California mereväebaasi inseneride meeskond on loonud uudse seadme pollarite kandevõime testimiseks, mida kasutatakse suurte laevade sadamas sildumiseks ja mis peavad taluma sadu tonne survet.
USA merevägi hooldab tuhandeid pollareid üle maailma. Nende katsetamiseks asetatakse uus seade, mis on ristkülikukujuline ja valmistatud peamiselt ruudukujulistest terastorudest, ümber pollari. Selle reguleeritavad tugipostid on kinnitatud kai külge.
Pollari ümber asetatakse kaabel. Reguleeritavad risttalad ja lukustustihvtid asetavad kaabli erinevate nurkade alla. Katseoperaator aktiveerib trossi tõmbamiseks hüdrohoova või vintsi (pinguti), rakendades soovitud mõõtmiste korral pollarile jõudu.
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.
Seadme ehitanud insenerid on Port Huenemes asuvast Naval Facilities Engineering Command'ist. Need on Gerritt Lang, Elaina Ryan, Juan Carrillo, Ricardo Contreras, Zachary Harwood ja Benjamin Hulbert.
Vastavalt nende patenditaotlusele:
"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.
