Method using a floatable offshore depot
AssigneeJurong Shipyard Pte Ltd.
InventorNicolaas Johannes Vandenworm
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method using a floatable offshore depot to provide sheltered area using a tunnel for safe and easy launching or docking of watercraft and embarkation or debarkation of personnel. The method can be used to transfer equipment between the watercraft and the floatable offshore depot using an internal dock side of the tunnel. The floatable offshore depot can have a buoyant hull, a keel, a main deck, and at least two connected sections between the keel and the main deck. The connected sections can extend downwardly from the main deck toward the keel and can have an upper cylindrical side section, a transition section, and a lower cylindrical section. The method uses the tunnel at an operational depth, with a tunnel opening to an exterior of the buoyant hull to receive the watercraft.
Claims20
A method using a floatable offshore depot, the method comprising:
- a. providing a sheltered area inside a buoyant hull configured as a tunnel for safe and easy launching or docking of a watercraft and embarkation or debarkation of personnel using an internal dock side of the tunnel;
- and
- b. providing the sheltered area inside the buoyant hull configured as the tunnel for transferring equipment between the watercraft and the floatable offshore depot using the internal dock side of the tunnel;
- and
- wherein the floatable offshore depot comprises:
- (i) the buoyant hull with a hull planform that is circular, oval, elliptical, or polygonal;
- (ii) a matching keel and a main deck, wherein the main deck and the matching keel are configured for offshore stability;
- and
- (iii) at least two connected sections engaging between the matching keel and the main deck, the at least two connected sections joined in series and symmetric about a vertical axis with the at least two connected sections extending downwardly from the main deck toward the matching keel, the at least two connected sections comprising at least two of:
- 1. an upper cylindrical side section;
- 2. a transition section;
- and
- 3. a lower cylindrical section;
- and
- wherein the tunnel of the buoyant hull formed within the buoyant hull for receiving the watercraft when the buoyant hull is at an operational depth, the tunnel comprising:
- a tunnel opening in the buoyant hull opening to an exterior of the buoyant hull and dimensioned so as to receive the watercraft, and further wherein the floatable offshore depot is configured to be floatable to transition from the floating operational depth or a floating transit depth to resting on a seabed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.