Et ingeniørhold på en flådebase i Californien har skabt en ny enhed til at teste bæreevnen for pullerter-, som bruges til at fortøje store skibe i havn og skal modstå hundredvis af tons pres.
Den amerikanske flåde vedligeholder tusindvis af pullerter rundt om i verden. For at teste dem er den nye enhed, rektangulær i form og primært lavet af firkantede stålrør, placeret rundt om pullerten. Dens justerbare stivere er fastgjort til kajen.
Et kabel lægges rundt om pullerten. Justerbare tværbjælker og låsestifter placerer kablet i forskellige vinkler. En hydraulisk arm eller spil (strammer) aktiveres af testoperatøren for at trække i kablet og påføre kraft på pullerten ved ønskede mål.
For their work, U.S. Patent 11,215,541, titled In-situ Bollard Tester, was assigned to the U.S. Navy on January 4, 2022. It is the first patent assigned to the Navy this year, which typically receives over 250 patents per year, and makes them available for commercialization by private companies through technology transfer agreements.
Ingeniørerne, der byggede enheden, er fra Naval Facilities Engineering Command i Port Hueneme. Det er Gerritt Lang, Elaina Ryan, Juan Carrillo, Ricardo Contreras, Zachary Harwood og Benjamin Hulbert.
Ifølge deres patentansøgning:
"In-situ tests are the preferred method in determining whether bollards and other mooring hardware are performing at their design capacity. There is, however, no accepted standard testing device and procedure. If a bollard is degraded, a ship's mooring line may break the bollard, resulting in damage to the ship and creating a dangerous situation.
"Past bollard test procedures have included the use of tugboats, which is dangerous and not representative of vertical mooring line angles that may cause uplift on the bollards. In this regard, there is a need for improvement to develop a safe device and procedure for testing bollards in-situ."
Interested in using this device? It's not yet available or for sale, but the newly issued 20-year utility patent can now be licensed by the Navy to private companies who can then commercialize it.
TechLink, the U.S. Navy's national partnership intermediary for technology transfer, guides companies through the licensing process. To learn more tap the contact button below.
