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US 11,565,779 B2Granted
Vehicle for installing anchors in an underwater substrate
AssigneeOther Lab, LLC
InventorsPeter Sturt Lynn, Jonathan B. Pompa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of installing one or more anchors in an underwater substrate in a body of water including installing an anchor into the underwater substrate by rotating an anchor installation vehicle about a central axis Y to drive the anchor coupled to the anchor installation vehicle into the underwater substrate. The anchor installation vehicle includes a vehicle frame having a top end and bottom end, a plurality of arms extending outward from the vehicle frame, one or more rotational thrusters disposed at distal ends of the respective arms, and an anchor system that holds the anchor extending from the bottom end of the vehicle frame with the anchor aligned with a central axis Y.
Claims19
A method of installing one or more anchors in an underwater substrate in a body of water, the method comprising:
- coupling a helical anchor with an anchor installation vehicle, the anchor installation vehicle including:
- a vehicle frame having a top end and bottom end,
- four linear arms extending outward from the vehicle frame,
- one or more rotational thrusters disposed at distal ends of the respective arms,
- one or more flotation tanks disposed on the vehicle frame,
- an electronic system,
- a plurality of vertical thrusters,
- an anchor system that holds the helical anchor extending from the bottom end of the vehicle frame and aligned with a central axis Y that is perpendicular to the four linear arms,
- a tether coupled at the top end of the vehicle frame via a slip ring tether attachment that is coincident with the central axis Y, the tether coupled with and configured to communicate data with a support vessel ship floating on the body of water, the tether further configured to provide electrical power from the support vessel ship to the anchor installation vehicle,
- a top camera coupled at the top end of the vehicle frame operably connected to the electronic system,
- a bottom camera coupled at the bottom end of the vehicle frame operably connected to the electronic system, and
- a torque sensor operably connected to the electronic system;
- driving the anchor installation vehicle in the body of water via the rotational thrusters and vertical thrusters, based at least in part on a first set of instructions received via the tether from a support computer system of the support vessel ship, to an anchor installation location on the underwater substrate in the body of water including a location on a seabed in the body of water;
- driving the anchor installation vehicle in the body of water, based at least in part on a second set of instructions received via the tether from the support computer system of the support vessel ship, to engage a helical head of the helical anchor with the seabed at the anchor installation location;
- rotating the anchor installation vehicle via the rotational thrusters about the central axis Y to drive the helical anchor downward into the seabed at the anchor installation location while maintaining a substantially consistent orientation of the central axis Y relative to a plane of the seabed at the anchor installation location;
- determining that installation of the helical anchor is complete and stopping rotation of the anchor installation vehicle about the central axis Y;
- and
- disengaging the anchor system from the helical anchor to release the helical anchor.
15 more elements
A method of installing one or more anchors in an underwater substrate in a body of water, the method comprising:
- coupling an anchor with an anchor installation vehicle, the anchor installation vehicle including:
- a vehicle frame having a top end and bottom end,
- at least three linear arms extending outward from the vehicle frame,
- one or more rotational thrusters disposed at distal ends of the respective arms,
- an electronic system,
- an anchor system that holds the anchor extending from the bottom end of the vehicle frame and aligned with a central axis Y that is perpendicular to the at least three linear arms,
- a tether coupled at the top end of the vehicle frame and configured to communicate data with a support vessel floating on the body of water, the tether further configured to provide electrical power from the support vessel to the anchor installation vehicle, and
- a torque sensor operably connected to the electronic system;
- driving the anchor installation vehicle in the body of water via at least the rotational thrusters, based at least in part on a first set of instructions received via the tether from a support computer system of the support vessel, to an anchor installation location on the underwater substrate in the body of water;
- rotating the anchor installation vehicle via the rotational thrusters about the central axis Y to drive the anchor downward into the underwater substrate at the anchor installation location;
- and
- disengaging the anchor system from the anchor to release the anchor.
9 more elements
A method of installing one or more anchors in an underwater substrate in a body of water, the method comprising:
- installing an anchor into the underwater substrate by rotating an anchor installation vehicle about a central axis Y to drive the anchor coupled to the anchor installation vehicle into the underwater substrate, the anchor installation vehicle including:
- a vehicle frame having a top end and bottom end,
- a plurality of arms extending outward from the vehicle frame,
- one or more rotational thrusters disposed at distal ends of the respective arms, and
- an anchor system that holds the anchor extending from the bottom end of the vehicle frame with the anchor aligned with a central axis Y.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.