Servicing Watercraft Auxiliary Sections for Cargo Impact Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
During watercraft servicing operations, there are challenges such as the risk of cargo falling and impacting the servicing watercraft, excessive relative movement between watercraft, limited reach due to vessel width, and simultaneous servicing constraints, which current methods like spacers and wider watercraft designs fail to adequately address, leading to safety issues, increased costs, and reduced operational efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A servicing watercraft equipped with auxiliary sections that can be deployed to increase stability, reduce rolling motion, and adjust positioning to avoid cargo impacts, while also allowing for optimal alignment and concurrent servicing without the need for spacers or increased width, utilizing pivoting or floating wings that can be stowed for transportation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a servicing watercraft is positioned side-by-side with a serviced watercraft, then servicing operations can be performed, but cargo may fall and impact the servicing watercraft causing safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions the servicing watercraft perpendicular to the serviced watercraft rather than side-by-side, changing the spatial dimension of the servicing approach. This perpendicular positioning allows the servicing watercraft to access the serviced watercraft from a direction that avoids the cargo storage areas, thereby eliminating cargo impact risk while maintaining servicing capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary structure (such as a platform or transfer mechanism) that facilitates servicing operations without requiring direct side-by-side positioning. This intermediary allows cargo transfer or servicing functions to be performed from a safe distance, preventing cargo from falling onto the servicing watercraft
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a spacer is inserted between watercraft to increase distance, then cargo impact risk is reduced, but the distance increases making servicing operations difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses an intermediary structure that provides both protection and functionality. Rather than a simple spacer, the intermediary includes platforms, transfer mechanisms, or structured connections that enable servicing operations to be performed effectively while maintaining the protective distance from falling cargo
3Stability of the object's composition
If the servicing watercraft width is increased to improve stability, then rolling motion is reduced, but drag increases and navigation becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic stabilization methods rather than increasing static width. This may include active stabilization systems, adjustable ballast, or dynamic positioning systems that maintain stability during servicing operations without requiring a permanently wider hull, thereby avoiding increased drag and navigation difficulties
Solution Approach 2:
The servicing watercraft may be divided into modular sections that can be configured or extended as needed. This segmentation allows the watercraft to maintain a compact, low-drag profile during navigation while being able to extend or reconfigure stable platforms during servicing operations
Data Source
AI summary
In accordance with one embodiment, a servicing watercraft that may be safely secured to a serviced watercraft. The servicing watercraft comprises at least one auxiliary section that may be positioned to either a) increase the effective width of the servicing watercraft thus reducing rolling motion while the servicing watercraft is stationary or in operation, OR b) decrease the width of the servicing watercraft thus reducing drag while the watercraft is moving through the water. Furthermore, the auxiliary section(s) help the servicing watercraft to be positioned in an optimum location adjacent to the serviced watercraft as to avoid impact from accidently dropped cargo or shipping containers from the serviced watercraft.