Floating Platform Sealing Wall for Wave-Stable Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing floating platforms with toroidal or ring-shaped supporting bodies are unstable under wave movements due to their large contact surface area, affecting their positional stability and orientation, especially in rough seas.
Innovation Solution
A floating platform design featuring a wall-shaped sealing element with a small cross-sectional area, supported by a gas-filled cavity, where the sealing section is immersed in the liquid to maintain pressure and a flexible membrane is used to decouple from wave forces, with optional ballast elements and buoyancy elements for enhanced stability and resistance to wave movements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If a toroidal or ring-shaped supporting body is used to provide buoyancy, then the platform can support large surface area structures, but the large contact surface area with waves causes instability and affects positional stability and orientation
Solution Approach 1:
The platform is divided into multiple independent floating elements (first floating element, second floating element, etc.) arranged in a grid pattern, where each element provides localized buoyancy support. This segmentation reduces the wave contact area of any single support point while collectively supporting the large surface area cover, resolving the contradiction between support capacity and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The cover is designed as a flexible membrane or thin-walled structure that can elastically deform under wave forces. This flexible cover decouples the large surface area from direct wave impact, allowing the platform to maintain positional stability while supporting extensive surface area through distributed flexible elements rather than rigid wave-facing structures.
2Volume of stationary object
If a large ring-shaped floating body is used to support the platform, then buoyancy is sufficient, but the voluminous structure has large surface area exposed to waves which impairs stability
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of one large ring-shaped floating body, the buoyancy is distributed across multiple smaller floating elements arranged in a grid. Each element has reduced wave exposure surface area while the collective buoyancy volume matches that of the original large structure, eliminating wave-induced instability while maintaining support capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The platform transitions from a two-dimensional planar support structure to a three-dimensional grid arrangement of floating elements. This vertical distribution of buoyancy elements through multiple layers provides sufficient total buoyancy volume while each individual element presents minimal wave-facing surface area, reducing harmful wave effects.
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 platform achieves high stability and reduced energy expenditure for maintaining pressure, with the flexible membrane absorbing wave forces without transferring them to the platform, ensuring stability and efficient energy use, suitable for various applications including solar power plants and aircraft landing platforms.
Implementation Method 1
The cover element is supported by the cavity below the cover element, which is filled with a gas under excess pressure
Implementation Method 2
an overpressure supporting the platform can be produced using a compressed air generating device
Implementation Method 3
a flexible membrane, in particular annular, is provided as the surrounding wall. The flexible membrane can yield to wave movements so that only very small forces are transferred to the platform itself
Data Source
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
Figure 2
AI summary
Floating platform (1) having a flat cover element (2) and a sealing element (3), which is connected to the cover element (2), makes a sealing contact with a liquid surface (4) during operation and encloses a closed cavity (5) together with the cover element (2) and the liquid surface (4) or a bottom surface, in which cavity (5) an overpressure which supports the cover element (2) can be produced by a compressed-air production apparatus (5'), with at least one circumferential wall (6) being provided as the sealing element (3), and having a sealing section (3') which projects into the liquid during operation.