Ice breaker

Abstract

An icebreaker is disclosed. The icebreaker according to the present invention includes an icebreaker hull that performs an icebreaking operation to break ice on the water surface, and an ice breaking unit coupled to the icebreaker hull that pressurizes the ice before the icebreaker hull to cause cracks in the ice.

Description

Technology Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an icebreaker, and more specifically, to an icebreaker capable of easily breaking ice on the sea surface while also improving operational performance. Background Technology

[0002] Generally, an icebreaker refers to a vessel used to break ice formed in an ice-covered sea area. It performs roles such as breaking the ice in the sea area to create a shipping lane to guide the navigation of other vessels, such as transport ships, protecting offshore structures from floating icebergs in the sea area, and rescuing vessels trapped in the sea area.

[0003] The Arctic region, including Alaska, northern Canada, and the Russian Arctic, is rich in various natural resources such as oil and natural gas. Since the 1970s, as Arctic resource development has become active, hinterland cities for transporting and storing mined resources have been developing along the Arctic coast.

[0004] In addition, the Arctic Sea Route has been established as a shipping route connecting these Arctic coastal regions with mid-latitude consumption areas such as East Asia, North America, and Europe, and recently, the Arctic Sea Route is being utilized as the shortest route connecting East Asia and Western European countries in the Atlantic.

[0005] In particular, with Russia officially opening the Arctic Sea route to the outside world in 1991, the route is gaining prominence as the shortest route connecting major economic regions of Northern Europe and East Asia, with the expectation of reduced operating costs through shorter distances and travel times.

[0006] To navigate the Arctic Sea route, an icebreaker capable of breaking through ice approximately 1.5 meters thick and navigating independently is required under ambient conditions of minus 45 degrees or lower.

[0007] Conventionally, resource transport in polar regions was carried out in a manner where icebreakers and ice-strengthened cargo ships or tankers formed a fleet, and as the icebreaker moved forward breaking the ice, the ice-strengthened cargo ships or tankers followed the icebreaker, moving through the broken ice.

[0008] This method is not economically viable because it requires the simultaneous deployment of two ships with different functions. Recently, however, icebreaking tankers equipped with icebreaking capabilities have been developed, making it possible for icebreaking tankers to operate in polar regions on their own.

[0009] Conventional icebreakers simultaneously perform the processes of breaking and clearing the ice in their path. Therefore, an icebreaker shape capable of efficiently performing these functions and corresponding propulsion power are required. When comparing the breaking and clearing processes, naturally, more power is consumed during the breaking process.

[0010] In conventional icebreakers, the methods of breaking ice include using the propulsion of an engine to push and break the ice with the bow, and having the bow climb onto the ice to break the ice with the weight of the bow section.

[0011] The bow of an icebreaker that uses a pushing method to break the ice is formed in a pointed shape (wedge shape), and the bow of an icebreaker that uses a weight method to break the ice is formed in a shape that has a gentle slope when viewed from the side.

[0012] Ice on the sea surface is strong against compression but weak against bending. Therefore, it is more advantageous to break the ice on the sea surface by riding on the ice with a rounded bow and inducing bending with its own weight rather than pushing the ice with a wedge-shaped bow.

[0013] On the other hand, a wedge-shaped bow is more advantageous than a rounded bow when clearing closed ice, and a wedge-shaped bow is also more advantageous than a rounded bow for navigation performance in ice-free waters. In other words, conventional icebreakers had a problem where navigation performance decreased as icebreaking performance increased.

[0014] Therefore, there is a need to develop an icebreaker that can increase icebreaking performance while minimizing the reduction in operational performance. Prior art literature

[0015] Republic of Korea Published Patent Application No. 10-2020-0027723, (March 13, 2020) The problem to be solved

[0016] The problem that the present invention aims to solve is to provide an icebreaker that has high icebreaking performance while reducing the reduction in operational performance. means of solving the problem

[0017] According to one aspect of the present invention, an icebreaker may be provided comprising: an icebreaker hull that performs an icebreaking operation to break ice on a water surface; and an ice breaking unit coupled to the icebreaker hull and pressurizing the ice before the icebreaker hull to cause a crack in the ice.

[0018] The ice breaking unit may include a bulb bracket coupled to the bow portion of the icebreaker hull; and a breaking bulb coupled to the bulb bracket and pressing the ice downward.

[0019] The above-mentioned bulb bracket can be positioned at a location higher than the waterline of the icebreaker hull.

[0020] In the above braking bulb, an inclined surface may be formed that increases in height from the front direction to the rear direction.

[0021] The above-mentioned braking bulb can be detachably coupled to the lower surface of the bracket for the bulb.

[0022] The above-mentioned braking bulbs may be provided in multiple numbers and arranged spaced apart from each other. Effects of the invention

[0023] Embodiments of the present invention have the advantage of being able to achieve high icebreaking performance while reducing the reduction in operational performance by providing an icebreaker hull that performs an icebreaking operation to break ice on the water surface and an ice-breaking section that pressurizes the ice before the icebreaker hull to cause cracks in the ice. Brief explanation of the drawing

[0024] FIG. 1 is a side view of the bow area of ​​an icebreaker according to one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a view of the bow area of ​​the icebreaker in Figure 1 from below. Figure 3 is a drawing illustrating the process of replacing the braking bulb of Figure 1 at the port. Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the state of the icebreaker of Figure 1 operating in an ice-free general sea area. Figure 5 is a drawing showing a state in which multiple braking bulbs of Figure 1 are provided. Specific details for implementing the invention

[0025] In order to fully understand the present invention, the operational advantages of the present invention, and the objectives achieved by the implementation of the present invention, reference must be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodiments of the present invention and the contents described in the accompanying drawings.

[0026] The present invention will be described in detail below by explaining preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. However, in describing the present invention, descriptions of already known functions or configurations will be omitted to clarify the gist of the invention.

[0027] FIG. 1 is a side view of the bow area of ​​an icebreaker according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view of the bow area of ​​the icebreaker of FIG. 1 from below, FIG. 3 is a view illustrating the operation of replacing the breaking bulb of FIG. 1 in a port, FIG. 4 is a view illustrating the state of the icebreaker of FIG. 1 operating in an ice-free general sea area, and FIG. 5 is a view illustrating the state in which a plurality of breaking bulbs of FIG. 1 are provided. FIG. 5 is a view of the icebreaker from below.

[0028] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the icebreaker according to the present embodiment includes an icebreaker hull (110) that performs an icebreaking operation to break ice on the water surface, and an ice breaking part (120) that is coupled to the icebreaker hull (110) and pressurizes the ice before the icebreaker hull (110) to cause cracks in the ice.

[0029] The icebreaker hull (110) performs icebreaking operations to break ice on the water surface. The lower bow area of ​​the icebreaker hull (110) can be formed into a pointed shape (wedge shape).

[0030] The ice-breaking section (120) is attached to the icebreaker hull (110). This ice-breaking section (120) comes into contact with the ice before the icebreaker hull (110). The ice-breaking section (120) pressurizes the ice before the icebreaker hull (110) to cause cracks in the ice.

[0031] The ice breaking section (120) includes a bulb bracket (121) coupled to the bow portion of the icebreaker hull (110) as shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, and a breaking bulb (122) coupled to the bulb bracket (121) and pressing the ice downward.

[0032] A bulb bracket (121) is attached to the upper bow area of ​​the icebreaker hull (110) as shown in FIG. 1. This bulb bracket (121) is formed in a box shape. The rear side wall of the bulb bracket (121) is attached to the icebreaker hull (110).

[0033] In this embodiment, the bulb bracket (121) is positioned higher than the waterline (WL) of the icebreaker hull (110) as shown in FIG. 1.

[0034] The breaking bulb (122) is coupled to the bulb bracket (121). This breaking bulb (122) comes into contact with ice and presses the ice downward.

[0035] The braking bulb (122) is formed in a hemispherical shape as shown in FIG. 1. The braking bulb (122) has an inclined surface (122a) that increases in height from the front direction to the rear direction.

[0036] As such, the breaking bulb (122) according to the present embodiment is formed in a hemispherical shape, and an inclined surface (122a) is formed on the breaking bulb (122) such that the height increases from the front direction to the rear direction, so that as the icebreaker hull (110) advances, the breaking bulb (122) can come into contact with the ice and press the ice downwards, and accordingly, the ice bends and cracks easily occur in the ice.

[0037] These breaking bulbs (122) are detachably coupled to the lower surface of the bracket (121) for the bulb. Thus, a breaking bulb (122) that has been damaged by a certain icebreaking voyage can be replaced with a new breaking bulb (122) at the port.

[0038] Additionally, the breaking bulb (122) can be positioned above the waterline (WL) of the icebreaker hull (110) by being coupled to the bulb bracket (121). That is, as described above, by positioning the bulb bracket (121) at a location higher than the waterline (WL) of the icebreaker hull (110), the breaking bulb (122) coupled to the bulb bracket (121) by a predetermined trim applied to the icebreaker hull (110) can also be positioned at a location higher than the waterline (WL) of the icebreaker hull (110).

[0039] As shown in FIG. 4, when a certain trim is applied to the icebreaker hull (110) while operating in a normal sea area where there is no ice on the sea surface, the breaking bulb (122) does not come into contact with the sea surface, so the operating ability of the icebreaker is not reduced.

[0040] Meanwhile, the breaking bulb (122) of the present embodiment may be provided as a single unit. If the width of the icebreaker hull (110) is wide, the breaking bulb (122) may be provided in multiple units. The multiple breaking bulbs (122) provided may be spaced apart from each other in the width direction of the icebreaker hull (110).

[0041] The operation of the icebreaker according to the present embodiment will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

[0042] First, the case where an icebreaker operates in an ice area where there is ice on the sea surface is described. As shown in FIG. 1, a bulb bracket (121) is positioned on the ice, and a breaking bulb (122) coupled to the lower surface of the bulb bracket (121) presses the ice downward to cause a crack in the ice.

[0043] At this time, the icebreaker hull (110) enables the breaking bulb (122) to press the ice downwards by moving forward. Additionally, the icebreaker hull (110) enables the breaking bulb (122) to press the ice downwards by moving the bow up and down.

[0044] The ice that has cracked due to the pressure of the breaking bulb (122) is struck by the hull (110) of the icebreaker as it moves forward and is finally broken and cleared.

[0045] Since the ice that has cracked due to the breaking bulb (122) is crushed by the icebreaker hull (110), the crushing of the ice is easily achieved.

[0046] Next, the case where the icebreaker operates in a normal sea area where there is no ice on the sea surface is described. As shown in FIG. 4, the icebreaker is operated with a predetermined trim applied to the hull (110) of the icebreaker so that the braking bulb (122) does not touch the sea surface. Since the braking bulb (122) does not touch the sea surface and thus does not cause resistance, the operating capability of the icebreaker is not reduced by the braking bulb (122).

[0047] An icebreaker according to an embodiment of the present invention has the advantage of being able to reduce the reduction in operational performance while having high icebreaking performance by having an icebreaker hull (110) that performs an icebreaking operation to break ice on the water surface and an ice breaking unit (120) that pressurizes the ice before the icebreaker hull (110) to cause cracks in the ice.

[0048] Although the present embodiment has been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the scope of the present embodiment is not limited to the drawings and descriptions mentioned above.

[0049] As such, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments and can be modified and varied in various ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, such modifications or variations should be deemed to fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention. Explanation of the symbols

[0050] 110: Icebreaker hull 120: Icebreaking section 121: Bulb bracket 122: Breaking bulb WL: Waterline

Claims

Claim 1 An icebreaker hull that performs an icebreaking operation to break ice on the water surface; and an ice-breaking unit coupled to the icebreaker hull and pressurizing the ice before the icebreaker hull to cause cracks in the ice, wherein the ice-breaking unit comprises: a bulb bracket coupled to the bow portion of the icebreaker hull, with its rear side wall coupled to the icebreaker hull, and positioned at a location higher than the waterline (WL) of the icebreaker hull; and a breaking bulb coupled to the bulb bracket and pressurizing the ice downward, wherein the breaking bulb is formed in a hemispherical shape and the breaking bulb is provided with an inclined surface that increases in height from the front direction to the rear direction, and the breaking bulb is detachably coupled to the lower surface of the bulb bracket. Claim 2 delete Claim 3 delete Claim 4 An icebreaker according to claim 1, characterized in that the breaking bulbs are provided in multiple numbers and spaced apart from each other.

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