Floating Device for Tidal Power Plant Installation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The installation of tidal power plants on ocean floors is hindered by high facility weight, requiring large and complex aquatic vehicles with lifting mechanisms, which are difficult to maneuver due to wind and wave movements, and face challenges in precise positioning and coupling, leading to potential damage from uncontrolled movements during the installation process.
Innovation Solution
A reusable and scalable installation device with a removable floating unit providing adjustable buoyancy, guided by a traction cable arrangement, which decouples from wave influences and allows precise, secure, and rapid installation and maintenance of tidal power plants on submersible support structures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a ship crane is used to lower the tidal power plant to the support structure, then the facility can be positioned, but the ship is heavily influenced by wind and wave movements making precise positioning difficult
Solution Approach 1:
A floating device acts as an intermediary between the ship and the tidal power plant. The floating device is coupled to the tidal power plant and equipped with a buoyancy force that compensates for the plant's weight, allowing it to float independently on the water surface. This intermediary system decouples the positioning operation from direct ship-crane manipulation, enabling precise positioning without the harmful effects of wind and waves acting on the heavy facility.
2Extent of automation
If guide cables are stretched between the installation vehicle and support structure for automatic guidance, then the tidal power plant can be automatically guided during final approach, but wave movements cause uncontrolled movements and potential damage
Solution Approach 1:
The floating device serves as a stable intermediary that carries the tidal power plant during the final approach. Equipped with adjustable buoyancy and trimming tanks, the floating device maintains controlled positioning independent of wave movements, eliminating the uncontrolled movements and potential damage that would occur with cable-based guidance systems.
3Ease of manufacture
If the entire facility including foundation is sunk to the ocean floor, then the facility can be installed, but the facility must be leveled and contact points must be secured requiring complex operations
Solution Approach 1:
The installation process is segmented into two independent parts: first, the foundation structure is erected on the seabed; second, the tidal power plant is lowered onto the completed foundation using the floating device. This segmentation eliminates the need to sink the entire facility together, simplifying the installation process and eliminating complex leveling and securing operations.
4Productivity
If large-scale facilities are used for economical tidal current usage, then energy production increases, but the high weight makes installation difficult requiring specially adapted aquatic vehicles
Solution Approach 1:
The floating device is equipped with a buoyancy force that acts as a counterweight to the tidal power plant's high weight. By adjusting the buoyancy force, the floating device can support the entire weight of the facility, eliminating the need for specially adapted aquatic vehicles with complex lifting mechanisms. This allows standard vessels to install large-scale facilities economically.
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 solution enables stable and predictable force actions during installation, reducing the risk of damage and increasing efficiency by using buoyancy and traction cables to guide the tidal power plant to the coupling point, while minimizing ship-side lifting capacity and wave-induced movements.
Implementation Method 1
The floating device (7) is equipped with a buoyancy force which can be adjusted in magnitude and direction
Implementation Method 2
a traction cable arrangement (9) which extends from a linkage point (11) on the support structure (6) to linkage points (13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4) on the floating device (7) side
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a method for the installation of a tidal power plant having a water turbine, which is mounted so it is rotatable on a nacelle, the nacelle being assigned to a coupling device for placement of the tidal power plant on a coupling counterpart on a tower, which carries the tidal power plant during operation.