4590 results about "Buoyant flow" patented technology

Methods and compositions useful for subterranean formation treatments, such as hydraulic fracturing treatments and sand control that utilize relatively lightweight and/or substantially neutrally buoyant particulates. Particles that may be employed include particulates of naturally occurring materials that may be optionally strengthened or hardened by exposure to a modifying agent; porous materials including selectively configured porous material particles manufactured and/or treated with selected glazing materials, coating materials and/or penetrating materials; and well treating aggregates composed of an organic lightweight material and a weight modifying agent. The relatively lightweight particulate may be suspended as a substantially neutral buoyant particulate and stored with a carrier fluid as a pumpable slurry.

A system for use in petroleum production at sea includes a guide frame for one or more riser pipes, on a semisubmersible production vessel. One or more main buoyancy member are arranged separately on at least one riser to carry the main part of the riser's weight. Each riser separately carries a Christmas tree on its top, near a main deck of the vessel. The guide frame comprises vertical main elements extending vertically downwards from the deck, through the splash zone and through the upper, more wave- and current-influenced zone of the sea. The guide frame also includes horizontal guide plates comprising vertically open cells formed of a horizontally arranged framework of beams. Lateral stabilization devices guide the risers' and the main buoyancy members' vertical movement relative to the vessel and restrict horizontal movement of the risers with respect to the guide frame. The guide plates are arranged in at least two levels on the guide frame. A lower guide plate is arranged at the lower ends of the vertical main elements', and a guide plate is arranged just below or near the splash zone. At least one main buoyancy member is held on the riser in level with, and guided by, lateral stabilization devices arranged in one or more guide plates below the upper, more wave- and current-influenced zone near the sea surface. The risers are without buoyancy elements through the splash zone, and thus are less exposed to the water forces in the upper zone of the sea.

A floating wind turbine system with a tower structure that includes at least one stability arm extending therefrom and that is anchored to the sea floor with a rotatable position retention device that facilitates deep water installations. Variable buoyancy for the wind turbine system is provided by buoyancy chambers that are integral to the tower itself as well as the stability arm. Pumps are included for adjusting the buoyancy as an aid in system transport, installation, repair and removal. The wind turbine rotor is located downwind of the tower structure to allow the wind turbine to follow the wind direction without an active yaw drive system. The support tower and stability arm structure is designed to balance tension in the tether with buoyancy, gravity and wind forces in such a way that the top of the support tower leans downwind, providing a large clearance between the support tower and the rotor blade tips. This large clearance facilitates the use of articulated rotor hubs to reduced damaging structural dynamic loads. Major components of the turbine can be assembled at the shore and transported to an offshore installation site.

The present invention relates to a netpen for breeding, storage, or transport of fish in the sea, in particular completely or in part in open sea regions outside the skerries, wherein the netpen may be lowered in the sea to a desired depth when needed, wherein the netpen may be elevated to a half or approximately half submerged state for various work operations, such as maintenance and inspection of the netpen or harvesting, and wherein netpen has a substantially spherical geometry. The invention is characterized in that the netpen consists of a framework of stays (1, 2, 3, 4) mainly comprising polyethylene or polyethylene-like materials, such as PolyEthylene Low Density (PELD) or PolyEthylene High Density (PEHD), preferably PEHD, a horizontal through center pole (5) also serving as a buoyancy adjusting element for elevation and lowering of the netpen, a horseshoe-shaped working platform (6) having an integrated dock (7) for working vessels, the entire working platform including dock being liftable and lowerable through buoyancy adjustment by means of a designated element (13), and the working deck being mounted on an extended axle (15) on the center pole in such a manner that the netpen may be rotated inside said working deck. On said axle, through lines (8), there are also attached buoys (10) that gives the netpen sufficient reserve buoyancy in normal position as well as weighting organs (9) that, when the netpen is to be stabilized fully submerged at a desired depth, is landed on the sea floor; alternatively, the netpen is stabilized at the desired depth due to the reserve buoyancy in the floatation unit (30) and the floatation element (23), as shown in FIG. 30. Life-supporting functions, such as fodder, energy, and air, are being supplied to the netpen through a lifeline from a nearby floatation unit (30), preferably a platform being an integrated part of the anchoring for the netpen.

The present invention relates generally a method and apparatus for adjusting the buoyancy of towed seismic arrays comprising a plurality of streamers and specifically to the dynamic buoyancy control of the buoyancy of a towed array of streamers by means of applying current to electroactive polymers (EAP) incorporated within the towed array of seismic streamers. The bulk density of the streamer array is electrically altered to accomplish neutral buoyancy for a towed array of streamers within the full range of water-densities from fresh to extremely dense seawater.

A decoy adapter stand allows a floatable buoyant waterfowl decoy to be adapted for use on land. The decoy adapter stand includes an upper securing bracket, a base, and a vertical spacer joining the upper bracket to the base. The securing bracket is used to secure a floatable buoyant waterfowl decoy to the stand, and the base provides a stable support. In use, the vertical spacer distances the decoy from the surface of the ground, so that the decoy appears to be standing. A first, freestanding embodiment of the decoy adapter stand includes a footed base. A second embodiment of the decoy adapter stand includes a staked base, where portions of the base are insertable into the ground. A method of using the described apparatus to adapt a floatable buoyant decoy for land use is also described.

A method for separating a second fluid or a particulate from a host fluid is disclosed. The method includes flowing the mixture through an acoustophoretic device comprising an acoustic chamber, an ultrasonic transducer, and a reflector. The transducer includes a piezoelectric material driven by a voltage signal to create a multi-dimensional acoustic standing wave in the acoustic chamber. A voltage signal is sent to drive the ultrasonic transducer in a displacement profile that is a superposition of a combination of different mode shapes that are the same order of magnitude to create the multi-dimensional acoustic standing wave in the acoustic chamber such that the second fluid or particulate is continuously trapped in the standing wave, and then agglomerates, aggregates, clumps, or coalesces together, and subsequently rises or settles out of the host fluid due to buoyancy or gravity forces, and exits the acoustic chamber.

Disclosed is a drone capable of operating in an aqueous environment. The drone may include a buoyant structure configured to provide buoyancy. Further, the drone may include one or more propulsion units configured to propel the drone. Furthermore, the drone may include an upper camera disposed on an upper side of the drone. Additionally, the drone may include a lower camera disposed on a lower side of the drone. Further, each of the upper camera and the lower camera may be configured to capture images. Furthermore, one or more legs configured to enable the drone to stand on a solid surface. Additionally, the drone may include one or more leg-actuators coupled to the one or more legs. Further, the one or more leg-actuators may be configured to change a state of the one or more legs to one of an extended state and a retracted state.

The invention provides a preparation method of a high-impact-resistance solid buoyancy material. The high-impact solid buoyancy material disclosed by the invention improves the impact resistance of the solid buoyancy material by using irradiation-crosslinked maleic anhydride grafted ultrahigh-molecular weight polyethylene micrometer particles as a flexibilizer. An impact-resisting modifying agent, together with epoxy resin, a curing agent, a catalyst, a coupling agent and hollow glass beads, is processed to prepare the high-impact-resistance solid buoyancy material. The two prepared solid buoyancy materials can be suitable for sea depths of 1000 m and 3000 m, and the impact strength is increased by 60% or higher than that before adding the impact-resisting modifying agent. The invention further provides a preparation method of the high-impact-resistance solid buoyancy material.

A water submersible communications device for use on a body of water includes a housing and a communications module. The housing has a geometric centroid. The housing is submersible in and floatable on the body of water. The communications module is mounted on and/or in the housing. A center of buoyancy of the communications device is located substantially at the geometric centroid of the housing.

New types of “airborne spinnaker sails” are disclosed, made from high-strength straps that are interwoven in a manner that preserves open space between them. These devices, referred to as “webbing sails” or simply “web sails”, are designed for use in conjunction with buoyant lifting devices, to capture and harvest wind energy in a way which will generate large mechanical pulling forces, which can be used to drive electric power generators. These types of web sails are designed to operate in winds that exceed 100 or even 150 miles per hour.

The various embodiments disclosed herein provide a generalized system for extracting gravitational energy from the planet and provide for a general, pollution free, mass lifting and energy conversion system in which the laws of fluid flow, and in particular buoyancy and gravity are utilized to lift an arbitrary mass to a higher gravitational potential energy, where upon the increased potential energy can be converted to other forms of energy. Novel and non-obvious features of the fluid interface device, used to insert the buoyant object into the buoyant fluid, insure that the insertion energy is less than the potential energy gained by the object. The net increase in potential energy can be converted to other forms of energy such as electrical power or mechanical energy. It is shown in that energy gain is effectively extracted from the gravitational field of the planet without breaking the laws of conservation of energy.

A high-throughput micro-droplet immobilization method, based on the principle of buoyancy and surface tension, is controlled on a microfluidic chip. The micro-droplet immobilization method specifically includes: injecting the continuous phase and the dispersed phase into the chip using a syringe pump, As a result, continuous monodisperse microdroplets are formed in the T-shaped microdroplet generation zone; the microdroplets continue to flow and enter the droplet catcher array driven by the syringe pump, and the droplets flow through the channel below the catcher due to buoyancy and The combined effect of surface tension enters the cylindrical catcher upwards; subsequent droplets flow through the lower channel of the droplet catcher that has successfully immobilized the droplet, and are sequentially captured in subsequent droplet catchers. The invention simplifies the principle and process of liquid droplet immobilization, the microfluidic chip involved is simple to manufacture, convenient to operate in experiments, stable in immobilization effect, does not cause damage to organisms in the liquid droplet, and is easy to carry out with other functional units on the chip. Flexible combination and scale integration.

The invention discloses a self-generating buoy device capable of preventing biological adsorption for marine environment monitoring. The buoy device comprises a buoy base, an environment monitor, a two-way turbine generator and a storage battery. A buoyancy cavity is formed in the inner side of the buoy base; a limiting anchor is connected to a rope below the environment monitor; a piston cylinderis arranged on the inner side of the buoy base, turbine blades are installed at the output ends of the two ends of the two-way turbine generator, a piston rod is arranged on the inner side of the piston cylinder, a side frame is arranged on the outer side of the control box, a limiting hook is hinged to the lower surface of the side frame, and a hidden groove is formed in the limiting hook. The self-generating buoy device capable of preventing biological adsorption for marine environment monitoring can automatically clean the outer side of the buoy device in real time, effectively prevent thesurface of the buoy device from adsorbing marine organisms to cause the corrosion of the surface of the device, effectively prolong the service life of the device, can perform self-generation by utilizing waves and sunshine, and is environment-friendly and energy-saving.

A marine vessel comprising a command module, first and second buoyant tubular foils, and first and second struts for connecting the first and second buoyant tubular foils to the command module, respectively, wherein the first and second buoyant tubular foils provide substantially all buoyancy required for the marine vessel, and wherein the marine vessel further comprises first and second engines enclosed within the first and second buoyant tubular foils, respectively, and first and second propulsion units connected to the first and second engines, respectively, for moving the marine vessel through water, and means for reducing drag on the vessel as the vessel moves through water.