KR20130143355A - Spud can of floating structure - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a spud can of a floating structure to facilitate the detachment of a leg from the seabed by vibrating the circumference of a body. The spud can of a floating structure to be installed on the bottom of the leg of the body which floats on the water for fixing the floating structure having a jack-up mode to the seabed may comprise the body on the bottom of the leg; a hammer for removing extraneous matters from the circumferential surface of the body by repeatedly hitting the circumferential surface of the body; and a driving unit for supplying operational power to the hammer.

Description

The SPUD CAN OF FLOATING STRUCTURE of a floating structure

The present invention relates to a spud can of the floating structure, and more particularly to a spud can of the floating structure to vibrate the circumferential surface of the body when the leg is lifted from the seabed so that the leg can be easily separated from the seabed.

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 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 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 sailing mode, the legs can be kept moving up the hull to reduce resistance by sea water. After that, the ship installed with the wind power generator is switched to the jack-up mode, the leg is lowered to the seabed, and the hull is lifted along the leg so that the hull can be separated from the sea surface by a certain distance. When the hull reaches a certain position, the installation ship of the wind power generator stops moving the hull and installs the offshore wind power generator. When the installation is completed, it moves in the reverse order to move to the next installation position.

As another example of the floating structure operated in the sailing mode and the jack-up mode as described above, there is a jack-up platform having a drilling function. The jack-up platform includes a derrick for drilling, moves to the drilling position in navigation mode, switches to jack-up mode, lowers the leg into the seabed, and lifts the hull along the leg. The jack-up platform performs the drilling operation while the hull is separated from the sea level. When drilling is completed, the jack-up platform can be moved to the next drilling position in the reverse order of the above procedure.

This floating structure infiltrates the legs into the seabed in jack-up mode. The lower end of the leg is provided with a spud-can to facilitate penetration into the seabed and increase gripping force, and the leg is fixed to the seabed by penetrating the spud can into the seabed to a certain depth.

The floating structure must exit the area when work is completed or when an emergency occurs, such as a storm. In this case, the hull must descend along the legs to a level that can float back to sea level, and the legs must be lifted.

However, if the spud-can, which is the lower end of the leg, is firmly fixed to the seabed, the leg can not be lifted. If a plurality of legs are provided, if only one of the legs can not be lifted, the hull may be out of balance and a large accident may occur. Even if the diarrhea and the hull do not lose their balance, an accident that the hull collapses due to a storm or the like may occur.

Accordingly, when a leg fixed to the seabed needs to be lifted, there is a need for a technology that reduces the friction between the leg and the seabed so that the leg can be easily separated from the seabed.

U.S. Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2010/0067989 (published on May 18, 2010) U.S. Published Patent Application No. US2008 / 0247827 (published on September 10, 2008)

Embodiments of the present invention seek to provide a spud can of a floating structure that reduces the frictional force of the spud can against the seabed so that the legs can be easily separated from the seabed.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in the spud can of the floating structure is installed on the bottom of the leg of the body floating in the water to fix the floating structure having a jack-up mode to the seabed, the body mounted to the bottom of the leg; A hammer repeatedly hitting a circumference of the body; And it may include a drive unit for providing an operating force to the hammer.

In this case, a guide rail for guiding the movement of the hammer toward the circumference may be provided inside the body.

In addition, the drive unit may include a rotation rod rotatably connected to the hammer; A drive piece eccentrically connected to the pivot rod; And it may include a drive motor connected to the drive piece via a drive shaft.

In addition, the drive motor may be a hydro pump operated by using the water pressure of the water moving inside the body.

In addition, a water jetting means for water injection may be provided at a circumference of the body.

The water jetting unit may include: a water jetting unit installed at a circumference of the body to spray water; And a water supply unit that provides water to the water jetting unit.

In addition, the driving motor may be a hydro pump operated by using the water pressure of the water provided from the water supply unit.

Embodiments of the present invention have the advantage that the legs can be easily separated from the seabed by reducing the frictional force of the spud cans to the contact portion of the seabed and the spud cans when extracting the spud cans from the seabed.

In addition, embodiments of the present invention by removing the foreign matter (barnacle, clam ...) on the periphery of the spud can, when lifting the leg, by preventing the increase of the load of the leg by the foreign matter, the operation of the leg It can also reduce the load on the system and prevent corrosion of the spud cans by deposits.

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; FIG.
3 is a partial side sectional view showing a spud can of the floating structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line “AA” of FIG. 3.
5 is a block diagram showing a driving unit of the spud can according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a partial side cross-sectional view showing a spud can of the floating structure according to the 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.

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, the floating structure 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 10 capable of floating in water, A leg support 20 that relatively moves the legs 20 and the body 10 in the vertical direction and supports the legs 20 and the lower ends of the legs 20, ) To the seabed.

Here, 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 ship I will explain it as an example. 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.

Specifically, the main body 10 may have a flat structure of a floatable rectangular shape, 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 objects 2 to be loaded in accordance with 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. Of course, the types and loading methods of the load 2 shown in FIG. 1 are merely examples, and the loaded loads 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.

The main body 10 may be provided with a propulsion device (not shown) for movement and position control. The main body 10 may be provided with a wind load generator 2, such as a blade, a nacelle, A crane 40 that can be installed can be provided.

The legs 20 can implement a structure in which the height and the supporting shape are variable in accordance with the sea floor terrain to improve the supporting force against the seabed.

These legs 20 are formed to penetrate the main body 10 in the up and down direction and are formed to have rigidity enough to withstand the load of the main body 10 in a jack-up state, and have a cylindrical shape, a square truss structure, And may be formed in various shapes.

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.

The spud can 500 is configured to fix the floating structure to the seabed, and can be penetrated to the seabed in the jack-up mode to a certain depth.

The spud can 500 is connected to the lower end of the leg 20, and penetrates into the seabed at a predetermined speed under the control of the floating structure. And the spud can 500 is formed to have a larger planar area than the planar area of the leg 20 for the stable fixing of the leg (20).

When the spud can 500 and the leg 20 are assembled to the main body 10 of the floating structure, the legs 20 are attached to the leg support 30 and the leg wells provided on the main body 10. Inserted downward from the upper side of the, is assembled by the method of mounting the spud can 500 to the lower end of the leg 20 lowered to the lower side of the main body 10. Of course, if the lower portion of the leg well is to accommodate the spud can 500 and the upper portion of the leg well is narrow, the spud can 500 can be assembled from the lower side of the main body (10).

In particular, when the spud can 500 is to lift the leg 20 is firmly fixed to the seabed, by reducing the friction between the spud can 500 and the seabed, the leg 20 can be easily separated from the seabed Make sure

In order to more clearly describe the above-described configuration, the configuration of the spud can according to this embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings in detail as follows.

3 is a partial side cross-sectional view showing a spud can of the floating structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the "A-A" line in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 4, the spud can according to the first embodiment of the present invention repeatedly strikes the body 510 installed at the lower end of the leg and the circumference 511 of the body 510. The hammer 520 and the drive unit 530 for providing an operating force to the hammer 520 may be included.

The body 510 may be configured to easily penetrate the seabed when the leg is fixed to the seabed. For example, the lower end of the body 510 is formed in a wedge shape, so that when the leg 20 descends, it may be firmly stuck in the seabed or penetrated into the seabed.

In the present embodiment, the upper and lower portions of the body 510 are formed in a cone shape, and are generally formed in an octagonal disc shape, but the shape of the body 510 may be variously changed. For example, the upper and lower portions of the body 510 may be formed of a polyhedron having a polygonal pyramid shape such as a triangular pyramid, a square pyramid, a pentagonal pyramid, or a circular disk shape as a whole.

In addition, the guide rail 512 may be installed inside the body 510. The guide rail 512 is configured as a rail extending toward the circumference 511 of the body 510 to guide the forward and backward movement of the hammer 520.

The hammer 520 causes the attachment to separate from the circumference 511 of the body 510 through repeated strikes on the circumference 511 of the body 510. That is, when the operating force of the driving motor 533 is transmitted to the hammer 520, the hammer 520 may repeatedly strike the circumference 511 while reciprocating the guide rail 512, and at this time, the circumference ( The vibration generated in the 511 may cause the attachment on the surface of the circumference 511 to be separated from the body 510.

The hammer 520 may be formed of a plurality of spaced apart from the circumference 511 of the body 510. At this time, the plurality of hammers 520 is preferably spaced apart so that the vibration range generated in each hammer 520 at least partially overlap. In addition, although three hammers 520 are spaced apart from each other by 120 degrees with respect to the center of the body 510 in the present embodiment, the number and spacing of the hammers 520 may vary in shape and surrounding environment of the body 510. Of course, it can be changed in various ways.

5 is a block diagram showing a driving unit of the spud can according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, the driving unit 530 may include a rotation rod 531, a driving piece 532, and a driving motor 533 to provide an operating force to the hammer 520. At this time, the rotating rod 531 of the drive unit 530 is one end is rotatably connected to the rear end of the hammer 520, the other end may be hinged eccentrically connected to one side of the drive piece 532.

Therefore, when the driving piece 532 is rotated by the operation of the driving motor 533, the rotation rod 531 converts the rotational movement of the driving piece 532 into a reciprocating linear motion and transmits it to the hammer 520. The hammer 520 may repeatedly strike the circumference 511 of the body 510 by the reciprocating linear motion of the rotation rod 531.

The drive motor 533 of the drive unit 530 may be a hydro pump operated by using water pressure of water.

In this embodiment, in order to more easily infiltrate the seabed, injectors for jet-jetting water to the spud can 500 may be provided, wherein the hydropump uses the water pressure of the water supplied to the injector The driving force generated is provided to the hammer 520.

That is, when the water is moved along the waterline 543 connected to the injector, when passing through the hydropump, which is the driving motor 533, the pressure difference between the inlet 533a and the outlet 533b of the hydropump The hydropump can be operated using. Since the hydropump is the same as the structure of a conventional hydropump that generates power by using water pressure of water, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The operation of the present invention having the above structure will be described as follows

When the floating structure 1 is moved to the position where the offshore wind generator is to be installed, the floating structure 1 switches to the jack-up mode to seat the leg 20 on the seabed B, and the leg support 30 is The drive device is operated to move the main body 10 upward.

Then, when the floating structure is completed or the area is changed due to changes in the surroundings, the main body descends to the level where it can float on the sea level again along the leg, and removes the spud can from the sea floor to lift the leg. Up.

At this time, the circumferential surface of the body 510 is reduced by the friction of the spud can 500 against the contact portion of the seabed and the spud can 500 through the vibration of the hammer 520, thereby easily separating the leg 20 from the sea bottom. can do.

For example, when the driving motor 533 is operated by using water pressure of the water, the driving piece 532 is rotated by the operation of the driving motor 533, and the rotation rod 531 is a rotational movement of the driving piece 532. Received and converted into a reciprocating linear motion, the hammer 520 may repeatedly hit the circumference 511 of the body 510 by the reciprocating linear motion of the rotation rod 531. As a result, the circumference 511 of the body 510 is vibrated through the hammer 520 to reduce the frictional force of the spud can against the seabed and the contact area of the spud can, thereby making the leg 20 easily accessible from the sea bottom. Can be separated.

Of course, the operation of the present invention is merely an example, and various changes may be made within the scope of the present invention.

6 is a side view illustrating a spud can of the floating structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, the spud can 500 according to the second embodiment of the present invention repeatedly strikes the body 510 installed at the lower end of the leg and the circumference 511 of the body 510. It may include a hammer 520, a drive unit 530 for providing an operating force to the hammer 520, and a water jetting means 540 for water injection in the peripheral portion 511 of the body 510. .

Here, the rest of the configuration except for the water jetting means 540 is generally similar to the configurations of the body 510, the hammer 520, and the driving unit 530 described in the first embodiment. Other embodiments will be described based on the difference between them.

The water jetting means 540 supplies water to the circumference 511 of the body 510 so that attachments on the circumference 511 of the body 510 can be easily separated.

The water jetting means 540 may include a water jetting part 541 and a water supply part 542.

The water jetting unit 541 is configured to spray water from the circumference 511 of the body 510, and provides water at a predetermined pressure to an attachment on the circumference 511, thereby providing By weakening the attachment force of the attachment, the attachment can be easily separated from the spud can 500 during the vibrating operation through the hammer 520.

In the present embodiment, the water jetting unit 541 includes a plurality of injection nozzles arranged in a matrix form on the periphery 511 of the body 510. Of course, the water jetting unit 541 may be disposed in the circumferential portion 511, the water may be sprayed to the attachment in the shower form in the circumferential portion 511 of the body 510.

The water supply unit 542 is a supply unit for supplying water to the water jetting unit 541, and may include a supply pipe through which water is supplied from the outside. Water introduced into the body 510 through the supply pipe may be moved to the water jetting unit 541 through the waterline 543 provided in the body 510.

In particular, the drive motor 533 of the drive unit 530 may be a hydro pump operated by using the water pressure of the water provided from the water supply unit 542. For example, in the process of moving water along the waterline 543, when the water passes through the hydropump, which is the driving motor 533, the pressure difference between the inlet 533a and the outlet 533b of the hydropump may be used. The pump can be operated.

As described above, the present invention reduces the frictional force of the spud cans to the contact portion of the seabed and the spud cans when the legs are separated from the seabed, so that the legs can be easily separated from the seabed and buried in the periphery of the spud cans. By removing foreign substances, it is possible to prevent the increase of the load of the legs by the foreign substances when the legs are lifted, thereby reducing the load of the leg operating system and preventing corrosion of the spud cans due to deposits. Has

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the invention. 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.

1: Floating structure 2: Loaded material
10: main body 20: leg
30: leg support portion 40: crane
500: Spandan can 510: Body
520: hammer 530: drive unit
531: Rotating rod 532: Drive
533: drive motor 540: water jetting means
541: water jetting unit 542: water supply unit

Claims (7)

A spud can of a floating structure installed at a lower portion of a leg of a main body suspended in water for fixing a floating structure having a jack-up mode to a seabed,
A body mounted to the bottom of the leg;
A hammer repeatedly hitting a circumference of the body; And
A spud can of a floating structure comprising a drive unit for providing an operating force to the hammer. The method of claim 1,
The spud can of the floating structure is provided with a guide rail for guiding the movement of the hammer toward the circumference of the body. The method of claim 1,
The drive unit
A rotating rod rotatably connected to the hammer;
A drive piece eccentrically connected to the pivot rod; And
A spud can of a floating structure comprising a drive motor connected to the drive piece via a drive shaft. The method of claim 3, wherein
The drive motor is a spud can of the floating structure is a hydro pump operated by using the water pressure of the water moving inside the body. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Spud can of the floating structure is provided with a water jetting means for water injection in the circumference of the body. The method of claim 5, wherein
The water jetting means
A water jetting unit installed at a circumference of the body to spray water; And
The spud can of the floating structure comprising a water supply for supplying water to the water jetting. The method according to claim 6,
The drive motor is a spud can of the floating structure is a hydro pump operated by using the water pressure of the water provided from the water supply.

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