FLOATING OFFSHORE STRUCTURE

Abstract

A floating offshore structure is described. The floating offshore structure includes at least one floating platform module having a threefold symmetry. The floating platform module includes a set of buoyant prismatic submodules. Each buoyant prismatic submodule includes a core including a material having a density less than the water density, and a reinforcement shell surrounding the core of the buoyant prismatic submodule along its periphery defined by a top base face, a bottom base face, and side faces of the buoyant prismatic submodules. The buoyant prismatic submodules are attached to each other so as to form a threefold symmetrical shape of the floating platform module.

Claims

1. A floating offshore structure, comprising: at least one floating platform module having a threefold symmetry; said at least one floating platform module including a set of buoyant prismatic submodules, each buoyant prismatic submodule including: a core including a material having a density less than the water density, and a reinforcement shell surrounding the core of the buoyant prismatic submodule along its periphery defined by a top base face, a bottom base face, and side faces of said buoyant prismatic submodules; said buoyant prismatic submodules being attached to each other so as to form a threefold symmetrical shape of said at least one floating platform module.

2. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, wherein the buoyant prismatic submodules forming said at least one floating platform module have a rhombic prismatic shape.

3. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, wherein the buoyant prismatic submodules forming said at least one floating platform module have a triangular prismatic shape.

4. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, wherein said threefold symmetrical shape of said at least one floating platform module is a hexagonal prismatic shape.

5. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, wherein the set of the buoyant prismatic submodules includes at least one triangular prismatic submodule.

6. The floating offshore structure of claim 5, wherein the set of the buoyant prismatic submodules includes six triangular prismatic submodules.

7. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, wherein the set of the buoyant prismatic submodules includes at least one rhombic prismatic submodule.

8. The floating offshore structure of claim 7, wherein the set of the buoyant prismatic submodules includes three rhombic prismatic submodules.

9. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, wherein said buoyant prismatic submodules include an expanded polymer foam.

10. The floating offshore structure of claim 9, wherein a polymer used in expanded polymer foam is selected from at least one of polystyrene and polyurethane.

11. The floating offshore structure of claim 9, wherein the buoyant prismatic submodules further include at least one of recycled plastic bottles, hollow beads plastic bags, natural organic materials.

12. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, wherein said reinforcement shell includes a concrete material.

13. The floating offshore structure of claim 12, wherein said concrete material is reinforced with a rebar cell structure.

14. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, comprising at least two floating platform modules in a stack of modules arranged one on top of another.

15. The floating offshore structure of claim 14, wherein top and back surfaces formed by top base faces and bottom base faces of the hexagonal floating platform modules that are placed on top of each other are rougher than side faces of the buoyant prismatic submodules forming the hexagonal floating platform modules.

16. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, comprising: a top reinforcement plate mounted on a plane top surface of the floating platform module formed by the top base faces of the buoyant prismatic submodules; and a bottom reinforcement plate mounted on a plane bottom surface of the floating platform module formed by the bottom base faces of the buoyant prismatic submodules.

17. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, comprising a plurality of reinforcement bars mounted on a plane top surface of the floating platform module formed by the top base faces of the buoyant prismatic submodules, and on a plane bottom surface of the floating platform module formed by the bottom base faces of the buoyant prismatic submodules.

18. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, comprising a set of mooring lines configured for anchoring the floating offshore structure to a seabed.

19. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, comprising a plurality of said floating platform modules.

20. The floating offshore structure of claim 1, comprising an attachment arrangement for any two adjacent floating platform modules, the attachment arrangement including: a plurality of connecting lines having a predetermined length that allows sway motion of the modules; and damping units tied to the sides of each platform module where it faces another platform, so as to avoid damage of the modules due to their mechanical impact.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0036] FIGS. 1A and 1B show schematic cross-sectional top and side views of a floating offshore structure, according to two embodiments of the present invention;

[0037] FIG. 2A shows an example of connections of the buoyant prismatic submodules to each other;

[0038] FIG. 2B shows another example of connections of the buoyant prismatic submodules to each other;

[0039] FIG. 3 shows an isometric exploded view of a floating offshore structure, according to a further embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] FIG. 4 shows an isometric exploded view of a floating offshore structure, according to yet an embodiment of the present invention;

[0041] FIG. 5 shows an isometric view of a floating offshore structure, according to a still further embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] FIG. 6 shows a schematic isometric view of a mooring configuration of the floating platform module of FIGS. 1A and 1B, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] FIG. 7 shows a schematic isometric view of an offshore floating solar farm built on the floating offshore structure 10, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0044] FIG. 8 shows a top view of a floating support structure including seven floating platform modules of FIGS. 1A and 1B, according to a further embodiment of the present invention;

[0045] FIG. 9 shows a schematic view of an attachment arrangement of two floating platform modules of FIGS. 1A and 1B, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0046] FIG. 10 shows a top view of a floating support structure including 49 floating platform modules of FIGS. 1A and 1B, according to a further embodiment of the present invention; and

[0047] FIG. 11 illustrates a top view of a floating support structure representing an example of a configuration creating a relatively large sheltered area.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0048] The principles and operation of the floating offshore structure according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description. It should be understood that these drawings are given for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to be limiting. It should be noted that the figures illustrating various examples of the system of the present invention are not to scale, and are not in proportion, for purposes of clarity. The same reference numerals and alphabetic characters are utilized for identifying those components which are common in the floating offshore structure and its components shown in the drawings throughout the present description of the invention. Examples of constructions are provided for selected elements. Those versed in the art should appreciate that many of the examples provided have suitable alternatives which may be utilized.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 1A, a schematic cross-sectional top view (upper drawing) and a side view (lower drawing) of a floating offshore structure 10 are illustrated, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The side view in FIG. 1A is taken along the line A-A in the upper drawing.

[0050] The floating offshore structure 10 includes a floating platform module 11 having a threefold symmetry. The floating platform module 11 includes a set of buoyant prismatic submodules 12.

[0051] According to an embodiment of the present invention, each buoyant prismatic submodule 12 includes a core 121, and a reinforcement shell 122 surrounding the core 121 of the buoyant prismatic submodule 12 along its periphery defined by a top base face 123, a bottom base face 124, and side faces 125 of the buoyant prismatic submodule 12. The core 121 of the buoyant prismatic submodule 12 is made from a buoyant material having a density less than the water density. The buoyant prismatic submodules 12 are attached to each other to form a threefold symmetrical shape of the floating platform module 11.

[0052] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the core 121 can, for example, be made from an expanded polymer foam. Examples of polymers used in expanded polymer foam include, but are not limited to, polystyrene and polyurethane. In particular, an expanded polystyrene foam, such as Styrofoam, can be suitable for fabrication of the core 121, however, other materials having density less than the water density are also contemplated.

[0053] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the buoyant prismatic submodules can include recycled plastic bottles, hollow beads plastic bags and/or natural materials, such as wood.

[0054] Examples of materials suitable for the reinforcement shell 122 include, but are not limited to concrete, a concrete reinforced with a grid cell structure, fibers, metal net, etc.

[0055] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the grid cell structure includes a rebar cage (not shown) having a plurality of rebar rods forming a framework of the rebar cage. The rebar rods can, for example, be made from steel and have a bar cross-sectional diameter in the range of about 0.5 cm to 2 cm. The bars in the grid can, for example, be bound to each other by welding, thereby to form a grid weldment structure. Alternatively, the rebar rods can be bound by tying them with steel wires. A size of a grid cell of the weldment structure can, for example, be in the range of about 5 cm to 30 cm. It should be noted that fiber-reinforced plastic rebar can also be used due to the high-corrosion environment of sea water.

[0056] In the present description, the term about means within a statistically meaningful range of a value. The allowable variation encompassed by the term about depends on the particular structure under consideration, and can be readily appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art. This approximation for the purpose of the present invention can, for example, be interpreted so as to include an error of 20% at least, as long as there is no considerable change in the performance of the floating offshore structure 10 due to the deviation.

[0057] According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1A, the buoyant prismatic submodules forming the floating platform module 11 have a rhombic prismatic shape. As shown in FIG. 1A, the set of the buoyant prismatic submodules 12 includes three rhombic prismatic submodules. In this embodiment, each rhombic prismatic submodule has two internal side faces 125a, two external side faces 125b, the top base face 123 and the bottom base face 124.

[0058] It should be noted that when desired, the set of the buoyant prismatic submodules 12 forming the floating platform module 11 can includes more than three rhombic prismatic submodules 12. Thus, in order to have a threefold symmetry, the floating platform module 11 can be built from 6, 12, 18 or more rhombic prismatic submodules 12.

[0059] FIG. 1B shows schematic cross-sectional side and top views of a floating offshore structure 10 in which the buoyant prismatic submodules 12 have a triangular prismatic shape. The side view in FIG. 1B is taken along the line B-B in the upper drawing.

[0060] As shown in FIG. 1B, the set of the buoyant prismatic submodules 12 includes six triangular prismatic submodules. Each triangular prismatic submodule has two internal side faces 125a, one external side face 125b, the top base face 123 and the bottom base face 124.

[0061] It should be noted that a combination of rhombic prismatic submodules with triangular prismatic submodules in the floating platform module 11 is also contemplated.

[0062] As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the buoyant prismatic submodules 12 of the floating platform module 11 are attached to each other by their internal side faces 125a. After attachment of the buoyant prismatic submodules 12 together, the floating platform module 11 takes a threefold symmetrical shape having a plane top surface 14 and a plane bottom surface 15 of the floating platform module 11. The plane top and back surfaces 14 and 15 are formed by top base faces 123 and bottom base faces 124 of the buoyant prismatic submodules 12, correspondingly. According to these embodiments, the threefold symmetrical shape is a hexagonal prismatic shape.

[0063] FIG. 2A shows an example of connection of the rhombic prismatic submodules 12 to each other in the floating platform module 11. According to this example, one internal side face 22a of each buoyant rhombic prismatic submodule 12 includes a predetermined number of semi-cylindrical protrusions 23a extended from the top to bottom of the rhombic prismatic submodules 12, while another internal side face 22b of each rhombic prismatic submodule includes the same number of semi-cylindrical grooves 23b that match the semi-cylindrical protrusions 23a when any two rhombic prismatic submodules 12 are attached together. The provision of the grooves and protrusions on the internal side faces of the prismatic submodule makes attachments between the buoyant prismatic submodules 12 stronger and the entire structure more rigid, when compared with the attachment of flat internal side faces 121.

[0064] FIG. 2B shows another example of connection of the rhombic prismatic submodules 12 to each other in the floating platform module 11. According to this example, one internal side face 24a of each buoyant rhombic prismatic submodule 12 includes a predetermined number of cylindrical (or semi-spherical) protrusions (e.g., bulges) 25a, while another internal side face 24b of each rhombic prismatic submodule includes the same number of cylindrical (or semi-spherical) recesses 25b. In the attachment, the semi-spherical recesses 25b match the semi-cylindrical protrusions 25a when any two rhombic prismatic submodules 12 are attached together.

[0065] It should be noted that the sub-modularity of the floating platform module 11 has several advantages over a monolith structure of a floating platform module that is built from a single piece of a buoyant material. Indeed, instead of having to construct a heavy single piece structure, the present invention teaches to construct several separate submodules that can be assembled together. For example, for a module having 8 m width and 2 m height, and having the whole structure weigh approximately 40 tons, each can weigh approximately 13-14 tons for three rhombic prismatic structures and approximately 6-7 tons for six triangular prismatic structures. Thus, it can be significantly easy to build larger structures by attaching more rhombic and/or triangular prisms together. It should be understood that such a sub-modular structure can easily be assembled in the water. Thus, by using the sub-modularity, a hexagonal prismatic module of 12 m side (and/or greater) can also be easily fabricated. Moreover, if any of these rhombic or triangular prismatic submodules 12 in the floating platform module 11 are damaged or become defective, the defective units can be readily repaired or replaced.

[0066] FIG. 3 shows an isometric exploded view of a floating offshore structure 30, according to a further embodiment of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the floating offshore structure 30 includes two hexagonal floating platform modules 11 arranged one on top of another. For clarity of understanding, only two rhombic prismatic submodules 12 are shown in the bottom hexagonal floating platform module 11. One rhombic prismatic submodule 12a is shown partially with only half of the core 121 covered by the reinforcement shell 122.

[0067] In this case, the entire height of the platform is double the height of the two floating platform modules 11, thereby providing further rigidity to the floating offshore structure. To provide attachment between the upper and lower hexagonal floating platform modules 11, one of the modules 11 can, for example, be bolted, welded or otherwise attached on top of another hexagonal floating platform module 11. It should be noted that when desired, the connection between the upper and lower hexagonal floating platform modules 11 can include semi-cylindrical, cylindrical and/or semi-spherical protrusions arranged at a bottom of the upper module 11 and corresponding grooves and/or recesses matching the protrusions arranged at a top of the lower module 11, similar to the provision described in FIGS. 2A and 2B for side connections, mutatis mutandis.

[0068] Moreover, top and back surfaces formed by top base faces and bottom base faces of the hexagonal floating platform modules 11 that are placed on top of each other can be rougher, when compared to the side faces of the buoyant prismatic submodules 12 forming the hexagonal floating platform modules 11. This feature can also facilitate the connection between the upper and lower hexagonal floating platform modules 11.

[0069] It should be understood that, when desired, the floating offshore structure may include more than two floating platform modules in a stack of modules arranged one on top of another.

[0070] FIG. 4 shows an isometric exploded view of a floating offshore structure 40, according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the floating offshore structure 40 includes a top reinforcement plate 41 mounted on the plane top surface 14 of the floating platform module 11 and another reinforcement plate 42 mounted on the plane bottom surface 15 of the floating platform module 11. The plane top and back surfaces 14 and 15 are formed by top base faces (123 in FIG. 1A) and bottom base faces (124 in FIG. 1A) of the buoyant prismatic submodules 12, correspondingly. It should be noted that although only one floating platform module 11 is shown FIG. 4, generally, a structure having any desired number of the floating platform modules 12 arranged in stack is also contemplated.

[0071] Examples of materials suitable for the reinforcement plates 41 and 42 include, but are not limited to, steel and reinforced concrete. It should be understood that provision of the reinforcement plates 41 and 42 can provide further rigidity to the floating offshore structure.

[0072] FIG. 5 shows an isometric view of a floating offshore structure 50, according to still another embodiment of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the floating offshore structure 50 includes a plurality of reinforcement bars 51 mounted on the plane top surface 14 of the floating platform module 11 and a plurality of reinforcement bars (not shown in FIG. 5) mounted on the plane bottom surface 15 of the floating platform module 11. Examples of materials suitable for the reinforcement bars 51 and 52 include, but are not limited to, steel and reinforced concrete. It should be understood that provision of the reinforcement bars 51 can provide further rigidity to the floating offshore structure. Moreover, when desired, the reinforcement bars 51 can include attachment points 52 to hold various payloads, for example, solar panels that can be mounted on the floating offshore structure.

[0073] A method of fabrication of the buoyant prismatic submodule 12 includes providing a mould having inner dimensions equal to the outer dimension of the prismatic submodule 12. The mould can, for example, be made of wood or another suitable material.

[0074] As described hereinabove, the buoyant prismatic submodules 12 of the floating offshore structure 10 described herein above are built from a buoyant inner core 121 surrounded by a reinforcement outer shell 122. In order to fabricate the reinforcement outer shell 122, first, a layer of the desired thickness of concrete is poured on the bottom of the mould. According to an embodiment, the concrete can be reinforced either by introducing composite fibres in the mix, or by placing composite or steel rods or a rebar net within the concrete bulk of this newly created reinforcement layer. The rods, fibres, or rebar net can extend beyond the bottom layer on the sides, in the reinforcement layer, to form the concrete sides of the reinforcement shell of the buoyant prismatic submodules 12.

[0075] According to an embodiment of the present invention, once the bottom of the mould is poured, in order to make up the buoyant inner core 121, a pre-cut solid Styrofoam piece can be introduced to fill the desired volume in the mould.

[0076] According to another embodiment of the present invention, the core is formed from several stages. First, several solid pieces made of a plastic, cardboard, plywood, Styrofoam, or other material forming the desired dimensions of the core, are placed in the mould to form the shell of the desired outer dimensions of the core. Then, an expanded polymer foam (e.g., Styrofoam or other material having a density lower than the water density) is sprayed into the mould to form the desired rigid inner core.

[0077] The aim of the core is to provide buoyancy. It should be noted that the core should not be a hollow volume, because this would pose a danger if there were water ingress over the years through, for example, a crack in the wall of the module.

[0078] According to an embodiment of the present invention, when spray foam is used, recycled bottles or other hollow objects could be introduced in the volume of the core. This would not only be a good way of finding an alternate use for some recycled material, but would also reduce the volume of spray foam needed, and thus the manufacturing cost.

[0079] According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the core can be made of recycled plastic, which would have continuous outer walls, but is made of many compartments (e.g., a honeycomb), thus minimizing the danger of significant water ingress in the eventuality of a crack in the outer walls.

[0080] Likewise, the core can be formed of plastic or other material, first, to form a rigid shell for the core having moderately thick walls. The hollow inside volume of the shell can then be filled with empty plastic bottles or other containers, thereby eliminating the risk of significant amounts of water filling the core space, since a significant portion of the space is occupied by containers.

[0081] Referring to FIG. 6, a schematic isometric view of a mooring configuration of the floating offshore structure 10 of FIGS. 1A and 1B is illustrated, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The floating offshore structure 10 can be maintained in a stable position via a mooring system including mooring cleats 113 and a set of mooring lines 112 configured for anchoring the floating platform module 11 of floating support structure 10 to the seabed 115.

[0082] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the mooring cleats 113 include metal parts configured to hold the mooring lines 112 attached to the mooring cleats 113 such as to allow turning and slippage of the mooring lines 112. The mooring cleats 113 can, for example, be embedded in the concrete of the reinforcement shell (122 in FIG. 1A) of the floating platform module 11 and welded to the internal reinforcing rebar of the reinforcement shell 122.

[0083] According to an embodiment of the present invention, multi-point mooring systems are used that moor the floating support structure 10 to the seabed using multiple mooring lines. The floating support structure 10 is positioned in a fixed heading location, which is determined by the sea and weather conditions. The symmetrical arrangement of anchor points 114 helps to keep the floating support structure 10 on its fixed heading location.

[0084] In the mooring configuration shown in FIG. 6, a 3-point mooring at three bottom vertexes equipped with the mooring cleats 113 is used for the floating support structure 10 with the floating platform module 11 having a hexagonal prismatic shape. It should be understood that, when required, the mooring lines 112 can be provided for the hexagonal module 11 at each bottom vertex.

[0085] Each mooring line 112 can, for example, be made of a chain and/or rope. A length of the mooring lines can, for example, be between three and six times the water depth. A free hanging catenary mooring configuration is shown in FIG. 6. This mooring configuration can, for example, be used in shallow waters. However, when required, a lazy-wave configuration (not shown), with a series of small buoyancy collars around the overbend, can be used. Likewise, a Lazy-S configuration (not shown), with a tethered buoy between the lower J-catenaries and the upper U-catenaries can also be implemented. The lazy-wave and Lazy-S mooring configurations are known per se, and therefore they are not expounded on hereinbelow in detail.

[0086] The floating support structure 10 is anchored to the seabed 115. The floating support structure 10 can, for example, be rigidly fixed to the seabed 115 at the anchor points 114 through structural elements including a set of driven piles (not shown) that can be inserted in the seabed 15. Likewise, the floating support structure 10 can be fixed to the seabed 115 through ballasts resting on the seabed, or by anchors, depending on the type of the seabed and on the depth of the installation site.

[0087] Referring to FIG. 7, a schematic isometric view of an offshore floating solar farm built on the floating offshore structure 10 is illustrated, according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of solar panels 71 are mounted on a plane top surface 14 of the floating platform module 11 of the floating support structure 10. The solar panels 71 are installed at a predetermined configuration and installation angle with respect to the surface of the floating support structure 10, so as to maximize electric power output of the panels, and minimize possible damage to the panels. For example, an offshore floating solar farm can be deployed on a 4 m side platform with solar panels 71 installed at an angle of 10 degrees.

[0088] As shown herein above in FIG. 5, the solar panels may be mounted on the reinforcement bars 51 on top of the platform and connected to the attachment points 52 which are shaped so as to facilitate the placement of the panels.

[0089] It should be understood that floating support structure 10 can be used for a host of other purposes-anything that could benefit from having a platform at sea, especially with the availability of power. Examples of applications of the floating support structure 10 include, but are not limited to, desalination, energy storage, leisure, boating, scientific studies, environmental monitoring, etc.

[0090] Referring to FIG. 8, a top view of a floating support structure 80 is illustrated, according to a further embodiment of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the floating support structure 80 includes seven floating platform modules (11 shown in FIG. 1A) which are attached together to form a single, large floating support structure. Specifically, external side faces 81 of a central hexagonal prismatic module 11a are attached to side faces 83 of neighboring hexagonal prismatic modules 11b surrounding the central hexagonal prismatic module 11a. The attachment is implemented by a plurality of connecting lines 82 between sides of each two adjacent platform modules.

[0091] For example, when a single hexagonal prismatic module 11 provides an area of about 42 m.sup.2 to 166 m.sup.2, a platform built by seven such modules can provide an area of about 290 m.sup.2 to 1160 m.sup.2.

[0092] Referring to FIG. 9, a schematic view of an attachment arrangement 91 of any two floating platform modules 11 is illustrated, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The attachment arrangement 91 includes a plurality of connecting lines 92 between sides of each two adjacent platform modules 11.

[0093] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the attachment arrangement 91 includes chains and/or ropes, having a predetermined length that allows sway motion of the modules. The attachment arrangement 91 also includes damping units 93, such us tires or similar bumping objects, tied to the sides of each platform module where it faces another platform, to avoid damage of the modules due to their mechanical impact. A ratio of the dimension of floating platform modules 11 and the distance between the modules 11 can, for example, be in the range of 0.5 meters to 2 meters.

[0094] It should be understood that the process of building large platforms can be repeated for any number of the floating platform modules 11. FIG. 10 illustrates a top view of a floating support structure 100 including 49 floating platform modules 11, which are attached together to form a single, large floating support structure. As shown in FIG. 9, the floating support structure 100 is built from a central floating substructure that is similar to the structure (80 in FIG. 8). The central floating substructure is surrounded by a similar neighboring floating substructure, thereby forming the floating support structure 90 including 49 floating platform modules 11.

[0095] It should be understood that providing a floating offshore structure, including many chained individual platform modules, accomplishes the goal of getting a large surface area on which solar panels and/or any other infrastructure may be used, for industry or leisure. Mooring would still be on only some of the platforms, since the other platforms are held in place by their attachment to other platforms.

[0096] Moreover, given that the floating platform modules 11 of the floating support structure 10 absorb wave energy and therefore partially dampen incoming waves, large partially sheltered spaces could be created in the middle of an installation of several floating platform modules 11 or away from the incoming wave direction. These spaces could be used for large platforms for specific uses, aquaculture, leisure, or other uses. FIG. 11 illustrates a top view of a floating support structure 110 representing an example of a configuration creating a relatively large sheltered area 111.

[0097] As such, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains, can appreciate that while the present invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, the concept upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, systems and processes for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention.

[0098] Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

[0099] Finally, it should be noted that the word comprising as used throughout the appended claims is to be interpreted to mean including but not limited to.

[0100] It is important, therefore, that the scope of the invention is not construed as being limited by the illustrative embodiments set forth herein. Other variations are possible within the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims. Other combinations and sub-combinations of features, functions, elements and/or properties may be claimed through amendment of the present claims or presentation of new claims in this or a related application. Such amended or new claims, whether they are directed to different combinations or directed to the same combinations, whether different, broader, narrower or equal in scope to the original claims, are also regarded as included within the subject matter of the present description.