Self-stabilizing floating tower

• US 4,241,685 A
• Filed: 11/06/1978
• Issued: 12/30/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/1977
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ITI Limited (Government of India)
• Original Assignee: ITI Limited (Government of India)
• Inventors: Mougin, Georges L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Taylor, Dennis L.
• Application Number:
  US05/957,886
• Time in Patent Office: 785 Days
• Field of Search: 405/211, 405/210, 405/209, 405/208, 405/195, 405/200, 405/203, 405/205, 405/206, 405/207, 114/267, 114/264, 114/256
• US Class Current: 114/264
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 2001/044 with a small waterline area compared to total displacement, e.g. of semi-submersible type
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 2035/442 Spar-type semi-submersible structures, i.e. shaped as single slender, e.g. substantially cylindrical or trussed vertical bodies
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 35/4413 Floating drilling platforms, e.g. carrying water-oil separating devices
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 39/03 by transferring liquids

Abstract

An offshore floating tower comprises two coaxial cylindrical enclosures (2 and 11) interconnected by continuous radial bulkheads (10) forming in the upper portion a ring of damping chambers (12) and in the lower portion a ring of buoyancy tanks (4) around a bell-shaped chamber (5) which is partially filled with air to produce pneumatic damping of vertical movement of the tower. The upper portion of the tower is separated from the lower portion by a horizontal slab (3). The upper portion of the internal enclosure is perforated in the vicinity of the horizontal slab.

Claims

1. An offshore floating tower comprising

a vertical cylindrical external enclosure divided by a horizontal slab into two open-ended half-cylinders;

a lower half-cylinder comprising a ring of buoyancy tanks enclosing a bell-shaped chamber partially filled with air and producing partially pneumatic damping movement of the tower, and being ballasted to the required extent; and

an upper half-cylinder open to the sea with its entire surface comprising a regular pattern of perforations;

said tower including a vertical cylindrical internal enclosure coaxial with the vertical cylindrical exterior enclosure, constituted in the upper half-cylinder, an annular damper chamber and, in the lower half-cylinder, a bulkhead separating the bell-shaped chamber from the ring of buoyancy tanks which are separated from the sea by a bulkhead consisting of the external cylindrical enclosure.

2. An offshore floating tower according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the upper half-cylinder comprises a regular pattern of perforations extending over an angle of 180°

, said upper half-cylinder forming a single damper chamber.

3. An offshore floating tower according to claim 1, wherein the entire surface of the upper half-cylinder comprises a regular pattern of perforations.

4. An offshore floating tower according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the upper half-cylinder defined by the vertical cylindrical internal enclosure is perforated in the area of the horizontal slab so as to cause the interior of said internal enclosure to become filled with seawater.

5. An offshore floating tower according to claim 4, wherein the perforations in the internal enclosures have a total surface area greater than the horizontal cross-section of the internal enclosure.

6. An offshore floating tower according to claim 5, including plane radial bulkheads disposed between the cylindrical internal and external enclosures and extending over the full height of the tower, said plane radial bulkheads defining, between the two upper half-cylinders, a ring of damper chambers which form side bulkheads of the ring of buoyancy tanks between the two lower half-cylinders.

7. An offshore floating tower according to claim 6, wherein the internal cylindrical enclosure extends below the external cylindrical enclosure and the vertical radial bulkheads acting as vertical stiffeners and retaining horizontal stiffeners with an external diameter equal to that of the external cylindrical enclosures.

8. An offshore floating tower according to claim 1, wherein the tower is constructed of concrete using the "sliding shuttering" technique.