Patent Application
20150090646
The technical solution relates to equipment for collecting impurities in stagnant waters, having a catamaran design and belonging to the field of shipping and float equipment, with the specific aim of collecting solid particles and viscous impurities in stagnant waters of lakes and dams.
Catamaran designs used up to now have most often been used as watercraft for sports with a power drive or with sail propulsion. They are designed on the principle of two floats such as racing catamaran structures for various sports classes or river catamarans. These types of equipment are built aerodynamically in order to achieve great speed. They are financially expensive and can only be used very inefficiently for slow collection of impurities from the surface of stagnant waters (FR2721580A1, JP5085465A, JP10119880A, JP60053487A, SE460720B, SE452735B, U.S. Pat. No. 7,045,058B2).
Also known are types of catamaran equipment for cleaning the bottom of water reservoirs on the principle of mechanically dredging the bottom by ship dredges or by chain-bucket dredgers. This technology is expensive, the equipment has large dimensions therefore it is less mobile and consequently manoeuvrable only with difficulties on smaller dams. These machines are not equipped for collecting impurities from water surface and cannot be operated on small bodies of water, used as sources of drinking water or for recreational purposes (CA1107661A1, DE4110722A1).
Currently, also skimmer solutions with an immobile net at the bow of a ship are used for collecting impurities from water surface—US2006065586, solutions with grabbing crane excavators for collecting dirt—FR2850083, stationary skimmer equipment with movable jaws—U.S. Pat. No. 7,037,038, catamarans with lifting net for catching impurities—WO2004067374, as well as bucket excavators for collecting impurities such as tar, oil and plastics from water surface, according to technical solution WO2004076750.
Other known technologies include equipment for collecting impurities from water surface of the dams of hydroelectric power stations, most often floating plastic mouldings before entering the entry grids of the turbine ducts. However, these are stationary devices, they can move only on the crest of the dam, thus their reach over the entire body of water is impossible (EP0520750A1, GB2365387A, WO2005097592A1, W02009030977A2, GB2026883A).
The shortcomings of the current state of technology are eliminated by the technical solution designed for collecting impurities in stagnant waters by means of a catamaran structure, serving as a support for conveyor equipment, which uses a perforated mesh belt, fitted with forks, for collecting solid contaminants from water and for transferring them by a conveyor to a removable container. The equipment comprises two hollow catamaran floats, which may have a shape of a cylinder, of a cube, but also that of a semi-cylinder, with the operators seat mounted at the rear side, where the two floats are connected together. The front part comprises funnel jaws, copying the shape of the catamaran floats and serving for directing the impurities towards the conveyor belt and then into the removable container.
The equipment includes an electric motor for driving the conveyor belts, a marine engine with manual control and a programmable remote control, an electrical power supply—batteries, photovoltaic cells for supplying direct current to the batteries. The trajectory of movement of the catamaran is controlled by the operator sitting on the catamaran or on the shore, controlling the catamaran by remote control—a joystick. The trajectory of movement can also be controlled by programming the route in the control device. When the catamaran is anchored at the quay, the batteries are charged from a stationary battery charging device situated on the quay.
The equipment for collecting impurities in stagnant waters comprises two catamaran floats 1, having a shape of a hollow body, for example a shape of a semi-cylinder. At the front of the catamaran floats 1, there is a drum belt conveyor 3, mounted in the frame 2. The belt conveyor 3 can include a removable, perforated mesh belt 11, made of felt, textile, or plastic material or of metal, fitted with forks 12 for collecting solid and viscous impurities from the water. The impurities are gathered through the frontal funnel-shaped part—jaws 7, by the belt 11 into the removable container 8. The drive 5 of the belt 11 is an electric motor mounted at the axis of the driving drum of the belt conveyor 3. In the middle part of the catamaran floats 1 there is the drive 5 of the belt 11, connected to the batteries 14, in the rear part of the equipment there is the rudder 6 and the marine engine 13, the whole with manual control or with programmable remote control 10. At the surface of the bracket of the photovoltaic panels 4 there are stored the photovoltaic cells 9, with connection to the main source of electric current—the batteries 14, serving for recharging by direct current. In addition to that, the equipment for collecting impurities is equipped with a remote control—a joystick, for manual control of the remote control and also of the remotely programmable control 10. The trajectory of the movement of the equipment is controlled manually by the operator from the catamaran or remotely by a programmable remote control 10, via wireless transmission by means of the joystick, as well as by programming the route in the control unit of the remotely programmable control 10. When the catamaran is anchored at the quay, the batteries are charged from a stationary battery charging device 14 situated on the quay.
The catamaran for collecting impurities in stagnant waters can be used for collecting impurities from the surface of stagnant waters of lakes and dams, polluted by floods, also for collecting cyanobacteria after previous technological treatment in the stagnant waters, and it finds application in waters intended for drinking water supply or for recreational purposes and bathing.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PUV 50-2012 | Mar 2012 | SK | national |
This application is a national stage entry of PCT/SK2013/000004 filed Mar. 22, 2013, under the International Convention claiming priority over Slovakia Application No. PUV 50-2012 filed Mar. 28, 2012.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/SK2013/000004 | 3/22/2013 | WO | 00 |
