures oil, and the oil boom is submerged under the surface of the oil boom Ballast 40 which serves to improve the performance of or to keep the skirt in the vertical direction. As the ballast 40, a chain or lead is usually used.

The curtain type oil boom has a solid type using a material such as styrol foam and an inflatable type for injecting air into the air chamber according to the characteristics of the floating body. There is an automatic inflatable in which air is injected into the air chamber at the same time as the installation.

The most widely used solid oil boom uses a float 12 wrapped with a solid oil resistant PVC cloth, such as foamed styrofoam 22, as shown in FIG. 2A. In the solid oil boom, an oil boom having a length of several tens of meters is connected in series by a connecting device 50. Since these oil booms are typically hundreds of meters in length, the entire oil boom is bulky and inconvenient to use, and requires a large storage location. In addition, the styrofoam 22 is not easily rotted, so it is not easy to dispose of.

On the other hand, the air inflatable oil boom has an air chamber 23 formed by, for example, a rubber coated cloth instead of buoyant styrol foam as shown in FIG. 2B. When the oil boom is installed, the air chamber 23 is introduced into the air by a blower to prevent oil diffusion while maintaining the shape of the floating body, and when the oil boom is removed, the air chamber 23 Air injected into the inside is discharged to the outside. As the material of the cloth, PVC, PU, hypalon, neoprene and the like can be used.

The drawback of such an inflatable inflatable boom is a blower that blows air, and loses its function as an oil boom because air escapes and loses buoyancy when the cloth is damaged by a sharp object floating on the water surface. In addition, installation time is long because artificial air must be injected during installation.

2C and 2D, the auto-inflatable oil boom is a plastic frame 24 in the form of a four-section link to expand the air chamber 23, and one side to keep the frame 24 in an extended state. It includes a pair of coil springs 26 connected perpendicular to the vertical frame of the. When the frame 24 is extended by the spring 26, the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the air chamber caused by the sudden volume change of the air chamber 23 causes the outside air to be injected into the inside. A check valve is provided above the air chamber for this air injection. And, in order to prevent the oil from overflowing the oil boom in case the air chamber is damaged, the air chamber 23 is divided into a plurality of chambers by the flexible partition wall 28.

In the above-mentioned automatic inflatable oil boom, the frame is stored in a folded state, i.e., in a tensioned state at the time of storage, and at the time of installation, the frame is opened in a square by the elastic force of the pair of springs 26, Buoyancy is generated as the outside air flows into the air chamber through the check valve 14 by the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the chamber. While the automatic inflatable oil boom is quick and easy to install and retrieve, it has vulnerabilities such as damage to the cloth by the spring 26 and failure of the valve 26. In addition, the shape of the floating body is limited to the rhombus shape is relatively poor movement performance due to the wave.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an oil boom that automatically expands upon installation in order to reduce the time and effort required for installation of the oil boom.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an oil boom having a means of simple construction that can automatically inflate the oil boom.

1A and 1B are side and front views schematically showing a conventional curtain oil boom.

Figure 2a is a partial side view schematically showing a conventional solid oil boom.

2B is a side view schematically showing a conventional air inflatable oil boom.

2C is a schematic illustration of a conventional auto inflatable oil boom.

FIG. 2D is a cross sectional view of the oil boom of FIG. 2C; FIG.

3 shows schematically an oil boom according to the invention;

4A is a cross-sectional view showing an expanded state of the leaf spring of the oil boom shown in FIG. 3.

4B is a partial cross-sectional view showing a folded state of the leaf spring of the oil boom shown in FIG. 3.

5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method of winding an oil boom in a winder according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

110: floating body

114: check valve

120: air chamber

122: hinge

124: leaf spring

130: skirt

In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, a longitudinally long float forming an air chamber, used to enclose oil and other suspended substances to prevent its leakage, underneath the float In a floating oil boom having a skirt connected along its longitudinal direction and a ballast provided at a lower end of the skirt, a plurality of pairs of leaf springs opposed to the inside of the air chamber and each pair of leaf springs arranged oppositely A floating oil boom is provided that includes a hinge that engages deflecting forces in opposite directions and pivots relative to one another and a valve is attached to the top of the air chamber in communication with the outside.

It is preferable that each pair of leaf springs arranged oppositely is almost circular in the deployed state.

The valve may select a direction in which air flows from the outside to the inside of the air chamber or from the inside to the outside, and a check valve is preferable.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 3, the oil boom in accordance with the present invention is schematically illustrated. The basic form of the oil boom according to the present invention is a conventional curtain oil boom, and when classified more subdivided according to the buoyancy method is an automatic inflatable oil boom.

The oil boom according to the present invention is installed in the air chamber 120, the air chamber 120, the lower portion of the air chamber 120 to form a buoyancy 110 to float the oil boom on the water surface, the oil cap 130, It includes a ballast 40 that serves to lock the boom below the water surface to improve the performance of the oil boom or to maintain the skirt in the vertical direction. The air chamber 120 and the skirt 130 are made of a water-impermeable material such as PVC, PU, hypalon, neoprene, or the like, and are generally formed in one piece. The upper portion of the air chamber 120 is provided with a check valve 114 that allows air to flow in one direction, that is, the air can flow only from the outside to the inside.

In addition, the oil boom according to the present invention includes a pair of leaf springs 124 for expanding the air chamber 120 and a pair of hinges 122 attached to both ends of the leaf springs 124. . The leaf spring 124 preferably has a semicircular or curved shape. The leaf springs 124 are arranged in pairs at equal intervals along the longitudinal direction of the oil boom. In addition, although not shown in the drawings, it may be provided in an accommodating portion formed on the inner sidewall of the air chamber.

According to the semi-circular or curved shape of the leaf spring, the center portion of the leaf spring is bent when the leaf spring 124 is biased. Since the pair of leaf springs are arranged in the air chamber of the oil boom according to the present invention and both ends are connected by the hinge 122, the pair of leaf springs are biased toward the outside of each other, The leaf spring is almost circular as shown in FIG. 4A. This shape gives good kinetic performance when moving by waves.

Then, when a predetermined force is applied in a direction perpendicular to the center of the pair of leaf spring 124, it can be compressed in parallel with each other around the hinge 122 attached to both ends of the leaf spring (124).

The leaf spring used in the oil boom according to the present invention is preferably manufactured by applying a special heat treatment to the stainless spring steel so as to maintain a semicircle shape in the state where no force is applied.

As shown in FIG. 5, the oil boom according to the present invention compresses the leaf spring 124 by applying an artificial force to the floating body at the time of storage, and winds the winder 70 on the winder 70. At this time, since the two leaf springs are connected to the hinge 122, it is possible to mechanically crimp. When the oil boom is removed from the winder at the time of installation and the force applied to the oil boom is removed, the air chamber is expanded by the elasticity of the leaf spring 124 while the floating body 110 has a circular cross section.

When the leaf spring installed inside the air chamber of the oil boom is restored, i.e., biased, the volume inside the air chamber 5 increases rapidly. This increase in volume of the air chamber results in a decrease in the pressure therein or an instantaneous vacuum, such that the pressure inside the air chamber is less than the outside pressure at atmospheric pressure. According to such a pressure difference, it is common for a fluid to flow from the high pressure side to the low pressure side. In order to correct the pressure difference, outside air is introduced into the air chamber through the check valve 114 installed on the upper portion of the oil boom. With the air introduced inside, the oil boom has enough buoyancy to float on the surface of the water. In this case, the valve 114 used as a check valve allows the air flow direction only in one direction from the outside to the inside so that the air inside does not leak to the outside by the force of waves or tides.

When the oil boom is removed or withdrawn, the check valve 114 is adjusted to allow air inside the air chamber to flow out to reduce the volume of the oil boom. Although the check valve in which the flow direction is adjustable in this embodiment has been described, two one-way check valves may be arranged in mutually opposite directions.

If the elasticity of the leaf spring 124 provided inside the air chamber is too high, it must be compressed by applying a large artificial force during storage and also becomes bulky when wound on the winder 70 because of the remaining elastic force. In addition, if the elasticity is too small, it is comfortable when winding, but the amount of outside air is introduced into the inside is not enough to obtain a sufficient buoyancy. Therefore, it is necessary to select a leaf spring with an appropriate elasticity, and in this regard, the width and spacing of the leaf spring are also important factors for the optimum automatic inflatable oil boom design.

In addition, although not shown in this embodiment, the air chamber may be partitioned into predetermined partitions along the longitudinal direction of the oil boom.

The oil boom according to the invention does not cause any damage to the fabric forming the float because it uses the elasticity of the leaf spring. In addition, since the oil boom according to the present invention has a simple structure in which the leaf spring and the hinge are combined, the oil boom can be easily manufactured at a low cost and can be installed quickly and easily in the event of a spill.

Claims (10)

A longitudinally long float forming an air chamber, used to enclose oil and other suspended substances to prevent leakage thereof, a skirt connected along its longitudinal direction underneath the float and a ballast provided at the bottom of the skirt In the floating oil boom comprising: A plurality of pair of leaf springs opposed to the inside of the air chamber, A hinge for engaging the pair of leaf springs disposed opposite to each other so as to deflect and pivot relative to each other; And a valve attached to the top of the air chamber in communication with the outside. 2. The floating oil boom of claim 1, wherein the air chamber is made of an impermeable material. 3. The floating oil boom of claim 2 wherein the material is selected from the group consisting of PVC, PU, hypalon and neoprene. 2. The floating oil boom according to claim 1, wherein the leaf springs are arranged at equal intervals along the longitudinal direction of the air chamber. The floating oil boom of claim 4, wherein each leaf spring has a curved or semicircular shape. 6. The floating oil boom of claim 5 wherein each of said pair of leaf springs that are disposed are substantially circular in the deployed state. 2. The floating oil boom of claim 1, wherein the leaf spring is made of stainless spring steel. The floating oil boom of claim 1, wherein the valve is a check valve that selects a direction in which air flows from outside to inside or from inside to outside of the air chamber. 2. The floating oil boom of claim 1, wherein the leaf spring is supported by an accommodating portion formed in an inner wall of the air chamber. 2. The floating oil boom of claim 1, further comprising a partition for partitioning the air chamber.