Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~3~0~
A floating boom.
The invention relates to a floating boorn of the
type havin~ a number of separate buoyancy chamber~, a
akirt, a ballast and an air supply conduit, the
buoyancy chambers being di~posed at one ed~e o~ the
skirt and the ballast at the other adge o~ the ~kirt,
said other edge being located beneath the ~lr~t edge
after the floating boom has been laid out, each buoy-
ancy chamber havin~ lts own connection with the alr
~upply conduit. The invent~o~ also relate~ to a method
of usin~ a floating boom of said type, in which the air
supply conduit is disposed at the other edge of the
skirt.
Floating booms of the above mentioned type are
known, in wh~ch the buoyancy chambers are designed a~
closed chambers with an air supply, and possibly with a
valve for d~scharging air from the buoyancy chamber in
connection with reco~ery of the floating boom. The lay-
1ng out o~ such floatin~ boom necessitates, in order to
avoid the buoyancy chambers bursting, that the inlet
pres~ure to the air supply conduit i~ kept lower than
the bursting pressure of said chambers. If one of the
buoyancy chambers i8 punctured, all buoyancy chambers
empty through the common air supply conduit, following
which the floating boom sinks.
The floating boom according to the lnvention i~
characterized in that for each buoyancy chamber there
i8 provided at least one duct extending from the
interior of the buoyancy chamber to an outlet located
between the buoyancy chamber and the other edge oP the
skirt.
The excess pressure in the buoyancy chamber~
will thereby be limited. without requiring any limita-
tion of the inlet pressure to the air ~upply conduit
which may then feed the inlet alr at a higher pressure,
. : - . .................................. . .
- , , .
`
2~ 3~
thereby resulting in a larger volume flow in the air
supply conduit and/or a smaller dlmen~lon of sald
condult.
The individual duct includes an outlet which
in the position of uae i8 located below the buoyancy
chamber. The inflation of the buoyancy chamber cau~es
the level of the water in the duct to drop with an
increasing pressure in the buoyancy chamber until alr
start~ bubbling out at the outlet o~ the duct. Thi~
10 oCCUr8 when the pressure in the buoyancy chamber haa
risen to the pre~sure prevailing in the surrounding ~ea
water outside the duct outl#t. thereby restrlctln~ the
pres~urQ in the buoyancy chamber to the pressure o~ the
surrounding water.
A further advantage of the Ploating boom
accordin~ to the lnvention is that the ducts may be
used for emptying the buoyancy chambers o~ air in con-
nection with the recovery of the floating boom.
A preferred embod~ment of the invention i9
characterized in that the connection of each buoyancy
chamber with the air supply conduit opens into a duct
associated with the chamber. This results in a barring
of the air supply conduit connection between the
buoyancy chambers at falling pressures 80 that the
puncturi~g of a single buoyancy chamber does not cause
all the buoyancy chamber~ to be emptied. At ~alling
pressure in one buoyancy chamber the surrsundlng water
will rise in the duct and upon reachin~ the air supply
outlet, the pre~sure o~ the water wil-l prevent fur~her
inflow of air from the remaining buoyancy chambers
which are then capable o~ retalnlng a pressure
corresponding to the pressure of the surrounding sea
water at the level of the air supply outlet.
A further preferred embodiment according to the
lnvention is characterized in that the air supply con-
duit ls disposed at the other edge o~ the skirt and
: : . .: : ..
: : -- .
: -: ~ : ; ~; ,
: :: , : ,, .
:
.~ , . .
,., -, : :
: ,
: ::. :
.. . ...
3 ~ O ~
that the conn~ction of each buoyancy chamber wlth the
alr supply condult includes a branch tube. This results
ln a particularly simple structure o~ the connectlon
bctween tha air supply conduit and the buoyancy
chamber which i8 easy to produce and servlce. The
completed air supply conduit with branch tubc 1~ no~
mounted at the other edge of the skirt and the branch
tubes are inserted into the a~Rociated ducts, the
outlst of th~ branch tube thereby forming the air
supply outlet to the buoyancy chamber associated with
the duct.
Still a preferred embodiment according to the
lnvention 18 characterized in that the connection of
each buoyancy chamber with the air supply conduit
includes a non-return valve. Thereby, the air supply
conduit connection between the buoyancy chambers i~
barred, whereby from the start any pressure drop in the
remaining buoyancy chambers iQ completely avoided, if
one chamber i6 punctured. A non-return valve that is
particularly appropriate for this purpose i8 a 50-
called "gill valve" used in con~unction with air supply
controllers for diving equipment and which i8 distin-
guished by exhibiting an ex~remely low pressure drop in
the flow direction.
26 The method, as referenced in the preamble, is
characterized in that the air supply conduit i8 filled
with water after inflation of the floating boom, thl7s
closing the buoyancy chambers from each other, and punc-
turing oP one buoyancy chamber does not cau~e all the
buoyancy chambers to be deflated. A~ in the case with
the non-return valve, a barring of the air supply eon-
duit, between the buoyancy chambers, is obtained from
the beginning, thereby preventing a pressure drop in
the remaining buoyancy chambers if one of them is
punctured. The barring is obtained in that the water in
the air supply conduit functions as a water seal for
:, . - - ,
:, . . . ., ;: . .. . , . :
~:~ ' . ::, .
, , . . - : ~: - . .,.:: :. ~ , .
. :. .. : ,, ~,: .
. . ...
- . . - .: - - -:
: . .
~, r~ 3 ~
the air supply condult connection~ of th~ individual
buoyancy chambers.
The invention will no~ be explalned in detall
by mean~ of ~ome embodiments with reference to the
6 drawin~s, in which
~ ig. 1 i3 a side elevation o~ a floating boom
acGordlng to the invention, ~hown in the position o~
use,
Fi~. 2 on a lar~er scale illustrates a branch
tube inserted into th~ duct out:let, one rubber sheet
being removed ~or the sake of clearness,
Fig. 3 an embodiment as Fig. 2, in which the
branch tube i8 fully ~nserted into the buoyancy cha~nber
and provided with a non-return valve, and
Fig. ~ a sectional vlew along line I-I in Fig.
2.
The embodiment of the floating boom illustrated
in Fig. 1 includes buoyancy chambers 1 ~or~ed alon~
one edge 5 of the floatin~ boom and ducts 8 extend-
ing downwards from the buoyancy chambers in the posi-
tion of use. A skirt 2 is positioned below buoyancy
chambers l. Said skirt is provided with reinforce~ents
10 ~long the lower edge for securing a ballast chain 3
by means of fixing members 11. Said b~llast chain 3
serves in a known manner to maintain the float~ng boom
in a substantially vertical position in the sea. An air
supply conduit 4 with a branch tube ~ i8 secured to
ballast chain 3. The branch tube ~ is inserted into
duct 8 of buoyancy chamber 1.
The ~unction of the embodiment according to the
invention illu6trated in Fig. 1 will be explained in
the following with reference to Fig. 2, from which cer-
taln parts have been omitted in respec~ of clearness.
Buoyancy cha~ber 1 i8 inflated by pressurized air
3~ being supplied through air supply conduit 4 and
branch tube 7. The level of the water in the duct will
.~ :
. ~ -
:,~ .. :., . . ., . :
' ~ ,'
.: : .
- :
.
~ t ~ ,3 ~J
from the outset be the same a~ the level c of the
surrounding sea water. In ~tep with rlsing pressure in
the buoyancy chambar, the water level drops and
finally reache~ level a at the outlet of the duct,
Pollowing which a further pressure riee causes air to
e6cape through the duct. After lnflatlon, the w~ter
level in the duct will be equa~ to level a. I~ a
chamber i8 punctured the pre~surQ above the w~ter ln
the duct drops, thereby causing the water level to ri~e
in the duct. When the water has attalned level b, the
water flows down ~nto the alr 13upply conduit and 80
bars the connection between the buoyancy chambers,
following which the water in the duct of the punctured
buoyancy chamber may rise to water level c; causing
the pressure at the outlet to become equal to that o~
the sea surrounding the floating boom on thls level.
Briefly spoken, upon the puncturing of one chamber the
pressure in the other chambers drop~ from the water
pressure at a to the water pressure at b. Said
pressure drop i8 eliminated by making use of the m~thod
according to the invention, because the water-~illed
air supply conduit obstructs air transfer from the
intact chambers to the punctured chamber. It will be
recognized from the above description that it is
important that branch tube ~ i5 inserted from below.
when the method according to the invention i8 used.
The barring ls solely determined by level b of the
outlet of the air supply conduit.
In the embodiment illustrated in F~g. 3 the
barring between chambers 1 i8 ensured from ~tart by
means of a non-return valve 9 mounted on air supply
connection ~ of each chamber 1. In Fig. 3 the air
supply conduit is dispo3ed at the lower ed~e 6 o~
skirt 2, however, in this embodiment the position iR
unlmportant.
The described floatin~ booms of~er a quicker
inflation of the booms by making u e oP a higher inlet
- . . ..
: . . - -, . ~, . ,
;, '' : . ' ' . ~ ' '' ~': '
- . .
. . .: , . : :- .
pressure. In this respect the ducts ensure that the
posltive pressure in buoyancy chamber 1 does not
exceed the pressure di~erence between buoyancy chamber
1 and the outlet of duct 8.
In the method according to the inventlon the
filling of the air ~upply conduit with water may elther
be effected by pumping water into the air supply con-
duit or by thrustlng one end o~ th0 air ~upply conduit
down into the water and let the water flow in by
itself, while the air in the air supply conduit escapes
through the ~utlets of the buoyancy chamber~ and
bubbles o~!t from the duct outlet~.
There are many possiblliti~s of varylng a
~loating boom according to the invention, B . g . the alr
supply condult may pass along the upper edge, provided
the outlet to the indlvidual buoyancy chamber be
located in the duct associated with the chamber. The
outlet of the ducts associated with the chamber may
al80 be positioned on an arbitrary level o~ the
~loating boom, which merely has to be positioned below
the buoyancy chamber, e.g. one of the rubber sheets 13
or 14 may end above lower edge 6 of the floating
boom or there may be an opening in one of the rubber
sheet~ 13 or 14 on an appropriate level.
A substantial advantage of the floating boom
accordin~ to the invention over and above other ima~i-
nable solutions to the problems with respect to exce~s
pressure security of and barring between the buoyancy
chambers consists in that said problems are solved
without introducing other components such as ~alves or
the like, which would increase the risk of failure and
requirement for service, overhaul, spare parts and edu-
cation of staf f .
- . : . .
~, . . .
. .
