NL2018030B1 - Mooring system - Google Patents

Abstract

Mooring system (1) for mooring a ship (2) comprising at least one mooring device (3a, 3b, 3c) of the type comprising a base (4a, 4b, 4c) and a movable mooring construction (5a, 5b, 5c) supported by the base (4a, 4b, 4c), and wherein the movable mooring construction (5a, 5b, 5c) is provided with one or more drives (8a, 8b, 8c), preferably hydraulic drive cylinders, for manipulating the movable mooring construction (5a, 5b, 5c) into a desired position, wherein the mooring system (1) further comprises sensory equipment (9) and a real time control system (10) connected to the sensory equipment (9) and to the said one or more drives (8a, 8b, 8c) of the movable mooring construction (5a, 5b, 5c), wherein said realtime control system (10) is arranged to steer the one or more drives (8a, 8b, 8c) of the movable mooring construction (5a, 5b, 5c) depending on signals derived from the sensory equipment (9).

Description

Patent center

The Netherlands (21) Application number: 2018030 © Application submitted: 21/12/2016 © 2018030

BI PATENT @ Int. CL:

E02B 3/24 (2017.01) B63B 21/00 (2017.01)

Al) Application registered: (73) Patent holder (s): 28/06/2018 European Intelligence B.V. in Dordrecht. (43) Application published: - (72) Inventor (s): Gerardus Antonius Jozef Mampaeij (Ft) Patent granted: in Dordrecht. 28/06/2018 Johan Marlon Boerleider in Dordrecht. Wouter van Reenen in Dordrecht. (45) Patent issued: 09/07/2018 (74) Agent: ir. J. van Breda et al. in Amsterdam.

© Mooring system (57) Mooring system (1) for mooring a ship (2) including at least one mooring device (3a, 3b, 3c) or the type including a base (4a, 4b, 4c) and a movable mooring construction ( 5a, 5b, 5c) supported by the base (4a, 4b, 4c) and movable mooring construction (5a, 5b, 5c) is provided with one or more drives (8a, 8b, 8c), preferably hydraulic drive cylinders , for manipulating the movable mooring construction (5a, 5b, 5c) into a desired position, being in the mooring system (1) further comprises sensor equipment (9) and a real-time control system (10) connected to the sensor equipment (9) and to the said one or more drives (8a, 8b, 8c) or the movable mooring construction (5a, 5b, 5c), said said real-time control system (10) is arranged to steer the one or more drives (8a, 8b, 8c) ) or the movable mooring construction (5a, 5b, 5c) depending on signals derived from the sensory equipment (9).

NL BI 2018030

This patent has been granted regardless of the attached result of the research into the state of the art and written opinion. The patent corresponds to the documents originally submitted.

Mooring system

The invention relates to a mooring system for mooring a ship including at least one mooring device of the type including a base and a movable mooring construction supported by the base, and being the movable mooring construction is provided with one or more drives for manipulating the movable mooring construction into a desired position.

An example of such a mooring system is known from WO2013 / 165239. In this citation a movable arm construction supports a frame on which one or more magnets are mounted. The mentioned citation does not mention the type of drives that are applied, but the skilled person recognized from the figures of this citation that hydraulic drive cylinders are applied for manipulating the movable arm construction into a desired position, as required for mooring of the ship or for following and counteracting the movements of the moored ship.

Another example of such a mooring system carries a hook which is supported by a movable arm construction as described in the not published Dutch patent application 2016062.

Amongst other objects the invention is primarily aimed at improving the efficiency and safety of the known mooring system.

Another object of the invention is to decrease the forces acting on the movable mooring construction, and make operation possible under more severe weather and other environmental conditions.

Still another object of the invention is to restrict the extent of the safety margins that need to be applied in the design of the mooring system, by real-time adaptation of the mooring system to have it attuned to the current mooring situation.

Still another object of the invention is to have the mooring system respond instantaneously to variations in weather and other environmental conditions.

Yet another object of the invention is to more effective schedule maintenance on the mooring system to avoid having to repair damage due to overdue maintenance.

These and other objectives and advantages of the invention which will become apparent from the following disclosure are provided by a mooring system having the features of one or more of the appended claims.

In a first aspect of the invention the mooring system further comprises sensor equipment and a real-time control system connected to the sensory equipment and to the said one or more drives of the movable mooring construction, said said real-time control system is arranged to steer the one or more drives of the movable mooring construction depending on signals derived from the sensory equipment. In this manner it is possible to reliably operate the mooring device and mooring system of the invention taking the current situation into account, which also makes it possible to restrict the otherwise required safety margins for a reliable and safe operation of the mooring system.

It has been found beneficial that the sensory equipment is arranged to provide the real-time control system at least with information on surge and roll, heave and pitch, and sway and yaw of the moored ship and / or on the ship's position and back and forth and lateral movements during being moored. The real-time control system can use this information then to provide counteractive measures so as to stabilize the ship in its moored condition.

The benefits of the invention can be further promoted by arranging that the sensory equipment provides the real-time control system with information on current, tide and / or wind acting on the moored ship. It is remarked that the information on the wind acting on the moored ship includes the wind direction and force. The real-time control system can then derive the expected surge and roll, heave and pitch, and sway and yaw of the moored ship from said information on current, tide and / or wind acting on the moored ship.

Preferably the sensory equipment is arranged to provide the real-time control system with information on current direction and height and direction of the waves acting on the ship.

Beneficially further the mooring system also includes one or more information systems providing environmental data, said information systems are connected or connectable to the real-time control system, and the real-time control system is arranged to steer the one or more drives of the movable mooring construction depending on the environmental data. In this way it is possible for instance that the mooring system or the invention takes account of the provided weather information; and takes account of information on passing ships which would otherwise go unnoticed. The information on passing ships can be obtained from an automatic identification system for ships.

The sensory equipment to the above mentioned information may include any type of suitable sensor, such as a load sensor, distance laser, current sensor, precipitation sensor, wave meter, surface scanner, inertial measurement unit, position sensor, motion sensor etc.

In another aspect of the invention the mooring system comprises a predictive model of the ships positional and motion parameters which is arranged to calculate depending on the information collected with the sensory equipment and / or with the information systems, and depending on the actual steering or the drives of the movable mooring construction by the real-time control system, the real-time control system by steers the drives of the movable mooring construction depending on least in part on the position and motion parameters provided by the predictive model. This manner of constructing the mooring system of the invention secures that overshoot or undershoot of the mooring system is effectively prevented, which increases reliability and secures against early wear and tear of the system of the invention. It effectively avoids the need to use noticeable safety margins in the design of the mooring system. Also maintenance of the system of the invention can thus be scheduled at increased intervals, therewith restricting costs.

Desirably the real-time control system and / or the predictive model is adaptive in that their parameters are tuneable depending on a measured error between predicted positional and motion parameters of the ship derived with the predictive model, and the actual positional and motion parameters of the ship as measured with the sensor system. In this way the mooring system of the invention can learn from earlier behavior of the system in its environment which is beneficial in numerous aspects, among which is that it provides the system of the invention with a desired sustainability. The self-learning ability of the control system can be further supported by archiving the collected history information so as to improve the adaptability of the control system to recurring situations. All in all the mooring system of the invention provides its user a real-time dynamic mooring analysis enabling optimized mooring or any type of ship.

The invention will be further elucidated with reference to the drawing of an exemplary schematic embodiment of a mooring system according to the invention that is not limiting as to the appended claims.

In the drawing of a single figure of a mooring system according to the invention is shown.

The figure shows a mooring system 1 for mooring a ship 2 according to the invention, including three different mooring devices 3a, 3b, 3c. Mooring device 3a comprises a movable mooring construction 5a or the type of a hook 6a supported by a movable arm 7a that is mounted on a base 4a. There is a drive 8a in the form of a hydraulic cylinder for manipulating the arm 7a into a desired position. The other shown mooring devices 3b and 3c are of the type including a base 4b, 4c, a movable mooring construction 5b, 5c supported by the base 4b, 4c, and at least one magnet 6b, 6c mounted to a frame 7b, 7c, which frame 7b, 7c is supported by the movable mooring construction 5b, 5c. The movable mooring construction 5b, 5c or this type is provided with one or more drives 8b,

8c, preferably hydraulic drive cylinders, for manipulating the frame 7b, 7c with the magnets 6b, 6c into a desired position.

The mooring system 1 further comprises sensory equipment 9 and a real-time control system 10 connected to the sensory equipment 9 and to the said one or more drives 8a, 8b, 8c or the movable mooring construction 5a, 5b, 5c, said said real -time control system 10 is arranged to steer the one or more drives 8a, 8b, 8c or the movable mooring construction 5a, 5b, 5c depending on signals derived from the sensory equipment

9.

The sensory equipment 9 is preferably arranged to provide the real-time control system 10 with information on surge and roll, heave and pitch, and sway and yaw of the moored ship 2 and / or on the ship's position and back and forth and lateral movements .

The sensory equipment 9 is further preferably arranged to provide the real-time control system 10 with information on current, tide and / or wind acting on the moored ship 2, and preferably also to provide the real-time control system 10 with information on current direction and height and direction of the waves acting on the ship 2. The information on the wind acting on the moored ship 2 includes the wind direction and force.

The mooring system further preferably comprises one or more information systems 11 providing environmental data, said information systems 11 are connected to the real-time control system 10, and the real-time control system 10 is arranged to steer the one or more drives 8a, 8b , 8c or the movable mooring construction 5a, 5b, 5c depending on the environmental data.

Preferably the information systems 11 provide weather information; and most preferably also information on passing ships.

In a preferred embodiment as shown in the figure the mooring system 1 comprises a predictive model 12 of the ships positional and motion parameters, which model 12 is arranged to calculate depending on the information collected with the sensory equipment 9 and / or with the information systems 11, and depending on the actual steering of the drives 8a, 8b, 8c or the movable mooring construction 5a, 5b, 5c by the real-time control system 10, in the real-time control system 10 steers the drives 8a, 8b , 8c of the movable mooring construction 5a, 5b, 5c depending on the position and motion parameters provided by the predictive model 12.

In a very beneficial arrangement the real-time control system 10 and / or the predictive model 12 is adaptive in that their parameters are automatically tuneable depending on a measured error 13 between predicted positional and motion parameters of the ship 2 derived with the predictive model 12 , and the actual positional and motion parameters of the ship 2 as measured with the sensory equipment 9.

Although the invention has been discussed in the 5 foregoing with reference to an exemplary embodiment of the mooring system of the invention, the invention is not restricted to this particular embodiment which can be varied in many ways without departing from the invention. The discussed example is therefore not used to construct the appended claims strictly in accordance with therewith. On the contrary the embodiment is merely intended to explain the becoming of the appended claims without intent to limit the claims to this exemplary embodiment. The scope of protection of the invention shall therefore be constructed in accordance with the appended claims only, where possible ambiguity in the wording of the claims shall be resolved using this exemplary embodiment.

Claims (9)

CONCLUSIONS Mooring system (1) for mooring a ship (2) comprising at least one mooring device (3a, 3b, 3c) of the type comprising a base (4a, 4b, 4c) and a movable mooring structure (5a, 5b, 5c ) carried by the base (4a, 4b, 4c), and wherein the movable mooring structure (5a, 5b, 5c) is provided with one or more drives (8a, 8b, 8c), preferably hydraulic drive cylinders, for manipulating the movable mooring structure (5a, 5b, 5c) in a desired position, characterized in that the mooring system (1) further comprises sensor equipment (9) and a real-time control system (10) connected to the sensor equipment (9) and to said one or more drives (8a, 8b, 8c) of the movable mooring structure (5a, 5b, 5c), said real-time control system (10) being arranged for control of one or more drives (8a, 8b, 8c) of the movable mooring structure (5a, 5b, 5c) depending on signals derived from the sensor equipment (9). Mooring system according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensor equipment (9) is adapted to provide information to the real-time control system (10) with regard to rocking and rolling, rising and stamping, and swinging and yawing of the moored ship (2) and / or the position and the reciprocating and lateral movements of the ship. Mooring system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the sensor equipment (9) is adapted to provide the real-time control system (10) with information relating to currents, tides and / or wind operating on the moored ship (2). Mooring system according to claim 3, characterized in that the sensor equipment (9) is adapted to provide the real-time control system (10) with information regarding the flow direction and height and direction of the waves operating on the ship (2). Mooring system according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the wind information operating on the moored ship (2) includes the wind direction and force. Mooring system according to one of the preceding claims 1-5, characterized in that the mooring system (1) further comprises one or more information systems (11), which provide environmental data in which said information systems (11) are connected or connectable to the real-time time control system (10), and the real time control system (10) is adapted to control the one or more drives (8a, 8b, 8c) of the movable mooring structure (5a, 5b, 5c) depending on the environmental data . Mooring system according to claim 6, characterized in that the one or more information systems (11) provide weather information; and information regarding passing ships. Mooring system according to one of the preceding claims 1-7, characterized in that the mooring system (1) comprises a predictive model (12) of the positional and movement parameters of the ship which the model (12) is designed to calculate depending on the information collected with the sensor equipment (9) and / or with the one or more information systems (11), and depending on the current control with the drives (8a, 8b, 8c) of the movable mooring structure (5a, 5b, 5c) by the real-time control system (10), wherein the real-time control system (10) controls the drives (8a, 8b, 8c) of the movable mooring structure (5a, 5b, 5c) depending on at least in part the positional and motion parameters provided by the predictive model (12). The mooring system according to claim 8, characterized in that the real-time control system (10) and / or the predictive model (12) is adaptive in that its parameters are tunable depending on a measured error (13) between predicted positional and motion parameters of the ship (2) derived from the predictive model (12) and the current positional and motion parameters of the ship (2) as measured with the sensor equipment (9). 1/1