Recirculation-Based Alternating Blowdown Sea Chest
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current sea chests face challenges with debris clogs and maintenance due to debris in the water intake, leading to reduced operational efficiency and increased maintenance costs, as they lack designs for varying water volumes and recirculation capabilities to maintain constant inlet temperature and prevent fouling.
Innovation Solution
A recirculation-based alternating blowdown sea chest system with a cover assembly featuring grates connected to pipes and valves that allow for selective fluid ingress and egress, enabling constant variable fluid flow and blowdown procedures through a pump and recirculation pipe, allowing for continuous operation and reduced maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a single large opening sea chest is used to maximize water intake, then the volume of water flow is improved, but the system becomes highly susceptible to debris clogs and requires manual cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The single large opening sea chest is divided into multiple smaller parallel inlet ducts (first inlet duct, second inlet duct, etc.). Each duct can be independently operated and cleaned. This segmentation allows the system to maintain high total water flow while reducing the susceptibility of any single duct to complete clogging, and enables targeted cleaning of only the affected duct rather than manual cleaning of the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a blowdown procedure where water is recirculated back through the sea chest to flush out and discard accumulated debris from the inlet ducts. This continuous discarding of debris through recirculation eliminates the need for manual cleaning and maintenance while preserving the water intake function.
2Reliability
If a grate is installed over the sea chest aperture to filter debris, then protection from debris clogs is improved, but water flow resistance increases and operational efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a single large grate over the entire sea chest aperture, the system divides the intake into multiple smaller parallel inlet ducts. Each duct has its own smaller opening that is less prone to complete clogging, eliminating the need for large-area grates that create significant flow resistance. The segmentation allows water to flow efficiently through multiple pathways while maintaining protection against debris.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous recirculation and blowdown operations that constantly flush debris from the inlet ducts. This continuous action maintains clear flow paths without requiring restrictive grates, ensuring uninterrupted water flow and sustained operational efficiency while providing ongoing protection against debris accumulation.
3Device complexity
If sea chest operates without recirculation capability, then system simplicity is maintained, but debris accumulation occurs and requires frequent manual intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service through automatic recirculation and blowdown operations. The pump recirculates water back through the sea chest inlet ducts, automatically flushing out accumulated debris without requiring manual intervention. This self-cleaning mechanism eliminates the need for frequent manual maintenance while adding relatively simple recirculation components to the system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system recovers and reuses water by recirculating it through the inlet ducts during blowdown operations. This continuous recirculation serves dual purposes: it flushes debris from the system for discarding, and maintains water flow for cooling operations, thereby reducing maintenance time without significantly increasing system complexity.
4Temperature
If constant water flow is maintained through the sea chest, then cooling efficiency is improved, but debris accumulation and fouling increase over time
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic blowdown operations where recirculated water is directed back through the inlet ducts at intervals to flush out accumulated debris. This periodic action temporarily increases flow velocity and turbulence to dislodge and remove fouling materials, thereby maintaining clean flow paths and stable inlet temperatures over extended operational periods without continuous manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously recirculates water through the inlet ducts to flush and discard accumulated debris and fouling materials. This recirculation process removes harmful deposits that would otherwise insulate heat transfer surfaces and degrade cooling efficiency, thereby maintaining stable inlet temperatures and preventing thermal expansion/contraction stresses while using the same water resource repeatedly.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively mitigates clogs and maintains operational efficiency by continuously recirculating fluids, reducing maintenance needs and ensuring a constant influx of fluid, even when debris is present, thereby enhancing the operational ability of ships and raw water-using complexes.
Implementation Method 1
The pump is configured to promote suction of fluid through the cover assembly
Implementation Method 2
A recirculation pipe is configured to draw water from the discharge pipe and facilitate the blowdown of the system
Implementation Method 3
Valves, wherein each are disposed the pipes and are configured to operate in a first mode and a second mode
Implementation Method 4
it discloses a sea chest with an orifice through which a burst of air or water may be sent to clean debris, it fails to disclose a design incorporating parallel inlet ducts
Implementation Method 5
The keyhole shape through the bottom surface of the sea chest is critical to its function and causes eddies to form at its outside edges
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments described herein provide recirculation-based alternating blowdown sea chest. The sea chest has a cover assembly with a plurality of grates thereon. Each grate is connected with a pipe in fluid communication with a pump. The pump provides suction while a plurality of valves modulate the flow of water through the system. A recirculation pipe promotes the blowdown of fluids within the system and permits tandem function of water intake and expulsion resulting in maximum efficiency of the sea chest with continuous functionality while in use.