Hydraulic and earth engineering – Marine structure or fabrication thereof – In or on frozen media
Patent
1998-07-10
2000-08-08
Lillis, Eileen Dunn
Hydraulic and earth engineering
Marine structure or fabrication thereof
In or on frozen media
4051951, E02D 1914
Patent
active
060992085
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to ice composite bodies for use in the construction of fixed or floating structures located in or on water.
BACKGROUND ART
U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,072 discloses a fixed structure for location over a submerged drill site in waters which normally freeze in winter. The structure comprises generally concentric vertically oriented cylindrical inner and outer walls which define an annular space therebetween. This space is filled with ice, and when completed, the walls extend down to the seabed and the intervening space is filled with ice. The area inside the inner wall thus defines an enclosed volume of water which can be prevented from freezing relatively easily, such as by spreading a layer of insulating material on the surface of the water, and within this area operations such as drilling for offshore oil can proceed throughout the winter.
A disadvantage with this structure is that although it provides an artificial island, its use is limited to waters which normally freeze in winter. Thus its use is confined to a limited geographical area and to a seasonal period only. While this is adequate for the purposes for which it is intended (maintaining a drilling site in winter), and while the geographical and seasonal limitations of this technology are not drawbacks in the application in question (since the structure is only required during that season and in that region), the structures disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,072 are of limited application.
A further limitation with the structures of U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,072 is that they require fixing to the seabed and cannot be used in locations where the water is relatively deep.
Suggestions have been made for transporting ice to more temperate climates, such as towing large ice floes to drought affected areas, on the assumption that melting losses during the journey will not be too great. Such suggestions have not been put into practice, and they highlight the perceived reasons for the limited use of ice outside arctic or antarctic regions, namely that refrigeration costs are thought to be prohibitive in any large-scale or long-term use of ice.
While there have undoubtedly been other proposals for and uses of ice in structural applications, the general problem with these structures is that their use is subject to geographical and/or seasonal limitations.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ice composite body in which the above cited disadvantages are reduced or eliminated, the potential structural applications of ice composite bodies realised and particularly the ability realised to make dimensionally stable ice composite structures of any desired shape and design.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided an ice composite body for use in the construction of fixed or floating structures located in or on water, said body comprising an inner ice core, a protective outer armour layer, means for thermally insulating the ice core and refrigeration means comprising a system of conduits for refrigerant within the body, said insulating means and refrigeration means being adapted, relative to the ambient temperature of the surrounding water, to maintain the ice core in a frozen condition.
It has been found that this construction allows the use of ice composite bodies in waters which have temperatures significantly above freezing point. Based on this construction, ice composite bodies according to the invention can be used in the construction of large-scale structural projects for a fraction of the cost of building the same structure using conventional materials.
Examples of the type of structures in question are bridges, breakwaters, causeways, pontoons, artificial islands, dams, tidal barrages, wave power barrages, harbour walls, wind power farms or aircraft runways. These applications are given by way of example only.
When the ice composite body according to the invention is for use in the construction of fixed or floating structures located in or on fresh water, preferably the ice core
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patent: 4432669 (1984-02-01), Cox et al.
patent: 4632604 (1986-12-01), McKelvy
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Lagman Frederick
Lillis Eileen Dunn
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