Pressure-resistant buoys
AssigneeAcergy France SAS
InventorsVincent Loentgen, Olivier Lodeho, Yann Brouard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A subsea buoy comprises a rigid watertight external shell extending continuously around a supporting internal structure that is sealed and fully enclosed by the shell. The shell is formed integrally and simultaneously with the internal structure by the same additive manufacturing process. The internal structure comprises cavities disposed between structural members, such as struts of a lattice or webs of a matrix. The structural members and cavities can be in a hierarchical or fractal array comprising a relatively narrow outer tier adjoining the shell and at least one relatively wide inner tier within the outer tier.
Claims27
A subsea buoy, comprising an external shell that is rigid and watertight extending continuously around an internal space that is sealed and fully enclosed by the external shell, wherein the external shell is supported by a foraminous internal structure within the internal space, formed integrally with the external shell, wherein the foraminous internal structure is formed of aluminium and comprises structural members extending within the internal space and cavities disposed between the structural members, the structural members being in an array comprising an outer tier of the structural members extending inwardly from the external shell into the internal space and at least one inner tier of the structural members disposed within the outer tier, wherein the structural members of the outer tier are spaced closer together than the structural members of the inner tier.
A method of making a subsea buoy, comprising:
- using an additive manufacturing process to form a foraminous internal structure of aluminium;
- and
- simultaneously, using the additive manufacturing process to form a rigid continuous watertight external shell that is rigid, continuous and watertight around and integral with the foraminous internal structure, which external shell, when completed, seals and fully encloses the foraminous internal structure;
- wherein the method further comprises progressively adding material to form structural members of the foraminous internal structure that are integral with the external shell and to define cavities of the foraminous internal structure between the structural members, so that the structural members are arranged in an array comprising an outer tier of the structural members extending inwardly from the shell into the internal space and at least one inner tier of the structural members disposed within the outer tier, wherein the structural members of the outer tier are spaced closer together than the structural members of the inner tier.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.