Payload control apparatus, method, and applications

Abstract

A payload control apparatus includes a spring-line a spring line actuating mechanism, a spring line flying sheave over which a load line can pass, and a spring line, wherein the spring line flying sheave can move into a position either where the flying sheave is spaced from and in non-contact with or contacting but non-path-altering in relation to the load line, further wherein the spring-line flying sheave can be moved into another position such that the flying sheave engages the load-line and alters its path length. Thus, when a marine surface vessel falls in a heave event that would otherwise cause the payload at the end of the load line to fall as well, the flying sheave will move to increase the path length causing a shortening of the path length, thereby preventing the payload from falling.

Claims

1. A payload control apparatus for controlling a payload coupled to a load line, comprising: a spring line actuating mechanism; only a single flying sheave, wherein the single flying sheave is disposed operatively engaged with the load line in an engaged condition and wherein the single flying sheave is disposed operatively disengaged with the load line in a disengaged condition; a single, flexible spring line having one end connected to the spring line actuating mechanism and another end connected to the only the single flying sheave; and no more than two rotatable, stationary sheaves operatively coupled to a continuous, straight portion of the load line in the disengaged condition, wherein the single flying sheave assembly can be moveably disposed via the actuating mechanism into and out of the engaged and disengaged condition in a space intermediate the no more than two rotatable, stationary sheaves, wherein the load line extending vertically from a winch and into a body of water to lift and lower the payload; the two rotatable, stationary sheaves being arranged vertically, one above the other; the engaged and disengaged positions of flying sheave being relatively horizontally, wherein the engaged position occurring when the flying sheave essentially pulling the load line in a direction proximate the spring line actuator and the disengaged position occurring when the load line exists in a straight line position.

2. The apparatus of 1, wherein the load and at least a portion of the load-line are disposed in a water column.

3. The apparatus of 2, further comprising an active compensator operably coupled to the guiding structure and the single flying sheave.

4. The apparatus of 3, wherein the active compensator includes a motion feedback control component and at least one of a motorized rack and pinion assembly, a hydraulic cylinder, a pneumatic cylinder, a third driven line.

5. The apparatus of 1, wherein the spring line actuating mechanism includes a spring and at least one rotatable and movable sheave acted on by the spring.

6. The apparatus of 5, wherein the spring is a pneumatic spring.

7. The apparatus of 5, wherein the spring is a hydro-pneumatic spring.

8. The apparatus of 1, wherein the spring line actuating mechanism includes a passive heave compensation device of any form.

9. The apparatus of 1, wherein the one end of the spring line is affixed to an unmovable part of the spring line actuating mechanism.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIGS. 1-14 are diagrams illustrative of the current state of the technology and the shortcomings thereof;

(2) FIG. 15 is a drawing that schematically illustrates a payload control apparatus in an unengaged state, according to an embodiment of the invention;

(3) FIG. 16 is a drawing that schematically illustrates the payload control apparatus shown in FIG. 15 in an engaged state, according to an aspect of the invention;

(4) FIG. 17 diagrammatically illustrates a payload control apparatus in an engaged states according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention;

(5) FIG. 18 diagrammatically illustrates the locally straight unaltered path l.sub.1 of length L.sub.1 and the lengthened path l.sub.2 of length L.sub.2 when the apparatus is engaged according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention;

(6) FIG. 19 shows a flying sheave assembly portion of the payload control apparatus of FIG. 17 in an unengaged state;

(7) FIG. 20 shows the flying sheave assembly portion of the payload control apparatus of FIG. 19 in an engaged state;

(8) FIG. 21 shows an active compensation component of the flying sheave assembly, according to an aspect of the invention; and

(9) FIGS. 22, 23, 24, 25 respectively show block and tackle diagrams that illustrate different mechanical advantages that can be designed into the embodied invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF NON-LIMITING, EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

(10) An embodiment of a payload control apparatus 1000 is illustrated in FIG. 15. In the aspect shown, the apparatus is in an unengaged state. Although a winch 1020, load 1060, and an upper deck and main deck of a marine vessel are illustrated, they do not form a part of the invention per se; rather, they assist in illustrating the operation of the invention.

(11) The apparatus 1000 includes a spring-line assembly 1002, including a spring line actuating mechanism 1005, a spring-line flying sheave assembly 1006 including at least a flying sheave 1006-1 over which a load line (1030) can pass; and a spring line 1004 having a second end 1004-2 connected to the spring line actuating mechanism and a first end 1004-1 connected to the spring line flying sheave assembly 1006. The spring line flying sheave assembly 1006 can be moveably disposed via the spring line actuating mechanism into at least one position such that the flying sheave 1006-1 is either in a non-contacting, spaced relation with a section of the load line 1030 (see FIG. 15) or in a non-path-altering, contacting relation to a region of a straight load-line path having a length L.sub.1 (FIGS. 18 and 19) of the load-line that is connected at a second end thereof to the winch assembly 1020 and at another region (first end) thereof to the payload 1060 to be controllably lifted, lowered, positioned, or maintained in a stationary location. The spring-line flying sheave assembly 1006 further can be moveably disposed via the actuating mechanism into at least another position such that the flying sheave 1006-1 is in a path-altering, engaging contact position (see FIG. 16) with the region of the straight load-line path of the load-line (also FIGS. 18 and 20) such that the load-line path is not straight and has a local load line path length L.sub.2 that is greater than load line path length L.sub.1. It is to be clear to the reader that the length of the load line between the winch and the payload does not change regardless of the heaving motion of the vessel; rather, according to the invention, the path of the load line between the winch and the payload is changed by the displacement of the flying sheave. FIG. 16 shows a heave event where the vessel fell by a distance D and the load was adjusted by an equal amount ΔL=L.sub.2−L.sub.1 thereby holding the payload 1060 steady in the water column.

(12) FIGS. 17-21 illustrate particular detailed aspects of an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIGS. 17 and 21, the spring-line assembly 1002 includes a spring line actuating mechanism 1005 in the form of a gas spring 1008, which includes fixed and moveable sheaves separated by the spring 1008 (pneumatic, hydra-pneumatic, etc.). The figures further illustrate a flying sheave assembly guiding member 1070 within which the flying sheave assembly 1006 (and the connected flying sheave 1006-1) can controllably move in a linear direction. Referring to FIG. 19, fixed sheaves 1090 may, but need not be in operational contact with the load line 1030 when the apparatus is unengaged and non-path-altering.

(13) It is to be appreciated that while the foregoing description of the embodied invention utilizes a spring line in the form of a rope or cable; i.e., a flexible spring line medium, the spring line 1004 as depicted in FIGS. 15 and 16 could comprise a rigid, inflexible medium such as, e.g., a rod, bar, or pole that can be used to move the flying sheave between a load line path-altering and load line non-path-altering positions. As such, the embodied payload control apparatus need not have a spring line actuating mechanism that includes a gas spring or equivalent component; rather, a flying sheave movably disposed by actuating machinery will be sufficient.

(14) As further shown in FIG. 21, the flying sheave assembly may include an active compensator assembly 1080 operably coupled to the guiding structure and the spring-line flying sheave assembly. The active compensator includes a motion feedback control component of sensors and computational devices (not shown) controlling the motorized rack and pinion assembly 1080. The active compensator may also or alternatively comprise a hydraulic cylinder, a pneumatic cylinder, or a third driven line (not shown) to assist the motion of the flying sheave.

(15) Advantageously, the spring line actuating machinery 1005 (e.g., gas spring 1008) may be oriented as needed or convenient anywhere on the vessel. Moreover, the spring line can have a nominal length of less than 200 feet, since it need only be long enough to extend from the flying sheave assembly 1006 and about the actuating machinery to compensate for gross heave distances in the unstable medium. As such, the spring line can be easily inspected and replaced if necessary, and be made arbitrarily strong. Most advantageously, the relatively long, heavy, expensive, and unwieldy load line is not required to, and does not traverse the sheaves of the gas-spring 1008 doing most of the heave compensation work.

(16) As illustrated in FIGS. 22-25 and as will readily be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the spring line actuating mechanism (e.g., gas spring) can be designed to have an Nx mechanical advantage, N=3, 4, 5, 6, respectively, and the arrangement of components including added optional fixed sheaves 1090 is nearly limitless.

(17) While several inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

(18) All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.

(19) The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

(20) The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.

(21) As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of.” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

(22) As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

(23) It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method are recited.

(24) In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.