Une équipe d'ingénieurs d'une base navale californienne a créé un nouvel appareil pour tester la capacité de charge-des bollards, qui sont utilisés pour amarrer les grands navires dans le port et doivent résister à des centaines de tonnes de pression.
La marine américaine entretient des milliers de bollards dans le monde. Pour les tester, le nouveau dispositif, de forme rectangulaire et composé principalement de tubes d'acier carrés, est positionné autour de la borne. Ses entretoises réglables sont fixées au quai.
Un câble est placé autour de la borne. Les traverses réglables et les goupilles de verrouillage positionnent le câble à différents angles. Un bras hydraulique ou treuil (tendeur) est activé par l'opérateur d'essai pour tirer le câble, en appliquant une force sur la borne aux mesures souhaitées.
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.
Les ingénieurs qui ont construit l'appareil sont du Naval Facilities Engineering Command à Port Hueneme. Ce sont Gerritt Lang, Elaina Ryan, Juan Carrillo, Ricardo Contreras, Zachary Harwood et Benjamin Hulbert.
Selon leur demande de brevet :
"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.
