Hydraulic and earth engineering – Marine structure or fabrication thereof – With anchoring of structure to marine floor
Patent
1995-07-03
1999-06-29
Taylor, Dennis L.
Hydraulic and earth engineering
Marine structure or fabrication thereof
With anchoring of structure to marine floor
405191, 405232, E02D 702, E02D 900
Patent
active
059158832
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention deals with a submersible drive unit with pressure medium pumps connected with a pressure medium tank and driven by underwater electric motors, connectable with the drive of submersible pile drivers and work units.
For underwater pile driving on the sea floor, the pressure medium required for driving the equipment is supplied through a pressure medium circuit with long hoses from above the water surface to the work unit. Because of the flow resistance in the hoses, this is only feasible up to a water depth where the pressure medium pumps can still cope with the additional pressure required to overcome this resistance. Finally, the limits of feasibility, economy and also handling are reached.
In this case a submersible drive unit is connected with the equipment and lowered together with it, supplying a pressure medium through a short circuit, while, for the operation of the drive unit, electric energy is supplied through a long electric power cable from above the water surface with now much lower resistance, i.e. energy losses.
DE-PS 24 54 521 discloses a drive unit, consisting of pressure medium pumps, each driven by an electric motor, and a tank containing the pressure medium, and is displaceable in upward and downward directions by shock absorbing means, and is guided on the pressure medium cylinder of a rammer projecting from the upper end of the housing of a ramming device, and is connected with the latter through short and flexible lines.
This known drive unit requires a precise form fit to the upper end of the ramming device, a shock absorbing displaceable guide at the ramming device, and an attachment to the latter through shock absorbing means, by means of bolts or similar fasteners.
The underwater drive unit currently in use shows especially the following disadvantages: for a displaceable guide is expensive, and these surfaces are difficult to repair when damaged, relatively expensive, deck of the support ship, which requires correspondingly long repair and/or change-over times, damage.
Further, EP-PS 03 01 116 discloses an underwater drive unit comprising electric motors, pumps and pressure medium tank, which is connected with the drive of a pile driver or work unit by means of flexible conduits.
This drive unit has a cover housing with a concentric shaft which goes all the way through to accommodate a foundation pile or the necessary installation equipment, lower and upper support plates which are connected with the outer wall whose internal surface and the inner wall enclosing the shaft form an annulus in which electric motor/pump units are arranged parallel to the shaft. These electric motor/pump units are restrained by springs to limit and cushion movements relative to the cover housing and parallel to the shaft.
This design has disadvantages also. Considerable work time on the deck of the support ship is required in order to separate the drive unit from the work unit and to remove it from the shaft. Moreover, the cover housing, serving both as a guide and as a structure for attaching drive unit components is heavy and expensive, because of the inner and outer walls and the upper and lower support plates.
Apart from the need to eliminate these disadvantages, there are difficulties regarding economy and safety due to the overall configuration and working conditions of pile drivers and work units. They pertain to handling methods, outfitting expenditure, better utilization of the drive unit and its individual components.
As to handling, difficulties occur frequently with the umbilical which connects the support ship with the drive unit/work unit. This umbilical contains electric power cables for the transmission of drive energy to the underwater electric motors of the drive unit and at least one line for the supply of compressed air to the work unit to compensate for the outer pressure on enclosed hollow spaces, and control lines for controlling and monitoring the drive unit and work unit. All these lines are contained in one conduit only, the umbilical
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