초록 ▼

A submersible and remotely-operable platform system for carrying out repeated operations in a submarine position, and producing electrical energy as either a primary or secondary purpose by means of one or more energy-conversion payload devices installed thereon. The platform and payload devices may

A submersible and remotely-operable platform system for carrying out repeated operations in a submarine position, and producing electrical energy as either a primary or secondary purpose by means of one or more energy-conversion payload devices installed thereon. The platform and payload devices may be periodically brought to the surface and thence, if necessary, to a shore-based facility for maintenance or refit. In deployment, the platform is preferably engaged to its mooring lines and electrical cables while still on the surface. Simultaneous with controlled flooding of certain of its volumes, the platform is guided to an operational depth and attitude by the action of its winch assemblies upon their engaged mooring lines. Subsea currents energize the platform's payload of energy conversion devices, the electrical output being preferably conveyed via one or more surface-attached cables to an off-board facility for further processing, distribution, or consumption.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A submersible marine platform assembly that is transportable along the surface of a body of water to a site intended for submarine operational positioning and, by means of variable buoyancy and variable mechanical engagement of mooring equipment, descends to and ascends from

What is claimed is: 1. A submersible marine platform assembly that is transportable along the surface of a body of water to a site intended for submarine operational positioning and, by means of variable buoyancy and variable mechanical engagement of mooring equipment, descends to and ascends from an operational depth and orientation at which at least one payload device installed upon said platform is presented to and motivated by a sub-surface aquatic current, the overall system being further comprised of: (a) a platform structure, being substantially open in form in its main plane; (b) an arrangement of displacing volumes mounted to or formed by peripheral members of said platform structure, a plurality of said volumes being equipped for variability in displacement; (c) a ballast system and fluid-ejection means related thereto, for the control of displacement of said variable-displacement volumes; (d) a positive mechanical means of control of platform depth and angular orientation from the horizontal plane which includes: (1) a plurality of mooring lines; (2) a plurality of winch assemblies mounted to the platform assembly, each associated with at least one of said mooring lines; (e) at least one on-board electronic system associated with equipment mounted to or incorporated within said submersible platform assembly, such system incorporating circuitry and components for the control and monitoring of: (1) the plurality of winch assemblies; (2) the plurality of variably-buoyant volumes and associated ballast control system components; (3) at least one payload device installed upon said platform assembly as is to be delivered to and motivated by a sub-surface aquatic current; (4) communications equipment selected for the transmission and reception of electronic signal between the platform assembly and a remote facility; (f) at least one payload device, temporarily or permanently secured, as is to be delivered to said operational submarine position, depth and orientation by means of the platform assembly, said device being designed for the conversion of the kinetic energy of sub-surface aquatic current to electrical energy as an intermediate or final product. 2. The submersible platform system of claim 1 wherein the one or more energy-conversion payload devices are selected to have electrical energy as the final product of operation, and wherein the system is adapted for the direct transmission of such product from the platform assembly to a remote facility, the overall system further comprising: (a) at least one power conductor cable having been installed between said remote facility and the platform's area of mooring line anchorage; (b) a means of separable attachment of said cable to the platform assembly, via an electrical connector designed for underwater use. 3. The submersible platform system of claim 2 wherein the said electrical connector of said cable is separable by a remotely-operable mechanism selected for the purpose. 4. The submersible platform system of claim 2 wherein at least one power conductor cable between the said platform assembly and the said remote facility has its separable electrical connector mated while the platform resides at surface, the system being further comprised of: (a) an auxiliary cable-management buoy assembly equipped with a means of securing the free end of said cable at or near the water surface while not otherwise connected to the platform assembly; (b) a mooring tether for said buoy, anchored in the vicinity of platform operation; (c) a plurality of buoyant devices affixed to said power conductor cable so as to relieve the cable weight borne by said buoy assembly; (d) switchgear providing for the reception of electrical power from said remote facility during procedures of platform ascent and decent, and transmission of electrical power from the platform assembly to said remote facility when said platform is in a deployed position of operation. 5. The submersible platform system of claim 4 wherein the auxiliary cable-management buoy assembly is, for purposes of non-entanglement, further comprised of: (a) a yoke attached to said buoy by a horizontally pivotable means, into which is incorporated the upper attachment point of the buoy's mooring tether, such attachment point extending into the water and up-current of the buoy; (b) at least one fin attached to said buoy which causes the buoy to maintain a substantially stable position relative to other system components as a result of the combination of i) aquatic current acting upon said buoy, keeping said tether substantially taut; ii) the angular orientation, in the horizontal plane, of said fin relative to said yoke's axis of pivot; and iii) aquatic current acting upon the surfaces of said fin. 6. The submersible platform system of claim 1 wherein the at least one on-board control system is further comprised of a set of sensing devices that detect certain operational and environmental conditions selected from the group comprised of: i) velocity of aquatic current; ii) direction of aquatic current; iii) mooring line tension; iv) ambient water temperature; v) ambient water pressure; vi) visual conditions via an on-board camera; and vii) proximity of foreign objects via a sonar system. 7. The submersible platform system of claim 1 wherein signal transmission between said platform assembly and a remote facility, as a primary or backup sub-system, is accomplished by at least one electrically transmissive conductor installed between the two, such conductive means being selected from the group comprised of: i) an electronic overlaying of signal upon a power conductor, with electronic encoding and decoding devices located at both ends; ii) one or more additional conductors resident in a cable encompassing a power conductor; and iii) a dedicated signal cable. 8. The submersible platform system of claim 1 wherein signal transmission between said platform assembly and said remote facility, as a primary or backup sub-system, is accomplished by wireless means, the platform's communication system being further comprised of electronic equipment designed for underwater acoustical transpondence of signal to a counterpart set of such equipment residing at or near surface, such counterpart equipment being installed upon a surface object selected from the group comprised of: i) an unmanned buoyant structure, further equipped for through-air wireless transmission to a remote facility; ii) a manned vessel, further equipped for through-air wireless transmission to an at-shore facility; and iii) a manned vessel that itself comprises, at least temporarily, the remote station of control and monitoring. 9. The submersible platform system of claim 1 wherein signal transmission between said platform assembly and said remote facility, as a primary or backup sub-system, is accomplished by wireless means, the system being further comprised of: (a) a tethered surface communications buoy, equipped for through-air wireless transmission to a remote facility; (b) at least one electrically transmissive conductor installed between the platform and said buoy, such conductor being selected from the group comprised of: i) at least one dedicated conductor; and ii) the buoy's tether, with overlaid signal being electronically encoded and decoded by corresponding equipment installed on both platform and buoy. 10. The submersible platform system of claim 1 wherein the winches and mooring lines are adapted for platform operation in water depths exceeding twice the length of the platform assembly, the system further comprising: (a) fairlead assemblies incorporated into the said winch assemblies; (b) mooring line anchorage means being further selected from the group comprised of: i) direct and individual anchorage to the seabed, dimensionally spaced so as to preclude entanglement of said mooring lines; ii) direct and shared anchorage to a unitary framework or pedestal structure installed upon the seabed; and iii) indirect and shared anchorage to at least one intermediate framework suspended in the water column, said framework being directly moored to the seabed. 11. The submersible platform system of claim 10 wherein indication of maximum operational depth excursion for the platform assembly is conveyed to the said on-board control system by at least one sensor respondent to ambient water pressure. 12. The submersible platform system of claim 10 wherein indication of maximum operational depth excursion is accomplished by at least one sensor on board the platform assembly which, when brought into proximity of a physical feature resident in the mooring equipment, permits a corresponding signal to be sent to the said on-board control system. 13. The submersible platform system of claim 10 wherein additional features, by their interaction with surrounding aquatic forces, are incorporated into the platform assembly for greater positional stability during surface transit, descent, operational station-keeping and ascent, such features being selected from the group comprised of: i) a stream-lined pontoon; ii) a stream-lined cowling; iii) a thruster; iv) a static fin; and v) a mechanically operable diving plane. 14. The submersible platform system of claim 1 wherein the mooring lines are substantially cleared of marine growth by means of crushing features incorporated into at least one rotating component of each of the said winching assemblies. 15. The submersible platform system of claim 1 wherein said mooring lines and said winch assemblies are selected for a tractive relationship, the system further comprising: (a) the composition of each said mooring line being selected from the group consisting of: i) at least one chain; ii) at least one wire rope; iii) at least one wire rope having periodically attached teeth or rib features; and iv) a combination of at least one wire rope and at least one chain; (b) each winch assembly being further comprised of a set of tractional features, such set being selected from the group consisting of: i) at least one drum having surface features within the line-bearing groove of a sufficient form and pitch to mechanically engage periodic physical features resident in the mooring line assembly; and ii) at least one pair of cyclically-moving frictional surfaces that compress upon a mooring line; (c) said winch assemblies further incorporating at least one idler wheel, drum, or other engagement feature that accommodates the requisite angular engagement or wrap of said mooring line onto or into said tractional features. 16. The submersible platform system of claim 15 wherein said mooring line engagement feature is mechanically lockable upon and releasable from said mooring line, the mechanism being further disengageable upon the reception of an electrical signal. 17. The submersible platform system of claim 15 wherein each mooring line of said platform assembly has its upper end retained at surface by means of a buoyant assembly throughout all stages of platform descent, operation, and ascent. 18. The submersible platform system of claim 17 in which the buoyant assembly employed for surface retention of said mooring lines is a composite structure, retaining all of said mooring lines of the platform assembly. 19. The submersible platform system of claim 18 in which the composite buoyant structure is further equipped with variably displaceable volumes for the purposes of submersion or semi-submersion of said structure. 20. The submersible platform system of claim 17 in which the buoyant assembly is a surface buoy dedicated to a single mooring line assembly and, for the purposes of non-entanglement, is maintained at surface in substantial separation from other components of the overall system by means of differentially-lengthened mooring lines or pairs of such, and also of features resident in said buoy, the buoy assembly further comprising: (a) a horizontally pivotable yoke into which is incorporated the attachment point of said mooring line, said attachment point extending beneath the surface and up-current of the buoy; (b) at least one fin attached to said buoy which causes the buoy to maintain a stable position relative to other buoyant system components as a result of the combination of i) surface current acting upon said buoy, keeping said mooring line substantially taut; ii) surface current acting upon the surfaces of said fin; and iii) the angular orientation, in the horizontal plane, of said fin relative to said yoke's axis of pivot. 21. The submersible platform system of claim 15 in which the free portion of mooring line assembly that has been tractively and descendingly traversed by its associated winch assembly is deposited into or onto a holding receptacle aboard the platform assembly. 22. The submersible platform system of claim 15 in which the free portion of mooring line that has been tractively and descendingly traversed by its associated winch assembly is permitted to hang freely from said winch assembly. 23. The submersible platform system of claim 22 in which the free portion of mooring line that has been tractively and descendingly traversed has been affixed with at least one finned or cupped device for proper down-current positioning with respect to positions of other major components in the system. 24. The submersible platform system of claim 22 in which the free portion of the mooring line that has been tractively and downwardly traversed has been affixed with at least one statically buoyant volume that assists in proper down-current positioning With respect to positions of other major components in the system. 25. The submersible platform system of claim 1 in which said system is adapted for a take-up relationship between said mooring lines and said winch assemblies, the system further comprising at least one drum incorporated within each winch assembly that acts as a reel for its associated mooring line. 26. The submersible platform system of claim 1 in which the site and depth of operation is characterized by the presence of sub-surface current that is substantially alternating in directional nature, the system being further comprised of: (a) the at least one said energy-conversion payload device being selected from the group comprised of: i) a device designed for self-presentation to such alternating current by a pivoting means perpendicular to the mean direction of marine current, such pivoting being independent of platform angular orientation; and ii) a device equipped with an impeller blades statically designed for or actuated to engage a bi-directional current flow; (b) the platform mooring lines and associated anchorage assemblies being further selected for the additional loads encountered during such transitions in aquatic current directionality. 27. The submersible platform system of claim 1 in which the site and depth of operation is characterized by the presence of sub-surface current that is substantially alternating in directional nature, wherein the platform assembly is rotated about a horizontal axis and thus presents its one or more energy-conversion payload devices to such alternating marine current by means further comprised of: (a) variable traversing of mooring lines by said winch assemblies during said alternation of aquatic current; (b) varying the displacement of at least one volume incorporated within the platform assembly during said alternation of aquatic current; (c) dimensional positioning of mooring line anchorages, commensurate with operational site conditions, so as to preclude entanglement during said alternation of current. 28. The submersible platform system of claim 1 wherein an emergency means of surfacing the platform assembly is provided for, via an emergency surfacing sub-system comprised of: (a) a standby power supply providing stored electrical energy, sized sufficiently for the powering of components designated as belonging to an emergency surfacing sub-system; (b) a sub-system for electronic control of components designated as associated with emergency surfacing operations; (c) such designated components being selected from the group minimally comprised of: i) an electro-mechanically operable valve associated with a pressurized air tank and pressurization circuit that ejects water from at least one volume designed for variable displacement; ii) at least one control and monitoring sub-system in communication with a remote facility; iii) at least one sensor designated as critical to an emergency surfacing operation; and iv) a component permitting the shutdown of at least one payload device or its energy product. 29. The submersible platform system of claim 28 wherein the emergency means of surfacing the platform assembly is further comprised of: (a) a means of remotely-actuable release of mooring lines, such means being selected from the group comprised of: i) a valve-actuated provision for a hydraulically-powered winch assembly in contact with an associated mooring line to rotate freely, such rotation being limited to speeds equating to a permissible rate of surfacing via a flow-limiting component resident within the associated hydraulic circuit; ii) a remotely-operable clutch device permitting a winch drum in direct contact with an associated mooring line to rotate freely, such rotation being mechanically limited to speeds equating to a permissible rate of surfacing; iii) a physical separation of anchored portion of mooring line from its associated winch assembly by means of a cutter mechanism acting upon said mooring line; iv) a physical disengagement of mooring line from its associated anchoring point by means of a remotely-operable and separable connection device; v) a physical disengagement of the mooring line from its associated anchor by means of a remotely-operable and separable connection device mounted along the length of said mooring line between point of anchoring and point of maximum operational depth excursion for the associated winch; vi) a physical disengagement of the mooring line from said winch assembly via the remotely-actuated release of a mechanical mooring line engagement mechanism resident in the winch assembly; and vii) a physical disengagement of the winch assembly from the platform assembly proper, such that both winch and mooring line are released from said platform assembly; (b) a means of remotely-actuable release of any electrical cable connected to the platform assembly from an off-board location via a mechanical means associated with a connector assembly, the location of such point of connection and separation being selected from the group comprised of: i) the point at which such cable connects to said platform assembly; ii) the point at which such cable connects to a submarine anchorage; and iii) a point along the length of said cable between platform assembly and submarine anchorage. 30. The submersible platform system of claim 1 which has, with its one or more energy-conversion payload devices, been further equipped to have potential energy as the intended product of submarine operation, such energy having been converted from the kinetic energy of a sub-surface current to a form that is capable of storage and surface transport, the payload equipment being further selected from the group comprised of: (a) at least one turbine payload device that, with electricity as an intermediate product, produces hydrogen as its final product, supplying at least one hydrogen storage payload assembly whose hydrogen content is conveyed to a surface vessel for further processing or transport; (b) at least one turbine payload device that, with electricity as an intermediate product, produces hydrogen as its final product, directly supplying a surface vessel for further processing or transport via a fluid conductor; (c) at least one turbine payload device that produces electricity as its primary product, such product energizing an on-board system that produces hydrogen therefrom; (d) at least one turbine payload device that produces electricity as its primary product, such product charging one or more on-board battery devices, such batteries being conveyed to another vessel when charged; (e) at least one turbine payload device that produces electricity as its primary product, such product being conveyed directly to a another vessel and its one or more electrical storage or conversion devices by means of an electrical conductor whilst the platform is at operational depth. 31. The method of delivering and retrieving devices that convert the kinetic energy of sub-surface aquatic current into a transmissible or transportable form of energy, between an accessible position at or above the water surface and an operational depth and angular position within the water column, by means of a submersible payload-bearing platform, comprising the steps of: (a) engaging of pre-positioned mooring lines to said platform's winch assemblies while said platform is at surface, said mooring lines having their upper ends retained at surface by buoyant structures; (b) lowering of the platform by means of i) decreasing buoyancy via an on-board ballast control system and ii) the simultaneous mechanical action of said winch assemblies upon said mooring lines; (c) remote commanding of the platform to a preferred operational depth and angular attitude ranging from horizontal to vertical; (d) operating and monitoring of said platform, while at depth, by a remote facility; (e) operating and monitoring of said energy-conversion devices, while at depth, by a remote facility; (f) ascending of said platform and its payload of energy-conversion devices in a manner substantially in the reverse of the above, for maintenance, equipment upgrades, or avoidance of adverse environmental conditions; (g) surface disengagement of said mooring lines from said winch assemblies in the event that transport to another location is necessitated by operational, environmental or servicing requirements. 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising: (a) pre-positioned sub-sea power and signal cables being extended to the water surface, such being retained at surface in the absence of the platform assembly; (b) connection or disconnection of said cables to said platform while such is still at surface. 33. The method of claim 32, further comprising: (a) supply of electrical energy from a remote facility to the platform assembly during procedures of descent and ascent; (b) supply of electrical energy from the platform assembly and its payload of energy-conversion devices to a remote facility when said platform assembly is in a submarine operational position. 34. The method of emergency surfacing of a submersible, variably-buoyant and engageably-tethered platform assembly equipped with devices that convert the kinetic energy of submarine aquatic current into a transmissible or transportable form of energy, comprising: (a) passively and statically displacing volumes being incorporated into the platform assembly, such volumes assisting the elevation of said platform assembly from a submarine depth to a position near the surface, regardless of other sub-system functionalities; (b) the said platform assembly having been engageably-tethered by means of a plurality of winch assemblies mechanically engaged with associated mooring lines; (c) the release of such mooring lines from said winch assemblies being accomplished by hydraulic valve actuation, allowing the drum or drums of said winch assemblies to freely rotate, though at a speed controlled by flow-limiting valves of the hydraulic circuit; (d) a supply of stored electrical energy for the energizing of critical components on-board the platform, such that certain control sub-systems, valve operators, communications sub-systems, sensors, and other components designated as critical to an emergency surfacing operation may be remotely commanded and energized regardless of the presence of normal power sources; (e) an on-board supply of stored and pressurized air that displaces certain variably-displaceable volumes of the platform to promote its overall buoyancy.