Rapid-deployment oil spill containment boom and method of deployment
AssigneeHARBO Technologies Ltd.
InventorsArnon Shany, Boaz Ur, Haim Greenberg
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Abstract
A rapid-deployment system for containing oil spills and similar water contaminations comprises a pre-manufactured sleeve having air-inflatable or gas-inflatable compartments and water inflatable compartments. In some embodiments uninflated sleeve is stored as a reel of sleeve material, and the deployment system, optionally mounted in a small boat, comprises a machine for inflating the air and water compartments at the site of a spill. In some embodiments, air and/or water compartments may be self-inflating.
Claims34
A method for limiting the spread of a spill of floating substances spilled into water, comprising:
- a) providing at least one sleeve which comprises compartments comprising gas-filled flotation compartments and water containing compartments;
- b) inflating said boom by at least partially filling said water containing compartments by contacting openings in said compartments with water so that mutual pressures exerted between said flotation compartments and said water containing compartments maintains at least some of said flotation compartments and at least some of said water compartments in a fixed geometrical position relative to each other;
- wherein in said fixed geometrical position at least some portions of said flotation-compartments extend away from a vertical centerline of said boom, said portions comprising edges angled downwards;
- and
- c) deploying said boom in water around at least a portion of said spill to limit spread of said spill.
A boom for containing a floating material spilled in water, comprising a first sleeve which comprises a plurality of gas-filled flotation compartments and a second sleeve which comprises a plurality of water-inflatable compartments, said sleeves being so connected that inflation of said gas-filled floatation compartments and said water-inflatable compartments forces said gas-filled flotation compartments and said water-inflatable compartments into a fixed geometrical position relative to each other;
- wherein said boom extends in a generally axial direction when deployed, and said fixed geometrical position forms a fixed cross section in a generally perpendicular direction to said axial direction;
- said fixed geometrical position maintained by mutual pressures exerted between said gas-filled flotation compartments and said water inflatable compartments;
- wherein in said fixed geometrical position at least some portions of said gas-filled flotation-compartments extend away from a vertical centerline of said boom.
A boom for preventing passage of a spilled material floating in ambient water, comprising
- a) a flotation device comprising gas-filled flotation compartments which comprise portions which, when deployed in ambient water, extend away from a vertical centerline of said boom, said portions comprising edges angled downwards;
- and
- b) a compartment containing water in which at least part of said contained water is maintained by said flotation device above water level of said ambient water;
- said compartment containing water positioned at least in part above said extended portions of said floatation compartments, acting as a weight pushing down on said portions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.