AU740517B2 - Transfer device - Google Patents

Description

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AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant/s: Actual Inventor/s: Address of Service: Allseas Group S.A Arnold Andries Van den Dool BALDWIN SHELSTON WATERS MARGARET STREET SYDNEY NSW 2000 "TRANSFER DEVICE" Invention Title: The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us:- (File: 21157.00) -la- Transfer Device The invention relates to a device for transferring cargo, such as pipes, from one ship to another ship, comprising a lifting device which comprises a hoisting beam suspended from flexible hoisting elements, for instance steel cables, and which is arranged on the one or other ship.

Such devices are used for transhipment at sea of cargo, for instance in provisioning a pipelaying vessel with pipes. The hoisting beam is herein carried above the cargo, whereafter operating personnel lay loops fastened to the hoisting beam round a pipe.

The hoisting beam with pipe is then lifted off the supply ship and onto the pipelaying vessel.

A drawback of such devices is that the operating personnel run the risk of being injured because for instance one of the loops is not arranged correctly round the pipe or because the pipe begins to swing immediately on being picked up. In view of the large

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mass of an individual pipe, serious or fatal injury is therefore by no means precluded.

For safety reasons transhipment is therefore only permitted up to a determined roughness ofthe sea, the so-called "sea-state".

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A lifting device is further known which comprises a fixed connection between the one and the other ship. The cargo is hoisted upward along this connection and transported to the ship for supplying.

A drawback of this device is that both ships are mutually connected and transhipment is thereby only possible up to a limited "sea-state". Dangerous situations can moreover occur in cases of emergency.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative.

Accordingly, the invention provides a device for transferring cargo, such as pipes, from one ship to another ship, comprising a lifting device which comprises a hoisting beam suspended from flexible hoisting elements, for instance steel cables, and which is arranged on the one or other ship, wherein the hoisting beam comprises gripper members for gripping the cargo, and one or more contact surfaces for positioning the gripper members are provided on the other or the one ship.

-2- Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words 'comprise', 'comprising', and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of "including, but not limited to".

Advantageously, the present invention, at least in a preferred form, avoids the above stated drawbacks and enables transfer of cargo without operating personnel, and consequently up to a higher "sea-state".

Advantageously, owing to the gripper members according to the invention operating personnel are no longer required to be close to the cargo, thereby reducing the risk of personal injury. Furthermore, cargo can be transferred at a higher "sea-state" than *q in the usual devices.

According to one preferred embodiment, one side of the hoisting beam is complementary to the cargo, or in any case wedge-shaped. Advantageously, once the S•hoisting beam has been carried against the cargo, for example pipes, it hereby comes to 15 lie parallel thereto. The gripper members can then engage a pipe in simple manner, to enable the pipe to be lifted.

According to another preferred embodiment, guide surfaces are provided whereby o*o* the hoisting beam, after making contact with a surface, is guided to a position above for instance a pipe for hoisting. Because a guide surface is displaceable relative to the S: 20 cargo, the hoisting beam is guided in each case above the part for hoisting. In addition, ipreferably the whole device is displaceable, whereby, different stacks of cargo can be offloaded. Advantageously, the crane need only be in "constant tension" position during pick-up of the pipe, therefore when the pipe has already been hooked on.

According to yet another preferred embodiment, the hoisting beam is suspended for instance on a spreader. Advantageously, due to this spreader the hoisting movement is better controlled in terms of swinging and rotation of the load. Further, with use of a spreader the hoisting height of the pipe, i.e. the free swing length, is in any case reduced and the spreader itself can be hung on more cables, and thus more stably. This measure can enable pipe transfer in higher "sea-states".

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

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3 Fig. 1 shows a transfer device according to a first preferred embodiment, Fig. 2 shows a perspective view with exploded parts of the hoisting beam in the opened situation of the first preferred embodiment, Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the hoisting beam in the hoisting situation of the first preferred embodiment, Fig. 4 shows a second preferred embodiment of a transfer device according to the invention, Fig. 5 shows a third preferred embodiment of a transfer device according to the invention, Fig. 6 shows a fourth preferred embodiment of a transfer device according to the invention, Fig. 7 shows a fifth preferred embodiment of a transfer device according to the invention.

Functionally identical elements are designated with the same reference numerals.

A preferred embodiment of a transfer device according to the invention for transhipping cargo, for instance pipes 3, from a ship 1 comprises a hoisting beam 2 and a contact surface 4 (see figure Contact surface 4 is embodied as a displaceable portal which, guided by rails 5, can travel over a stack of pipes and which, when all pipes of a stack have been transferred, can be hoisted to a following stack using lifting lugs arranged for this purpose.

*Two cables 6 of winches 7 are fastened, if desired, 30 to the portal. The contact surface 4 hereby acquires a certain stiffness in transverse direction of the ship, whereby hoisting beam 2 can be carried against contact .*surface 4.

Within the scope of the invention the cables can be replaced by other support elements, such as cylinders, which can simultaneously function as shock dampers.

Contact surface 4 can itself likewise be given a sufficiently rigid form.

Hoisting beam 2 comprises a hollow beam 8 in which two hooks 9 are hingedly arranged (see figure The one end of hooks 9 can engage in a pipe 3 for lifting. The other end of hooks 9 is connected to the hoisting cables of the crane.

Two operating elements 11 are further arranged hingedly in hollow beam 8 per hook 9, which elements are loaded by biasing springs (not shown). Operating elements 11 hold hooks 9 in the opened position when the hoisting beam is being positioned above a pipe 3. As soon as the hoisting beam is lowered onto the pipe, the operating elements 11 will make contact with the pipe and therein pivot open counter to the action of the biasing spring, whereby the other end of hook 9 is released and the hooks engage the pipe (see figure 3).

For transfer of a pipe 3 from the one ship 1 to another ship the contact surface 4 is positioned above the required pipe. Hoisting beam 2 is subsequently carried against contact surface 4, wherein the contact surface and cables 6 absorb the blow. Now that hoisting beam 2 is positioned above pipes 3 it is lowered, wherein the hoisting beam is guided downward by contact surface 4 and therein comes to lie on a pipe 3 (see figure 3).

Operating elements 11 are herein pressed outward, whereby the ends of hooks 9 are released and can pivot into pipe 3.

During lifting the clamps will grip the pipe firmly due to the weight of the hoisting beam and the pipe, whereby the pipe can be transferred from the one ship to the other. On the other ship the pipe will then have to be released manually.

30 Other embodiments of a hoisting beam with gripper members as will be described inter alia hereinbelow, can likewise be applied in this embodiment.

A second preferred embodiment (see figure 4) of the :invention comprises a hoisting beam 2 which is suspended from a second beam 12 by means of cables 10. The hoisting beam consists of two end parts 13 mutually connected by a rod 14. A surface 15 which is wedge-shaped or preferably complementary to the cargo, a hook 9 and an operating cylinder 16 are arranged on both end parts 13.

For transfer of pipes 3 the hoisting beam 2 is lowered onto a pipe 3, wherein the complementary surfaces make contact with the pipe. Hoisting beam 2 hereby comes into parallel alignment along pipe 3. The, for instance hydraulically controlled, operating cylinders 16 herein hold hooks 9 in the opened position as long as the hoisting beam is not properly aligned on pipe 3. Cylinders 16 are then actuated, whereby the hooks engage the pipe 3. The pipe can then be transferred from the one ship 1 to the other ship.

If desired, one or both end parts 13 can also be mounted for reciprocal movement relative to beam 2 as according to arrow P1 in order to adapt the hoisting hooks to the length of the pipe that has to be transferred.

The advantage of this second embodiment is that with spreader 12 the hoisting movement can be better controlled, whereby the cargo itself can serve as contact surface and there need be no portal present above the cargo with which the hoisting beam makes contact.

A third embodiment according to the invention (see figure 5) once again comprises a portal which is displaceable along rails 5 over a stack of pipes, a hoisting beam 2 which corresponds structurally with the hoisting beam of the first preferred embodiment, and a second beam 12. The portal comprises at the top a rectangular frame i 18 on which are arranged guide surfaces 19 which form a funnel and which likewise serve as contact surface. The .rectangular frame is dimensioned such that a hoisting beam 2 with a pipe 3 thereon can just pass through the opening in the frame.

Hoisting beam 2 is positioned roughly above the funnel-shaped guide surfaces 19 and lowered. The hoisting .beam is herein carried against surfaces 19 and is positioned exactly above a pipe 3 by the funnel shape.

The pipe is subsequently gripped, raised and carried to the other ship in the same manner as in the first embodiment. When the stack of pipes has been transhipped, the portal is raised and placed over a following stack.

A fourth preferred embodiment of a transfer device according to the invention (see figure 6) comprises a hoisting beam 2 which is structurally the same as hoisting beam 2 in the first and third preferred embodiments, a first contact surface 4, a portal which can travel along rails 17 in lengthwise direction of the ship over the stacks of pipes 3 and which comprises guide rails and a second contact surface (not shown) displaceable in the guide rails.

For transfer of pipes from the one ship 1 to the other ship, the second contact surface is formed by a sensor for positioning close to the guide rail 20 above a pipe 3 for hoisting. Hoisting beam 2 is then carried against the first contact surface 4 (position whereafter hoisting beam 2 is lifted upward and received in guide rails 20. The hoisting beam is moved along rails via the wheel sets and positioned in position B. The crane is herein in the so-called "constant tension" position, whereby a constant load is applied to the portal irrespective of the pitching of the ship.

In order to pick up the desired pipe, for instance a gripper part of the hoisting beam is lowered and then comes to lie on the pipe, wherein another part remains behind in the guide rails to keep the hoisting cables tensioned. The pipe is subsequently gripped firmly in the manner already described above. The gripper part of the hoisting beam is then lifted back into the guide rails 20, whereafter the hoisting beam leaves rails 20 at the end remote from the first contact surface 4.

30 As soon as a stack with pipes has been transferred to the other ship, the portal is displaced over rails 17 in lengthwise direction of ship 1 to a following stack of pipes.

A fifth embodiment (see figure 7) of the invention comprises a hoisting beam 2 which is similar to the hoisting beam in the first, third and fourth preferred embodiments and which herein comprises second hooks 21.

These hooks co-act with two triangular catching rings 22 o *which are each connected to two cables 23 of winches 24 and are mutually connected by a tensioning cable

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In the starting position, both catching rings 22 are positioned at a mutual distance which corresponds roughly with the length of hoisting beam 2. Hoisting beam 2 is raised above catching rings 22 and lowered such that the second hooks 21 drop into catching rings 22. Both rings are then moved apart by suitable driving of winches 24 so that a tensile force is exerted on hooks 21 which is in opposing directions relative to each other.

Hoisting beam 2 is positioned above a pipe 3 for lifting by appropriate driving of winches 24 and the crane. Beam 2 is then lowered onto pipe 3, this being guided by the side of the ring 22 lying against the inclining surface end surface of beam 2, wherein beam 2 makes contact with the surface of the pipe and grips the pipe in the usual manner. By paying out the cables 23 the rings are released from the hoisting beam and hoisting beam 2 with pipe 3 can be moved to the other ship.

The rings are returned to their starting position by corresponding driving of winches 24 in order to then position hoisting beam 2 once again above a pipe for lifting.

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Claims (9)

1. A device for transferring cargo, such as pipes, from one ship to another ship, comprising a lifting device which comprises a hoisting beam suspended from flexible hoisting elements, for instance steel cables, and which is arranged on the one or other ship, wherein the hoisting beam comprises gripper members for gripping the cargo, and one or more contact surfaces for positioning the gripper members are provided on the other or the one ship.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a side of the hoisting beam is substantially wedge-shaped. io m3. A device as claimed in claim 1 or2, wherein a side of the hoisting beam is complementary to the cargo for hoisting.

4. A device as claimed in any one of the foregoing claims, wherein the hoisting beam is suspended from a second beam, such as a spreader, hanging on flexible elements. Is 5. A device as claimed in any one of the foregoing claims, wherein a guide device comprising one or more guide surfaces is arranged on the other or the one ship.

6. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the guide surface is the contact surface.

7. A device as claimed in claim 5 or 6, wherein the guide device is displaceable relative to the cargo. :ooo 20 8. A device as claimed in any one of the claims 5-7, wherein the guide surface is displaceable relative to the cargo.

9. A device as claimed in any one of the claims 5-8, wherein the guide surfaces form a funnel-shaped guide. A device as claimed in any one of the claims 5-9, wherein the guide surfaces are formed by rails for guiding and supporting the hoisting beam.

11. A device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the contact surface is an approach sensor close to the rail.

12. A device as claimed in any one of the' claims 5-10, wherein the hoisting beam is a spreader.

13. A device for transferring cargo from one ship to another ship substantially as herein described with reference to any one of the embodiments of the invention shown in -9- the accompanying drawings. DATED this 15th Day of September, 2000 ALLSEAS GROUP S.A. Attorney: STUART M. SMITH Fellow Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia of BALDWIN SHELSTON WATERS 9 9 9 9 9 .9 9 9 9 99 9 9 9 9 9*9 .9.9 9 9999 9 9. 9999 9 9999 9 9 9 C 999 9