WO2014187759A1

WO2014187759A1 - Apparatus and method for recovering liquid from a submerged container

Info

Publication number: WO2014187759A1
Application number: PCT/EP2014/060195
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kari Rinne
Original assignee: Alfons Håkans Oy Ab
Priority date: 2013-05-20
Filing date: 2014-05-19
Publication date: 2014-11-27
Also published as: CN105324301A; FI20135534A; RU2015151741A; EP2999625A1; FI124420B

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus for recovering liquid from a submerged container (5), said apparatus comprising a tool assembly comprising a processing tool for making a through hole in the submerged container (5), and a fixing arrangement (6) for fixing a valve arrangement (7) liquid tight at the site of the hole processed to the submerged container (5). To enable easy and fast mounting of the valve arrangement (7), the apparatus comprises sealing means comprising an elastic flexible member surrounding the processing tool, transfer means for transferring the processing tool two-dimensionally in a X-Y plane for processing a hole having anon-circular shape, the fixing arrangement (6) comprises a cylindrical part (18) having one or more stop surfaces to be placed beyond the hole against the inner surface of the submerged container, the cylindrical part (18) further having one or more stoppers (12a, 2c) to be positioned against a wall portion of the hole, a threaded (22) flange part (15) being associated with the valve arrangement (7), the cylindrical part (18) being attached to the flange part (15); and an actuator for rotating the flange part (15) relative to the cylindrical part (18) to position the wall of the submerged container (5) in compression between the stop surfaces and the flange part (15).

Description

Apparatus and method for recovering liquid from a submerged container

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus for recovering liquid from a submerged container, and more particularly to an apparatus according to the preamble of the attached independent apparatus claim. Such apparatus can typically be used for recovering liquid, such as oil, from a container of a sunken ship in order to reduce environment damage due to liquid leaking out from the container to the surrounding sea.

The present invention relates also to a method for recovering liquid from a submerged container, and more particularly to a method according to the preamble of the attached independent method claim.

Background of the invention

Such an apparatus and method for recovering liquid in known from U.S. Patent No. 7 377 226 B2. A drawback of this known apparatus is that it is in practice difficult to attach to the submerged container. This is owing to the fact that the fixing arrangement for fixing the valve arrangement of the apparatus to the site of the hole of the submerged container comprises a plurality of special designed DTB members comprising a drilling part at the tip of the DTB member followed by a screw tap part, a bolt and a bolt head at the upper end of the DTB member, said parts of the DTB members being integrally formed with each other. Fastening these DTB members to the submerged container is difficult, because the DTB members easily break during the fastening work. They have a tendency to break, because they have in practice to be small and hard in order to penetrate the wall of the container and perform the required tasks of drilling, tapping and also functioning as bolts. Such small and hard members are easily overloaded during mounting and fastening thereof, whereupon they easily break. If they break during mounting, one has to find a new place from the submerged container for fixing the valve arrangement and one must make new drilling position markings on the submerged container. This new mounting place of the submerged container must - like the previous mounting place - be cleaned before the valve arrangement can be fixed to the container. This is time cumbersome and consuming. Further, in order for the DTB members to perform drilling, tapping and bolting, they need to be rather long (about 100mm), which, in turn, means that there must be a corresponding empty space (of circa 100 mm) inside the submerged container behind the inner wall thereof. Such empty space is not always available, which complicates to find an adequate mounting site for the apparatus and hence makes the mounting even more difficult. As the valve arrangement of this known apparatus is fastened with a plurality of DTB-members which are positioned circum- ferentially outside the valve arrangement, the valve arrangement requires a large mounting surface. Brief disclosure of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for recovering liquid from a submerged container, said apparatus being easy to install to a huge variety of containers.

The apparatus of the invention is characterized by the features set forth in the attached independent apparatus claim.

Preferred embodiments of the apparatus are set forth in the attached dependent apparatus claims.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an easy applicable and fast method for installing a valve arrangement for recovering liquid from submerged containers of various constructions.

The method of the invention is characterized by the features set forth in the attached method claim, and a preferred embodiment of the method is set forth in the attached dependent apparatus claim.

An important advantage of the apparatus and method according to the invention is that it enables easy and fast installation of the valve arrangement for recovery of liquid from submerged containers of various kinds thus making liquid recovery easy and fast.

Brief description of the drawings

In the following the invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the attached drawing, in which

Figure 1 illustrates recovery of liquid from a submerged container with an apparatus according to the present invention,

Figure 2 is a perspective view of an apparatus according to the in- vention,

Figure 3 shows the apparatus of Figure 2 from below,

Figure 4 shows a top view of the apparatus of Figure 2,

Figure 5 shows in a perspective view a valve arrangement of the apparatus in Figure 2, and a hole made in the submerged container,

Figure 6 shows the hole of Figure 5 seen from above,

Figure 7 illustrates in a perspective view a fixing arrangement of the apparatus according to the invention, attached to the hole of the submerged container,

Figure 8 shows the fixing arrangement and the hole of Figure 7 seen from below,

Figure 9 illustrates in a sectional view the valve arrangement of the apparatus of the present invention fastened to the hole of the submerged container, and

Figure 10 illustrates another design of the fixing arrangement of the apparatus of the present invention and another design of the hole seen from below, corresponding to the view in Figure 8.

Detailed description of the invention

Figure 1 shows a submerged container 5 to which is attached an apparatus 1 of the invention for recovering liquid, e.g. oil, from the container 5. The apparatus 1 is connected by a hose 27 to remote control means 28 of a ship 29. On board the ship 29 is power supply 31 for driving essential functions of the apparatus 1 . Typically the power supply 31 delivers through hose 27 electricity to the apparatus 1 . Hydraulic power and/or pneumatic power may also be included in the power supply 31 .

The apparatus 1 for recovering liquid is shown in more detail in figures 2 to 4.

The apparatus 1 comprises a frame 20 to support different compo- nents of the apparatus.

In order to prevent water from entering to such components that may become damaged owing to water, the apparatus comprises a protective encapsulation 24. This encapsulation 24 also prevents liquid from escaping from the container 5 to the water outside the container 5 after a through hole 8 has been processed to the container 5 with the apparatus 1 , c.f. 5 to 8 and 10 where such a hole 8 (8' in Figure 10) is seen.

The apparatus 1 is attached to the outer surface of the submerged container 5 with a plurality of chucking devices 2a, 2b. In the embodiment shown, there are nine chucking devices 2a, 2b. The number may, however, vary. Typically at least three chucking devices are needed in order to provide good attachment of the apparatus to the container 5. The chucking devices 2a, 2b comprise suction pads (indicated with reference numeral 2a) and magnetic devices (indicated with reference numeral 2b), e.g. electromagnetic devices to be activated with electricity. It is conceivable that either magnetic devices or suction pads are missing so that the cucking devices comprise e.g. only suction pads, or alternatively only magnetic devices.

The apparatus comprises a working area 21 or working space, best seen in Figure 3, for accommodating a tool 3a for processing aforementioned hole 8 to the submerged container 5. The processing tool 3a can be moved two-dimensionally in a X-Y -plane along the outer surface of the submerged container 5 in order to enable processing of a hole having arbitrary geometrical form, and especially forms deviating from a circle, e.g. a hole 8 having a geometrical form shown in Figure 6 or a hole 8' having a geometrical form shown in Figure 10. In order to move the processing tool 3a two-dimensionally in the working area 21 , the tool 3a is part of a tool assembly 3 which comprises transfer means 9 generally indicated by reference sign 9, for transferring the tool 3a in X and Y -directions. The transfer means 9 comprise a first electric motor 9a for transferring the processing tool 3a in X-direction; and a second electric motor 9b for transferring the processing tool 3a in Y-direction, which is perpendicular to the X-direction. The processing tool 3a is at one end of an arm which at said one end extends into the working area 21 and an opposite end of the arm is positioned outside the working area 21 . The motors 9a, 9b are adapted to move the arm in order to move the processing tool 3a.

The processing tool 3a is a high pressure nozzle adapted to spray liquid, typically water, containing abrasive material, with high pressure, e.g. 2000- 4000 bar against the container 5 to make a hole in the wall thereof.

Before the apparatus is attached to the container 5, the area at which the apparatus is attached is cleaned. Cleaning can for instance be car- ried out with high pressure water. It is conceivable that mechanical cleaning is used as an alternative, or in addition, to cleaning with water. Said cleaning is carried out in order to prepare the apparatus 1 to be sealed against the container 5 with a sealing means 4, which is positioned tightly (water proof) against the surface of the container 5. The sealing means 4 is a seal in the form of an elastic flexible member (or construction) which surrounds the processing tool 3a (as seen in Figure 3) and surrounds also the working area 21 . The sealing means 4 has preferably a circumferential shape and is e.g. made of rubber.

After the apparatus 1 has been attached to the container 5 and the sealing means 4 has been positioned tightly against the container, the processing tool 3a is put into work to process the through hole 8 to the container. Figure 6 shows an example of suitable geometry for the hole 8.

After the hole 8 has been processed, the processing tool 3a is moved away from the working area 21 in order that a valve arrangement 7 can be inserted in the working area and fixed to the site of the hole 8. The valve arrangement 7 is for emptying the container 5 at desired point of time. The valve arrangement 7 comprises a valve (not shown) which can be opened and closed. When opened, liquid may pass the valve; and when closed liquid can- not pass the valve. The valve is not explained here in more detail, because the construction thereof can be of conventional type and known to persons skilled in the art. While processing the hole 8 to the container 5, the valve arrangement 7 is outside the working area 21 , and more precisely preferably in a storage position inside a casing 23 above the working area 21 , c.f. Figure 2 show- ing the valve arrangement 7 with dashed line in the storage position.

A transfer arrangement 19 associated with the valve arrangement 7 is arranged to transfer the valve arrangement from the storage position shown in Figure 2 to the working area 21 below (the working area 21 is seen form below in Figure 3). The transfer arrangement 19 comprises an electric motor 19a adapted to lower the casing 23 with the valve arrangement 7 inside, along threaded guides 19b arranged around the casing. The electric motor 19a is arranged to rotate threaded wheels (not shown) which surround the threaded guides 19b. When the threaded wheels (which are supported by the frame 20 of the apparatus) are rotated by the electric motor 19a, the casing 23, the valve arrangement 7 and the threaded guides 19b move in the vertical direction with respect to the frame 20 of the apparatus.

The valve arrangement 7 is seen in more detail in Figure 9. The valve arrangement 7 comprises a body 14, a flange part 15 attached at the lower end of the body 14 and a cylindrical part 18 attached to the flange part 15. The flange part 15 comprises a flange 15a and it is attached to the body 14 with threads. The cylindrical part 18 comprises outer threads 16 which attach the cylindrical part 18 to inner threads 22 of the flange part 15. The cylindrical part 18 comprises further three lugs 33a, 33b, 33c forming three stop surfaces 10a, 10b, 10c and the flange part 15 comprises a flange 15a.

To fix the valve arrangement 7 at the site of the hole 8 of the container 5, the casing 23 is lowered so that the flange 15a of the flange part 15 contacts the outer surface 17 of the container 5 and the stop surfaces 10a, 10b, 10c at the lower end of the cylindrical part 18 become positioned beyond the hole 8, see Figures 8 - 10. Thereafter the casing 23 is rotated with an actuator 13 (seen in Figure 2). A transmission element 25 in the form of a belt transfers rotation from the actuator 13 to the casing 23. In order to transfer rotational movement from the electric motor 13a of the actuator 13 to the valve arrangement 7, a gripper 26 is provided which engage with the valve arrange- ment 7. The gripper 26 can be disengaged from the valve arrangement 7 in order to detach the valve arrangement 7 from the rest of the apparatus after the valve arrangement 7 has been fixed on place on the container 5. The gripper 26 is for example an expandable device the expansion and contraction of which is actuated with an actuator 30, which preferably is an electric motor. When the gripper 26 is expanded, it grips the valve arrangement 7 and transfers rotational motion from the actuator 13 to the valve arrangement 7, and when the gripper 26 is contracted, no rotational motion can be transferred from the actuator 13, and the valve arrangement 7 is released from the apparatus and also from the casing 23.

When rotating the casing 23, the actuator 13 rotates the valve arrangement 7. However, rotation of the cylindrical part 18 is hindered, because the stop surfaces 10a, 10b, 10c are provided with protruding stoppers 12a, 12b, 12c which abut the wall of the hole 8. The stoppers 12a, 12b, 12c are elements which protrude from the stop surfaces 10a, 10b, 10c. The actuator 13 cannot turn the cylindrical part 18 more than a restricted angle (of e.g. 10 to 50 degrees), because the stoppers 12a, 12b, 12c hit against a wall portion of the wall defining the hole 8 - as shown in Figure 8. This is because the distance R1 from the central axis of the cylindrical part 18 to the stoppers 12a, 12b, 12c is larger than the distance r1 from the central axis of the hole 8 to the wall portion of the wall defining the hole 8, see Figure 8. The stoppers 12a, 12b, 12c are preferably cotter keys positioned in through holes made in the lugs 33a, 33b, 33c of the cylindrical part 18. To displace the stoppers 12a, 12b, 12c within said through holes, a force, having a direction of the stoppers and the axial direction of the cylindrical part 18, must be overcome. Before the casing 23 is put into rotation, the upper ends of the cotter keys are at a distance, relatively far, from the upper surface of the lugs 32a, 32b, 32c, i.e. from the stop surfaces 10a, 10b, 10c, and they (i.e. said upper ends) abut the lower surface (not indicated with reference sign in the drawings) of the flange 15a, or, alternative- ly they are close to said lower surface.

Owing to the above described construction of the apparatus, when the casing 23 is rotated, the flange part 15 rotates with respect to the cylindrical part 18, and during rotation the distance of the stop surfaces 10a, 10b, 10c to the flange part 15 and the distance L of the stop surfaces to the body 14 of the valve arrangement 7 become smaller causing eventually the wall of the container 5 to be compressed between the stop surfaces 10a, 10b, 10c and the flange 15a. The shaded areas in Figure 8 show the stop surfaces 10a, 10b, 10c supporting the valve arrangement 7 against the inner surface 1 1 of the container 5. During said rotation of the casing 23, the cotter keys are displaced in the holes of the lugs 33a, 33b, 33c so that the upper ends thereof come closer to the upper surface of the lugs. This is because the lower surface of the flange 15a presses against the upper ends of the cotter keys when rotating the casing 23 and the body 14 of the valve arrangement 7. Thanks to displaceable stoppers 12a, 12b, 12c in the form of e.g. said cotter keys, it is easy to mount the valve arrangement 7 to different containers 5 whose wall thickness may vary: the upper ends of the stoppers 12a, 12b, 12c will reach the wall of the hole 8 regardless the wall thickness of the container 5 after the flange 15a initially has been positioned against the outer wall of the container.

As it is seen from Figure 9, when mounted, the valve arrangement 7 is supported by the flange 15 against the outer surface 17 of the container 5. The flange 15 is sealed against the outer surface 17 of the container 5 with a ring seal 32, see Figure 9.

Figure 10 illustrates another shape of the hole 8' in the container 5' and shows also cylindrical part 18' having another design than the one shown in Figures 5 and 7 - 9. In Figure 10 only two stoppers 12a', 12b' are provided. Like in the embodiment of Figures 5 and 7 - 9, the distance R1 is larger than the distance . In Figure 10 applies additionally that the distance 2R1 between the stoppers 12a' and 12b' is larger than the smallest diameter d' of the hole 8'.

The invention has been described above only by an example and hence it is submitted that the invention can be implemented in many various ways within the scope of the attached claims. It is conceivable that the cylindrical part 18 has only one stop surface. However, at least two stop surfaces (c.f. Figure 10) are highly preferable in order to provide good support for the mounted valve arrangement 7. The stoppers 12a, 12b, 12c, 12a', 12b' need not be displaceable within holes in lugs 33a, 33b although this is preferable because it makes the mounting of the valve arrangement 7 very easy to perform.

Claims

1 . Apparatus (1 ) for recovering liquid from a submerged container (5, 5'), said apparatus comprising

- a protective encapsulation (24) for making the apparatus water- proof outwards,

- chucking devices (2a, 2b) for attaching the apparatus (1 ) to the submerged container (5, 5'),

- a tool assembly (3) comprising a processing tool (3a) for making a through hole (8, 8') in the submerged container (5, 5'),

- sealing means (4) for sealing the apparatus against the submerged container (5, 5'),

- a fixing arrangement (6) for fixing a valve arrangement (7) liquid tight at the site of the hole (8, 8') processed to the submerged container (5, 5'), which valve arrangement (7) can be placed from an open position, which ena- bles liquid from the submerged container (5, 5') to be transported through the valve arrangement (7), to a closed position in which transport of liquid from the submerged container through the valve arrangement (7) is prevented, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that

- the sealing means (4) comprise an elastic flexible member sur- rounding the processing tool (3a) of the tool assembly (3),

- the processing tool (3a) of the tool assembly (3) is associated with transfer means (9) for transferring in a working area (21 ) of the apparatus the processing tool (3a) two-dimensionally in a X-Y plane for processing in the submerged container (5, 5') a hole (8, 8') having a non-circular shape,

- the fixing arrangement (6) for fixing the valve arrangement (7) at the processed hole (8, 8') of the submerged container (5) comprises a cylindrical part (18, 18') comprising one or more stop surfaces (10a, 10b, 10c, 10a', 10b') to be placed beyond the hole (8, 8') of the submerged container (5, 5') against the inner surface (1 1 ) or the submerged container, and one or more stoppers (12a, 12b, 12c, 12a', 12b') to be positioned against a wall portion of the wall defining the processed hole (8, 8'), the fixing arrangement (6) further comprising a threaded (22) flange part (15) associated with the valve arrangement (7) to which flange part the cylindrical part (18, 18') has been attached with threads (16) which correspond to the threads (22) of the flange part (15), - the valve arrangement (7) is associated with an actuator (13) for changing the distance (L) of said one or more stop surfaces (10a, 10b, 10c, 10a', 10b') of the cylindrical part (18, 18') to the flange part (15), the actuator (13) being adapted to rotate the flange part (15) relative to the cylindrical part (18, 18') to position the wall of the submerged container (5, 5') in compression between the stop surfaces (10a, 10b, 10c, 10a', 10b') of the cylindrical part (18) and the flange part (15).

2. An apparatus (1 ) according to claim 1, characterized in that said one or more stoppers (12a, 12b, 12c, 12a', 12b') are elements pro- truding from the stop surfaces (10a, 10b, 10c) of the cylindrical part (18, 18').

3. An apparatus (1 ) according to claim 1, characterized in that the processing tool (3a) is a high pressure nozzle adapted to spray liquid containing abrasive material against the outer surface (17) of the submerged container (5, 5') for processing said hole (8, 8') in the submerged container.

4. An apparatus (1) according to claim 1, characterized by comprising transfer means (9, 9a, 9b) for transferring the processing tool (3a) away from the working area (21) and back to the working area (21) and a transfer arrangement (19, 19a, 19b) for transferring valve arrangement (7) from a storage position to the working area (21) when the processing tool (3a) is off the working area (21 ).

5. An apparatus (1 ) according to claim 4, characterized in that the valve arrangement (7) is inside a casing (23) the height position of which with respect to the frame (20) of the apparatus is adjustable by the transfer arrangement (19, 19a, 19b).

6. An apparatus (1) according to claim 5, characterized in that the casing (23) is adopted to be rotated by means of the actuator (13) for rotating the flange part (15).

7. An apparatus (1 ) according to claim 1, characterized by a transmission element (25) associated with the actuator (13) for rotating the flange part (15), the transmission element (25) being adopted to rotate in addition to the flange part (15) a gripper (26) which is detachably fastened to the valve arrangement (7).

8. Method for recovering liquid from a submerged container (5, 5') using an apparatus (1) comprising - a protective encapsulation (24) for making the apparatus waterproof outwards,

- chucking devices (2a, 2b) for attaching the apparatus to the submerged container (5, 5'),

- a fixing arrangement (6) for fixing a valve arrangement (7) liquid tight at the site of the hole (8, 8') processed to the submerged container (5, 5'), which valve arrangement (7) can be placed from an open position, which enables liquid from the submerged container (5, 5') to be transported through the valve arrangement (7), to a closed position in which transport of liquid from the submerged container through the valve arrangement (7) is prevented;

the method comprising a step of attaching the apparatus to the submerged container (5, 5') with the chucking devices (2a, 2b), the method further being c h a r a c t e r i z e d by the steps of:

- fixing an elastic flexible member of the sealing means (4) tightly against the outer surface of the submerged container (5, 5') the sealing means surrounding the processing tool (3a) of the tool assembly (3),

- processing in the submerged container (5, 5') a hole (8, 8') having a non-circular shape by transferring in a working area (21 ) of the apparatus (1 ) the processing tool (3a) two-dimensionally in a X-Y plane,

- placing one or more stop surfaces (10a, 10b, 10c) of the fixing ar- rangement (6) beyond the hole (8, 8') of the submerged container (5, 5')

- positioning said one or more stoppers (12a, 12b, 12c, 12a', 12b') of the cylindrical part (18, 18') against a wall portion of the wall defining the processed hole (8, 8'),

- changing the distance (L) of said one or more stop surfaces (10a, 10b, 10c, 10a', 10b') to a threaded (22) flange part (15) associated with the valve arrangement (7) by rotating the flange part (15) relative to the cylindrical part (18, 18') so that the wall of the submerged container (5, 5') becomes compressed between the stop surfaces (10a, 10b, 10c, 10a', 10b') and the flange part (15).

9. A method according to claim 8, characterized in that the distance (2R1') between the protruding stoppers (12a', 12b') is bigger than the smallest diameter (d') of the processed hole (8').