KR20130142686A - Floating structure - Google Patents

Abstract

A floating structure is disclosed. The floating structure according to the present invention includes a floating body; legs which vertically moves the body; leg supporting units which vertically and relatively moves the legs and supports the legs; leg wells which are formed on the body to make the legs pass; and a first foreign material removing deice which is positioned inside the leg well and which injects compressed air to the legs.

Description

{FLOATING STRUCTURE}

The present invention relates to a floating structure capable of removing or cleaning marine life in the legs of floating structures.

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 the environmental conditions are satisfied, there is a problem that a very large area of space is required for installing the wind turbine generator.

In recent years, interest in offshore wind turbines has increased, which is relatively free from the above-mentioned constraints. Offshore wind turbines can be installed in a variety of ways, but generally they are constructed by dividing the components into several units, making them on land, and then transferring the units to sea for assembly.

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 jack-up mode due to the nature 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. Thereafter, the wind generator installation vessel switches to jack-up mode, lowers the leg into the seabed, and lifts the main body along the leg so that the main body can be spaced a certain distance from the sea surface. 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.

On the other hand, as another example of the floating structure operated in the navigation mode and jack-up mode as described above, there is a jack-up platform (Jack-up Platform) having a drilling function. The jack-up platform includes a dredge for drilling, moves to the drilling position in sailing mode, switches to jack-up mode, puts the leg down on the seabed, and then lifts the body along the leg. The jack-up platform performs the drilling operation while the main body is separated from the sea level. When the drilling operation is completed, the jack-up platform can be moved to the next drilling position in the reverse order of the above procedure.

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 floating structure works in a state where the body is spaced from the sea level, a part of the leg is immersed in water for a certain period of time, while the legs are adhered to foreign matter such as barnacle, shellfish and the like.

The foreign matter adhering to the legs acts as a factor for increasing the load of the legs when lifting the legs, which not only exerts a load on the operating system of the legs, but also may cause corrosion of the legs.

In addition, if a foreign matter adheres to a driveline (e.g., a rack gear) responsible for the movement of the leg, it may cause malfunction.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2011-0023607

The patent literature provides only a way to treat marine life on the outer surface of the hull and does not disclose a configuration applicable to the operating system of the leg of the floating structure and causes the corrosion of the leg when lifting the leg But also does not disclose a means for removing foreign matter such as marine life, sand and marine litter that are caught in the rack gear of the leg or the like.

Thus, the present embodiment has a plurality of foreign substances removing devices arranged along the peripheries of the leg wells of the floating structure, and when the legs are lifted and lowered through the leg wells, the foreign matter removing device can prevent the corrosion of the legs It is desired to provide a floating structure which can prevent foreign matter such as sand and marine garbage from being caught in racks or the like of a living organism or a leg to prevent floating structure from corrosion and to prevent foreign matter from entering into the jack case .

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising: a body capable of floating in water; A leg for moving the main body in a vertical direction; A leg supporting portion for relatively moving the leg in a vertical direction and supporting the leg; A leg well disposed in the body such that the leg passes therethrough; And a first foreign material removal device located in the leg well and ejecting compressed air toward the leg.

The first foreign material removing device may include: a first pedestal provided between an inner wall and an outer wall of the leg well; A gas compressor installed on the first pedestal and compressing the air supplied through the air inflow line to produce compressed air; A gas discharge line connected to the gas compressor; And a compressed air nozzle connected to the gas discharge line and disposed to penetrate the sidewall of the leg well.

The compressed air nozzle is provided in a nozzle mounting hole through which the outside of the casing of the compressed air nozzle passes through the lower sidewall surface of the side wall of the leg well and the air flow passage inside the casing of the compressed air nozzle is connected to the gas discharge Line. ≪ / RTI >

The apparatus may further include a second foreign matter removing device that is located apart from the first foreign matter removing device in the leg well and injects compressed water toward the leg.

The second foreign material removing device may further include a support frame positioned between the inner wall and the outer wall of the leg well and spaced apart from the first foreign material removing device. A second pedestal provided on the support frame; A liquid compressor installed on the second pedestal and compressing the seawater supplied through the seawater inflow line to produce compressed water; A liquid discharge line connected to the liquid compressor; And a compressed water nozzle connected to the liquid discharge line and arranged to penetrate the sidewall of the leg well.

An air supply connected to supply air to the air inlet line; A first heat exchanger installed between the air inlet line and the air supply window; And a waste heat supply / recovery unit for recovering the waste heat generated in the main body and supplying the waste heat to the first heat exchanger.

A seawater supply source connected to supply seawater to the seawater inflow line; A second heat exchanger installed between the seawater inlet line and the seawater supply window; And a waste heat supply / recovery unit for recovering waste heat generated in the main body and supplying the waste heat to the second heat exchanger.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when the legs used for a long time are raised or lowered toward the hull, or when the legs are lowered from the hull, compressed water or compressed air is sprayed from a plurality of foreign substances removing devices arranged along the peripheries of the legwells of the hull, To remove and clean marine organisms and foreign matter adhered to it.

In addition, this embodiment can heat-exchange the heat of the working fluid of the waste heat supply device with water and air to more efficiently remove marine organisms and foreign matter with heated compressed compressed water and compressed air.

1 is a perspective view showing a floating structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a view showing a jack-up state of the floating structure of FIG. 1;
3 is a partially enlarged view for explaining the arrangement structure of the foreign material removing device around the leg well shown in FIG. 2;
4 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the operation of the foreign material removing device.
5 is a view showing a configuration of a foreign matter removing device installed in a floating structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the 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.

1st Example

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a floating structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view 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 main body 10 disposed vertically through the main body 10, Legs 20 for moving the legs 20 in the vertical direction and leg supports 30 for supporting the legs 20 relative to each other in the vertical direction.

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 to this, and any floating structure having a jack-up mode to be described later may be included in the scope of the present invention.

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 merely an example, and the body 10 according to the teachings of the present invention may have any three-dimensional structure in which the legs 20 and the leg supports 30 can 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 may be installed to penetrate the main body 10 in a vertical direction and a leg well 50 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. In the present embodiment, the legs 20 are formed in a triangular truss structure.

The leg support portion 30 is provided at a position corresponding to the leg well 50 so that the leg 20 can pass therethrough and the leg support portion 30 is provided at a position corresponding to the leg well 20, . 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 jack case may be disposed on the leg support portion 30. [ The jack case can be understood as a driving device for raising and lowering the legs 20 or raising and lowering the main body 10 by the relative movement with the legs 20. A pin gear and a motor are provided in the jack case and a rack gear is formed in the leg 20 so that relative movement of the leg 20 and the main body 10 in the vertical direction can be achieved by interlocking the pinion gear and the rack gear .

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 jack-up 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.

After the floating structure 1 has moved to the target position, it may be positioned accurately to lower the leg 20 by 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.

Further, the first foreign material removing apparatus 100 may be installed to remove foreign matter adhering to or existing in the leg 20 around the leg well 50. [

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view for explaining an arrangement structure of the foreign material removing device around the leg well shown in FIG. 2. FIG.

3, the leg well 50 is a space through which the leg 20 actually passes through the body 10 and includes a leg wall inner side wall 51 disposed on the side of the leg 20 to define the space, May include legwall outer walls 52 spaced from and external to the legwall inner sidewall 51 and formed along the perimeter.

A plurality of first foreign material removing apparatuses 100 may be installed along the circumference on the bottom surface between the leg wall inner wall 51 and the leg wall outer wall 52.

4 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the operation of the foreign substance removing apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 4, the first foreign substance removing apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment includes a plurality of (not shown) spaced apart from the bottom surface between the inner wall 51 and the outer wall 52 of the leg well, A gas compressor 120 installed on the first pedestal 110 and compressing the air supplied through the air inlet line 121 to produce compressed air, a gas compressor 120 installed on the first pedestal 110, And a compressed air nozzle 140 connected to the gas discharge line 130 and disposed to penetrate through the leg wall inner wall 51, respectively.

The first pedestal 110 may serve to stably support the gas compressor 120 on the basis of the bottom surface between the leg wall inner wall 51 and the leg wall outer wall 52.

The air inlet line 121 may further include a first internal connection line 122 branched from the air inlet line 121 to supply air to a plurality of other gas compressors. A member for line branching (for example, a T-shaped tube member) may be used at the branch point between the air inflow line 121 and the first internal connection line 122.

The outside of the casing of the compressed air nozzle 140 may be respectively fixed to the nozzle mounting hole penetrating the lower side wall surface of the side wall 51 of the leg well or may be fixed to the inside wall 51 of the leg well through a screw connection And can be disassembled and assembled in a nozzle mounting hole formed therein.

The air flow path inside the casing of the compressed air nozzle 140 may be plumbed or connected to each gas discharge line 130 extending from the gas compressor 120.

The bottom surface between the leg wall inner wall 51 and the leg wall outer wall 52 may mean the bottom frame of the main body 10. [

Since the first foreign material removing apparatus 100 can utilize the void space between the leg wall inner wall 51 and the leg wall outer wall 52, Can be solved.

The compressed air injected from the compressed air nozzle 140 is directly sprayed on various marine life and foreign substances on the surface of the leg 20 in the state of being close to the surface of the leg 20 to separate the foreign matter from the surface of the leg 20 .

The foreign matter separated from the surface of the leg 20 can be dropped on the sea surface S through the space inside the side wall 51 in the leg well, that is, below the leg well space through which the leg 20 penetrates the body 10 .

The air inlet line 121 is connected to an air inlet (not shown) of the main body 10 through a penetration piece (not shown) of the leg wall outer wall 52, An air source (e.g., an air conditioner) that provides air, and the like.

Hereinafter, the operation of the floating structure will be described with reference to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, the first foreign material removal device 100 may be disposed at an outlet through which the leg 20 exits the leg well 50.

That is, the first foreign substance removing apparatus 100 is disposed below the leg 10 of the main body 10 in the vertical position of the leg well 50, Foreign matter in the leg 20 can be effectively removed as soon as the contaminated portion of the leg 20 comes into the internal space of the leg well 50 at the side of the main body 10. [

The coupling state between the pinion gear 31 of the jack case 35 of the leg support portion 30 and the rack gear 21 of the leg 20 for providing power for lifting the leg 20 is satisfactorily .

Foreign matter can be attached to the surface of the rack gear 21 of the leg 20 as the corresponding portion of the leg 20 is immersed in seawater and the foreign matter can be adhered to the surface of the rack gear 21 May be a contaminated portion of the leg 20.

However, before the contaminated portion of the leg 20 reaches the jack case 35 of the leg supporting portion 30 by the rising operation of the leg 20, that is, by the compressed air of the first foreign material removing apparatus 100 The gear engagement state between the pinion gear 31 of the jack case 35 and the rack gear 21 of the leg 20 can be always maintained in a good state.

Second Example

The floating structure according to this embodiment may further include a technical idea of removing foreign matter with compressed air as described in the first embodiment, and then removing residual foreign matter which may possibly remain with compressed water.

Here, for ease of explanation, the configuration and operation described above in the first foreign material removal apparatus 100 for compressed air injection can be omitted and can be described based on the configuration added in the second embodiment, Like reference numerals can be given.

5 is a view illustrating a configuration of a foreign matter removing apparatus installed in a floating structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

5, the second foreign matter removing apparatus 100 'according to the second embodiment includes the inner wall 51 and the outer wall 52 of the leg well 50, including the structure described above in the first embodiment, A supporting frame 150 disposed at a lower portion of the main body 10 and spaced apart from the first foreign substance removing apparatus, that is, below the main deck 11 of the main body 10; And a plurality of second pedestals 160 spaced apart from each other.

The second foreign material removing apparatus 100 'includes a liquid compressor 170 installed on the second pedestal 160 and compressing seawater supplied through the seawater inflow line 171 to produce compressed water, 170 further includes a plurality of liquid discharge lines 180 connected to the liquid discharge line 180 and a compression water nozzle 190 connected to the liquid discharge line 180 and arranged to penetrate the upper sidewall surface of the inner side wall 51 of the leg well can do.

The compressed water injected from the compressed water nozzle 190 may serve to remove residual foreign matter that is not partially removed by the compressed air injected from the compressed air nozzle 140.

That is, the foreign matter in the contaminated portion of the leg 20 is primarily removed by the compressed air entering the internal space of the leg well 50 on the side of the main body 10, and is removed by the compressed water in the secondary, .

In particular, compressed air and compressed water can be injected at a high temperature using waste heat, which will be described later, thereby maximizing the removal efficiency of a relatively low temperature and moisture-rich foreign matter.

To this end, the second foreign matter removing device 100 'includes an air supply source 200 connected to supply air to the air inflow line 121, a seawater supply source 210 connected to supply seawater to the seawater inflow line 171, First and second heat exchangers 220 and 230 installed at a first point intersecting the air inflow line 121 and at a second point intersecting the seawater inflow line 171, The waste heat supply and recovery unit 240 for recovering the generated waste heat, for example, the waste heat generated in the operating equipment (e.g., engine, generator, etc.) of the main body 10 and supplying the waste heat to the first and second heat exchangers 220 and 230 .

A working fluid supply pipe 241 may be connected between the waste heat supply recovery unit 240 and each of the first and second heat exchangers 220 and 230.

Here, the working fluid supply pipe 241 may serve to flow the working fluid for waste heat transfer in order to exchange heat with the air or seawater in each of the first and second heat exchangers 220 and 230.

In addition, the sea water inflow line 171 may further include a second internal connection line 172 branched from the seawater inflow line 171 to supply seawater to a plurality of other liquid compressors.

That is, air can be simultaneously supplied to the plurality of gas compressors 120 through the first and second internal connection lines 122 and 172, and seawater can be simultaneously supplied to the plurality of liquid compressors 170 have.

The compressed water or compressed air heated through the plurality of compressed air nozzles 140 and the compressed water nozzle 190 is injected toward the surface of the leg 20 to remove foreign matter on the surface of the leg 20 .

While the present invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments of the floating structure according to the embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto, and should be construed as having the widest range according to the basic idea disclosed in this specification do. Skilled artisans may implement a pattern of features that are not described in a combinatorial and / or permutational manner with the disclosed embodiments, but this is not to depart from the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be readily made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

100, 100 ': foreign matter removing device 120: gas compressor
130: gas discharge line 140: compressed air nozzle
150: support frame 170: liquid compressor
180: Liquid discharge line 190: Compressed water nozzle
220, and 230: heat exchanger 240: waste heat supply recovery unit

Claims (7)

A body that can float in water;
A leg for moving the main body in a vertical direction;
A leg supporting portion for relatively moving the leg in a vertical direction and supporting the leg;
A leg well disposed in the body such that the leg passes therethrough; And
And a first debris removal device located in the legwell and injecting compressed air toward the leg. The method of claim 1,
Wherein the first foreign material removing device comprises:
A first pedestal provided between the inner side wall and the outer side wall of the leg well;
A gas compressor installed on the first pedestal and compressing the air supplied through the air inflow line to produce compressed air;
A gas discharge line connected to the gas compressor; And
And a compressed air nozzle connected to the gas discharge line and disposed to penetrate the inner wall of the legwell. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the compressed air nozzle comprises:
The outside of the casing of the compressed air nozzle is provided in a nozzle mounting hole passing through the lower side wall surface of the side wall in the leg well,
Wherein an air flow passage in the casing of the compressed air nozzle is connected to the gas discharge line. The method of claim 1,
Further comprising a second foreign material removing device located apart from the first foreign material removing device in the leg well and injecting compressed water toward the leg. 5. The method of claim 4,
The second foreign material removing device comprises:
A support frame spaced apart from the first foreign material removal device between an inner wall and an outer wall of the leg well;
A second pedestal provided on the support frame;
A liquid compressor installed on the second pedestal and compressing the seawater supplied through the seawater inflow line to produce compressed water;
A liquid discharge line connected to the liquid compressor; And
And a compressed water nozzle connected to the liquid discharge line and arranged to penetrate the sidewall of the leg well. 3. The method of claim 2,
An air supply connected to supply air to the air inlet line;
A first heat exchanger installed between the air inlet line and the air supply winch; And
And a waste heat supply recovery unit for recovering waste heat generated by the body and supplying the waste heat to the first heat exchanger. The method of claim 5, wherein
A seawater source connected to supply seawater to the seawater inlet line;
A second heat exchanger installed between the seawater inlet line and the seawater supply winch; And
And a waste heat supply recovery unit for recovering the waste heat generated in the main body and supplying the waste heat to the second heat exchanger.

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