US 8,814,468 B1 · Dynamic roll/pitch stabilizer for use during loading and unloading of small passenger boats

Abstract

A small boat dynamic roll stabilizer. The stabilizer includes two or more pairs of spaced-apart flexible bellows or air bags to receive and support a boat hull during passenger loading and unloading. Dynamic pitch is limited or even stopped for the boat hull by maintaining each of the bellows, which each has a contact surface contacting a portion of the hull from below (within the water), at an internal pressure great enough to support dynamic loading of the boat hull while allowing the water to support the hull's static load. A pressure chamber is provided that has its interior volume linked via ducting or piping with the bellows, and a controller uses a feedback loop to operate an actuator to move a piston within the pressure chamber to maintain the pressure of the chamber and linked bellows as the loading of the boat hull dynamically varies during loading and unloading.

Claims22

Dependent claims

An apparatus for dampening the motion of a boat hull during loading and unloading at a dock or other platform to control dynamic roll and/or pitch, comprising:

a hull support assembly including a pair of bellows and a support structure positioning the bellows in first and second spaced apart positions within a waterway;
and
a pressurization assembly for first supplying air to the pair of the bellows to maintain an internal pressure of the bellows at a first pressure and for second supplying the air to the pair of the bellows to maintain the internal pressure of the bellows at a second pressure greater than the first pressure,
wherein the second pressure is maintained with the boat hull received by the hull support assembly with a contact surface of one of the bellows contacting a first exterior surface of the hull and another one of the bellows contacting a second, spaced-apart exterior surface of the hull and
wherein the pressurization assembly includes a pressure chamber with an interior volume in fluid communication with the pair of the bellows and further includes a piston actuator operable to position a piston within the pressure chamber to provide the first and second pressures in each of the bellows.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Dynamic roll/pitch stabilizer for use during loading and unloading of small passenger boats

Life of this patent

Dynamic roll/pitch stabilizer for use during loading and unloading of small passenger boats

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims22