NL2006183C2 - TRANSFER SYSTEM. - Google Patents

Description

Transfer system.

The present invention relates to a transfer system comprising a transfer holder. According to the present invention, such a transfer system is used at sea in which persons and / or goods with a transfer holder of a vessel have to be moved to a maritime construction.

All kinds of constructions are known in the state of the art to enable displacement between two vessels or between a vessel and the fixed world even in rough seas. In particular if the wave stroke is made up of two angled components 10, such as caused by a rotating wind direction, such a displacement is particularly complicated.

In a system an extendable gangway is used which is mounted on a constitution compensating for the sea waves so that its free end is theoretically stationary with respect to the seabed. Such a system is particularly complicated. Moreover, this can only provide for compensation of limited waves so that it cannot be used with higher waves. Another known system consists of arranging a cable between the vessel and the maritime object and moving the transfer holder with a guide along the cable. In principle, this is possible with a higher wave stroke, but is particularly uncomfortable for transferring people.

As more and more structures are being erected at sea that are anchored to the seabed, but other structures such as vessels are staying in a place for a longer period of time, supplying them and transferring people to and from such maritime structures is becoming increasingly important. For this, helicopters are used in addition to the systems described above, but the associated costs are particularly high. Examples of maritime constructions that require regular visits are drilling and operating islands and platforms on which wind turbines have been installed.

The object of the present invention is to provide a transfer system that can operate at relatively high waves of up to 5 meters and more at a relatively low price and guarantees a comfortable transfer for persons and goods between the maritime constitution and the vessel. Moreover, this must be designed in such a way that starting from a vessel at least the most 2 essential parts of such a transfer system are present. Moreover, it must be possible to transfer considerable weights such as, for example, 1 tonne and more.

This object is achieved in a transfer system described above in that it comprises first, second and third cables connected thereto, wherein said third cable makes an angle of greater than 30 ° with said first and second cable.

Such a transfer system is preferably used in combination with a vessel and preferably forms part of a system consisting of vessel, maritime construction and the transfer system.

According to the present invention there are two masts on the vessel which, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, can be folded down and can be placed in (almost) vertical position with the aid of bracing cables. These masts are preferably located on opposite longitudinal sides of the vessel. By suspending the transfer holder between these masts with the aid of the first and second cable, the transfer holder, when the third cable is not effective, in principle moves with the movement of the vessel. Sideways swiveling of the transfer holder is prevented. An elongated ship's hull is thereby assumed and lateral pivoting is understood to mean rolling about its longitudinal axis. If a vessel, for example platform, catamaran or the like with other length-width dimensions is used, positioning of the masts will be adjusted accordingly.

If the transfer holder is close to the maritime structure, that is to say with a third cable that is as short as possible and the first and second cables as long as possible, the transfer holder will follow the movement of the maritime structure or will not move with a maritime structure fixed to the seabed with respect to the seabed. During the transfer of the transfer vessel from the vessel to the maritime structure, a gradual transition will take place from the movement of the vessel that is brought onto the transfer vessel to the movement (or no movement) of the maritime structure. This happens without lateral swinging of the transfer holder.

That is, with the aid of the first and second cable, a stable position of the transfer holder is obtained, wherein the position in "longitudinal direction" of the transfer holder is guaranteed by the third cable.

3

The celebration of the first and second cable and the return movement thereof preferably takes place by winches arranged on the vessel. A common winch can be used to operate the first and second cable, but it is also possible to use two separate winches for each first and second cable. The third cable can be operated both with the aid of a winch present on the maritime structure and a winch present on the transfer holder. If the transfer system has been carried out as autonomously as possible, that is to say all components are present as much as possible at the vessel, that supplies the goods and transfers people, the third winch will be present in the transfer holder so that it is only necessary to have a third or third party respectively. fourth cable to be attached to the transfer holder, resp. to attach to the maritime construction. In that case, this winch on the transfer holder must be provided with energy, which can be supplied by either an energy source (battery) in the transfer holder, preferably at the bottom, or by transferring energy through the first and / or second cable . In this case, for example, the core of the cable can be provided with a copper conductor, as a result of which current can be transferred from the vessel to the transfer holder. It is also possible to use a combination of both with the advantage that the reliability improves and it is possible to use the battery as an additional booster during high loads when winch transfer holder vertically pulls up to maritime construction.

Although the trajectory of the transfer holder between preferably the rear of the vessel and the maritime structure can be any conceivable, according to a special embodiment of the invention, this trajectory is realized by operating the length of the first, second and third cables such that transfer holder 25 moves during a first phase from the vessel along a substantially horizontal path with a height substantially equal to the height of the aft deck of the vessel in the direction of the maritime structure. Only in the end part of the runway is the transfer holder moved upwards in the direction of the landing site on the maritime structure. This minimizes lateral swings.

It is assumed that the landing location on the maritime structure is higher than the (departure point of the) ship.

4

With the present invention it is possible to realize a particularly efficient transfer system in a particularly inexpensive manner.

According to a special embodiment of the present invention, the angle between the different cables is such that maximum stability is obtained.

The angle between the first and second cables is preferably greater than 30 °. Measurement of that angle takes place if the transfer holder is on the vessel and the masts are in erect position. If the transfer holder is moved over a considerable distance to a maritime construction, it will be understood that this angle becomes smaller, whereby on the one hand the stabilizing effect diminishes but on the other hand due to the greater distance with the vessel there is less need for such a stabilization so that still optimum transfer of the transfer holder can take place. The angle between the first cable and the third cable resp. second cable and third cable is larger and is preferably above 60 °.

According to a special embodiment of the present invention, the masts can be positioned (rotated) in various positions, namely horizontally on the deck (0 °), slanting upwards in the inner position (90 ° with respect to the longitudinal axis of the deck), perpendicularly upwards (90 ° with respect to the longitudinal axis) from the deck) and upwards in an oblique position (120 ° compared to the longitudinal axis of the deck). In the outer position, the struts are tight and bear in the longitudinal direction of the vessel. This allows the masts to be positioned starting in the inner position to lift / shift the transfer holder from the deck from a controlled entry / exit position and then the masts can move to the outside position, after which the third cable is pulled. In this embodiment, it is possible to position this outer position such that the two mast ends protrude behind the ship. This also makes it possible to lift loads out of and into the water, as often happens in maritime applications (often called A-frame). This makes it possible to combine the functions of the transfer system and loads from and into the water.

According to a special embodiment of the present invention, a safety cable is arranged between the two masts at a height such that this safety cable touches the first and second cable or the transfer holder. In this embodiment, when the masts are in the outer position, the first and second cable or the transfer holder will not touch this catching cable and the longitudinal movement will be determined by the third cable. As soon as the masts rotate perpendicularly upwards, the first and second cable or the transfer holder will touch this safety cable and the longitudinal movement will be inhibited by this safety cable. If the masts rotate even further towards the inner position, longitudinal movement is completely determined by the catch cable and the transfer holder will be supported both transversely by the first and second cable and in the longitudinal direction by the catch cable. This safety cable can be provided with means to collect energy by means of dampers or elastic energy. An additional advantage of the safety cable installation is that if the third cable were to break during an undesirable moment during the 2nd path of movement 16, the (large) swing in the longitudinal direction was prevented or caught.

According to a special embodiment of the present invention, the masts are positioned such that they are positioned upwards apart from each other in the vertical direction relative to the longitudinal direction of the vessel in width direction from the vessel deck. With this, the desired relatively large width between the upper ends of the masts can nevertheless be realized from a relatively narrow vessel deck.

The invention is described below in the claims on the basis of a transfer system, vessel and system. The various special embodiments thereof as described in the dependent claims can always be used with the other claims.

The present invention also relates to a method for transferring objects from a vessel to a maritime structure and vice versa, by displacing a transfer holder between said vessel and said maritime construction, which transfer holder comprises first, second and third cables, the first and second cable are connected to the vessel via a first and second mast and the third cable is connected to the maritime construction, wherein this displacement is achieved by catching up with that third cable when celebrating that first and second cable and vice versa .

In a variant, it is possible that the maritime construction comprises a further vessel such as a ship. This further vessel can then be provided with the same transfer system as described above. This makes it possible for goods or people between two vessels moving on the surface of the sea. The transfer holder is then connected with two cables to the first ship and, moreover, to two cables connected to the other vessel. All of the variants described above can be used for this.

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment shown in the drawing. It shows:

FIG. 1 a vessel and a maritime structure;

FIG. 2 the vessel with the transfer holder made ready for start-up and maritime construction; FIG. 3a the first phase of moving the transfer vessel from the vessel to the maritime structure;

FIG. 3b moving the transfer holder outside the vessel;

FIG. 3c the first attraction of the transfer holder from the maritime structure; FIG. 3d a view on the aft deck of a situation according to 3c;

FIG. 4-6 the subsequent phases of transferring the transfer holder to the maritime structure; and

FIG. 7 shows a variant of the invention with a tilted vessel in rear view. The transfer of a transfer holder from a vessel to a maritime structure will be described below. It will be understood that the return movement also falls under the present one and is carried out essentially in the same manner but naturally adapted to the then current direction of movement. In the following, the maritime structure will be described as a part fixedly connected to the seabed, but it will be understood that the maritime structure can comprise any structure such as another vessel moving back and forth with the sea waves in the same way or in a different way.

In the figures, 1 denotes a vessel on which, as shown in Fig. 1, two masts folded down respectively. first mast 4 and second mast 5 are located near the longitudinal sides thereof. Near the masts 4 and 5, first winch 15 and second winch 14 are arranged. In Fig. 1, 2 denotes a maritime construction such as an island on which a windmill is depicted. Maintenance must be carried out on this and both parts and persons of the vessel 1 must be transferred to the island 2 and 7 vice versa. A buoy 17 is connected to the maritime structure via a cable. It goes without saying that the vessel will be positioned optimally in relation to the prevailing sea / wind. That is, either the front or the rear is held in the direction of the waves.

5 In FIG. 2 shows how this transfer movement takes place schematically. In a first step, the masts 4 and 5 are brought into a more vertical position and possibly supported by bracing cables. Subsequently, the transfer holder 7 is placed on the aft deck of the vessel 1 and first cable 9 is connected to the top of the transfer holder and extends to the upper end of the first mast 4 and is connected to the first winch 15. The second cable 10 is also connected to the top side of the transfer holder 7 and extends to the top side of the second mast 5 and is connected to the second winch 14. The winches 14 and 15 can be designed as two separate winches with a single synchronized winch. to be controlled. The transfer holder 7 is enclosed in a catch construction, the shape of which is shown in FIG. 2 and 3. This is shown schematically and indicated with 20.

Moreover, a catching cable 21 is provided between the masts 4 and 5, which provides support.

Starting from the position shown in FIG. 2, a third cable 11 is connected to the island 2. Island 2 is provided with an opening 12 and a yoke 22 arranged above it to which the third cable 11 is attached. The third cable can be operated by a third winch which is either located at this yoke 22 but in the presently illustrated embodiment is preferably arranged at the transfer holder 7. The third cable can easily be picked up by the vessel with the aid of a messenger line or a buoy 17, which is located under the island.

25 Starting from the position in FIG. 2, the masts 4 and 5 are further raised, as a result of which the transfer holder 7 moves out of the catching device 20 and, supported by the catching cable 21, moves between the masts 4 and 5 along a small height along the deck. In addition, cable 11 is not yet effective. This is in fig. 3a. The masts 4 and 5 then move further to a position in which the transfer holder 7 is located beyond the aft deck of the vessel. This is in fig. 3b. This is a more or less safe situation that can be achieved without tensioning the third cable 11, which means that the position of the vessel 1 relative to the island 2 is not yet critical at that moment. Falling of the transfer holder due to the failure of the cables has no major consequences because it falls into the sea only over a small height. The third winch 13 for the third cable, which is preferably present in the transfer holder, can be operated either with a battery present therein or (or in combination with) a power supply. This power supply can be realized, for example, by the first and second cable. From that moment cable 11 is tensioned and the situation as shown in Fig. 3c arises. FIG. 3d is a plan view where α is the angle between the first and second cable, β is the angle between the first cable 9 and the fourth cable 12, and angle β is the angle between the second cable 10 and the third cable 11. This angle β is preferably greater than 60 ° and more in particular greater than 120 °.

This is shown in top view in Fig. 3d.

Starting from the position shown in Fig. 3c, by passing the third cable and having the first and second cable celebrated, a path is described with the transfer holder 7, which is indicated by 16, i.e. comprises a first horizontal part followed by a vertical portion, as shown in FIG.

The presence of a first and a second cable prevents the person and goods transfer holder 7 from rolling, while the vessel is rolling, a reciprocating reciprocating movement that is greater than the pendulum movement of the amplitude of the vessel. By keeping the transfer holder 7 as low as possible, that is, as close as possible to the roller axis of the vessel, movement of the transfer holder will be relatively limited or even nil. Due to the presence of the third and fourth cable, swinging back and forth between the vessel and the maritime structure is prevented.

Subsequently, the situation as shown in Fig. 5 arises, whereafter transfer holder 7 will only be moved in vertical direction. Because the transfer holder is then at a great distance from the vessel, a rolling movement will hardly have any effect on the transfer holder carried mainly by the maritime construction. Finally, the position as shown in Fig. 6, the landing position, arises, in which goods and persons from the transfer holder can transfer to the island 2. Transition holder 7 is thereby moved through opening 12. Due to the shape of the transfer holder that is tapered and the also tapered shape of the opening, the rotationally symmetrical transfer holder is searched for in the opening and, with the aid of 9 gantry 22, unambiguously in its end position fixed. The users can then leave the transfer holder. Special measures can be taken to optimize the "landing" of the transfer holder as much as possible, such as through the use of damping material and the like. The return movement is carried out in the same manner, wherein the transfer holder is then collected in the catching device 20 on the deck of the vessel.

In FIG. 7 shows in rear view the attachment of the transfer holder to the first cable 9 and second cable 10 in a variant in the situation in which the vessel is considerably tilted about its longitudinal axis. It appears that the tilt holder hardly changes position due to this tilt. This is promoted in that a branch cable 23 is provided near the attachment of cable 9 or cable 10 to the transfer holder, which provides for further stabilization.

With the present invention it is possible with components known in the art to transfer the transfer holder from the vessel 15 to the maritime construction without technical complications. It is thereby possible to operate the different winches either from the vessel or from the transfer holder or from the island 2. It is also possible the third and fourth cable from the island resp. operate the transfer holder while the first and second cable are operated in a different position, for example from the rear of the vessel.

As indicated above, it is possible that a maritime construction is another vessel. The present invention is particularly applicable if the other vessel is much larger than the first vessel described above (and exhibits a relatively lower movement behavior due to the larger dimensions).

With the present invention it is possible to move people and goods over great distances and great heights. As an example, a distance of 50 meters is mentioned in the heavy sea, while a height difference of 50 meters and more can be overcome. As a result, there is little risk for the vessel that the maritime structure can be hit, so that transfer is also possible at high seas.

After the above, those skilled in the art 30 will come up with straightforward variants that are within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, rights are expressly requested for the embodiments described in the subclaims without combination with the associated independent claims.

Claims (15)

A transfer system comprising a transfer holder (7) and associated first (9), second (10) and third (11) cables, said third cable (11) having an angle (β) of greater than 30 ° with said first and second cable. Transfer system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said transfer holder is provided with a third winch (13) for displacing said third cable (11) relative to said transfer holder (7). 10 Transfer system as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein said angle (a) between said first and second cable is at least 30 °. 4. Transfer system according to one of the preceding claims, designed to be accommodated in a foot container. 5. Vessel provided with a transfer system according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said vessel is provided with first vertically extending masts 20 (4, 5) on either side of the longitudinal axis of the vessel, wherein from the first mast that extends first cable and that second cable from the second mast, each of said first and second cables being movable to displace said transfer holder (7) relative to that vessel. 6. Vessel as claimed in claim 5, wherein said transfer holder is provided with a third cable and a third winch influencing the length of said cable. 7. System comprising a vessel and a maritime structure and a transfer system with transfer holder acting in between, said vessel (1) being provided with first 30 and second spaced apart vertically extending masts (4, 5), wherein from the first mast (4) a first (9) cable connected to the transfer holder (7) and extending from the second mast (5) a second (10) cable connected to the transfer holder and between the transfer holder (7) and the maritime structure (2) ) a third cable (11) is arranged, each of said cables (9-11) being movable to displace said transfer holder (7) relative to said vessel and maritime structure. 5 System according to claim 7, wherein said transfer holder (7) is provided with a third winch (13) for displacing said third cable (11). System according to claim 7 or 8, wherein said vessel (1) is provided with a first winch (15) 10 for said first cable (9) and a second winch (14) for said second cable (10). 10. System as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the first and / or second cable is provided with an electrically conductive material through which electricity can be transferred from the vessel to the transfer holder. The system of any one of claims 5-9, wherein said maritime structure comprises a vessel. The system of any one of claims 5-10, wherein said maritime structure comprises a platform. System according to any of claims 5-11, wherein said maritime construction comprises a windmill. 25 14. Method for transferring objects from a vessel to a maritime structure and vice versa, by moving a transfer holder (7) between said vessel and said maritime structure, said transfer holder first (9), second (10) and third (11) comprises cables, wherein the first and second cable are connected to the vessel via a first (4) and second (5) mast and the third cable is connected to the maritime structure, said displacement being realized by overtaking that third cable (11) when celebrating that first (9) and second (10) cable and vice versa. Method according to claim 4, wherein the arrival location of said transfer holder 5 (7) at said maritime structure (2) is higher than the departure location at that vessel and wherein the course of said transfer holder during a first part near to said maritime construction is substantially is horizontal and is substantially vertical during a second part.