US 5,965,994 AGranted

Automatic vertical moving systems and control methods therefor

OwnerDong Il Seoinventor

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Abstract

Disclosed are automatic vertical moving systems and control methods therefor for regularly lowering an object with predetermined depth and time intervals to a desired maximum depth in water and then raising it to the surface of water to analyze vertical changes of water quality in lakes and reservoirs continuously, comprising a barge for floating on the surface of the water so as to be retained at a desired position thereon, a winch mounted on the barge, rotatable in opposite directions to lower and raise the object and provided with a wire rope wound and rewound around the winch according to the rotational directions, the wire rope being connected at its free end to the object, an electric motor connected to the winch for rotating in opposite directions, and a motor controller for controlling the motor to be regularly activated and deactivated and to be changed in rotational directions thereof. Also, an assistant line may be further included to prevent entanglement of the wire rope and possible loss of the object due to external impact of unusual matters in water.

Claims18

Dependent claims

An automatic vertical moving system for vertically moving an object in order to analyze water quality continuously and monitor the vertical change of water quality, the moving system comprising:

a floating means for floating on the surface of water so as to be retained at a desired position thereon;
a winch means mounted on the floating means, rotatable in opposite directions to lower and raise the object, and provided with a wire rope to be wound or rewound around the winch means according to the rotational directions thereof, the wire rope being connected at its free end to the object;
and
a forward-and-backward rotation means for rotating the winch means between a forward direction to lower the object and a backward direction to raise the object, said forward-and-backward rotation means including
(a) an electric motor connected to the winch means which rotates in opposite directions,
(b) an electric power supply means for supplying electricity, and
(c) a motor control means for controlling the motor to be regularly activated or deactivated and to be changed in the rotational directions thereof,
wherein said motor control means includes
a driving control means for switching the electric power supply means to the motor on and off,
a timer means connected to the driving control means for switching the electric power supply means to the motor on to activate the motor at predetermined suspending time intervals whenever the motor is deactivated,
a plurality of guide rollers for guiding the wire rope to be wound or rewound steadily and for providing tension on the wire rope so that one of the guide rollers can not be rotated when the wire rope is loosened during the lowering,
a counter means coupling with the one guide roller for detecting a rotational displacement thereof, and electrically connected to the driving control means for switching the motor off to deactivate the motor whenever the rotational displacement of the counter means is equal to a multiple of a predetermined rotational displacement interval corresponding to a predetermined unit depth during the lowering of the object and whenever the counter means is reset due to the raising of the object, and
a direction control means connected to the counter means for converting the rotational direction of the motor when the rotational displacement of the counter means is not changed during the lowering of the object thereby raising the object, and when the counter means is reset thereby being capable of lowering the object after the predetermined suspending time by means of the timer means.

10 more elements

An automatic vertical moving system for vertically moving an object in order to analyze water quality continuously and monitor the vertical change of water quality, the moving system comprising:

a floating means for floating on the surface of water so as to be retained at a desired position thereon;
a winch means mounted on the floating means, rotatable in opposite directions to lower and raise the object, and provided with a wire rope to be wound or rewound around the winch means according to the rotational directions thereof, the wire rope being connected at its free end to the object;
and
a forward-and-backward rotation means for rotating the winch means between a forward direction to lower the object and a backward direction to raise the object, said forward-and-backward rotation means including
(a) an electric motor connected to the winch means for rotating in opposite directions,
(b) an electric power supply means for supplying electricity, and
(c) a motor control means for controlling the motor to be regularly activated and deactivated, and to be changed in the rotational directions thereof, said motor control means having a driving control means for switching the electric power supply means to the motor on and off, a direction control means for converting the rotational direction of the motor, and a control system connected to the driving control means for switching the electric power supply means to the motor off at predetermined depth time intervals corresponding to the predetermined unit depth and for switching the electric power supply means to the motor on at predetermined suspending time intervals and connected to the direction control means for converting the rotational direction of the motor at a predetermined entire lowering time Td and at a predetermined pure raising time Tr, thereby repeatedly lowering and raising the object within a maximum depth to be converted substantially from the predetermined pure raising time Tr and a rotational speed of the motor.

4 more elements

A control method of an automatic vertical moving system for vertically lowering and raising an object such as an automatic water quality analysis system, wherein the moving system comprises:

a floating means for securely floating on the water at a desired position;
a winch means mounted on the floating means and provided with a wire rope connected at its free end to the object;
a motor for driving the winch means in forward and backward directions selectively;
a motor control means for controlling the motor in operation and direction;
and a control system for controlling the motor control means, provided with a central processor executing a program and associated memory means storing the program and data generated during the program execution, the method comprising:
(a) a suspending step wherein the motor is maintained in a deactivated state to stop rotating for a predetermined suspending time for suspending the object at its vertical level and analyzing water quality;
(b) a lowering step wherein the motor is activated to rotate in the forward direction for lowering the object in a predetermined depth time corresponding to a predetermined depth;
(c) a first repeating step for repeatedly executing the suspending step (a) and the lowering step (b) for a predetermined entire lowering time corresponding to a time period for which the object reaches a predetermined maximum depth;
and
(d) a returning step wherein, at the predetermined maximum depth, the motor is activated to rotate in the backward direction for raising up the object to the surface position.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.