Construction of buoyant elements comprising packed macrospheres
AssigneeAcergy France SAS
InventorVincent Loentgen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of filling a chamber with buoyant macrospheres places a mass of the spheres into a mould cavity. In the mould cavity, packing of the spheres is optimized to form an optimally-packed mass, followed by fixing the spheres in the optimally-packed mass to form a block. The block is then transferred from the mould cavity into the chamber while the spheres of the block remain fixed in the optimally-packed mass. This method enables the production of a buoyant element comprising an envelope defining an internal chamber that contains a mass of buoyant macrospheres each with an external diameter of at least 5 mm, packed with a packing factor of at least 50%.
Claims25
A method of filling a chamber with buoyant spheres, comprising:
- placing a mass of the spheres into a mould cavity;
- in the mould cavity, optimizing packing of the spheres to form an optimally-packed mass and then fixing the spheres in the optimally-packed mass to form a block;
- transferring the block from the mould cavity into the chamber while the spheres of the block remain fixed in the optimally-packed mass;
- and
- flooding the chamber in use to surround the spheres with water.
A buoyant element comprising a rigid envelope defined by a pipe, the envelope defining an internal chamber that contains a mass of buoyant macrospheres each with an external diameter of at least 5 mm, packed with a packing factor of at least 50%, and further comprising at least one barrier that subdivides the chamber and that constrains movement of the macrospheres within the chamber, the buoyant element comprising voids between the macrospheres in the mass, in fluid communication with one or more openings that penetrate the envelope.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.