JP2023005761A - Automatic mooring device and automatic mooring method - Google Patents

Abstract

A miniaturized automatic mooring device and an automatic mooring method applicable to small ships are provided.
An automatic mooring device (10) includes an arm (12) which is rotatable between an initial position and a final position, and whose tip can be positioned above a vessel to be moored in the final position; A movable slider 141 whose ends are rotatably connected and which can be linearly moved by a single drive unit, an arm guide 13 that guides the rotational movement of the arm 12 accompanying the linear movement of the movable slider 141, and one end of which is the arm 12. and a winch 16 capable of winding the main wire rope 17 from the other end.
[Selection drawing] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to an automatic mooring device and an automatic mooring method particularly suitable for mooring small ships.

BACKGROUND ART When mooring a ship to a pier (or a quay) or the like, mooring work is required to connect the ship and the pier with ropes or wires to fix the hull. When this mooring work is performed manually, it is necessary to require a person to help the mooring work at the pier side, or the ship's passengers themselves need to jump from the ship to the pier to perform the mooring work. However, when people help mooring work on the pier side, there is a problem that personnel costs for mooring work increase. Also, jumping from an unsecured vessel to a pier poses a risk of falling or overturning. A similar problem occurs during unberthing operations in which the vessel leaves the pier.

For this reason, an automatic mooring device has been put into practical use, which can moor the mooring work without requiring a man on the pier side. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an arm that is rotatable in a horizontal plane and has a rope-suspended arm and a drum (winch) that winds the rope. An automatic mooring device is disclosed that allows for controlled movement of the mooring. Automatic mooring devices that have been put into practical use include those that hold the hull by vacuum suction and those that hold the hull by electromagnets.

Japanese Patent No. 5406135

Patent Document 1 discloses an automatic mooring device. In recent years, it has been desired to install an automatic mooring device on a floating pier or the like used for mooring small ships, and it is necessary to reduce the size of the automatic mooring device.

In addition, the method of vacuum-sucking the hull requires a flat surface of a certain size on the hull, and the automatic mooring device of Patent Document 1 is difficult to apply to small ships. Furthermore, the method of attracting the hull with an electromagnet requires the hull to be a magnetic material, and cannot be used for small ships (because the hulls of small ships are usually made of FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastics)). For this reason, conventional automatic mooring devices are only applicable to medium-sized and large-sized ships, and there is currently no automatic mooring device suitable for small-sized ships.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a miniaturized automatic mooring device and an automatic mooring method applicable to small ships.

In order to solve the above problems, an automatic mooring device according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a rotatable arm, a main body capable of accommodating the arm, and a drive section for sending out the arm from the main body. and a rope member to which a mooring member is attached and which is let out from the arm.

According to the above configuration, the rope member is conveyed onto the ship by driving the arm by the drive unit, and after the mooring member attached to the conveyed rope member is connected to the ship (automatically or manually), the rope is The mooring operation of the ship can be performed by the member. In addition, by receiving the force associated with mooring with a rope member rather than with the arm, the strength of the arm itself is eliminated, making the automatic mooring device smaller (and lighter) and suitable for small ships. It becomes possible to

Further, the automatic mooring device can be configured to have an arm guide for guiding the rotation of the arm accompanying the sending operation of the arm.

According to the above configuration, the arm drive mechanism can be simplified by guiding the rotation of the arm by the arm guide. In other words, the arm can be rotated only by the movement of the arm by the driving section.

Further, the automatic mooring device can be configured to have a rope winding section capable of winding the rope member.

According to the above configuration, the ship can be moored by winding up the rope member with the rope winding section.

Further, in the automatic mooring device, the arm can be configured to be rotatable by its own weight.

Further, in the above automatic mooring device, the drive section may be arranged in a lower portion of the automatic mooring device.

According to the above configuration, the position of the center of gravity of the automatic mooring device can be lowered, and the device can be stably installed on a pier or the like.

Further, the automatic mooring device may have an urging member that applies an urging force to the arm due to the weight of the arm in a direction opposite to the rotating direction.

According to the above configuration, the urging force of the urging member cancels part of the rotational force due to gravity, and the arm can be rotated more safely, and the force required to lift the arm from the final position can be reduced to drive the arm. The part can be made smaller.

In order to solve the above problems, an automatic mooring method according to a second aspect of the present invention is an automatic mooring method for mooring a ship using the above automatic mooring device, As the operation of the device, the arm is sent out from the main body and rotated to position the arm on the ship, the second operation is to let out the rope member from the arm member, and the rope is wound. A third action of winding the rope member by a take-up part and hooking the mooring member to the ship, and a fourth action of controlling the rope winding part so that the rope member has a predetermined tension and mooring the ship. is characterized by including

Further, in the automatic mooring method, the ship is moored by a plurality of the automatic mooring devices, and at least one of the automatic mooring devices can be moved to change the distance between installations of the plurality of automatic mooring devices. It can be configured as follows.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to change the distance between installations of the plurality of automatic mooring devices according to the size of the vessel to be moored.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The automatic mooring device and the automatic mooring method of the present invention have the effect of reducing the size (and weight) of the automatic mooring device so that it can be applied to small ships.

FIG. 1, which shows one embodiment of the present invention, is a perspective view showing the appearance of an automatic mooring device. FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the tip of an arm in the automatic mooring device; It is a perspective view which shows the state which installed the automatic mooring apparatus in the pier. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a slider; FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an arm guide, an arm, and a part of a slider extracted from the automatic mooring device; (a)-(f) are diagrams showing the rotational movement of the arm from its initial position to its final position. Fig. 2 shows mooring ropes passed between the cleats on board; (a) and (b) are diagrams showing a movement state of a hook due to winding of a main wire rope. (a), (b) is a figure which shows the movement state of a hook by winding up a sub-wire rope. (a) and (b) are schematic diagrams showing a configuration example in which a spring is used at an attachment point between an arm and a movable slider in an automatic mooring device.

[Embodiment 1]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of an automatic mooring device 10 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic mooring device 10 generally includes a frame (main body portion) 11, an arm 12, an arm guide 13, a slider (driving portion) 14, a hook (mooring member) 15, a winch (rope winding portion). ) 16, a main wire rope 17 and a sub wire rope 18 (see FIG. 2).

The frame 11 fixes and holds other components (arm guide 13, slider 14, winch 16, etc.) of the automatic mooring device 10 in a predetermined positional relationship. The arm 12 can hold the hook 15 at its tip, and moves the hook 15 during mooring work and unberthing work of the ship. Arm guide 13 guides the movement of arm 12 . The slider 14 is driving means for moving the arm 12 and has a movable slider 141 .

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the tip of the arm 12. FIG. The sub-wire rope 18 is a rope that connects the tip of the arm 12 and the tip of the hook 15 (the side where the hook is provided). Further, the sub-wire rope 18 can be wound or unwound by a reel (not shown) inside the arm 12, and the length of the sub-wire rope 18 can be changed between the tip of the arm 12 and the hook 15. ing. 2 shows a state in which the sub wire rope 18 is wound (a state in which the length of the sub wire rope 18 is minimized between the tip of the arm 12 and the hook 15).

Moreover, the arm 12 preferably has a configuration in which a cushioning material 122 such as a sponge is wrapped around an arm body 121 made of resin. As a result, when the rotating arm 12 hits a person, the impact can be softened, and the safety of the automatic mooring device 10 can be enhanced.

One end of the main wire rope 17 is connected (tied) to the root side of the hook 15 (the side where the hook is not provided), and the other end is connected to the winch 16 (see FIG. 1). That is, the main wire rope 17 can be wound up or let out by the winch 16 . Incidentally, in the present embodiment, both the main wire rope 17 and the sub wire rope 18 correspond to rope members described in claims.

Next, the procedure of mooring work using the automatic mooring device 10 and the operation of the automatic mooring device 10 at this time will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 9. FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where the automatic mooring device 10 is installed on the pier 50. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the automatic mooring device 10 is basically used as one set of a plurality of automatic mooring devices 10 (two or more automatic mooring devices 10 are used for mooring one ship). ), and a plurality of automatic mooring devices 10 are installed side by side on the pier 50 in the same direction. At this time, the pier 50 may be a floating pier that is often used for mooring small boats. Also, the automatic mooring device 10 may be installed on a wharf instead of the pier 50 .

The automatic mooring device 10 can be fixedly installed on the pier 50 by bolting the legs of the frame 11 . Alternatively, the rails 20 may be installed on the pier 50 so that the automatic mooring device 10 can move on the rails 20 . If at least one of the plurality of automatic mooring devices 10 is made movable, it becomes possible to change the installation distance between the plurality of automatic mooring devices 10 according to the size of the vessel to be moored. When three or more automatic mooring devices 10 are used, it is preferable to make the automatic mooring device 10 at at least one end movable and to change the installation distance between the automatic mooring devices 10 at both ends.

The mooring work using the automatic mooring device 10 is performed according to the following procedures (A) to (E).
(A) Lower the fenders (buffer members placed on the sides of the hull to avoid collision between the hull and the pier 50) on the ship.
(B) When the ship approaches within a predetermined range, the ship side issues a mooring request to the automatic mooring device 10 .
(C) Move the arm 12 of the automatic mooring device 10 to position the hook 15 above the vessel. Further, the sub wire rope 18 is loosened and the hook 15 is lowered onto the ship.
(D) The main wire rope 17 is wound with the winch 16, the hook 15 is slid on the ship, and the hook 15 is hooked on the rope passed between the cleats on the ship in advance.
(E) Control the winch 16 so that the main wire rope 17 has a predetermined tension, and moor the ship to the pier 50 .

The above procedures (A) and (B) are performed by passengers on the ship. In addition, the mooring request in the procedure of (B) can be performed, for example, by installing a predetermined application in the smartphone or the like of the passenger, and using this application to transmit a mooring request signal from the smartphone to the automatic mooring device 10. can do.

On the other hand, the above procedures (C) to (E) are operations automatically performed by the automatic mooring device 10 that receives the mooring request. The operation of the automatic mooring device 10 during mooring work is the same for the two automatic mooring devices 10 . Therefore, the operation of one automatic mooring device 10 will be described below.

In the procedure (C) above, the movement of the arm 12 of the automatic mooring device 10 is performed by driving the slider 14 . The slider 14 is vertically movable drive means, and the end of the arm 12 (the end opposite to the tip to which the hook 15 is attached) is rotatably connected to the movable slider 141 . That is, the arm 12 is configured so that its distal end (rotational fulcrum of the arm 12) is linearly moved in the vertical direction at a constant speed by the slider 14, and is rotated around the rotational fulcrum in the vertical plane.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the slider 14 can be configured such that a movable slider 141 is attached to a timing belt 142 and the timing belt 142 is driven by a drive roller 143 . In this case, an encoder may be attached to the motor (driving unit: not shown) of the drive roller 143 to control the amount of rotation of the timing belt 142 (that is, control the position of the movable slider 141). However, the specific configuration of the slider 14 is not particularly limited as long as the movable slider 141 can be linearly moved, and a configuration using a rack and pinion, a ball screw, or the like may be used other than the timing belt. The slider 14 (more specifically, the motor that drives the timing belt 142 in the slider 14) is designed so that the automatic mooring device 10 can be stably installed on the pier 50 by lowering the center of gravity of the automatic mooring device 10. It is preferably located below 10 .

Rotational movement of arm 12 is guided by arm guide 13 . FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the arm guide 13, the arm 12 and a part of the slider 14 extracted from the automatic mooring device 10. As shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the arm guide 13 includes a plurality of (four in the example of FIG. 5) protruding guides 131A to 131D (generally referred to as a guide 131 when not distinguished) and one protruding guide 131A to 131D. is provided. Further, the arm 12 rotates from the initial position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1) to the final position (the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1) as the slider 14 is driven (movement of the movable slider 141). It is possible. The initial position of the arm 12 corresponds to the state where the movable slider 141 is at the lowest position, and the final position of the arm 12 corresponds to the state where the movable slider 141 is at the highest position. That is, the arm 12 rotates from the initial position to the final position as the movable slider 141 rises from the lowest position to the highest position.

The guide 131 is arranged on one side of the slider 14 (on the side of the vessel to be moored, which is the left side in FIG. 5), and supports the arm 12 by contacting it from below to prevent the arm 12 from rotating. guide. Also, the guide 131 has a higher installation position and a longer horizontal distance from the slider 14 in order from the guide 131A to 131D. In other words, the higher the installation position of the guides 131A to 131D, the longer the horizontal distance from the slider 14 becomes. The restricting rib 132 is arranged on the opposite side of the slider 14 from the guide 131 and restricts the rotation of the arm 12 to the opposite side of the guide 131 . Incidentally, the guide 131 and the restricting rib 132 may have rollers attached around them so that the arm 12 can be smoothly guided.

6(a)-(f) are diagrams showing the rotational movement of the arm 12 from the initial position to the final position. As shown in FIG. 6(a), the arm 12 at the initial position is in a substantially upright state by being sandwiched between the guide 131A and the restricting rib 132. As shown in FIG. However, even in this state, the center of gravity of the arm 12 is slightly deviated toward the guide 131 with respect to the rotation fulcrum of the arm 12 (the connection point with the movable slider 141) due to the restriction rib 132. FIG.

When the movable slider 141 rises from the initial position of the arm 12, the arm 12 starts rotating while contacting the guide 131A (see FIG. 6B). As the movable slider 141 continues to rise, the arm 12 continues to rotate while changing the contacting guide 131 to guides 131B, 131C, and 131D (see FIGS. 6(c) to 6(e)), and the movable slider 141 reaches the top. When the position is reached, the arm 12 also reaches its final position. The arm 12 at the final position is in a state in which the tip of the arm 12 is tilted sideways (toward the ship), as shown in FIG. 6(f).

By guiding the rotation of the arm 12 by the arm guide 13 in this manner, the driving mechanism of the arm 12 can be simplified. That is, the arm 12 can be rotated only by the movement of the arm 12 by the slider 14 . In addition, by appropriately arranging the plurality of guides 131 in the arm guide 13, the rotation of the arm 12 can be achieved while changing the guide 131 in contact with the rotating arm 12 (that is, changing the contact position with the arm 12). By guiding, the rotation speed of the arm 12 can be adjusted to a substantially constant speed. As a result, acceleration of the arm 12 near the final position can be suppressed, and the arm 12 can be rotated safely with low thrust.

When the arm 12 reaches the final position, the hook 15 held at the tip of the arm is positioned above the vessel to be moored. From this state, the automatic mooring device 10 loosens the sub wire rope 18 and lowers the hook 15 onto the ship.

In the following procedure (D), the automatic mooring device 10 starts winding the main wire rope 17 with the winch 16 . At this time, in the ship, as shown in FIG. 7, a mooring rope 31 is passed in advance between cleats 30 on the ship.

8(a) and 8(b) are diagrams showing the moving state of the hook 15 due to the winding of the main wire rope 17. FIG. At the start of winding of the main wire rope 17, the main wire rope 17 is placed on the mooring rope 31 as shown in FIG. 8(a). When the main wire rope 17 is pulled by the winding of the winch 16, the hook 15, to which the main wire rope 17 is connected at the root side, slides on the ship, and as shown in FIG. The hook 15 is hooked on the mooring rope 31 on the way. In order to ensure that the hook 15 is hooked on the mooring rope 31, the hook 15 preferably has a plurality of hooks (three hooks in FIG. 8) radially at regular intervals.

In the following procedure (E), the automatic mooring device 10 controls the winch 16 so that the main wire rope 17 has a predetermined tension. That is, when the winch 16 winds up the main wire rope 17 while the hook 15 is hooked on the mooring rope 31, the ship is pulled toward the pier 50 and the main wire rope 17 reaches a predetermined tension. , the mooring operation of the vessel is completed (the vessel is moored at the pier 50). Whether or not the main wire rope 17 has reached a predetermined tension is determined by monitoring the torque during winding of the winch 16, and when this torque reaches a predetermined value, it is determined that the main wire rope 17 has reached a predetermined tension. can judge.

Further, the unberthing operation by the automatic mooring device 10 can be performed in the reverse order of the above. That is, in the unberthing operation, first, a signal requesting unberthing is transmitted from a smartphone or the like to the automatic mooring device 10 . The automatic mooring device 10 that has received the unberthing request slightly loosens the main wire rope 17 with the winch 16, and then hoists the sub wire rope 18. - 特許庁

9(a) and 9(b) are diagrams showing the state of movement of the hook 15 due to the hoisting of the sub wire rope 18. FIG. At the start of hoisting of the sub wire rope 18, the hook 15 is hooked on the mooring rope 31 as shown in FIG. 9(a). Then, when the hook 15 is pulled from the tip side by winding up the sub-wire rope 18, the hook 15 is detached from the mooring rope 31 as shown in FIG. 9(b). When the hook 15 is released from the mooring rope 31, the vessel is released from the mooring state and can be unberthed. In the automatic mooring device 10, when the sub wire rope 18 is completely hoisted, the slider 14 is driven to return the arm 12 to the initial position, and the slack main wire rope 17 is wound by the winch 16.

As described above, in the automatic mooring device 10 according to the first embodiment, the arm 12 can be rotationally moved by one drive unit (that is, the drive motor for the slider 14), and the force required for mooring is mainly used. By allowing the wire rope 17 to hold the arm 12 so that the load is not applied to the arm 12, the size (and weight) of the automatic mooring device 10 can be easily reduced. As a result, the automatic mooring device 10 can be installed on a floating pier or the like used for mooring small ships.

[Embodiment 2]
In Embodiment 1 above, after a passenger issues a mooring request using a smartphone or the like, the mooring work is performed only by the operation of the automatic mooring device 10 side. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and part of mooring work may be performed by passengers.

For example, after the arm 12 has been moved to the final position, the work of hooking the hook 15 onto the mooring rope 31 may be performed by the passenger. In this case, the hook 15 does not need to be wound up or unwound by the sub-wire rope 18 from the tip of the arm 12, and can be attached to or detached from the arm 12 by an electromagnet, for example. That is, after the arm 12 is moved to the final position, the hook 15 is removed from the tip of the arm 12 and the passenger hooks the removed hook 15 onto the mooring rope 31 . Thereafter, the mooring of the ship by winding the main wire rope 17 with the winch 16 is the same as in the first embodiment.

Alternatively, the hook 15 may be omitted from the automatic mooring device 10, and the arm 12 may simply move the tip of the main wire rope 17 above the vessel. In this case, after the arm 12 is moved to the final position, the tip of the main wire rope 17 is removed from the tip of the arm 12, and the passenger ties the removed main wire rope 17 to the cleat 30 of the boat. . In this case, it is not necessary to extend the mooring rope 31 at the cleat 30 .

During unberthing work, a passenger removes the hook 15 from the mooring rope 31 and attaches it to the tip of the arm 12 (or unties the main wire rope 17 from the cleat 30 and attaches it to the tip of the arm 12). After the work, a signal requesting unberthing may be sent to the automatic mooring device 10 from a smartphone or the like. The automatic mooring device 10 winds up the main wire rope 17 upon receiving the signal of the unberthing request.

[Embodiment 3]
In Embodiments 1 and 2 above, the arm 12 rotates in the vertical plane, and the rotational force for rotating the arm 12 from the initial position to the final position is obtained by the weight of the arm 12 itself. . However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the automatic mooring device 10 may be configured to obtain the biasing force of the arm 12 by a biasing member such as a spring.

10(a) and 10(b) are schematic diagrams showing a configuration example using a spring 40 (a torsion spring 40A or a tension spring 40B) at the attachment point between the arm 12 and the movable slider 141 in the automatic mooring device 10. is. Specifically, FIG. 10(a) shows a structure in which the biasing force of the arm 12 is obtained by the torsion spring 40A, and FIG. 10(b) is a structure in which the biasing force of the arm 12 is obtained by the tension spring 40B. 10(a) and 10(b), the arm 12 obtains a biasing force F in the direction from the initial position to the final position by the spring 40. As shown in FIG. In these configurations, it is not necessary to use the weight of the arm 12 to rotate the arm 12 from the initial position to the final position. The degree of freedom in design can be increased.

Further, when the arm 12 is rotated in the vertical plane, the direction of the biasing force of the spring 40 may be opposite to the direction of rotation due to gravity (the direction from the final position to the initial position). In this case, part of the rotational force due to gravity is canceled by the spring 40, and the arm 12 can be rotated more safely. can be transformed into

The embodiments disclosed this time are exemplifications in all respects and are not grounds for restrictive interpretation. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention is not to be interpreted only by the above-described embodiments, but is defined based on the claims. In addition, all changes within the meaning and range of equivalence to the claims are included.

10 automatic mooring device 11 frame (body)
12 Arm 121 Arm body 122 Cushioning material 13 Arm guides 131A to 131D Guide 132 Regulating rib 14 Slider (drive part)
141 movable slider 142 timing belt 143 drive roller 15 hook (mooring member)
16 winch (rope winder)
17 Main wire rope (rope member)
18 sub wire rope (rope member)
20 rail 30 cleat 31 mooring rope 40 spring (biasing member)
40A torsion spring 40B extension spring 50 pier

Claims (8)

a rotatable arm;
a main body that can accommodate the arm;
a driving unit for sending out the arm from the main body;
and a rope member to which a mooring member is attached and which is let out from the arm. The automatic mooring device according to claim 1,
An automatic mooring device, comprising an arm guide for guiding the rotation of the arm accompanying the sending-out operation of the arm. The automatic mooring device according to claim 1 or 2,
An automatic mooring device comprising a rope winding section capable of winding the rope member. The automatic mooring device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
An automatic mooring device, wherein the arm is rotatable by its own weight. The automatic mooring device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
An automatic mooring device, wherein the driving unit is arranged at a lower portion of the automatic mooring device. The automatic mooring device according to claim 4,
An automatic mooring device comprising an urging member that exerts an urging force on the arm in a direction opposite to a rotating direction of the arm due to the weight of the arm. An automatic mooring method for mooring a ship using the automatic mooring device according to claim 3,
As the operation of the automatic mooring device,
a first operation of positioning the arm above the vessel by moving the arm out from the main body and rotating the arm;
a second operation of letting out the rope member from the arm member;
a third operation of winding the rope member by the rope winding unit and hooking the mooring member on the ship;
and a fourth operation of mooring the ship by controlling the rope winding section so that the rope member has a predetermined tension. The automatic mooring method according to claim 7,
A ship is moored by a plurality of automatic mooring devices,
The automatic mooring method, wherein at least one of the automatic mooring devices is movable to change the distance between installations of the plurality of automatic mooring devices.

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