Marine vessel brake assist and stabilization system
AssigneeMaiad Maritime Group, Inc.
InventorsJohn D. Venables, Christopher M. Pappas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vessel braking control system for a marine vessel that utilizes one or more of the vessel's features and effectors to increase the drag on the vessel both through increased drag on the features and effectors themselves and by creating a downward force on the vessel as a whole, increasing the wetted hull area and increasing hull drag thereby; the control system operates to place the features and effectors in a braking state through rotation relative to the vessel's direction of travel and relative to the water's surface, and may automatically return the features and effectors to their normal operating state upon the vessel's reaching a detected, predetermined speed.
Claims19
A braking control system for a marine vessel having a hull with a stern, a bow, a port side and a starboard side, the control system comprising:
- one or more effectors comprising at least one of stabilization fins, rudders, interceptors, trim tabs, t-foils, lifting foils, bow/stem foils, and rotating Magnus effectors, wherein at least one of the effectors extends from either the bow, the port side or the starboard side of the hull of the marine vessel;
- one or more effector managers in electronic communication with the one or more effectors;
- a system manager for managing the engagement and disengagement of a braking protocol, the system manager comprising a communication module for communicating electronically with the one or more effector managers;
- the one or more effector managers managing the engagement and disengagement of the associated one or more effectors with the braking protocol;
- an activation mechanism for engaging and disengaging the braking protocol;
- wherein a positioning of each of the one or more effectors is modified from a normal operating position into a braking protocol position when the braking protocol is engaged;
- and
- wherein the positioning of each of the one or more effectors is modified from the braking protocol position back into a normal operating position when the braking protocol is disengaged.
A method for slowing and stabilizing a marine vessel having a hull with a stern, a bow, a port side and a starboard side, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a braking control system comprising:
- a system manager comprising a condition assessment module and a communication module;
- one or more effectors extending from either the bow, the port side or the starboard side of the hull of the marine vessel;
- one or more effector managers in electronic communication with the one or more effectors associated with the marine vessel;
- and
- an activation mechanism;
- detecting, by the condition assessment module of the system manager, a triggering event requiring engagement of a braking protocol;
- engaging the braking protocol by modifying the positioning of each of the one or more effectors;
- detecting, by the condition assessment module of the system manager, an end condition requiring disengagement of a braking protocol;
- disengaging the braking protocol by modifying the positioning of each of the one or more effectors to return to a normal operating position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.