Assembly comprising a wet compartment and at least one anti-fouling energy source

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10316732-B2
Application number	US-201615579748-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2016
Priority date	Jun 9, 2015
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

An assembly comprises a wet compartment (100) having at least one inlet opening for allowing water to enter the wet compartment (100), a functional unit (2) located in the wet compartment (100), a dry area (200) which cannot be reached by water and which is outside of the wet compartment (100), a barrier (110) situated between the dry area (200) and the wet compartment (100), and at least one energy source (20) which is arranged and configured to emit energy for preventing biofouling of at least an exterior surface (17) of the functional unit (2), wherein the energy source (20) is arranged in the dry area (200), a path (112) being present between the dry area (200) and the wet compartment (100) for allowing energy emitted by the energy source (20) during operation thereof to reach the wet compartment (100), through the barrier (110).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An assembly comprising
a wet compartment having at least one inlet opening for allowing water to enter the wet compartment,
a functional unit located in the wet compartment, including an exterior surface,
a dry area which cannot be reached by water and which is outside of the wet compartment,
a barrier situated between the dry area and the wet compartment, and
at least one energy source which is arranged and configured to emit energy for preventing biofouling of at least one surface as present in the wet compartment, including the exterior surface of the functional unit,
wherein the energy source is arranged in the dry area, a path being present between the dry area and the wet compartment for allowing energy emitted by the energy source during operation thereof to reach the wet compartment, through the barrier, the functional unit being any hardware having an exterior surface in the wet compartment that the energy source is arranged to prevent biofouling of.

2. The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the barrier is adapted to allow energy emitted by the energy source during operation thereof to pass therethrough.

3. The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the barrier is provided with a window which is permeable to energy emitted by the energy source during operation thereof.

4. The assembly according to claim 3 , wherein the energy source and the window are positioned so as to allow energy emitted by the energy source during operation thereof to reach the surface in the wet compartment to be kept free from biofouling.

5. The assembly according to claim 3 , wherein the energy source has a generally elongated shape, wherein the window has a similar generally elongated shape, and wherein the energy source is arranged close to the window so as to have maximum exposure of the energy source to the wet compartment through the window.

6. The assembly according to claim 1 , comprising a plurality of energy sources, wherein the barrier is provided with a plurality of windows which are permeable to energy emitted by the energy sources during operation thereof.

7. The assembly according to claim 1 , comprising a reflector arrangement for directing energy emitted by the energy source during operation thereof towards the wet compartment.

8. The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the barrier is provided with at least one hole, and wherein the assembly comprises at least one element extending between the wet compartment and the dry area, through the hole in the barrier, the element being capable of conveying energy emitted by the energy source during operation thereof, and wherein optionally the element comprises an optical fiber for constituting an optical path between the dry area and the wet compartment.

9. The assembly according to claim 8 , wherein the functional unit comprises a plurality of tubes, a portion of the element being wrapped around and/or in between the tubes.

10. The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the energy source comprises a light source which is adapted to emit ultraviolet light, the barrier being provided with an optical window which is permeable to ultraviolet light.

11. The assembly according to claim 10 , wherein the energy source furthermore comprises a casing for accommodating the light source, and wherein optionally the window comprises material which is also present in the casing of the light source.

12. The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the surface in the wet compartment to be kept free from biofouling further includes an interior surface of walls delimiting the wet compartment.

13. A vessel comprising the assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the barrier comprises a wall arrangement delimiting the wet compartment in combination with a portion of the vessel's hull.

14. The vessel according to claim 13 , furthermore comprising an engine for driving the vessel, and an engine cooling system including a cooling apparatus, wherein the cooling apparatus comprises a plurality of tubes for containing and transporting fluid to be cooled in their interior, the tubes being intended to be at least partially exposed to water during operation of the cooling apparatus , wherein the functional unit located in the wet compartment comprises an entirety of the tubes of the cooling apparatus.

15. The vessel according to claim 14 , wherein the surface in the wet compartment to be kept free from biofouling further includes an interior surface of walls delimiting the wet compartment.

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Salters Bart Andre

Classifications

• F28F19/00

  Preventing the formation of deposits or corrosion, e.g. by using filters {or scrapers} · CPC title

• A61L2/10

  Ultraviolet [UV] radiation · CPC title

• F01P11/06 Primary

  Cleaning (in general B08B); Combating corrosion (in general C23F) · CPC title

• C02F2201/3222

  Units using UV-light emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• F01P3/207

  liquid-to-liquid heat-exchanging relative to marine vessels · CPC title