WO2003080423A1

WO2003080423A1 - Stilted catamaran-type vessel

Info

Publication number: WO2003080423A1
Application number: PCT/PH2002/000004
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kenny I. Vinci
Original assignee: Vinci Kenny I
Priority date: 2002-03-01
Filing date: 2002-03-01
Publication date: 2003-10-02
Also published as: AU2002236384A1

Abstract

A catamaran-type vessel comprising at least one aerodynamic body for carrying crews, control system, passengers and cargoes; at least two parallel hulls structures to keep the aerodynamic body afloat; stilt structures structurally integrated to the hulls and to the aerodynamic body whereby the hulls buoyantly support the said aerodynamic body at a designed height level from the hulls float line level such that said aerodynamic body stays free and clear from the crest of passing high waves relative to the said designed height level; and a propulsion system installed thereto for the required power source. The hulls may alternately have side walls extended vertically upward at a substantial height to establish a designed height level from the hull's float level line and therein buoyantly supporting at said designed height level at least one aerodynamic body tubular means such that the said aerodynamic body tubular means will stay clear and free from the passing crest of high waves relative to the said designed height level; the aerodynamic body tubular means and the hulls are oriented longitudinally parallel in respect to each other to register the less drag against its designed speed; the said catamaran-type vessel may be powered by known propulsion system.

Description

I. TITLE: STILTED CATAMARAN-TYPE VESSEL

II. FIELD THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to boats and similar means of water transportation. More specifically, it relates to a catamaran type-vessel wherein a tubular aerodynamic body for carrying crews, passengers, cargoes and control system is supported on stilt structures which are integrated to the hulls that provide the necessary buoyant force whereby the aerodynamic body stays free and clear from the crest of passing high waves at a predetermined designed height level between the hulls float line and the aerodynamic body. III. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Catamaran is a boat with twin hulls or planing surfaces side by side. This type of boat structure was first used as sailboat and later as leisure boats and passenger boats. Various improvements have been made to further enhance the performance of this type of boat. One of them is the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,428 issued on February 7,1989 Thomas G. Lang, entitled: Planing Catamaran Vessel. The catamaran patented by Lang comprises a pair of spaced, parallel elongated pontoons with a strut extending upwardly from each of the pontoons and a superstructure supported on the struts for riding above the waterline. While this type of catamaran achieves its intended objectives, said design is more appropriate for small leisure boats which plane on the water surface at speed.

One drawback of the Lang catamaran is that though the superstructure is supported on struts above the water line, the drag imparted by high waves is not minimized because there are no blow vents which will effectively dissipate the wave impact. Moreover, since the body of the superstructure extends transversely from one pontoon to the other, the waves slam against a wider area causing a strong drag.

Another notable improvement was the one disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,802,427 issued on February 7,1989 to Donald R. Biegel entitled: "Ship Hull Construction". The boat disclosed in Biegel patent comprises an upper main buoyant hull and three submerged substantially sub-hulls, all connected by struts to the main hull. The ship can be used as a passenger ship but just like the Lang patent, the wave impact is not reduced because the width of the main hull extends laterally to the side pontoons.

III. SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The present catamaran-type vessel is multi-hull and adapted to be an efficient means for water transportation. It comprises a tubular aerodynamic body similar in shape to the aircraft fuselage, at least two narrow and slender parallel hulls buoyantly supporting said aerodynamic body, stilt structures integrally connecting the two hulls to the aerodynamic body, and a propulsion system to power the craft.

The hulls are constructed much longer than the tubular aerodynamic body to make them as narrow as possible so that the said hulls could slice through the water and waves with less hydrodynamic drag. Complimenting the narrow long hulls construction are the stilt structures whose width is no wider than the hulls. It is in view of these stilt structures that the subject invention may be called "Stiltmaran" a coined word from "stilt" and " catamaran".

The present invention includes a septum wall structure seated on top of each hull, extending to the entire length of said respective hulls to prevent water from re-merging as the hulls sliced through the waves that could create additional drags. In addition, the catamaran-type vessel embodied in this invention has a high fronted hulls to ensure that all waves, including the high waves it is designed to safely navigate, are always sliced to minimize drags. The hulls and the tubular aerodynamic body of the subject catamaran- type vessel are so constructed in such a way that their longitudinal axis are always parallel to each other to effectively reduce the frontal area against aerodynamic drags.

Lastly, the slender narrow parallel hulls are totally dedicated for buoyancy purposes. Thus, the void space inside the hulls may, depending on design requirements, be totally filled with very light material such as cell foams to make the vessel practically unsinkable. Given the foregoing structural and constructional features of the subject catamaran-type vessel, it is the primary object of this invention to provide a fast, economical and safe means of water transportation for private and commercial purposes. IV. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects, advantages and remarkable features will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of this invention featuring a single tubular aerodynamic body;

FIGURE 2 is a left side elevation view of Figure 1 ;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevation view relative to Figure 1;

FIGURE 4 is top plan view thereof;

FIGURE 5 is a top elevation view of a second embodiment of this invention featuring a double aerodynamic tubular body; and

FIGURE 6 is a front elevation view of Figure 5. V. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to the different views of the drawings in detail wherein like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout, there is shown the subject stilted catamaran-type vessel generally indicated as 10 comprising: at least one tubular aerodynamic body 11 for carrying crews, passengers, control system and cargoes; two (2) narrow hulls 12 and 13 positioned apart and parallel to each other; stilt structures namely, bow stilt structure 14, stern stilt structure 14a, and central stilt structure 14b, connecting the tubular aerodynamic body 11 and the two narrow hulls 12 and 13, and traverse structural framework forming a deck 15 and two laterally extended traverse members 16 and 17 defining a wing-like structure.

The tubular aerodynamic body 11 is designed to resemble an aircraft fuselage for less wind drag. It may be an existing aircraft fuselage retrofitted for the purpose.

Buoyantly supporting this tubular aerodynamic body 11 are at least two narrow, slender hulls 12 and 13 interconnected in parallel relationship by traverse structural framework formed by a deck 15, and two lateral extended traverse members 16 and 17. Stilt structures namely, bow stilt structure 14, stern stilt structure 14a and central stilt structure 14b maintain the vertical elevation of the tubular aerodynamic body 11 relative to the hulls 12 and 13.

As shown in Figure 1 which is the first embodiment of this invention, the hull 12 is relatively much longer than the tubular aerodynamic body 11 and the other hull 13. This is so to keep the hulls as narrow as possible without loosing the required buoyant force.

Septum like walls 19 are installed in between the stilt structures 14,14a and 14b to prevent high wave surges from merging as they get sliced by the hulls 12 and 13. A plurality of blow vents 18 are distributed along the surfaces of the transversal structural members 16 and 17 to decrease the stress induced by the waves higher than the design height as they passes between hulls 12 and 13.

As shown in Figure 3, the design height level "H" is established by the structural association of the bow stilt structure 14, stern stilt structure 14a, and central stilt structure 14b and on the other hull 13 by front stilt structure 14c and rear stilt structure 14d, all structurally footed on top of the hulls 12 and 13, respectively. This design height level "H" can be likewise accomplished by extending the wall height of the hulls 12 and 13 from its water float line displacement surface upwardly to the design height "H". Such high wall hull construction however will add more gross weight to the vessel.

The stilts and septum walls supportingly ends to the deck 15 running from the bow to the stern defining the length of the subject catamarn-type vessel 10; centralized in respect to the said craft length, longitudinally parallel to the hulls but much more nearer to hull 12, the tubular aerodynamic body is fixedly seated atop the deck 15 and featuring its aerodynamic portion where the cockpit or bridge 20 is located; at said rear portion and structurally integrated to the said rear portion and to the deck 15, a known propulsion system 21, preferably an aircraft gas turbine engine 21 is seated and locating its intake and output gas flow well above the top portion of the tubular aerodynamic body 11. A second embodiment of this invention is shown in Figure 5 which purposes of description is generally designated as DB. As shown therein, there is a double tubular aerodynamic bodies B1 and B2 indicating their front portions with bridges 22 and 22'; both aerodynamic bodies B1 and B2 and the hulls 23 and 23' are all parallel in the x-y-z planes relative to each other so that the subject catamaran-type vessel 10 will register the smallest frontal surface area against aerodynamic resistance; a traverse structure 24 transversely connect both tubular means and made as short height as possible so that crews or passengers can access to both aerodynamic bodies. This traverse structure is also aerodynamically fronted to blend with both the aerodynamic body tubular means. In Figure 5, there is also shown the two gas turbine engines T1 and T2, each seated respectively as previously described in the rear portions of both the tubular aerodynamic bodies. In this second embodiment, the hulls 23 and 23' are held together parallel and apart by a plurality of transversal structures and leading them is the front transversal member 27 and rear transversal member 28 complimented by central transversal members 29 and 30. The front transversal member the bow and the rear transversal member at the stern are made with wide surfaces and each is provided also with plurality of blow vents holes for the same purpose as in the first embodiment.

At the stem portions as shown in Figures 2 and 5 are marine engine compartments 31 each provided with vents, housing their respective engines in driving relation to the marine propellers 32 located at the respective bottom portions of each hull 23 and 23'; the front bow portion of each hull directly engaging the water or waves are provided with accute angled chine 33 to allow each hull top slice the water or waves with the least hydraulic resistance. A single and double rudder means 34 are respectively provided in the single and double tubular aerodynamic bodies catamaran-type vessel. The foregoing description is made only for purposes of illustration and should not be taken as a limitation of the scope of this invention, it being apparent that many substitutions, modifications and variations are possible to those who are skilled in the art in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore understood that the invention as thought and described herein is only to be limited by the breadth and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

VI. CLAIMS:

1. A catamaran- type vessel construction comprising: at least one tubular aerodynamic body for carrying crews, passengers, cargoes and control system; at least two narrow, slender hulls parallel to each other and buoyantly supporting said tubular aerodynamic body at a predetermined designed height above the float line of the hulls; structural framework connecting the hulls in parallel relationship with the tubular aerodynamic body and maintaining a predetermined designed height between the float line of the hulls and the tubular aerodynamic body such that the passing high waves will be allowed to pass freely through the said predetermined designed height; said structural framework having stilt structures, deck and traverse frames whereby the stilt structures are vertically positioned and are distributed thru the length of the hull, coincident to the respective longitudinal axial vertical plane of said hulls; said traverse frames extend laterally on one side of the tubular aerodynamic body from the bow and the stern defining a wing-like structure; and a propulsion system installed on the vessel to power the same.

2. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 1 wherein a plurality of septum-like partitions are disposed between the stilt structures, coincident and parallel to the longitudinal axial vertical plane of the hull.

3. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 1 wherein the said deck and traverse structures are provided with vent holes to allow high-wave surges beyond the designed height to vent through.

4. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 1 wherein the hull nearest to the tubular aerodynamic body is made longer than the tubular aerodynamic body to maximize the narrowest hull for speed.

5. A catamaran- type vessel construction comprising: two (2) tubular aerodynamic bodies arranged spaced apart in parallel relation to each other for carrying crews, passengers, cargoes and control system; at least two narrow, slender hulls parallel to each other and buoyantly supporting said tubular aerodynamic bodies at a predetermined designed height above the float line of the hulls; structural framework connecting the hulls in parallel relationship with the tubular aerodynamic body and maintaining a predetermined designed height from the float line of the hulls and the tubular aerodynamic body such that the passing high waves will be allowed to pass freely through the said predetermined designed height; said structural framework having stilt structures, deck and transversal frames whereby the stilt structures are vertically positioned and are distributed thru the length of the length of the hull, coincident to the respective longitudinal axial vertical plane of the hulls; said traverse frames extend laterally on one side of the tubular aerodynamic body from the bow and the stern defining a wing-like structure; and a propulsion system installed on the vessel to power the same.

6. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 5 wherein the two tubular aerodynamic bodies are bridged transversely by an access structure.

7. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 6 wherein the access structure is capable of having passengers, cargoes, crews and control system.

8. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 7 wherein the access structure is of aerodynamic form blending with the said tubular aerodynamic bodies.

9. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 1 wherein the hulls are filled with closed cell light material to prevent water from intruding-in thereby making the vessel unsinkable.

10. A catamaran-type vessel construction comprising: at least one tubular aerodynamic body for carrying crews, control system, passengers, and cargoes; at least two narrow, slender hulls buoyantly supporting said tubular aerodynamic body, said narrow hulls being arranged in parallel to each other and to the tubular aerodynamic body by a deck and transverse structural framework lying horizontally at designed height from the float line of the hulls such that the said deck and traverse structural framework and the tubular aerodynamic body will stay clear, free and away from the crest of the passing high waves relative to the said structures of said hulls high above from the hulls float line level; said hulls being connected to the tubular aerodynamic body the extended vertical side walls and its accompanying structures emanating from the hulls.

11. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 10 wherein said deck and traverse structure are provided with plurality of vent holes allowing the crest of the waves higher than the designed height to vent through.

12. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 11 wherein the hull nearest to the said tubular aerodynamic body is made longer than the length of said tubular aerodynamic body to maximize the narrowest hull for speed.

13. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 12 wherein the narrow, slender hulls are buoyantly supporting two parallel and apart tubular aerodynamic bodies.

14. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 13 wherein said tubular aerodynamic bodies are bridged transversely by a traverse structural means of aerodynamic form blending with the aerodynamic body tubular means for access between the tubular aerodynamic bodies whereby said traverse structural means is capable of housing crews, passengers, cargoes and control system of the vessel.

15. A catamaran-type vessel construction as in claim 14 wherein the vessel is powered by known propulsion system.

KENNY I. VINCI Inventor