Technical field

The present invention regards a rescue unit and more particularly a rescue unit capable of being free dropped into a harsh environment like ice or iced waters.

Background of invention

Present emergency life rafts or rescue vehicles for evacuating a vessel like a ship or an offshore platform are only suitable for use in warmer waters. A free drop life boat cannot be used if there is a risk of ice or iced waters. This is fast becoming a problem since the interest for establishing new offshore production in the high north is expected to have an increasing expansion in the north. The Barents region has in several reports been appointed as a hot spot in business the coming years. Opening of new acreage can be noticed in the south of Barents Sea and the oil/gas sector is planning for operations towards Greenland, Jan Mayen and around Svalbard.

Significantly more jobs will be allocated in the high north and more people will be working in the offshore business in relation to an increased value of oil and gas. This is expected to increase rapidly in the coming years. These activities results also in a significant focus upon the increased dimension and development of a more stable and secure infrastructure that will be required.

Statistics from Svalbard show on the fact that there is a stable amount of visiting cruise ships the last years, but the number of passengers is dramatically increased.

Also the Atlantic fishing vessels are going north, since the cod stock is now growing and spreading northwards. These findings are due to higher sea temperatures and sufficient supply of food.

The existing technologies are today not aimed for harsh weather in the north and in many cases the technology systems available needs ideal conditions regarding no ice, or icing, low or moderate wind, waves, temperatures impact of a rescue operation as well as no presences of polar bears etc. US 20120227659 A describe a rescue craft to be used on oil rigs, passenger ships, commercial fishing ships, cargo ships or any other sea vessel. The rescue craft would take the place of existing life boats used today. The outer shape of the craft is ball shaped and houses another ball shaped sphere inside the unit. The second ball shape houses the evacuees. The inside sphere that houses the evacuees has a gyro to keep its rescued occupants in a stable environment free from dangerous ocean waves, severe winds or pack ice outside the unit. The inside sphere is on smooth rollers that press up against the outer ball from inside. The gyro located in the inner sphere provides its evacuees with a smooth safe trip. The ocean rescue craft was designed to save the lives of its occupants even in the most dangerous of situations.

A problem with this solution is that it is not suitable for being dropped from the vessel or the offshore rig. This is a preferred way for evacuation since the evacuees can quickly get far away from the vessel or the offshore rig. Also, another problem is that the rescue craft cannot propel quickly away from the accident scene or dangerous areas

Summary of invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention, as it is stated in the set of claims, to overcome the problems mentioned above. This is done by creating a sphere rescue unit for extreme offshore conditions comprising a survival shield to the external elements surrounding the unit.

The unit has a surface built up with metal plates in a net and covered with a soft material. The unit is further able to change form if squeezed, for example between ice blocks. Inside the unit there is a rescue capsule where people are sitting in a circular chain of chairs around the vertical line. Further the unit has the possible to be "rapidly displaced" from the deck to the surface of the sea or ice and is able to move by shifting the balance in the sphere volume.

The unit can be gyro stabilized and additionally have food, air and energy supply enough to sustain the passengers for at least 48 hours.

Brief description of the drawing Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the sphere rescue unit is placed in the side of a ship.

Figure 2 is a side view of the sphere rescue unit as it is placed in the water.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention, with the outer spheres deflated. Figure 4 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the present invention according to figure 3, but with the outer spheres inflated.

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view of the present invention. Detailed description

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention. The present invention comprises a sphere rescue unit 101. The sphere rescue unit 101 can be placed on an ocean going vessel 100 or any offshore installation like e.g. an oil rig. The sphere rescue unit 101 is intended to take the place of an ordinary free drop life boat, preferably in areas of ice or a mixture of ice and water.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention the sphere rescue unit comprises an inner rescue capsule 103 for housing the rescues. The rescue capsule 103 has the form as a circular sphere bowl or a cup. The rescue capsule 103 is placed inside at least two circular construction guide rails 109. Outside these guide rails 109 the entire unit is covered by a floating arrangement that is adjustable in shape.

The sphere rescue unit 101 is preferably placed high up on the boat or the installation. This makes it possible to quickly get far away for a hazardous area.

In a preferred solution the sphere rescue unit is mounted such that a part of the rescue unit is inside the vessel or the offshore installation in order to enable entrance to the sphere rescue unit 101 from inside of the ship. The rest of the rescue unit is outside the ship or the offshore installation, but can still be protected from harsh environment with a shelter arrangement.

Figure 2 is a side view of the sphere rescue unit 101 after a rescue operation has been started and the sphere rescue unit has been launched into the water.

A rescue operation starts by walking in a line into the capsule. Inside the capsule everyone sit in a predetermined seat. Each seat has safety arrangements, like a soft and dampening seat, and an arrangement both for restricting head movement and body movement. Further the seat can be fitted with an adaptable seat that molds itself in order to fit the user and sets in a position by applying electricity or magnetism.

After everybody has found their seat, the doors 104 is hermetically closed and secured for the launch. The launching phase uses a tube, a guiding or hanging construction and a loaded projecting force or a free fall or semi free fall arrangement. The launching tube or steering construction is sufficiently long to direct the sphere rescue unit in a predetermined elevation path and the loading or stored force, can as an example is using a tensioned and stretched spring force.

The initial ejection (elevation) conditions are then calculated taking into account factors like: angle, force according to ship angle, wind and weather conditions and e.g. the total weight of the unit.

The sphere rescue unit 100 can be dropped or ejected with the aid of force. Examples of such force can be either hydraulic, pneumatic, an explosion, hovering, lifting by gases guiding rails, pole, tube or similar arrangement or it can be just taken by the wind from the ship's deck. The sphere rescue unit 100 can adapt a round form either prior to launch or after launch in order to save occupied space on the ship or offshore installation. Further the shape of the rescue unit can change both in air and during landing, in order to make the landing easier on both the people and the rescue unit 100. This change of shape can depend on the landing surface in order to adjust or compensate for the recoil and bounce. After the landing, the sphere rescue unit 100 is able to propel itself in order to get away from a hazardous area. A method of propulsion can be achieved by changing the center of gravity of the sphere rescue unit 100. The center of gravity can be changed by moving a weight arrangement 110 around that is placed down in the center of the sphere rescue unit 100 by a changing of balance force arrangement. When the sphere rescue unit 100 has moved away from the hazardous area it is intended to find a safe place to anchor and wait for a rescue team to appear. The position of the sphere rescue unit 100 is controlled by gravity forces and a driving, control system.

A lift arrangement is placed in connection to the sphere rescue unit 100 in order to be able to lift the complete sphere rescue unit 100 from a helicopter or ship crane. Figure 3 and 4 is perspective views of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment the sphere rescue unit 100 comprises two semi spheres 105, 106. These semi spheres 105, 106 can change shape for speed retardation, soft landing, movements in air, moving on ice/ice covered waters, anchoring and shelter ability. They can also be either entirely deflated or inflated. In order to make this possible the material of the outer surface must be light in weight, strong against sharp edges, buoyant and colorful.

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention. At the center of the sphere rescue unit 100 the rescue capsule 103 is situated. The rescue capsule 103 is disk shaped. Further rescue capsule 103 contains the seating area for the rescues. The rescues sit in a ring, facing each other around the perimeter of the rescue capsule 103. Other solutions for the seating arrangement are also applicable.

In a preferred embodiment the seats have both a seatbelt and a head fixation. Further the seat can be molded to fit the individual user perfectly. This is done in order to minimize the risk of damage to the body during the launch and landing of the sphere rescue unit 100. After the user has been seated, strapped down, and the seat has molded to the shape of the users body, the shape of the seat is set by using a gel that stiffens by applying electricity. The entrance to the rescue capsule 103 comprises a set of two doors 104, an inner and an outer. During embarking of the rescues the doors 104 work as one. After the doors 104 have been closed they work individually.

The rescue capsule 103 is placed inside a set of at least two guide rails 109. These guide rails 109 are circular in shape and surround the capsule. The capsule is connected to the guide rails 109 by a set of bearings 108 at each attachment point.

Outside the guide rails 109 the sphere rescue unit 100 is protected and covered by a floating arrangement. The floating arrangement comprises a surface layer. The surface layer has an outermost soft material. This soft material is light in weight, strong against sharp edges, buoyant and colorful. The surface material protects the sphere rescue unit 100 from impact from water, sharp edges, external impacts and polar bears. In addition the soft material has a main contact surface area made of a ruff structure. This contact surface area act with the elements in a cold climate, and can be seen as the units "belted crawler".

Inside the soft material the surface layer is built up with metal plates in a regular net structure. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the floating arrangement is divided in an upper and a lower semi sphere 105, 106. Further the upper and lower semi sphere 105, 106 is adjustable in shape. Inside the upper and the lower semi sphere 105, 106 there is placed attenuators 107. These attenuators 107 dampen the impact when landing. As a further dampening effect the upper and the lower semi sphere 105, 106 can be connected . This makes it possible to move air from one semi sphere to the other. As an example air from the upper semi sphere 105 can be moved to the lower semi sphere 106 before or during launch. The impact from when the rescue unit lands forces air from the lower semi sphere 106 into the upper semi sphere 105 resulting in a further dampening effect. This effect can be controlled and adjusted according to the surface of the landing area.

The sphere rescue unit 100 is also:

gyro or center of gravity stabilized,

- internal air pressure system,

has an automatic control system for moving,

- GPS,

- communication ability.

The rescue capsule 103 has further the following equipment:

- A heating system,

- water and food reserves for up to 48 hours,

internal energy supply.