Mooring rope device of floating offshore structure for avoiding ship collision, method for operating same, and method for installing same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11066131-B2
Application number	US-201816649333-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 20, 2018
Priority date	Sep 21, 2017
Publication date	Jul 20, 2021
Grant date	Jul 20, 2021

Abstract

A floating offshore mooring chain apparatus for preventing collision with a ship is proposed. The mooring chain apparatus includes a buoyant body floating on the water surface to transfer resources to a transport ship, a plurality of mooring chains fixed to the seabed to locate the buoyant body in position on the water surface, and a plurality of spider buoys disposed to a lower portion of the buoyant body such that the mooring chains laterally penetrate through the spider buoys, respectively, and extend toward the seabed in different directions, so that the mooring chains are moved by a rotating force along the extension directions thereof to displace the buoyant body.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A floating offshore mooring chain apparatus for preventing collision with a ship, the mooring chain apparatus comprising:
a buoyant body floating on the water surface to transfer resources to a transport ship;
a plurality of mooring chains fixed to the seabed to locate the buoyant body in position on the water surface; and
a plurality of spider buoys disposed to a lower portion of the buoyant body such that the mooring chains laterally penetrate through the spider buoys, respectively, and extend toward the seabed in different directions, so that the mooring chains are moved by a rotating force along the extension directions thereof to displace the buoyant body.

2. The floating offshore mooring chain apparatus according to claim 1 , comprising a guide roller provided so as to be symmetrical to the mooring chain stopper about the mooring chain inside the housing such that the guide roller presses one side of the mooring chain so that the mooring chain is closely abutted against and meshed with the mooring chain stopper.

3. The floating offshore mooring chain apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of the spider buoys comprises:
a plurality of housings provided underneath the buoyant body such that the mooring chains laterally penetrate through the housings, respectively, and extend to the seabed;
a pair of mooring chain stoppers provided inside the housing such that the mooring chain stoppers are spaced apart from each other so as to be engaged with the mooring chain, wherein in operation, when rotated, the mooring chain stopper engaged with the mooring chain moves the housing along the mooring chain, resulting in the extended length of the mooring chain in different direction being varied; and
a driving motor connected to one side of the mooring chain stopper to transmit a rotating force to the mooring chain stopper.

4. The floating offshore mooring chain apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a pair of sub gears respectively provided on one-sides of the mooring chain stoppers so that the mooring chain stoppers are rotated by the rotating force from the driving motor; and
a chain belt provided so as to be meshed with the sub gears so that the sub gears are rotated by the rotating force transmitted from the driving motor.

5. The floating offshore mooring chain apparatus according to claim 3 , comprising guide portions symmetrically provided on both sides, respectively, of the housing, so as to guide the mooring chain such that the extended length of the mooring chain by the mooring chain stopper is varied.

6. The floating offshore mooring chain apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein in the spider buoy, as the mooring chain stopper rotates to vary the extended length of the mooring chain, the position of the buoyant body is moved to prevent the collision with a transport ship drifting along the water surface by environmental forces.

7. The floating offshore mooring chain apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the spider buoys comprise a rotary shaft provided to connect the housings to the lower portion of the buoyant body through the center of the housings such that the respective housings are rotatable at 0 to 120 degrees.

8. The floating offshore mooring chain apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the rotary shaft is connected to the lower portion of the buoyant body through the center of the housings such that the spider buoy and the buoyant body, and adjacent housings are respectively spaced apart from each other.

9. A method of operating the floating offshore mooring chain apparatus according to claim 1 , the method comprising:
(A) a stage in which a transport ship drifts along the water surface;
(B) a stage in which the driving motor of the spider buoy operates in response to the movement of the transport ship;
(C) a stage in which the mooring chain stopper of the spider buoy rotates in response to the operation of the driving motor in the stage (B); and
(D) a stage in which the buoyant body moves together with the movement of the housing according to the rotation of the mooring chain stopper in the stage (C).

10. A method of installing the floating offshore mooring chain apparatus according to claim 1 , the method comprising:
(a) a stage of fixing one end of the mooring chain to the seabed;
(b) a stage of fastening the mooring chain and the spider buoy by allowing another end of the mooring chain to pass through the spider buoy and fix the passed end to the seabed;
(c) a stage of coupling the buoyant body to the spider buoy fastened in the stage (b); and
(d) a stage of connecting the transport ship to the buoyant body coupled in the stage (c).

Assignees

• Korea Inst Ocean Sci & Tech

Inventors

• Lee Kang Su
• Kim Do Youb
• Park Byoung Jae
• Kim Hyun Seok

Classifications

• F16H7/02

  with belts; with V-belts · CPC title

• B63B22/04 Primary

  {Fixations or other} anchoring arrangements · CPC title

• B63B22/021 Primary

  and for transferring fluids, e.g. liquids (container type buoys having means to selectively release contents, not adapted for mooring a vessel B63B22/26) · CPC title

• B63B2021/009

  Drift monitors · CPC title