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Mooring system with active control

  • US 20060081166A1
  • Filed: 07/30/2003
  • Published: 04/20/2006
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2002
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of controlling a vessel mooring system said system including at least one mooring robot for releasably fastening a vessel floating at the surface of a body of water to a terminal, the mooring robot including an attractive force attachment element displaceably engaged to a base structure of said mooring robot said base structure affixed to said terminal, said attractive force attachment element being releasably engagable with a vessel surface for making fast the vessel with said terminal, the mooring robot providing active translational movement of the attractive force attachment element relative to the base structure to allow thereby the movement of a vessel in a direction selected from any one or both of (i) an athwartship direction, and (ii) a longitudinal direction, said method, after the associating of the vessel with the mooring system by allowing the vessel surface to be engaged by the attractive force attachment element and the establishing of an attraction between said vessel and said mooring robot, comprises;

  • (a) measuring the attractive force between the surface and the attractive force attachment element, for the purposes of determining the holding capacity in at least one of (i) parallel to the attractive force direction, (ii) normal to the attractive force direction and horizontally, and (iii) normal to the attractive force direction vertical, (b) measuring the force between the attractive force attachment element and the base structure of the mooring robot at least in a direction selected from any one or more of (i) parallel to the attractive force direction, (ii) normal to the attractive force direction and horizontally and (iii) normal to the attractive force direction and vertical, (c) monitoring the relationship between the attractive force and the force(s) measured in (b), wherein an alarm is triggered when any one or more of the forces measured in (b), in a direction to tend toward allowing relative movement between the attractive force attachment and the said vessel, approaches an attractive force dependent holding capacity in the direction to tend towards allowing relative movement of the attractive force attachment element with said vessel.

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