Perpendicular Sheave Hoisting Device for Offshore Load Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hoisting devices used in the offshore industry face inefficiencies due to the need for large, cumbersome traveling bottom blocks with many sheaves to handle maximum loads, which increases fatigue on the hoisting cable and limits operational efficiency, especially when only a few sheaves are needed for lighter loads.
Innovation Solution
The hoisting device features sheaves with rotation shafts oriented perpendicular to each other, allowing for detachable sheaves that can be adjusted based on load requirements, reducing the longitudinal dimension of the traveling bottom block and enabling more efficient use of cable falls, thus optimizing between speed and power.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the number of sheaves in the traveling bottom block is increased to handle maximum loads, then the lifting capacity is improved, but the longitudinal dimension of the traveling bottom block increases and cable fatigue increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dimensionality change by arranging sheaves in multiple directions (longitudinally and laterally) rather than only in a single longitudinal line. The traveling bottom block is configured with sheaves extending in both longitudinal and lateral directions, allowing the system to accommodate a large number of sheaves for high lifting capacity while controlling the longitudinal dimension by utilizing the lateral dimension as well.
Solution Approach 2:
The traveling bottom block is segmented into multiple groups of sheaves arranged in different directions. Detachable sheaves are provided that can be selectively attached or detached based on load requirements, allowing the system to optimize between having fewer sheaves (smaller dimension) and more sheaves (larger capacity) by configuring only the necessary number for each specific operation.
2Strength
If the number of sheaves is increased to handle maximum loads, then the lifting capacity is improved, but cable fatigue and wear increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adapts the number of sheaves in the traveling bottom block based on the actual load requirements. Detachable sheaves can be attached when maximum lifting capacity is needed and detached when lighter loads are being handled, thereby optimizing cable speed and reducing unnecessary cable wear during operations that do not require maximum capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of the number of sheaves from a fixed value to a variable that can be adjusted based on operational requirements. By providing detachable sheaves, the system can modify the effective number of sheaves in the block, thereby optimizing the cable speed and reducing cable fatigue when full lifting capacity is not required.
3Productivity
If detachable sheaves are provided for optimization between speed and power, then operational efficiency is improved, but the width of the traveling bottom block increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes three-dimensional space by arranging sheaves in both longitudinal and lateral directions. This multi-directional arrangement allows the system to accommodate detachable sheaves for operational optimization while managing the spatial footprint of the traveling bottom block more effectively.
Data Source
AI summary
A hoisting device includes a hoisting cable, a winch, a crown block and a traveling bottom block provided with a load attachment device. Both the crown block and the traveling bottom block include one or more sheaves having an essentially horizontally extending rotation shaft about which sheaves the hoisting cable is reeved. At least some of the traveling bottom block sheaves are associated with a releasable connector, and are thereby detachable from the load attachment device and displaceable to an inoperative position. The rotation shaft of multiple traveling bottom block sheaves and multiple crown block sheaves is essentially perpendicular to the rotation shaft of remaining multiple traveling bottom block sheaves and remaining multiple crown block sheaves.