Offshore Pile Silencer Frame with Retractable Centering
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for mitigating noise during pile installation in the seabed, such as those for offshore wind turbine foundations, lack versatility in handling differently sized piles and ensuring accurate positioning and control, particularly during the hammering process.
Innovation Solution
A pile installation frame with radially retractable positioning devices within cylindrical walls, driven hydraulically, pneumatically, or electrically, allows for precise centering and alignment of piles of varying diameters, and includes features like ballastable buoyancy tanks and pressure-compensated compartments for noise reduction and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If fixed positioning devices are used in the cylindrical wall, then the structure is simple, but it cannot accommodate piles of different diameters and cannot provide accurate centering
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning devices are made radially movable rather than fixed, allowing them to adjust their position dynamically. The positioning devices can move radially inward and outward along the cylindrical wall to accommodate piles of different diameters while maintaining accurate centering capability
Solution Approach 2:
The radially movable positioning devices serve multiple functions: they can center piles of various diameters, provide structural support, and maintain the cylindrical shape. This single mechanism handles the versatility requirement for different pile sizes without requiring separate positioning systems for each pile diameter
2Measurement precision
If the positioning devices are extended to press against the pile, then accurate centering is achieved, but the positioning devices obstruct the hammering process
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning devices are designed to be radially movable, extending outward to press against the pile during centering operations, then retracting radially inward to clear the path for the hammer. This dynamic movement allows the system to switch between centering mode and hammering mode without obstruction
Solution Approach 2:
The positioning devices operate in periodic cycles: extend to center the pile, retract to allow hammering, extend again for the next pile or adjustment. This periodic extension and retraction enables both accurate centering and unobstructed hammering operations to occur in sequence
3Stability of the object's composition
If a heavy frame structure is used for stability, then the frame remains stable during operation, but transportation and positioning become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
Ballast tanks are incorporated into the frame structure to provide counterbalancing weight. The ballast can be adjusted to counteract the frame's own weight and stabilize the structure during operation, while allowing the frame to be more easily transported and positioned when ballast is reduced or removed
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 reliable, accurate, and noise-reduced pile installation across a range of pile sizes, with improved access for hammering and stability, ensuring effective noise mitigation and efficient seabed pile placement.
Implementation Method 1
The centering devices may comprises retractable elements that are hydraulically, pneumatically or electrically driven to be displaceable in a radial direction
Implementation Method 2
The centering devices may comprises retractable elements that are hydraulically, pneumatically or electrically driven to be displaceable in a radial direction
Implementation Method 3
which can be ballasted such that the cylindrical chambers come to rest on the sea bed
Implementation Method 4
a foam-coated steel tube that is lowered around the pile via a crane
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~5
Figure 6
AI summary
The invention relates to a pile installation frame (30) comprising one or more tubular noise reduction elements (1, 31,32,33) having a cylindrical wall (2)and a center line (8). The elements (1, 31,32,33) are along their length provided with spaced-apart positioning devices (12,13,14) that are radially retractable with respect to the centerline, for centering a pile (7) driven through the tubular element (1, 31,32,33) along the center line (8). The positioning devices are retracted when the hammer passes downward into the space bounded by the cylindrical wall.