Device for dredging soil material under water
AssigneeTideway B.V.
InventorsJohan Heiler, Jan Gabriel, Gwyn Hagenaers, Gert Brouns
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to a device for dumping material onto an underwater bottom or installation, such as a pipeline. The device comprises a vessel, provided with a fall pipe through which the material is dumped on the underwater bottom; a steering device adapted to control the motion of the fall pipe relative to the underwater bottom; first monitoring means adapted to monitor the state of the underwater bottom; second monitoring means adapted to monitor the position of the steering device; and computing means adapted to compute, control signals for moving the steering device. The invention also relates to a method for dumping material onto an underwater bottom or installation.
Claims17
A device for dumping material onto an underwater bottom or installation, such as a pipeline, the device comprising:
- a vessel, provided with a fall pipe through which the material is dumped on the underwater bottom;
- a steering device adapted to control the motion of the fall pipe relative to the underwater bottom;
- first monitoring means adapted to monitor the state of the underwater bottom;
- second monitoring means adapted to monitor the position of the steering device relative to the bottom;
- further monitoring means adapted to measure the flow rate of the material transmitted through the fall pipe and the velocity of the vessel;
- and
- computing means adapted to compute, on the basis of data obtained from the first, the second and the further monitoring means, control signals for moving the steering device.
A method for dumping material onto an underwater bottom or installation, such as a pipeline, the method comprising the steps of:
- dumping the material on the underwater bottom through a fall pipe of a vessel;
- controlling the motion of the fall pipe relative to the underwater bottom by a steering device;
- monitoring the state of the underwater bottom and, the position of the steering device relative to the bottom, as well as the flow rate of the material transmitted through the fall pipe and the velocity of the vessel;
- computing, on the basis of data obtained from this monitoring, control signals for moving the steering device;
- and
- moving the steering device (and the fall pipe) in accordance with these control signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.