RU2803358C1 - Balanced marine helipad - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: shipbuilding.

SUBSTANCE: invention is related to helicopter landing pads for offshore engineering structures. The invention can be used at offshore facilities of the oil and gas industry, as well as on medium and large-capacity vessels of a technical fleet. The objective of the invention is to ensure the landing of a helicopter on the helipad both during the operation of a marine engineering structure, and in the event of a possible emergency roll of a marine engineering structure in any direction for a rescue operation, delivery of rescuers, helicopter support for emergency and repair work. A balanced marine helicopter landing pad of a marine engineering structure is proposed, including a helipad deck, guides forming a hemisphere with horizontal position limiters, ballast and a frame or three-dimensional structure that combines these elements, moreover, the helicopter landing pad is rotary in a vertical plane and is installed, resting on guides, on a support column rigidly fixed to the hull or superstructure of the offshore engineering structure, with formation of a hinge assembly. If the helicopter landing pad in manufactured with a water displacement design, it becomes an additional rescue tool.

EFFECT: marine helipad is proposed.

5 cl, 7 dwg

Description

Field of technology

An offshore balanced helicopter landing pad (hereinafter referred to as the UWLP) is designed for landing a helicopter on a marine engineering structure (hereinafter referred to as the platform), both during the operation of the platform and in the event of a possible emergency roll of the platform in any direction, for the purpose of carrying out rescue operations. operations and helicopter support for emergency and repair work.

UVPP can be used at offshore oil and gas industry facilities, as well as on medium and large-tonnage vessels of the technical fleet.

State of the art

There are no analogues to balanced helicopter landing pads. All over the world, helicopter landing pads are made stationary, i.e. rigidly fixed on racks or a cantilever support to the hull, superstructure, or simply located on the deck of an offshore facility. The disadvantage of such stationary helipads is the impossibility of landing a helicopter to carry out a rescue operation, deliver rescuers, provide helicopter support for emergency and repair work, etc. if the platform becomes tilted as a result of an accident. It should be noted that the rescue of platform maintenance personnel, subject to the helicopter landing on the helipad, is the fastest rescue option (under favorable weather conditions for helicopters) and allows for a rescue operation to be carried out in the shortest possible time if an accident occurs at the facility.

In the Russian Federation, the production of marine helicopter landing pads is regulated by the following documents:

- “Rules for the classification and construction of sea-going vessels”, part I, “Classification”, part P, “Hull”, part XVII, “Additional marks of the class symbol and verbal characteristics defining the design or operational features of the vessel”;

- “Annex 14 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation” (ICAO, 2013), Volume II “Heliports”;

- “General aviation requirements for helicopter support equipment on ships and platforms raised above water” (OAT GA-90).

What is common between the manufactured helicopter landing pads and the runway is the helicopter deck, which is directly intended for landing a helicopter.

Disclosure of the Invention

The objective of the invention is to ensure the landing of a helicopter on the helipad both during the operation of the platform and in the event of a possible emergency roll of the platform in any direction to carry out a rescue operation, deliver rescuers, and provide helicopter support for emergency and repair work.

The technical result is achieved by the following design solution: - the proposed runway is rotary, i.e. in the event of an emergency roll of the platform in any direction, the runway remains horizontal (the runway can be tilted up to ~2°, which is acceptable for landing any helicopter weighing no more than the design weight). By design helicopter we mean the helicopter for which the helicopter deck is designed. According to the roll angle of the emergency platform, the runway can provide a horizontal position of the helicopter deck up to a critical roll angle of ~45°. The rotation of the runway to a horizontal position during an emergency roll of the platform is carried out as a result of the action of the righting moment, i.e. without the participation of the human factor. To ensure the safe landing of a rescue helicopter, it is recommended to limit the roll angle of the emergency platform at which the runway will ensure landing of the helicopter to 35° (this roll angle of the emergency platform will be used in the description of the invention and is called the design angle). Those. The runway works as follows: - when the roll angle of the emergency platform is up to 35°, the runway is in a horizontal position and any helicopter weighing no more than the design helicopter can land on it; if the roll of the emergency platform increases (more than 35°), the runway will stop turning (accept horizontal position), accordingly, with further roll of the emergency platform, the runway will take on an inclined position (for example, with a roll angle of the emergency platform of 45°, the slope of the runway will be 10°), which is visually noticeable and is information for the helicopter pilot that the roll of the emergency platform is more 35° and is approaching the critical roll angle, i.e. the platform is close to capsizing, and landing a helicopter in this case is prohibited.

The runway consists of a helicopter deck, guides forming a hemisphere with horizontal position limiters, ballast and a frame or volumetric structure that combines these elements. The airborne runway is installed on the support column to form a hinge unit. The support column consists of a round base plate and the column itself, which is rigidly fixed to the body or superstructure of the platform. The UVPP can be manufactured in a non-displacement or displacement design.

The hinged rotary unit consists of guides installed radially under the helicopter deck, which form a hemisphere; the guides have horizontal position limiters to the calculated emergency roll angle of the platform and freely rest (guides) on the base plate. The hinged rotary unit is covered by shells to prevent snow from being swept away.

Calculations of the runway for stability during landing of the design helicopter are carried out under the condition that the latter lands on the edge of the helicopter deck (i.e., subject to the occurrence of a maximum overturning moment) in four cases of landing the helicopter: on the edge of the helicopter deck when operating the platform, on the edge of the helicopter deck from the roll side emergency platform at a design angle of 35°, to the edge of the helicopter deck on the side opposite to the platform roll (by 35°), to the edge of the helicopter deck on the side of the direction of the platform roll (by 35°). Using known formulas, the method of successive approximations is used to determine the diameter of the hinge, the number of guides, the diameter of the base plate, and the ballast mass, which provide a restoring moment greater than the maximum overturning moment. When determining the diameter of the hinge and the diameter of the base plate, the contact angle of the guides with the base plate is designed to ensure sliding (recommended with the use of all-weather lubrication), taking into account the pressure of the guides on the base plate, which can change with an increase or decrease in the number of guides. These parameters and ballast achieve the “sensitivity” of a balanced helipad to platform roll, see below. It is recommended to apply an all-weather lubricant to the sliding edges.

Ballast (weight) is installed in the lower part of the runway. The ballast is located in a circle around the support column at a distance from the latter, ensuring the horizontal position of the runway at the design angle of roll of the emergency platform.

Ballast is intended for:

a) providing a greater restoring moment than the capsizing moment that will occur in the event of the design helicopter landing on the edge of the helicopter deck of the runway in the specified 4 cases of landing the design helicopter;

b) ensuring the necessary “sensitivity” of a balanced helipad to the roll of the emergency platform, i.e. The runway is rotated due to the action of the resulting righting moment to a horizontal position every 2° of roll of the emergency platform up to a design roll of 35°, which ensures the landing of any helicopter with a mass not exceeding the design one; the “sensitivity” may be different if the runway is developed for the characteristics of a specific helicopter.

To provide access to the runway both during the operation of the platform and in the event of its emergency roll at the design angle in any direction, a self-extending ladder is used, it is attached to this site on horizontal axes with the necessary clearance to ensure freedom of the opposite part of the ladder within the niche, limiting its lateral movement, see Figure 3, hinges are installed at the end of the ladder, the emergency ladder is located on the opposite side of the runway, the escape route runs under the helicopter deck using a self-extending ladder to the flight of stairs inside or outside the support column.

When manufacturing a runway in a displacement version, the latter can be used as an additional rescue device (rescue module, which is located at the maximum distance from the production premises compared to other structural elements of the platform) in the event of an accident on the platform and unfavorable weather conditions for helicopters. For this purpose, premises equipped with the simplest life support equipment for 3-5 days are provided in the displacement hull of the air launch platform, and if the emergency platform sinks, the displacement air launch platform will remain afloat. After weather conditions normalize, a rescue helicopter will be able to land on it or a rescue ship will approach.

Installation of the airborne runway on the base plate is carried out using lifting equipment with the appropriate load characteristics. Installation can be carried out either with a fully manufactured airborne runway or with partially installed distributed ballast; the recommended mass of the partially installed ballast should ensure that the center of gravity of the airborne runway is located below the base plate; the rest of the ballast can be supplied by winches. Installation of the air defense system can be carried out both at the platform construction plant (recommended) and at the point where the platform is installed for operation.

Brief description of drawings

In fig. 1 shows a general view with a section of a non-displacement runway, consisting of:

pos. 1 - helicopter deck;

pos. 2 - guides forming a hemisphere;

pos. 3 - end stops on the guides;

pos. 4 - ballast (cargo);

pos. 5 - frame structure;

pos. 6 - snow protection (shell around the hinge).

In fig. Figure 2 shows the position of the runway in section on the support column during the operation of the platform (the frame structure is not shown in section B-B), consisting of:

pos. 1 - helicopter deck;

pos. 2 - guides forming a hemisphere;

pos. 3 - end stops on the guides;

pos. 4 - ballast (cargo);

pos. 5 - frame structure;

pos. 7 - base plate;

pos. 8 - support column.

In fig. Figure 3 shows the position of the runway with a helicopter during platform operation, consisting of:

pos. 9 - self-extending ladder;

pos. 10 - hatch for access to the emergency ladder;

pos. 11 - emergency ladder;

pos. 12 - emergency pedestrian gallery;

pos. 13 - emergency self-extending ladder;

pos. 14 - emergency platform for entering the support column;

pos. 15 - superstructure roof;

pos. 16 - pedestrian path on the roof of the superstructure;

pos. 17 - inclined (emergency) pedestrian walkway on the roof of the superstructure;

pos. 18 - fencing of the pedestrian path on the roof of the superstructure;

pos. 19 - niche in the roof of the superstructure for the end part of the self-extending ladder;

pos. 20 - helicopter.

View B shows the end part of the self-extracting ladder in the superstructure niche during platform operation.

View B* shows the end part of the self-retracting ladder in the superstructure niche in the event of an emergency roll of the platform 35° towards the side.

In fig. Figure 4 shows the position of the runway during an emergency roll of the platform at an angle of 35° in the direction opposite to the helipad, consisting of:

pos. 1 - helicopter deck;

pos. 8 - support column;

pos. 9 - self-extending ladder;

pos. 15 - superstructure roof;

pos. 20 - helicopter.

In fig. Figure 5 shows the position of the runway during an emergency roll of the platform at an angle of 35° towards the helipad, consisting of:

pos. 1 - helicopter deck;

pos. 8 - support column;

pos. 9 - self-extending ladder;

pos. 15 - superstructure roof;

pos. 20 - helicopter.

In fig. Figure 6 shows the position of the runway (section) during an emergency roll of the platform on board, consisting of:

pos.1 - helicopter deck;

pos.2 - guides forming a hemisphere;

pos.3 - end stops on the guides;

pos.7 - base plate; pos.8 - support column.

This cross-sectional figure shows the support plate, which rested against the horizontal position limiters when the calculated roll angle of the emergency platform reached 35° and in the event of a further increase in the roll of the emergency platform 215, the runway will begin to tilt, which will be a signal to the helicopter pilot about an emergency take-off.

In fig. Figure 7 shows the position of the displacement airborne runway in cross-section on the water in the event that the emergency platform sinks, consisting of: pos. 21 - displacement airborne runway;

pos. 22 - personnel rooms separated by sealed bulkheads; pos. 23 - folding hatches; pos. 24 - water surface.

Technical result when implementing the invention

1. Ensures helicopter landing both during operation of the platform and in the event of a possible emergency roll of the platform to the design angle (35°) in any direction for rescue operations, helicopter support for emergency and repair work, etc.

2. The displacement runway is an additional rescue means, 230 which will be in demand in the event of flooding of the emergency platform in adverse weather conditions for other rescue means, both surface and airborne.

Claims (5)

1. Offshore balanced helicopter landing pad of a marine engineering structure, characterized in that it includes a helicopter deck, guides forming a hemisphere with horizontal position limiters, ballast and a frame or volumetric structure that combines these elements, and the helicopter landing pad is rotary in vertical plane and is installed, supported by guides, on a support column rigidly attached to the hull or superstructure of the marine engineering structure, forming a hinge unit. 2. The helicopter landing pad according to claim 1, including guides that are located under the helicopter deck, form a hemisphere with a design diameter and have horizontal position limiters, the number of guides and the diameter of the hemisphere are determined from the condition of ensuring a stable horizontal position of the helicopter landing pad when landing the design helicopter on the edge of the helicopter deck taking into account standard loads, while the hemisphere is covered on the sides with shells to prevent snow from being swept up. 3. Helicopter landing pad according to claim 1, including horizontal position limiters, which are designed to prevent further rotation of the helicopter landing pad if the roll of the emergency marine engineering structure becomes greater than the calculated one. 4. The helicopter landing pad according to claim 1, including ballast, which is evenly located in the lower part of the helicopter landing pad in a circle around the support column at a distance that ensures the horizontal position of the helicopter landing pad during the calculated emergency roll of the marine engineering structure. 5. The helicopter landing pad according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that it can be manufactured in a displacement design, becoming an additional life-saving device; the premises in the displacement body of the helicopter landing pad are equipped with simple life support systems.

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