RU166164U1 - AUTOMATIC OIL SPILL RESPONSE DEVICE - Google Patents

Abstract

1. An automatic oil spill response device, including a closed loop, consisting of inflatable curtain booms with threshold air valves that respond to pressure increase in the boom section, a skimmer with a connected reservoir for containing the collected oil, equipped with a control computer and a layer thickness sensor oil on the surface of the water, and a winding coil with a drive mounted on a frame located on a floating platform, while the winding coil is made with the possibility of winding booms on it wisely reducing the circumference of a closed boom fence, and the device may contain two or more winding coils connected in series through bonded booms. 2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the control computer that measures the oil thickness by means of sensors is configured to remotely open and close air valves on inflatable curtain booms by commands transmitted over the air.

Description

The utility model relates to devices for collecting oil from the surface of the water, both in the presence of a current and in its absence for the implementation of liquidation of emergency oil spills limited to small areas.

The automatic oil spill response device (Fig. 1) includes an oil collection station (1) equipped with a control computer and an oil layer thickness sensor on the water surface, a reservoir for containing the collected oil (2), inflatable curtain booms (3), with remote controlled by air valves (4), a winding reel with a drive located on a floating platform (5).

From the prior art, a device, method and vessel for preventing and reducing damage from oil, where the vessel is connected to the boom and to the device for separating oil. In this case, the bon contains an elongated part and a pontoon element and a plurality of rotatable moving elements provided with rotating blade elements installed in connection with it. A device for separating oil from ice blocks contains a housing, a separation grate, a support part for changing the lift height and the angle of the separation grate relative to the water surface level (RU 2494000 (C2), B63B 35/32, E02B 15/04, E01H 12/00, 19.01 .2010).

A disadvantage of the known device is limited to the coastal area of use of the device and the need for the participation of a specialized vessel in oil spill response.

Also known is a useful model of a water treatment plant containing a sorbing boom made of a hydrophobic material, having a high sorbing ability for oil and oil products, characterized in that it includes sections connected in series with each other by a flexible bond, an anchor and floats, moreover each section is made in the form of a mesh web with a mesh size that ensures the localization of sorbent material inside the section (RU 80693 (U1), E21B 15/04, 07/21/2008).

A disadvantage of the known device is the need for a constantly directed flow at the place of water purification, a decrease in the efficiency of water purification during prolonged operation of the device, and the need to replace sorbent materials that have exhausted their resources.

A known installation with automatic control of oil capture on the surface of reservoirs with running water, containing a culvert with an oil spill containment device therein, an electronic oil film detection system on the water surface, having a pulse sensor installed upstream in front of the oil spill containment device , and communicated with the actuator (RU 2097485 (C1), E02B 15/04, 07.25.1997).

A disadvantage of the known installation is the area of its use limited by reservoirs with running water.

A device for collecting oil is known, which includes a set of oil-containing booms connected to form a long line of oil-containing booms. The line of oil-containing booms contains several anchor nodes at a distance from each other for anchoring the oil-holding boom to the seabed. Between the anchor nodes and in conjunction with the oil-holding boom, there is an oil collection station for collecting oil directed by booms from the surface of the water (In the FIPS database of the Russian Federation - RU 2518385 (C2), E02B 15/04, B63B 35/32, 04/04/2009, other patent numbers: EP 2352883 A1, EP 2352883 A4, US 20110253642, WO 2010052369 A1).

According to the greatest number of similar features and the result achieved using the given technical solution is selected as a prototype of the claimed utility model.

The disadvantages of this device for the collection of oil are: 1) the inability to affect the efficiency of oil collection by the oil collection station; 2) regardless of the size of the oil slick, which may decrease due to the operation of the oil recovery station, the size of the barrier does not change, which does not change the likelihood of an ice collision with the barrier in the event of an oil spill in the Arctic and areas close to them.

The technical task of this utility model is to eliminate the above disadvantages.

The invention is illustrated by graphic materials:

- FIG. 1 is a diagram of a device for the elimination of a spill of oil localized in a small area;

- FIG. 2 is a diagram of a device for oil spill response in the case of using multiple winding coils;

- FIG. 3 - platform with a winding coil and drive.

The technical result is ensured by the fact that the automatic oil spill response device includes an oil collection station (1) equipped with a control computer and a sensor (s) of the oil layer thickness on the water surface, a reservoir for containing the collected oil (2), inflatable curtain booms (3 ), with air valves (4), a winding coil with an actuator located on a floating platform (5).

The technical result provided by the above set of features is to increase the productivity of the device for collecting oil from the water surface by changing the thickness of the oil film on the water surface by changing the area covered by the closed loop of the boom fence, as well as reducing the likelihood of a boom collision with ice, by reducing the the linear dimensions of the device.

The technical essence of the utility model is illustrated by an illustration (Fig. 1), in which a device for the elimination of emergency oil spills (Fig. 1) consisting of an oil collection station (skimmer) (1) equipped with a control computer implemented on any of the existing industrial computers with a radio channel data exchange function for receiving task signals from the vessel and transmitting signals to the controls, and an oil layer thickness sensor on the water surface (ID-227WL or another with a similar detection range), capacity A content of the collected oil (2), inflatable boom-curtains (3), with a threshold or remotely operated air valves (4), a winding spool drive situated on a floating platform (5).

If you need a larger number of sections of the boom than is available on one winding coil, the device may include a larger number of coils with booms connected in series (Fig. 2).

During the operation of the oil collection station (1), the collected oil enters the tank for containing the collected oil (2). At the same time, since the oil inside the circuit limited by bons (3) becomes smaller, the height of the oil layer on the water surface also becomes smaller. Modern devices for the mechanical collection of oil from the water surface provide acceptable collection efficiency with an oil film thickness of 1-2 mm or more. This means that in order to maintain the efficient operation of the collection device, it is necessary to stabilize the thickness of the oil film at a level greater than the minimum value.

The operation of winding booms onto a coil reduces the length of the boom line, which, if a closed boom contour is formed, will reduce the area of this contour in proportion to the second degree of length, by which the circumference of the contour formed by the boom will decrease. As a result, the thickness of the oil layer on the water surface will increase, since the volume of oil during the period under review will change slightly (in the absence of oil from the emergency vessel). If you change the thickness of the oil layer h on the surface of the water at the place of its collection so that it is within the range

h _min ≤h≤h _max

where h _min is the minimum value of the height of the oil film, determined by the efficiency of the oil recovery station, which often depends on its design parameters (for well-known skimmers, the optimal values of the height of the film are in the range from 2 to 30 mm);

h _max - the maximum value of the height of the oil film, determined by the height of the oil layer held by the boom (for booms this value is from 50 to 200 mm).

In this case, h _max can be selected with a margin so that in case of a portion of oil leaving the emergency vessel that is inside the boom, before the maximum boom height of the oil layer exceeds the height of the water surface, there will be a time margin to notify personnel about the need to increase the length of the boom barriers.

When winding on a winding coil, it is necessary to bleed air from sections of the float part of the boom (3). The air can be vented from the boom by means of a safety (threshold) valve (4), which opens when the pressure in the float part of the boom exceeds the nominal value by a fixed value, which is less than the maximum allowable air pressure in the air part of the boom. There may be more than one such valve, but at least one should be located at the end of the boom section farthest from the winding coil.

Also, air bleeding from the boom can be implemented using a radio-controlled valve receiving signals from a control computer, however, in this case, the operation of such a valve will require batteries next to the valve or energy supply.

The winding coil (6) (Fig. 3) itself, located on the floating platform (7), can be fixed on the frame (8) in a semi-submerged state so that the winding boom (9) is not removed from the water before directly winding the coil (6). In this case, winding of both the float part of the boom and its skirt and ballast (which can be performed in the form of a chain) should be ensured.

For a more accurate supply of the boom (9) to the axis of the winding coil (6), a guiding funnel (10) can be used that sets the direction of supply of the boom (9) to the coil (6) in the vertical and horizontal planes in the direction of travel of the boom.

To squeeze air out of the boom (9) while winding onto the coil (6), a pressing shaft (11) rotating on the axis can be used, the axis of which moves along the groove on the coil frame (8) under the action of two compression shock absorbers (springs) (12), installed at the upper and lower edges of the pressure shaft (11), on the one hand, and the winding coil (6), the radius of which will increase as the winding of the boom. In this case, the axis of the clamping shaft (11) can be fixed in the groove of the frame (8) with a controlled stop until the winding coil stops to squeeze out the remaining air from the float part of the boom already wound on the coil.

The winding coil drive (13) can be located on a floating platform (7). The drive can be powered from the same energy source that provides the operation of the oil collection station, or from its own energy source.

The buoyancy of the platform (7) is provided by floats (14), and a protective wall (15) prevents oil from penetrating beyond the fence under the platform. The platform must be provided with an anchor for fastening to the bottom. To limit the movement of the wound boom along the axis of the coil, the coil is equipped with end rings (16), which are mounted on the axis of the coil with ribs (17).

In the event that several winding coils connected in series are included in the barrier circuit, the remote computer drives are switched on and off by the control computer via a radio channel, and the remote floating platforms with winding coils themselves must either have an energy source (battery, small-sized internal combustion engine), or energy should be served on him.

This device is designed to localize oil spills in small areas and works as follows: after the oil slick has been enclosed in a closed loop (or after the formation of an oil slick in an already closed boom loop due to fuel leakage from an emergency vessel previously surrounded by barrier booms) (Fig. . 1), consisting of booms (3), an oil collection station (1) with a reservoir for containing the collected oil (2) and a platform with a winding coil (5) connected to it, one hundred tion and collecting platform with winding coil (when used detached from the coils to the collecting station platform). Next, the control computer, using sensors, conducts a series of measurements of the thickness of the oil film in the immediate vicinity of the collection station (1). If the average value of the thickness of the oil layer on the water surface is less than the minimum value for the oil collection station h _min , and the maximum is less than 50-75% of the maximum height of the oil layer held by the boom, h _{max_bon} , then the control computer sends a signal to start the drive of the winding coil. The winding reel (5) starts winding the boom (3), creating an excess pressure in its float part, which, upon reaching the threshold value, opens the safety valve (4). A safety valve vents part of the air from the boom section and allows a portion of the boom to be wound onto a coil. In this case, the pressure in the float part of the boom drops and the valve closes.

Since part of the boom is wound on a spool, the total length of the circle formed by the boom fence is reduced. Provided that during the described actions the volume of oil inside the circuit has not changed significantly, there will be an increase in the average thickness of the oil layer inside the closed circuit. A condition for stopping the operation of the winding coil can be to achieve a thickness of the oil layer on the water surface near the collecting station, a value 2-10 times greater than the minimum allowable (the ratio is determined by the maximum allowable thickness of the oil layer held by the booms).

As the oil collection station operates, the thickness of the oil film on the surface of the water will decrease. Upon reaching the average film thickness near the collection station of the minimum acceptable value, the control computer will again signal to turn on the winding coil drive, etc. until the circuit reaches a predetermined minimum area that allows the efficient use of sorbents and dispersants, or until the work stop command transmitted from the service vessel (if there is an emergency vessel inside the enclosed circuit).

If, due to the additional receipt of oil products from the emergency vessel, the oil film thickness begins to arrive, the control computer sends a signal to the service vessel about the current oil film thickness and about the possibility of exceeding the maximum thickness of the oil layer held by the boom in order to make a decision on building the boom barriers.

Thus, an increase in the efficiency of the oil collection station and a decrease in the likelihood of collision with a boom fence of bulky debris and pieces of ice due to a decrease in the geometric dimensions of the fence during operation of the device are achieved.

Claims (2)

1. An automatic oil spill response device, including a closed loop, consisting of inflatable curtain booms with threshold air valves that respond to pressure increase in the boom section, a skimmer with a connected reservoir for containing the collected oil, equipped with a control computer and a layer thickness sensor oil on the surface of the water, and a winding coil with a drive mounted on a frame located on a floating platform, while the winding coil is made with the possibility of winding booms on it wisely reducing the circumference of a closed boom fence, and the device may contain two or more winding coils connected in series through attached booms. 2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the control computer that measures the oil thickness by means of sensors is configured to remotely open and close air valves on inflatable curtain booms by commands transmitted over the air.

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