Patent Application
20090197489
The present invention relates to the reduction of emissions from Ocean Going Vessels (OGVs), and more particularly to an improved Exhaust Intake Bonnet (EIB) for capturing and processing emissions from OGVs.
A substantial quantity of pollutants are produced by burning fuel in OGVs. The pollutants produced when an engine burns bunker and/or diesel fuel is a complex mixture of thousands of gases and fine particles, commonly known as soot, which contains more than forty toxic air contaminates. These contaminates include arsenic, benzene, and formaldehyde along with other ozone-forming pollutants that are components of smog and acid rain, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOX). An OGV may create and exhaust as much NOX as 12,500 automobiles or as an oil refinery, and thus is a substantial health risk to port workers and residents of surrounding communities, and may physically damage structures and equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,710 for “Maritime Emissions Control System,” assigned to the assignee of the present invention, describes a mobile emissions control system which may be transported to a ship within a harbor, and which mobile emissions control system captures and processes a main exhaust flow from the ship to reduce emissions. The main exhaust flow may be from the ship's engine(s), auxiliary generators, or any other source of exhaust from the ship. The emissions control system of the '710 patent includes a shroud which is lowered over the ship's stack. Although the shroud described in the '710 patent is adequate in most cases, in some situation, for example in heavy winds, the bonnet of the '710 patent may be difficult to position.
The present invention addresses the above and other needs by providing an improved Exhaust Intake Bonnet (EIB) for an Advanced Maritime Emissions Control System (AMECS) which includes a shroud carried by a rigid upper frame and a lowerable and raisable rigid lower frame. The upper frame includes a peak with a duct for receiving exhaust gasses captured by the shroud and winches for lowering and raising the lower frame. The shroud is expandable when the lower frame is lowered and collapsible when the lower frame is raised and has a cinchable base. The AMECS is joined to a ship by positioning the EIB over a ship's exhaust stack using a deployment arm. The shroud is then lowered over the stack and then cinched around the stack to provide a soft attachment between the EIB and the ship's stack. Later, the steps are reversed to separate the AMECS from the ship.
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings.
The following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing one or more preferred embodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims.
An Advanced Maritime Emissions Control System (AMECS) 10 and Ocean Going Vessel (OGV) 24 with an improved Exhaust Intake Bonnet (EIB) 14 according to the present invention positioned above a stack 26 of the OGV 24 is shown in
An AMECS is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,710 for “Maritime Emissions Control System,” assigned to the assignee of the present invention, details of an improved emissions control unit are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,275,366 for “High Thermal Efficiency Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) System,” also assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and a further improved emissions control unit are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/092,477 for “Air Pollution Control System for Ocean-going Vessels,” also assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The '710 and '366 patents and the '477 patent application are herein incorporated by reference.
The EIB 14 is shown collapsed in
A top view of the improved EIB 14 according to the present invention is shown in
A shroud 15 resides inside the EIB 14 and contains exhaust gases captured by the EIB 14. The shroud 15 is attached to the upper frame 28 and the middle frames 17 by straps 37 and rises into the upper frame 28 and is in fluid communication with a duct connector 42 which connects to the duct 19. The shroud 15 is made from a high-temperature material, and preferably is made from a Teflon®-coated Kevlar fabric. The shroud 15 is preferably, but not necessarily, spherical in shape, which provides a low drag coefficient and limits the effect of wind on the EIB 14.
A bottom view of the rigid lower frame 32 showing a cinching strap comprising cinching strap segments 40a and 40b, cinching assemblies, and tensioning assemblies is shown in
The tensioning assemblies comprise tensioning ropes 46, tensioning devices 42, and tensioning rope pulleys 44 and 48 according to the present invention. The tensioning devices 42 are preferably coil springs 42 attached to the lower frame 32 and the pulleys 44 and 48 may be may be split-drum or double drum pulleys. The pulley 44 is attached to the spring 42 opposite to the lower frame 32 and the pulley 48 is attached to the lower frame 32 by a bracket 50. In a preferred embodiment, the tensioning rope 46 loops around the tensioning pulleys 44 and 48 twice to provide a four to one ratio between the tensioning ropes 46 and the tensioning springs 42 (i.e., one unit of movement of the ropes 46 corresponds to ¼ unit of movement of the spring 42). The end of the tensioning rope 46 is attached to one of the cinch strap segments 40a and 40b, thereby approximately centering the cinch strap in the mouth 41.
Details of the tensioning assembly are shown in
An edge view of a first embodiment of the shroud 15 attachment to the cinching strap 40a, 40b is shown in
Additionally, an emergency pressure relief mechanism, most desirably flaps 58, may be located on the lowermost portion of the shroud 15 and open if there is a potentially catastrophic over pressure in the EIB 14. The flaps 58 are preferably made from material similar to, or the same as, the material used to make the shroud 15. The flaps 58 are preferably sewn along one edge and fastened to the shroud 15 along the other three edges of the flaps 58 using a tear away attachment such as hook and loop fastener material and the like. Alternatively, the length of or tension on the cinching straps 40a, 40b may be adjustable in order to provide a gap around the stack 26 perimeter for exhaust gasses to escape if there is an over pressure in the EIB 14. The flaps 58 may alternatively reside on the shroud 15 between the diagonal runners 28a of the rigid upper frame 28 (see
An edge view of a second embodiment of the shroud 15 attachment to the cinching strap 40a, 40b according to the present invention is shown in
An edge view of a third embodiment of the shroud 15 attachment to the cinching strap 40a, 40b according to the present invention is shown in
While various ropes are described above, other similar means may be used to connect elements of the present invention, and an otherwise similar device replacing the ropes with wire rope, cables, cords, wires, and the like, is intended to come withing the scope of the present invention.
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.
