Floating Quay Deck With Ballast Slope for Unit Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The deployment of floating wind turbine platforms from stationary quays into bodies of water is challenging due to their size and weight, requiring expensive tailormade equipment or submersible barges, and lacks suitable infrastructure for efficient handling.
Innovation Solution
A relocatable quay with a deck that can be elevated and lowered using ballast compartments and an elevator system, featuring a gradual slope to facilitate the deployment of floating units, such as wind turbine platforms, by adjusting buoyancy and controlling the slope for seamless transfer into the water.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If permanent tailormade equipment is built into the stationary quay, then deployment capability is improved, but infrastructure cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The deployment system is divided into separate functional modules: a relocatable floating quay unit that can be detached and moved, rather than permanently fixed infrastructure. This segmentation allows the complex deployment function to be isolated in a movable unit rather than built into the entire quay infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The floating quay is designed with dynamic characteristics - it can be relocated to different positions, adjusted in elevation using ballast compartments, and reconfigured for different deployment scenarios. This dynamic flexibility replaces the need for multiple permanent fixed installations.
2Ease of operation
If submersible barges are used for deployment, then deployment capability is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using expensive specialized submersible barges, the invention uses a simplified floating platform that replicates the essential function of water-level transfer. The floating quay copies the deployment capability of barges but uses simpler, more cost-effective construction methods and materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The floating quay is designed as a temporary or semi-permanent solution that can be deployed only when needed for installation operations, then relocated or stored. This replaces expensive permanent infrastructure or specialized barges with a more economical, on-demand deployment platform.
3Ease of operation
If a floating quay with gradual slope is used, then ease of deployment is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The floating quay uses ballast compartments that can be filled with or emptied of water to control the platform's elevation and create the gradual slope needed for equipment rollout. This hydraulic mechanism provides a simple way to adjust the deck angle without complex mechanical systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The elevation and slope parameters of the floating quay deck are made variable through the ballast system. By changing the water level in ballast compartments, the deck can be positioned at different angles to create the optimal gradual slope for deployment, adapting to different equipment sizes and water conditions.
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
Enables cost-effective and efficient deployment of floating units by avoiding the need for permanent infrastructure and expensive barges, allowing for flexible relocation and reuse of the quay for multiple installations.
Implementation Method 1
at least one ballast compartment positionable to intake water from the body of water to lower the deck and to eject water into the body of water to raise the deck
Implementation Method 2
a gradual slope, which may be from an elevation of a surface of the stationary quay to a submerged position below a water level of a water surface of the body of water
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 2
AI summary
A floating quay includes a deck relocatable in a body of water adjacent a stationary quay to receive one or more floating units. The deck includes a gradual slope from an elevation of a surface of the stationary quay to a submerged position below a water level of a water surface of the body of water. The floating quay further includes an elevator system positionable to raise and lower at least a portion the deck to receive the one or more floating units from the stationary quay and to deploy the one or more floating units into the body of water using the gradual slope of the deck.