U.S. patent application number 12/754514 was filed with the patent office on 2011-06-02 for piling barge.
This patent application is currently assigned to SANY Electric Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Yanbin Gu, Xinming Wang, Jian Zhang.
Application Number | 20110129301 12/754514 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43646219 |
Filed Date | 2011-06-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110129301 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wang; Xinming ; et
al. |
June 2, 2011 |
PILING BARGE
Abstract
A piling barge is disclosed by the present invention. In the
piling barge disclosed, a supporting leg includes a supporting arm
extended in vertical direction. Differing from the prior art, the
supporting leg further includes a supporting base. The supporting
base has a transverse section larger than that of the supporting
arm, an end of the supporting arm is fixed with the upper surface
of the supporting base. The supporting base of the supporting leg
having a larger transverse section may receive support from a
larger area of mollisol ground and thus provide a larger supporting
force for the hull, which enables the piling barge to perform the
piling operation on sea areas with mollisol ground. A piling device
of the piling barge has pile frame adjusting mechanisms, such as a
luffing oil cylinder, a luffing winch mechanism and a turntable,
etc., which may adjust the incline angle and the position of the
pile frame, therefore the working efficiency of piling operation of
the piling barge can be improved.
Inventors: |
Wang; Xinming; (Beijing,
CN) ; Zhang; Jian; (Beijing, CN) ; Gu;
Yanbin; (Beijing, CN) |
Assignee: |
SANY Electric Co., Ltd.
Beijing
CN
|
Family ID: |
43646219 |
Appl. No.: |
12/754514 |
Filed: |
April 5, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
405/205 ;
405/204 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B63B 21/27 20130101;
E02B 2017/0056 20130101; E02D 13/04 20130101; E02B 2017/0078
20130101; E02B 17/021 20130101; B63B 35/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
405/205 ;
405/204 |
International
Class: |
E02D 23/08 20060101
E02D023/08; E02D 27/12 20060101 E02D027/12 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 27, 2009 |
CN |
200910237986.3 |
Claims
1. A piling barge comprising a transversely extended hull, a piling
device and a plurality of supporting legs, the piling device
comprising a pile frame mounted on the hull, characterized in that,
the supporting leg comprises a supporting arm and a supporting
base; the supporting arm extends in a vertical direction and is
mounted on a body of the base so as to be slidable in the vertical
direction; and the supporting base has a transverse section larger
than a transverse section of the supporting arm, a lower end of the
supporting arm is fixed to an upper surface of the supporting
base.
2. The piling barge according to claim 1, wherein, the supporting
base comprises a cavity, which has an opening formed in an bottom
surface of the supporting base; and the piling barge further
comprises a charging and discharging pump communicated with the
cavity via a pipe.
3. The piling barge according to claim 2, wherein, the supporting
leg further has a charging and discharging passage therein, which
has an outer port positioned at an outer surface of the supporting
base and an inner port positioned at a wall of the cavity; and the
charging and discharging pump is communicated with the outer port
of the charging and discharging passage.
4. The piling barge according to claim 2, wherein, the piling barge
further has a charging and discharging passage, which has an outer
port positioned at an outer surface of the supporting arm and an
inner port positioned at an upper wall of the cavity; and the
charging and discharging pump is communicated with the outer port
of the charging and discharging passage.
5. The piling barge according to claim 4, wherein, the charging and
discharging passage has a plurality of outer ports positioned at a
side surface of the supporting arm, and the plurality of outer
ports have different distances from an upper end of the supporting
arm.
6. The piling barge according to claim 1, wherein, the piling
device further comprises a luffing oil cylinder, a boom, a hanging
hook and a hoisting winch drum; one end of the luffing oil cylinder
is hingedly connected to a lower hinge point of the pile frame
while the other end thereof is hingedly connected to the hull, an
upper end of the boom is hingedly connected to an upper hinge point
of the pile frame while an lower end thereof is mounted on the
hull, the upper hinge point and the lower hinge point are
respectively adjacent to the upper end and the lower end of the
pile frame; and the hanging hook is suspended from a fixed pulley
block provided at the upper end of the pile frame, the hoisting
winch drum is mounted on a turntable and is connected to the fixed
pulley block via a hoisting steel wire rope.
7. The piling barge according to claim 6, wherein, the piling barge
further comprises a luffing steel wire rope and a luffing winch
drum; the lower end of the boom is hingedly connected to the hull;
and the luffing winch drum is mounted on the hull, one end of the
luffing steel wire rope is connected to the luffing winch drum
while the other end thereof is fixed to the upper end of the
boom.
8. The piling barge according to claim 1, wherein, the piling
device further comprises a turntable, on which the pile frame is
mounted, the turntable is mounted on the hull via a turning
mechanism so as to rotate relative to the hull around a vertical
axis.
9. The piling barge according to claim 8, wherein, the piling
device further comprises a tufting oil cylinder, a boom, a hanging
hook and a hoisting winch drum; one end of the luffing oil cylinder
is hingedly connected to an lower hinge point of the pile frame
while the other end thereof is hingedly connected to the turntable,
an upper end of the boom is hingedly connected to an upper hinge
point of the pile frame while an lower end thereof is mounted on
the turntable; the upper hinge point and lower hinge point are
respectively adjacent to the upper end and the lower end of the
pile frame; and the hanging hook is suspended from a fixed pulley
block provided at the upper end of the pile frame, and the hoisting
winch drum is mounted on the turntable and is connected to the
fixed pulley block via a hoisting steel wire rope.
10. The piling barge according to claim 9, wherein, the piling
barge further comprises a luffing steel wire rope and a luffing
winch drum; the lower end of the boom is hingedly connected to the
turntable; and the luffing winch drum is mounted on the turntable,
one end of the luffing steel wire rope is connected to the luffing
winch drum while the other end thereof is fixed to the upper end of
the boom.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent
Application No. 200910237986.3, filed Nov. 27, 2009, entitled "A
Piling Vessel", which is incorporated by reference herein for all
purposes.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to offshore engineering
technology, and in particular, to a piling barge used for offshore
piling.
THE RELATED ART
[0003] Currently, in the exploitation of marine resources, it is
necessary to build some functions in a tidal flat (including
transfer areas of water and land, such as inland rivers, inland
lakes, and marshes) or a neritic zone. For example, wind farms are
built in predetermined sea areas to make full use of offshore wind
energy. Based on characteristics of offshore engineering
operations, particular attention should be paid on basic
construction in offshore engineering, so as to provide foundations
for subsequent constructions. During the basic construction in a
predetermined sea area, a piling barge is commonly used to
establish pile foundations for an offshore engineering
construction. As an important machine in basic construction, the
construction efficiency of the piling barge determines the length
of the whole construction period.
[0004] Generally, a piling barge includes a hull, supporting legs
and a piling device. The supporting legs are slidably mounted at
the periphery of the hull. When the piling barge needs to be
positioned, the supporting legs are lowered all the way to the
seabed by means of a suitable hoisting mechanism, and are supported
on the ground to provide a supporting force for the hull of the
piling barge, such that the piling barge can perform predetermined
piling operations. The piling device includes a pile frame that can
fix a pile for positioning the pile, sinking the pile to a
predetermined position at a predetermined area and thus forming a
pile foundation.
[0005] The piling process of an existing piling barge includes the
following steps:
1. The piling barge itself moves to fetch a pile near a pile-stop
at a pile-sinking zone and then carries the pile back to a
predetermined sea area. 2. The piling barge is positioned in the
predetermined pile-sinking sea area. Specifically, at first, the
piling barge is initially positioned by a windlass vessel, then the
supporting legs of the piling barge are sunk through into the
seabed ground, therefore achieving positioning of the piling barge
and thus providing a foundation for the subsequent pile-turning and
pile-sinking operations. 3. After being positioned, the piling
barge turns the pile, i.e., transfers the position of the pile from
a horizontal state to a vertical state or a predetermined state, so
as to provide a precondition for pile sinking. 4. The Pile-sinking
operation is performed, the pile is sunk into the seabed ground by
applying a predetermined force thereon through a suitable
mechanism, thereby, a predetermined pile foundation is formed.
After that, the positioning of the piling barge is removed, it then
moves to the pile-sinking zone to fetch a pile for another cycle of
piling operation.
[0006] The existing piling barge presents the following
disadvantages:
1. It is difficult for the piling barge to perform piling for sea
areas with mollisol ground at the seabed. The seabed ground of a
tidal flat or a neritic zone usually has silt layers, which form
mollisol ground. Reference is made to FIG. 1, which is a schematic
diagram of the load bearing of a supporting leg of the existing
piling barge when being supported on the seabed ground. If the
ground of the operating sea area is a mollisol ground, the
supporting leg 200 will be trapped into the mollisol ground 300,
which in turn generates two force acting on the lower end of the
supporting leg 200, i.e., a supporting force F1 to a bottom surface
of the supporting leg 200, and a friction force F2 to side surfaces
of the supporting leg 200, the resultant force of these two forces
being the supporting force that could be provided to the hull 100
by the supporting leg 200. Due to the fact that the mollisol ground
has fluidity, ground grains at the bottom surface of the supporting
leg 200 will flow to the periphery when receiving force from the
supporting leg 200. At this point, the mollisol ground 300 fails to
generate a large force to act on the bottom surface of the
supporting leg 200, which results a smaller supporting force F1;
and for the same reason, the friction force F2 is also severely
limited by the fluidity of the mollisol ground 300. As a result,
when the operating sea area is a mollisol ground 300, it is
difficult for the supporting leg 200 to provide a large supporting
force to the hull 100, and thus the piling device on the piling
barge could not operate stably, and it would be difficult to
implement the piling operation on sea areas with mollisol ground.
Moreover, when the supporting leg 200 is to be extracted from the
mollisol ground 300, the friction force F2 would be applied to the
supporting leg 200 in an opposite direction to make it difficult to
extract the supporting leg 200 from the mollisol ground 300,
resulting in difficulty in relocating of the piling barge.
[0007] Although it is possible, in theory, to increase F2 through
elongating the length of the supporting leg 200 and thus enlarging
the contact surface between the supporting leg 200 and the mollisol
ground 300, or to increase the supporting force F1 through
extending the bottom portion of the supporting leg 200 all the way
to a harder ground. However, they both are impractical, because
this may not only bring about increase in the overall size and thus
the manufacturing and using costs of the piling barge, but also
make it difficult to extract the supporting leg 200 out of the
mollisol ground 300 and thus make it impossible to relocate the
piling barge due to a large friction force F2.
2. Low working efficiency. In the pile-turning or pile-sinking of
the existing piling barge, the positioning is usually made by way
of windlassing, which leads to long positioning period and reduced
operating efficiency of the piling barge.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] In view of the preceding problems, a first object of the
present invention is to provide a piling barge that can perform
piling on a mollisol ground.
[0009] A second object of the present invention is to provide a
piling barge with high piling efficiency.
[0010] The piling barge provided by the present invention includes
a transversely extended hull, a piling device and a plurality of
supporting legs, the piling device includes a pile frame mounted on
the hull, differing from the prior art in that, the supporting leg
includes a supporting arm and a supporting base; the supporting arm
is extended in vertical direction and is mounted on the body of the
base to be slidable in vertical direction; and the supporting base
has a transverse section larger than that of the supporting arm, a
lower end of the supporting arm is fixed with an upper surface of
the supporting base.
[0011] Preferably, the supporting base includes a cavity having an
opening at an bottom surface of the supporting base; and the piling
barge further includes a charging and discharging pump communicated
with the cavity through a pipe.
[0012] Preferably, the supporting leg also has a charging and
discharging passage, which has an outer port positioned on an outer
surface of the supporting base and an inner port positioned on a
wall surface of the cavity; and the charging and discharging pump
is communicated with the outer port of the charging and discharging
passage.
[0013] Alternatively, the piling barge also has a charging and
discharging passage, which has an outer port positioned on an outer
surface of the supporting arm and an inner port positioned on an
upper wall surface of the cavity; and the charging and discharging
pump is communicated with the outer port of the charging and
discharging passage.
[0014] Preferably, the charging and discharging passage has a
plurality of outer ports positioned at a side surface of the
supporting arm, which outer ports have different distances from an
upper end of the supporting arm.
[0015] Preferably, the piling device further includes a luffing oil
cylinder, a boom, hanging hooks and a hoisting winch mechanism; one
end of the luffing oil cylinder is hingedly connected with an lower
hinge point of the pile frame while the other end thereof is
hingedly connected with the hull, an upper end of the boom is
hingedly connected with an upper hinge point of the pile frame
while an lower end thereof is mounted on the hull, the upper hinge
point and the lower hinge point are respectively adjacent to the
upper end and the lower end of the pile frame; and the hanging hook
is suspended from a fixed pulley block at the upper end of the pile
frame, the hoisting winch drum is mounted on a turntable and is
connected with the fixed pulley block via a hoisting steel wire
rope.
[0016] Preferably, the piling barge further includes a luffing
steel wire rope and a luffing winch drum; the lower end of the boom
is hingedly connected with the hull; and the luffing winch drum is
mounted on the hull, one end of the luffing steel wire rope is
connected with the luffing winch drum while the other end thereof
is fixed with the upper end of the boom.
[0017] Preferably, the piling device further includes a turntable,
on which the pile frame is mounted, the turntable is mounted on the
hull by means of a turning mechanism so as to rotate around a
vertical axis relative to the hull.
[0018] Preferably, the piling device further includes a luffing oil
cylinder, a boom, hanging hooks and a hoisting winch mechanism; one
end of the luffing oil cylinder is hingedly connected with an lower
hinge point of the pile frame while the other end thereof is
hingedly connected with the turntable, an upper end of the boom is
hingedly connected with an upper hinge point of the pile frame
while an lower end thereof is mounted on the turntable; the upper
hinge point and lower hinge point are respectively adjacent to the
upper end and the lower end of the pile frame; and the hanging hook
is suspended from a fixed pulley block at the upper end of the pile
frame, the hoisting winch drum is mounted on the turntable and is
connected with the fixed pulley block via a hoisting steel wire
rope.
[0019] Preferably, the piling barge further includes a luffing
steel wire rope and a luffing winch drum; the lower end of the boom
is hingedly connected with the turntable; and the luffing winch
drum is mounted on the turntable, one end of the luffing steel wire
rope is connected with the luffing winch drum while the other end
thereof is fixed with the upper end of the boom.
[0020] Compared with the prior art, in the piling barge provided by
the present invention, besides a supporting arm extending in
vertical direction, the supporting leg includes a supporting base,
which is fixed with the lower end of the supporting arm and has a
transverse section larger than that of the supporting arm.
Therefore, when piling operation is performed in a predetermined
sea area with mollisol ground, the supporting base having larger
transverse section may receive support from a larger area of
mollisol ground and thus provide a larger supporting force for the
hull, which increases stability of the piling barge and enables the
piling barge to perform the piling operation on sea areas with
mollisol ground. Moreover, due to the fact that the supporting base
is arranged at the lower end of the supporting arm, the supporting
arm is allowed to have a smaller transverse section, and thus the
supporting leg is allowed to maintain a smaller overall weight.
[0021] In a further preferable technical solution, the supporting
base includes a cavity having an opening at the bottom surface of
the supporting base. Thus, when the supporting leg needs to be
lowered and supported on the seabed ground, a charging and
discharging pump may be used to depressurize the cavity, establish
a negative pressure in the cavity, and discharge air and water from
the cavity, which allows the base of the supporting arm to be sunk
into sea water smoothly and enables grains of mollisol ground to
flow into the cavity. Therefore, the supporting base is sunk
through into the mollisol ground and enables the supporting leg to
provide supporting force for the hull. When the supporting leg
needs to be lifted up, the charging and discharging pump may be
used to pressurize in the cavity, charge water or air into the
cavity and establish a positive pressure in the cavity. Therefore,
under the pressure of the water and air, the supporting base is
separated from the mollisol ground and the supporting leg is
extracted smoothly from the mollisol ground, so as to facilitate
relocating of the piling barge.
[0022] In a further preferable technical solution, the supporting
base also has a charging and discharging passage, which has an
outer port on the outer surface of the supporting base and an inner
port on the wall surface of the cavity. In this technical solution,
the charging and discharging pump may be connected with the cavity
through the charging and discharging passage, which facilitates
pressurize and depressurize the cavity.
[0023] In an alternative technical solution, the outer port of the
charging and discharging passage is located on the outer surface of
the supporting arm. In this way, a suitable charging and
discharging pump may be provided on the hull, then, depressurizing
and pressurizing the cavity and thus establishing a negative or
positive pressure therewithin may be implemented through the
charging and discharging pump on the hull. At the same time, the
inner port is located at an upper wall surface of the cavity, such
that, it is possible to discharge more thoroughly the air and water
inside the cavity as the supporting leg is sunk; and it is possible
to charge air and/or water from the upper portion of the cavity as
the supporting lag is lifted, therefore the supporting leg is
lifted more smoothly.
[0024] In another technical solution, the charging and discharging
passage has a plurality of outer ports, which are located on the
side surface of the supporting arm, the plurality of outer ports
have different distances form the upper end of the supporting arm.
In this case, when pressurizing and depressurizing the cavity, it
is possible to connect the charging and discharging pump with a
suitable outer port according to practical requirement, so as to
facilitate connection between the charging and discharging pump and
the outer ports.
[0025] In order to improve the working efficiency of the piling
barge, in a further technical solution, the piling device further
includes a turntable mounted on the hull through a turning
mechanism, and a pile frame is mounted on the turntable. The piling
device of the piling barge provided by this technical solution may
rotate around a vertical axis relative to the hull. Thus, it would
be possible to adjust, in a horizontal plane, the contact point
between the pile and the seabed ground by the turntable, which
facilitates the adjustment of the pile position and thus improves
the working efficiency of the piling barge.
[0026] In a further technical solution, the piling device further
includes a luffing oil cylinder, with both ends thereof being
hingedly connected with the upper end portion of the pile frame and
the turntable respectively, and, the upper end portion of the pile
frame is hingedly connected with the boom. In this technical
solution, with the position of the hull remains unchanged, it is
possible to change the contact point between the pile and the
seabed ground and also the inclination of the pile by changing the
length of the luffing oil cylinder, which may not only facilitate
adjusting of the pile position and positioning of the pile and thus
further increase the working efficiency of the piling barge, but
also may improve accuracy of positioning of the pile.
[0027] In a still further technical solution, the lower end of the
boom is hingedly connected, and the piling barge also has a luffing
winch mechanism, through which the luffing angle of the boom, i.e.,
the angle between the boom and the hull may be changed; the
combination of the luffing winch mechanism and the luffing oil
cylinder allows to further precisely adjust the contacting point
between the pile and the seabed ground as well as the inclination
angle of the pile, therefore improving the working efficiency of
the piling barge.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0028] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the load bearing of a
supporting leg of the existing piling barge when being supported on
the seabed ground;
[0029] FIG. 2 is an overall structural view of the piling barge
provided by the present invention;
[0030] FIG. 3 is a perspective structural schematic view of a first
embodiment of the supporting leg in the piling barge provided by
the prevent invention;
[0031] FIG. 4 is a structural schematic view of the longitudinal
section of the first embodiment of the supporting leg;
[0032] FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the piling barge provided by
the present invention in a positioned state;
[0033] FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the piling barge provided by
the present invention in another state;
[0034] FIG. 7 is a structural schematic view of a second embodiment
of the supporting leg in the piling barge provided by the prevent
invention;
[0035] FIG. 8 is a structural schematic view of a third embodiment
of the supporting leg in the piling barge provided by the prevent
invention;
[0036] FIG. 9 is a structural schematic view of a fourth embodiment
of the supporting leg in the piling barge provided by the prevent
invention;
[0037] FIG. 10 is a side structural schematic view of the piling
barge provided by the present invention;
[0038] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of position adjustment of the
pile frame of the piling device, in which the position of the pile
frame in original state is indicated by solid lines, and the
adjusted position of the pile frame in operating state is indicated
by broken lines.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0039] Next, the technical solution provided by the present
invention will be described in detail through description of
specific embodiments. Hereinafter, tacking a vertical direction as
reference, a longitudinal direction is a direction parallel to the
vertical direction, while a transverse direction is a direction
perpendicular to the vertical direction.
[0040] Now reference is made to FIG. 2, which an overall structural
view of the piling barge provided by the present invention. The
piling barge includes a hull 100 extended transversely, a plurality
of supporting legs 200, anchor windlasses 400 and a piling device
500. The supporting legs 200 are respectively mounted on the
periphery of the hull 100. The anchor windlasses 400 are located at
four corners of a deck of the hull 100. The piling device 500 is
mounted on the deck of the hull 100.
[0041] The essential idea for improving the supporting leg 200 of
the piling barge is to increase the contact area between the lower
end surface of the supporting leg and the ground and thus increase
the supporting force applied to the supporting leg by the seabed
ground, therefore the supporting force provided by the supporting
leg is increased substantially without a substantial change in the
weight of the supporting leg. Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, FIG. 3 is
a perspective structural schematic view of a first embodiment of
the supporting leg in the piling barge provided by the prevent
invention. FIG. 4 is a structural schematic view of the
longitudinal section of the first embodiment of the supporting
leg.
[0042] The supporting leg 200 includes a supporting arm 210 and a
supporting base 220. In this embodiment, the supporting arm 210 is
formed of a hollow steel pipe extended in a vertical direction, and
the supporting base 220 is a plate-like body extended in a
transverse direction, which has a transverse section larger than
that of the supporting arm 210. The lower end of the supporting arm
210 is fixed with the upper surface of the supporting base 220. In
order to improve the reliability of the fixation between the both,
a plurality of reinforcing ribs 211 are provided between the side
surface of the supporting arm 210 adjacent to its lower end and the
upper surface of the supporting base 220. The ends of the
reinforcing ribs 211 are fixed with the side surface of the
supporting arm 210, and the bottom surfaces thereof are fixed with
the supporting base 220. The plurality of reinforcing ribs 211 are
arranged radially around the lower end of the supporting arm 210.
Further, in order to facilitate the assembly of the supporting leg
200 and the hull 100, the connection between the supporting arm 210
and the supporting base 220 is deviated from the center of the
supporting base 220 and toward one side of the supporting base
220.
[0043] Referring to FIG. 2, the hull 100 is provided with a
plurality of sliding sleeves 110 protruding outward, within which
sliding tracks extending in vertical direction are provided. Each
of the supporting arms 210 of the plurality of supporting legs 200
cooperates with the sliding track in one sliding sleeve 110. A
hoisting mechanism (not shown in the drawing) is further provided
between the supporting arm 210 and sliding sleeve 110 for driving
the supporting arm 210 to slide in vertical direction relative to
the sliding sleeve 110, therefore the supporting legs 200 is
allowed to move upward and downward. The slidable connection
between the supporting arms 210 and the hull 100 can also be
realized in other ways, for example, a "T"-shaped sliding rail may
be provided on the supporting arm 210 and a "T"-shaped sliding
groove complementary with the rail is provided on the hull 100.
[0044] The hoisting mechanism may be a hydraulic cylinder with its
two ends being respectively connected with the supporting arm 210
and the sliding sleeve 110, for driving the supporting arm 210 to
move in vertical direction relative to the sliding sleeve 110 as
the hydraulic cylinder is stretched or contracted. The hoisting
mechanism may also be a worm gear and a worm screw that are
respectively fixed to the supporting arm 210 and the sliding sleeve
110 and cooperates with each other. When rotating, the worm screw
may drive the worm gear to rotate and thus drive the supporting arm
210 to move in vertical direction relative to the sliding sleeve
110. The hoisting mechanism may also be other structures in prior
art for driving the supporting leg 200 to slide relative to the
sliding sleeve 110 (the hull 100).
[0045] The process for positioning the piling barge described above
at a predetermined sea area includes the following steps:
1. Tow the piling barge to the predetermined sea area, which may be
a predetermined wind turbine installation operating zone of
offshore wind farm, by means of a suitable towing vessel. 2. Drop
the anchor of the piling barge through an anchoring boat when
arriving at the predetermined sea area, and then implement original
positioning of the piling barge in a manner of windlassing through
the windlasses 400. 3. Lower the supporting leg 200 such that the
supporting base 220 thereof is supported on the seabed ground.
Referring to FIG. 5, a schematic view of the piling barge provided
by the present invention in a positioned state is shown, wherein
the piling device is removed for clear illustration of the
structure of the supporting leg and the hull. In such a state, it
is the supporting base 220 with larger transverse section that
receives the supporting force by the ground. When the piling
operation is performed in the predetermined sea area of mollisol
ground 300, the supporting base 220 with larger transverse section
may receive support from a larger area of mollisol ground 300.
Under the resultant effect of a supporting force F1 and a friction
force F2, the supporting leg 200 can provide a larger supporting
force for the hull 100, thus the stability and reliability of the
piling barge is improved, allowing the piling barge to perform
piling operation stably. Moreover, due to the fact that the
supporting base 220 is located at the lower end of the supporting
arm 210, the supporting arm 210 is maintained to have a smaller
transverse section, therefore, the supporting leg 200 is maintained
to have a smaller overall weight.
[0046] Further, because of the diversity of ground forms of a sea
area, the bottom surface of the hull 100 may be made with a flat
configuration. As such, when the piling operation is performed at a
predetermined sea area or tidal flat where the water level is
shallow, the piling barge may be stably positioned by resting on
the ground.
[0047] In order to accommodate the diversity of operating
conditions of sea areas, the piling barge provided by the present
invention may also be adapted to different conditions by adjusting
its operating state according to the variation of the condition.
When it is impossible for the piling barge to rest on the ground
with deep water level and calm water, as shown in FIG. 5, the
supporting leg 200 is allowed to be supported on the seabed ground,
with a part of the hull 100 being submerged below water surface and
the hull 100 is in a semi-submerged state, therefore the bearing
capacity of the piling barge may be improved. When the hull 100 is
subjected to large impact by seawater form the sea with deep water
and heavy wind, as shown in a schematic view of the piling barge
provided by the present invention in another state of FIG. 6, the
hull 100 may be moved upward in relative to the supporting leg 200
through the hoisting mechanism. Since the supporting leg 200 is
able to provide a larger supporting force, which allows the hull
100 to be maintained above the water surface, therefore the impact
to the hull 100 from sea waves may be avoid and the positioning of
the piling barge is stably maintained.
[0048] Although the above-described supporting leg 200 is capable
of providing a larger supporting force for the piling barge and
thus meets the requirement for piling operation. However, when the
piling barge is to be relocated, the supporting leg 200 needs to be
extracted from the seabed ground. Accordingly, to facilitate
separation of the supporting leg 200 from the seabed ground,
especially from the mollisol ground 300, a supporting leg 200 with
another structure is further provided by the prevent invention.
[0049] Reference is made to FIG. 7, which is a structural schematic
view of a second embodiment of the supporting leg in the piling
barge provided by the prevent invention.
[0050] As compared with the first supporting leg, one of the
differences in the second supporting leg is that the supporting
base 220 includes a cavity 221 having an opening at the bottom
surface of the supporting base 220. Following is the working
principle of the supporting leg 200. When the supporting leg 200
needs to be lowered and supported on the seabed ground, a suitable
charging and discharging pump may be used to depressurize the
cavity 221, discharge air and water inside the cavity 221, and thus
establish a negative pressure therein, such that the supporting leg
200 is lowered smoothly and sunk through to the seabed ground,
therefore providing a supporting force for the hull 100; when the
supporting leg 200 needs to be separated from the mollisol ground
300 after a predetermined offshore operation being finished, the
charging and discharging pump may be used to pressurize the cavity
221, charge water or air into the cavity 221, and gradually
establish a positive pressure inside the cavity 221, such that the
supporting base 220 is separated from the mollisol ground 300 and
then the supporting leg 200 is raised smoothly.
[0051] The charging and discharging pump may be a vacuum pump, a
centrifugal pump or any other pumps with other structures that can
discharge water and/or air from the cavity 221 and charge water
and/or air into the cavity 221.
[0052] There are many alternatives in the implement of charging and
discharging water and/or air. As shown in FIG. 7, a suitable hole
is provided on the upper portion of the cavity 221 as a charging
and discharging passage 222 for discharging or charging water
and/or air from or into the cavity 221. The charging and
discharging passage 222 has an outer port at the lower end inside
the supporting arm 210. Herein, one end of a delivery pipe 230 is
inserted from an opening at the upper end of the supporting arm
210, through a central cavity of the supporting arm 210 and is
connected with the charging and discharging passage 222, the other
end of the delivery pipe 230 is connected with a charging and
discharging port of the charging and discharging pump on the hull
100. In this way, when the charging and discharging pump operates,
it can depressurize or pressurize the cavity 221, establish a
negative or positive pressure therewithin, and discharge or charge
water and/or air from or into the cavity 221, therefore the
supporting leg 200 will be moved downward and upward smoothly.
[0053] It can be appreciated that the cavity 221 may be pressurized
or depressurized, as long as the outer port of the charging and
discharging passage 222 is positioned on the outer surface of the
supporting base 220 and the inner port thereof is on the wall of
the cavity 221. Therefore, the outer port of the charging and
discharging passage 222 may be positioned at other portions of the
outer surface of the supporting base 220. As shown in the
structural schematic view of a third embodiment of the supporting
leg in the piling barge provided by the prevent invention in FIG.
8, herein, the outer port of the charging and discharging passage
222 is positioned between the reinforcing ribs 211 at the outer
surface of the supporting base 220. In this way, the charging and
discharging passage 222 can be connected with the charging and
discharging pump provided on the hull 100 through the delivery pipe
230. Also, the charging and discharging pump may be disposed
directly on the supporting base 220 under predetermined
condition.
[0054] Arranging the charging and discharging pump on the hull 100
is a preferable technical solution. At this time, in order to
facilitate the connection between the charging and discharging pump
and the charging and discharging passage 222, the charging and
discharging passage 222 may be provided with a plurality of outer
ports on the side surface of the supporting arm, which have
different distances from the upper end of the supporting arm, for
example, the plurality of outer ports may be arranged in vertical
direction on the side surface of the supporting arm 210. In this
case, it is possible in practice to choose a suitable outer port to
communicate with the charging and discharging pump while keep the
other outer ports closed.
[0055] As to the inner port of the charging and discharging passage
222, it is preferred to arrange it on the upper wall surface of the
cavity 221, such that, it is possible to discharge water and/or air
in the cavity 221 more thoroughly when a negative pressure is
established in the cavity 221, and it is also possible to remove
ground grains and/or water in the cavity 221 more thoroughly when a
positive pressure is established in the cavity 221.
[0056] Further, in specific conditions, it is also possible not to
provide a charging and discharging passage, as shown in the
structural schematic view of a fourth embodiment of the supporting
leg in the piling barge provided by the prevent invention in FIG.
9. In the supporting leg, the purpose of pressurizing and
depressurizing the cavity 221 may also be achieved with the
delivery pipe 230 entering into the cavity 221 across the bottom
surface of the supporting base 220.
[0057] The structure of the piling device in the piling barge will
be described below.
[0058] Reference is made to FIG. 10, which is a side structural
schematic view of the piling barge provided by the present
invention. The piling device 500 includes a pile frame 510, a
hanging hook 520, a boom 530, a turntable 550 and a luffing oil
cylinder 540. The turntable 550 is mounted on the hull 100 by means
of a turning mechanism, and may be driven to rotate around a
vertical axis relative to the hull 100 by a hydraulic motor. One
end of the luffing oil cylinder 540 is hingedly connected with a
lower hinge point of the pile frame 510 while the other end thereof
is hingedly connected to the turntable 550. An upper end of the
boom 530 is hingedly connected with an upper hinge point of the
pile frame 510 while a lower end thereof is hingedly connected on
the turntable 550. Axes of hinge shafts at all hinge joints are
parallel to each other and to a horizontal plane. The upper and
lower hinge points of the pile frame 510 are respectively
positioned near the upper and lower end thereof. The hanging hook
520 is suspended from a fixed pulley block at the top end of the
pile frame 510.
[0059] In addition, the piling device 500 includes a hoisting winch
mechanism and a luffing winch mechanism (not shown in the
drawings). A hoisting winch drum of the hoisting winch mechanism is
rotatably mounted on the turntable 550 and is connected with the
fixed pulley block at the top end of the pile frame 510 via a
hoisting steel wire rope 561. Thus, when being driven to rotate by
a driving mechanism, the hoisting winch drum may drive the fixed
pulley block to act, so that the up and down of the hanging hook
520 is achieved, and thus the pile fetching, pile-turning and
pile-sinking are facilitated. The luffing winch mechanism includes
a luffing steel wire rope and a luffing winch drum rotatably
mounted on the turntable 550. One end of the luffing steel wire
rope 571 is connected to the luffing winch drum while the other end
thereof is fixed to the upper end of the boom. When the luffing
winch drum rotates, it may drive the boom 530 to rotate by a
predetermined angle relative to the hull 100, and thus the luffing
angle of the boom 530 is changed to adjust the position of the pile
frame 510.
[0060] The piling device described above may provide convenience
for the position adjustment of the pile in three aspects.
[0061] In a first aspect, the turntable 550 is connected with the
hull 100 by means of the tuning mechanism, such that the whole
piling device 500 may be turned relative to the hull 100 in a
horizontal plane. Therefore, the position of the pile frame 510 and
thus the contacting point between the pile and the seabed ground
may be adjusted in a horizontal plane. The adjustment of the
operating position is achieved, facilitating the piling
operation.
[0062] In a second aspect, reference is made to FIG. 11, which is
the schematic diagram of position adjustment of the pile frame of
the piling device, and in which the position of the pile frame in
original state is indicated by solid lines, and the adjusted
position of the pile frame in operating state is indicated by
broken lines. Through the luffing oil cylinder 540, that is,
through stretching the luffing oil cylinder 540, the distance
between two ends of the luffing oil cylinder 540 and thus the
inclination of the pile frame 510 are changed, such that the pile
frame 510 is transferred from a state A0 to a state A1. Therefore,
the contacting position between the pile and the seabed ground and
also the inclination angle of the pile can be changed, meeting
requirements for offshore foundation engineering operation.
[0063] In a third aspect, reference is again made to FIG. 11. The
lower end of the boom 530 is hingedly connected, therefore, the
luffing angle of the boom 530, i.e., the angle between the boom 530
and the hull 100 may be changed by means of the luffing winch
mechanism. With the luffing oil cylinder remaining unchanged, the
pile frame 510 will be transferred from the state A0 to a state A2,
thereby the contacting position between the pile and the seabed
ground and also the inclination angle of the pile is changed,
meeting requirements for offshore foundation engineering
operation.
[0064] Combining the second and third aspects described above and
referring to FIG. 11, through increasing the luffing angle of the
boom 530 and contracting the luffing oil cylinder 540, the pile
frame 510 may be transferred from the state A0 to a state A3.
Accordingly, the contact position between the pile and the seabed
ground is changed, while the inclination angle of the pile may also
be adjusted, so that the position of the pile frame 510 may be
adjusted in a wider range and in more aspects, which provides more
conveniences for the position adjustment of the pile. In
combination of the above described three aspects, adjustments for
the pile frame 510 in all directions may be achieved. During pile
turning and pile sinking, the position of the pile frame 510 can be
adjusted within a wide range through the turntable 550, the luffing
oil cylinder 540 and the luffing winch mechanism, thus repeatedly
positioning for the piling barge is no longer needed. Therefore,
the working efficiency of the piling barge is improved.
[0065] It may be appreciated according to the above description
that, in order to obtain the technical effect of the adjustment to
the pile frame 510 as in the second aspect, the luffing oil
cylinder 540 may be directly hingedly connected with the hull 100.
Likely, In order to obtain the technical effect of the adjustment
to the pile frame 510 as in the third aspect, the lower end of the
boom 530 may also be directly hingedly connected to the hull 100
and the luffing winch mechanism is mounted on the hull 100, which
may also change the luffing angle of the boom 530 and thus adjust
the position of the pile frame 510.
[0066] The above description only involves preferred embodiments of
the present invention. It should be noted that an ordinary skilled
person in art may make many improvements and modifications without
departing from principles of the present invention, which
improvements and modifications should also be construed as within
the scope of protection of the present invention.
* * * * *