Inflatable Drifting Buoy with Counterweight for River Flow Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional water flow measuring buoys are prone to stranding and damage due to their rigid structure, which leads to increased maintenance costs and reduced effectiveness in turbulent water conditions, as they struggle to maintain stability and avoid impact in main streams and reefs.
Innovation Solution
A ball-game table-shaped buoy with a counterweight and flexible inflation structure, utilizing the Bernoulli principle for stable drifting and impact resistance, featuring conical inflation connectors and radially distributed stabilizing rods to prevent stranding and enhance resistance to impacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a hard structure buoy is used, then the buoy can maintain structural integrity in smooth water flow, but it is easily damaged by impact in turbulent water flow and reefs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible inflatable buoyancy body instead of a rigid hard structure. The inflatable body can deform and absorb impact forces when encountering reefs or turbulent flow, eliminating the hardness-bumping-hardness impact that damages conventional buoys while maintaining structural integrity through material flexibility and air cushioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The inflatable structure provides beforehand cushioning by creating an air-filled protective layer that absorbs impact energy before it reaches the internal electronics and structural components. This cushioning effect prevents damage from turbulent water flow and reef impacts without requiring expensive high-strength materials.
2Ease of manufacture
If a conventional geometric shape buoy is used, then the buoy can be easily manufactured, but it is easily stranded or stagnated in river rocks or debris
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adopts a spherical or spheroidal shape for the inflatable buoyancy body. This curved geometry allows the buoy to roll smoothly over rocks and debris rather than getting stranded, as the rounded form can naturally navigate irregular surfaces without flat contact points that would cause stagnation.
Solution Approach 2:
The inflatable structure provides dynamic adaptability to the buoy's shape and position. The flexible material allows the buoy to change its form slightly in response to water flow and obstacles, enabling it to maintain movement and avoid getting stuck, unlike rigid geometric shapes with fixed configurations.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the buoy structure is made more flexible to resist impact, then the impact resistance improves, but the ability to maintain stable drifting in main stream may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a counterweight system with adjustable weights positioned at the bottom of the buoy. This counterweight arrangement provides stabilizing force that maintains proper buoy orientation and drifting stability in the main stream, compensating for the flexibility of the inflatable structure and preventing excessive rolling or deviation from the intended drift path.
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 buoy effectively drifts in main streams, reduces failure rates due to impact, and maintains functionality in unfrequented environments with reduced material costs, enabling automatic observation without manual intervention.
Implementation Method 1
a counterweight steel plate capable of swinging against a water current impact
Implementation Method 2
The present invention utilizes a Bernoulli principle of fluid mechanics: a principle of producing a lateral thrust by an object in a fluid due to differences in flow velocities on either side
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a water flow measuring drifting buoy capable of preventing stranding and resisting impact, which includes: a ball-game table-shaped inflation body with a counterweight capable of drifting autonomously in a direction of a main stream of a water flow, wherein the inflation body is provided with at least two inflation connectors, and the inflation connectors are of a cross-shaped structure formed by connecting in a conical distribution with 4 inflation-stabilizing rods uniformly distributed along a circumferential radiation; the counterweight is 4-10 fan-shaped steel plates arranged annularly in the center of the bottom of the inflation body, and the fan-shaped steel plates are flexibly connected to each other to be able to shake. The ball-game table structure used in the present invention is selected by comparing various shapes to push a buoy to the middle of a river where the water flow is turbulent by using the difference in a water flow speed to prevent the water flow from being stranded where the water flow is slow or being blocked by a rock at a river bank so as not to continue the drift. The steel plate of the cross-shaped structure in the fan-shaped distribution is used, so that the buoy can be turned up and continue to drift once it has fallen to the ground, greatly improving the efficiency of drift.