Electricity: conductors and insulators – Conduits – cables or conductors – Combined
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-09
2001-10-02
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Conduits, cables or conductors
Combined
C174S07500C, C174S079000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06297453
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable protector intended to protect the operating cable for a remote-controlled underwater craft from wear or getting caught on any part of the surface mother-ship from which operations with craft are being carried out.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unmanned cable-controlled underwater craft of the type concerned here have in recent years, had a very broad range of application insofar as they can be provided with both television cameras for seabed and wreck exploration, and manipulators for carrying out even highly complicated work guided by what the cameras see. Insofar as these craft as a rule operate from a surface mother-ship, it is in most cases the conditions on the surface of the water which are decisive with regard to whether work can be carried out or not.
For example, it is not possible to operate under conditions in which there is a risk of the operating cable being damaged in such a way that the underwater craft could be lost. In heavy seas and when the mother-ship has to travel at a certain speed through the water at the same time as the underwater craft has to move over large areas, e.g. during hunting for wrecks or mines or during seabed exploration, there is a great risk of the operating cable of the underwater craft being damaged by wearing against or by getting caught on the surface mother-ship.
An object of the present invention is to provide a cable protector for such cable-controlled underwater craft, which prevents wearing against and catching on the surface mother-ship both in high seas and when the ship travels at a certain speed through the water. The cable protector should also always allow the operating cable to run out in the direction of the craft at the same time as it prevents, in this connection, the operating cable being bent in too tight a curve which could lead to damage to the same.
The cable protector according to the invention is designed in such a manner that it guides the operating cable out of its protective cover at such a great depth that the cable runs completely clear of the surface mother-ship in all directions, even when the ship and/or the craft travels at a certain speed through the water. In order to be capable of performing this function, the cable protector must thus have a not inconsiderable length. At the same time it must be capable of being taken aboard the surface mother-ship without major problems, and it must not in itself cause water resistance which is so great that problems consequently arise as far as operation of the underwater craft is concerned.
It has now been possible to take all these requirements, which are individually important and in some cases difficult to combine, into consideration and the result is the cable protector as described hereinafter.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The basic idea of the invention is that the operating cable of the underwater craft, from the point at which it runs out over the rail of the surface mother-ship and down to an adequate depth below the surface of the water, so as to eliminate completely any risk of abrasion or catching with regard to the mother-ship, is to be protected by a tension spring which surrounds the cable. The tension spring is depth-regulated by extension to the desired length and is helically wound into a preferably circular cross-section. By virtue of its open construction in the extended state, such a protective spring causes minimal resistance in the water at the same time as it affords the operating cable running through its hollow center lateral protection on all sides. The invention also provides that the length of extension of this protective tension spring is in each case adjustable by means of wires which run parallel to the spring. The wires can be fed out to the desired length while a ballast arranged at the free outer end of the tension spring, where the wires also are fastened, ensures that the tension spring always has the maximum extension defined by the wires.
The invention also includes a specially designed link system which is arranged in the lower part of the cable protector and allows the operating cable to run out in any chosen direction. At the same time, the link system prevents the cable being bent so that it has far too small a radius which would otherwise have involved the risk of serious damage to the operating cable. The possibility for the operating cable to run out in any chosen direction from the cable protector, depending on the relative position of the underwater craft in relation to the surface mother-ship, also means that the risk of the operating cable becoming entangled in itself or, as it were, tying itself in knots has been eliminated completely.
So as to make it possible to combine a great maximum length of extension of the tension spring part of the cable protector with the shortest possible length in the contracted state, it is further proposed according to a preferred variant of the invention that the tension spring part may consist of two or more tension spring parts which are telescopically displaceable relative to one another, arranged one inside another and helically wound in opposite directions to one another.
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patent: 4028912A1 (1991-09-01), None
patent: 0 205 372 A1 (1986-12-01), None
Falk Mathias
Siesjo Jan
Wigh Anders
Bofors Underwater Systems AB
Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz
Mayo III William H.
Reichard Dean A.
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