Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Spherical rescue unit
Technical field
The present invention regards a rescue unit and more particularly a rescue
unit capable
of being free dropped into a harsh environment like ice or iced waters.
Background of invention
Present emergency life rafts or rescue vehicles for evacuating a vessel like a
ship or an
offshore platform are only suitable for use in warmer waters. A free drop life
boat cannot
be used if there is a risk of ice or iced waters.
This is fast becoming a problem since the interest for establishing new
offshore
production in the high north is expected to have an increasing expansion in
the north.
The Barents region has in several reports been appointed as a hot spot in
business the
coming years. Opening of new acreage can be noticed in the south of Barents
Sea and
the oil/gas sector is planning for operations towards Greenland, Jan Mayen and
around
Svalbard.
Significantly more jobs will be allocated in the high north and more people
will be
working in the offshore business in relation to an increased value of oil and
gas. This is
expected to increase rapidly in the coming years. These activities results
also in a
significant focus upon the increased dimension and development of a more
stable and
secure infrastructure that will be required.
Statistics from Svalbard show on the fact that there is a stable amount of
visiting cruise
ships the last years, but the number of passengers is dramatically increased.
Also the Atlantic fishing vessels are going north, since the cod stock is now
growing and
spreading northwards. These findings are due to higher sea temperatures and
sufficient
supply of food.
The existing technologies are today not aimed for harsh weather in the north
and in
many cases the technology systems available needs ideal conditions regarding
no ice, or
icing, low or moderate wind, waves, temperatures impact of a rescue operation
as well as
no presences of polar bears etc.
US 20120227659 A describe a rescue craft to be used on oil rigs, passenger
ships,
commercial fishing ships, cargo ships or any other sea vessel. The rescue
craft would
take the place of existing life boats used today. The outer shape of the craft
is ball
shaped and houses another ball shaped sphere inside the unit. The second ball
shape
2
houses the evacuees. The inside sphere that houses the evacuees has a gyro to
keep its
rescued occupants in a stable environment free from dangerous ocean waves,
severe
winds or pack ice outside the unit. The inside sphere is on smooth rollers
that press up
against the outer ball from inside. The gyro located in the inner sphere
provides its
evacuees with a smooth safe trip. The ocean rescue craft was designed to save
the lives
of its occupants even in the most dangerous of situations.
A problem with this solution is that it is not suitable for being dropped from
the vessel or
the offshore rig. This is a preferred way for evacuation since the evacuees
can quickly
get far away from the vessel or the offshore rig. Also, another problem is
that the rescue
craft cannot propel quickly away from the accident scene or dangerous areas
Summary of invention
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the problems
mentioned
above. This is done by creating a sphere rescue unit for extreme offshore
conditions
comprising a survival shield to the external elements surrounding the unit.
Thus, in one aspect, there is provide a spherical rescue unit comprising a
gyro or center
of gravity stabilized rescue capsule, said capsule is placed inside a set of
guide rails and
attached to said set of guide rails via bearing, said set of guide rails is
attached to a
floating arrangement further characterized in that the floating arrangement
comprises at
least two inflatable semi spheres covering the entire spherical rescue unit.
The unit has a surface built up with metal plates in a net and covered with a
soft
material. The unit is further able to change form if squeezed, for example
between ice
blocks. Inside the unit there is a rescue capsule where people are sitting in
a circular
chain of chairs around the vertical line.
Further the unit has the possible to be "rapidly displaced" from the deck to
the surface of
the sea or ice and is able to move by shifting the balance in the sphere
volume.
The unit can be gyro stabilized and additionally have food, air and energy
supply enough
to sustain the passengers for at least 48 hours.
Brief description of the drawing
Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention,
wherein the
sphere rescue unit is placed in the side of a ship.
Figure 2 is a side view of the sphere rescue unit as it is placed in the
water.
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Figure 3 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention, with
the outer
spheres deflated.
Figure 4 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the present invention
according to
figure 3, but with the outer spheres inflated.
Figure 5 is a cross sectional view of the present invention.
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Detailed description
Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention. The
present
invention comprises a sphere rescue unit 101. The sphere rescue unit 101 can
be placed
on an ocean going vessel 100 or any offshore installation like e.g. an oil
rig. The sphere
rescue unit 101 is intended to take the place of an ordinary free drop life
boat, preferably
in areas of ice or a mixture of ice and water.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention the sphere rescue
unit
comprises an inner rescue capsule 103 for housing the rescues. The rescue
capsule 103
has the form as a circular sphere bowl or a cup. The rescue capsule 103 is
placed inside
at least two circular construction guide rails 109. Outside these guide rails
109 the entire
unit is covered by a floating arrangement that is adjustable in shape.
The sphere rescue unit 101 is preferably placed high up on the boat or the
installation.
This makes it possible to quickly get far away for a hazardous area.
In a preferred solution the sphere rescue unit is mounted such that a part of
the rescue
unit is inside the vessel or the offshore installation in order to enable
entrance to the
sphere rescue unit 101 from inside of the ship. The rest of the rescue unit is
outside the
ship or the offshore installation, but can still be protected from harsh
environment with a
shelter arrangement.
Figure 2 is a side view of the sphere rescue unit 101 after a rescue operation
has been
started and the sphere rescue unit has been launched into the water.
A rescue operation starts by walking in a line into the capsule. Inside the
capsule
everyone sit in a predetermined seat. Each seat has safety arrangements, like
a soft and
dampening seat, and an arrangement both for restricting head movement and body
movement. Further the seat can be fitted with an adaptable seat that molds
itself in
order to fit the user and sets in a position by applying electricity or
magnetism.
After everybody has found their seat, the doors 104 is hermetically closed and
secured
for the launch.
The launching phase uses a tube, a guiding or hanging construction and a
loaded
projecting force or a free fall or semi free fall arrangement. The launching
tube or
steering construction is sufficiently long to direct the sphere rescue unit in
a
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predetermined elevation path and the loading or stored force, can as an
example is using
a tensioned and stretched spring force.
The initial ejection (elevation) conditions are then calculated taking into
account factors
like: angle, force according to ship angle, wind and weather conditions and
e.g. the total
weight of the unit.
The sphere rescue unit 100 can be dropped or ejected with the aid of force.
Examples of
such force can be either hydraulic, pneumatic, an explosion, hovering, lifting
by gases
guiding rails, pole, tube or similar arrangement or it can be just taken by
the wind from
the ship's deck.
The sphere rescue unit 100 can adapt a round form either prior to launch or
after launch
in order to save occupied space on the ship or offshore installation. Further
the shape of
the rescue unit can change both in air and during landing, in order to make
the landing
easier on both the people and the rescue unit 100. This change of shape can
depend on
the landing surface in order to adjust or compensate for the recoil and
bounce.
After the landing, the sphere rescue unit 100 is able to propel itself in
order to get away
from a hazardous area. A method of propulsion can be achieved by changing the
center
of gravity of the sphere rescue unit 100. The center of gravity can be changed
by moving
a weight arrangement 110 around that is placed down in the center of the
sphere rescue
unit 100 by a changing of balance force arrangement.
When the sphere rescue unit 100 has moved away from the hazardous area it is
intended
to find a safe place to anchor and wait for a rescue team to appear. The
position of the
sphere rescue unit 100 is controlled by gravity forces and a driving, control
system.
A lift arrangement is placed in connection to the sphere rescue unit 100 in
order to be
able to lift the complete sphere rescue unit 100 from a helicopter or ship
crane.
Figure 3 and 4 is perspective views of a preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
In this embodiment the sphere rescue unit 100 comprises two semi spheres 105,
106.
These semi spheres 105, 106 can change shape for speed retardation, soft
landing,
movements in air, moving on ice/ice covered waters, anchoring and shelter
ability. They
can also be either entirely deflated or inflated.
In order to make this possible the material of the outer surface must be light
in weight,
strong against sharp edges, buoyant and colorful.
Figure 5 is a cross sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention.
At the
center of the sphere rescue unit 100 the rescue capsule 103 is situated. The
rescue
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capsule 103 is disk shaped. Further rescue capsule 103 contains the seating
area for the
rescues. The rescues sit in a ring, facing each other around the perimeter of
the rescue
capsule 103. Other solutions for the seating arrangement are also applicable.
In a preferred embodiment the seats have both a seatbelt and a head fixation.
Further
5 the seat can be molded to fit the individual user perfectly. This is done
in order to
minimize the risk of damage to the body during the launch and landing of the
sphere
rescue unit 100. After the user has been seated, strapped down, and the seat
has
molded to the shape of the users body, the shape of the seat is set by using a
gel that
stiffens by applying electricity.
The entrance to the rescue capsule 103 comprises a set of two doors 104, an
inner and
an outer. During embarking of the rescues the doors 104 work as one. After the
doors
104 have been closed they work individually.
The rescue capsule 103 is placed inside a set of at least two guide rails 109.
These guide
rails 109 are circular in shape and surround the capsule. The capsule is
connected to the
guide rails 109 by a set of bearings 108 at each attachment point.
Outside the guide rails 109 the sphere rescue unit 100 is protected and
covered by a
floating arrangement. The floating arrangement comprises a surface layer. The
surface
layer has an outermost soft material. This soft material is light in weight,
strong against
sharp edges, buoyant and colorful. The surface material protects the sphere
rescue unit
100 from impact from water, sharp edges, external impacts and polar bears. In
addition
the soft material has a main contact surface area made of a ruff structure.
This contact
surface area act with the elements in a cold climate, and can be seen as the
units "belted
crawler".
Inside the soft material the surface layer is built up with metal plates in a
regular net
structure. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the floating
arrangement
is divided in an upper and a lower semi sphere 105, 106. Further the upper and
lower
semi sphere 105, 106 is adjustable in shape. Inside the upper and the lower
semi sphere
105, 106 there is placed attenuators 107. These attenuators 107 dampen the
impact
when landing.
As a further dampening effect the upper and the lower semi sphere 105, 106 can
be
connected. This makes it possible to move air from one semi sphere to the
other. As an
example air from the upper semi sphere 105 can be moved to the lower semi
sphere 106
before or during launch. The Impact from when the rescue unit lands forces air
from the
lower semi sphere 106 into the upper semi sphere 105 resulting in a further
dampening
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effect. This effect can be controlled and adjusted according to the surface of
the landing
area.
The sphere rescue unit 100 is also:
- gyro or center of gravity stabilized,
- internal air pressure system,
- has an automatic control system for moving,
- GPS,
- communication ability.
The rescue capsule 103 has further the following equipment:
- A heating system,
- water and food reserves for up to 48 hours,
- internal energy supply.
