GRAVITY-OPERATED DEEP-SEA ANCHORING DEVICE COMBINING ANCHOR WITH DECELERATING

Info

Publication number: 20200198736
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 20, 2018
Publication Date: Jun 25, 2020
Inventors: SHUEEI-MUH LIN (TAINAN CITY), YANG-YIH CHEN (TAINAN CITY)
Application Number: 16/227,487

Abstract

A deep-sea anchoring device for gravity and anchor composite with a decelerating wing includes an anchoring base, a decelerating wing and an anchor body. The anchoring base provides an anchoring force by its own gravity, heavy pressure and friction with a sea floor. The decelerating wing includes a main decelerating wing, and a secondary decelerating wing that increases the cross-sectional area for diversion, so that a resistance is produced by water flowing through the main and secondary decelerating wings to reduce the falling speed of the anchoring base to a safe range, and prevent the anchoring base from being damaged by its collision with the sea floor. The anchor body is pivoted to the bottom of the anchoring base and anchored by being shoveled into a sea floor mainly consisting of gravels or deposited soil or abutted against rough rocks of a sea floor mainly consisting of rocks.

Description

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a gravity-operated deep-sea anchoring device combining an anchor with a decelerating wing, and more particularly to a deep-sea anchoring device having a decelerating wing structure and an anchor body installed to an anchoring base. The resistance produced by the water flowing through the decelerating wing structure can reduce the falling speed of the anchoring base to a safe range to prevent the anchoring base from hitting the sea floor or being damaged by the sea floor. The anchor body is applicable for various different sea floors. When the sea floor mainly consists of gravels or deposited soils, the deep-sea anchoring device can be anchored by burrowing the anchoring device into the sea floor; and when the sea floor mainly consists of rocks, the deep-sea anchoring device can be anchored by abutting the anchoring device against the rugged rocks. Therefore, the present invention can lower the cost of deep-sea anchoring and provide excellent anchoring force, to facilitate the laying and construction of offshore facilities and ocean power generation equipment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ocean current is a large-scale seawater movement. Therefore, the laying and construction of offshore facilities and ocean power generation equipment have to take the flowing speed and direction of the ocean current into consideration in order to anchor the offshore facilities or ocean power generation equipment and prevent them from drifting away from the originally intended sea area by ocean current, wind, waves and other factors.

With reference to FIG. 1, the conventional anchoring methods are roughly divided into use of the following six types of anchors:

1. Dead Weight 10: The anchoring force is formed by gravity, and the friction between the dead weight 10 and a sea floor.

2. Pile 20: A hammer or vibrator is used to press the pile 20 (such as a hollow steel pipe) into the sea floor and produce friction by squeezing the soil. In general, it is necessary to press the pile 20 to a specific depth to gain sufficient grip and provide an anchoring force of a specific level.

3. Drag Embedment Anchor 30: This is the most popular anchoring method so far, and mainly embeds a part or the whole of the drag embedment anchor 30 into the sea floor. The anchoring force mainly comes from the resistance provided by embedding the front end of the drag embedment anchor 30 into soil, and the anchoring force is relative to the embedded depth. In general, this method is suitable only for providing a horizontal anchoring force, and not suitable to prevent vertical pulling. The drag embedment anchor 30 may be pulled out from the soil easily when it is pulled vertically.

4. Suction Anchor 40: Like the pile 20, the suction anchor 40 adopts a hollow steel pipe, but the pipe diameter of the suction anchor 40 is greater than that of the pile 20. After the suction anchor 40 is pressed into the sea floor, a part of the suction anchor 40 remains on the sea floor, and a pump is used to pump out the water inside the steel pipe. Then, the steel pipe is sealed to create a pressure difference between internal and external pressures, so that the external water pressure provides a downwardly pressed force. In combination with friction between the soil and the steel pipe, the suction anchor 40 can provide both horizontal and vertical anchoring forces.

5. Gravity Installed Anchor 50: This anchor 50 falls quickly due to gravity and penetrates through a soft sea floor to produce the anchoring force. For a deeper sea floor, the speed of the free fall of the gravity installed anchor 50 to the sea floor is faster, and the penetration depth is deeper, so that a larger anchoring force is produced. The gravity installed anchor 50 is suitable for anchoring in deep sea with a soft sea floor.

6. Vertical Load Anchor 60: This anchor 60 is similar to the aforementioned drag embedment anchor 30, except that the vertical load anchor 60 is embedded into a deeper position and capable of changing to other anchoring methods. Therefore, the vertical load anchor 60 is capable of providing both vertical and horizontal anchoring forces and very suitable for the purpose of anchoring subsea infrastructures.

However, the sea floor has no sediment since the undercurrent at the sea floor is a strong flowing fluid, and actual explorations show that most sea floors are rocky sea floors, and anchors cannot be anchored into the sea floor. The last five of the aforementioned anchoring methods are suitable for soft sea floors with sediments only, but not suitable for rocky sea floors. The dead weight 10 is suitable for rocky sea floors, since the anchoring force is provided by gravity and friction, and a very large weight is required for producing sufficient anchoring force, but its manufacturing cost is very high and its transportation and laying to the sea floor of a specific sea area are very difficult. In addition, the dead weight 10 may be damaged by its collision with the sea floor during the laying process, since the falling speed of the dead weight 10 into a deep sea is fast.

In view of the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art, the inventor of the present invention has made use of years of experience in the related industry to conduct extensive research and experiments, and has finally provided a feasible solution to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art by providing a gravity-operated deep-sea anchoring device combining an anchor with a decelerating wing in accordance with the present invention.

To achieve the aforementioned and other objectives, the present invention provides a gravity-operated undersea anchoring device combining an anchor with a decelerating wing, including an anchoring base, at least one decelerating wing and at least one anchor body.

The anchoring base is used to provide a gravitational force. When the anchoring base sinks into a sea, the gravitational force is much greater than buoyance, so as to provide an anchoring force by heavy pressure and friction with a sea floor. The anchoring base may be a floating body such as a hull or a floating body in form of a boat, and the anchoring base has a chamber formed therein, at least one water diversion pipe installed at a side end of the anchoring base and communicating with the chamber, and the water diversion pipe having a switch valve. This design is conducive to the floating and dragging of the anchoring base on the sea. Water can enter into the chamber of the anchoring base when the switch valve is opened for laying the anchoring base. After water enters into the anchoring base, the anchoring base with an increased density will sink into the sea.

The decelerating wing is installed at a top end of the anchoring base, and an outer edge of the decelerating wing tilts towards the anchoring base. A resistance space is defined between the decelerating wing and the anchoring base, so that when the anchoring base sinks into the sea, the water flows through the resistance space, and the decelerating wing creates a water flow resistance to reduce the falling speed of the anchoring base to a safe range, so as to prevent the anchoring base from being damaged by sinking too fast or hitting the sea floor.

The decelerating wing further includes at least one main decelerating wing and at least one secondary decelerating wing, wherein the main decelerating wing is situated at a position higher than the secondary decelerating wing, and an end of the secondary decelerating wing is extended beyond a side end of the anchoring base to increase the cross-sectional area, improve the water flow resistance, and provide a diversion function, so that the water flow can be guided to the resistance space, and the resistance produced by the water flowing through the main decelerating wing and the secondary decelerating wing can be used to reduce the falling speed of the present invention.

Specifically, the anchoring base has a support base disposed at a top end thereof, and the resistance space is defined between the support base and the decelerating wing, and the support base has the main decelerating wing that covers an end of anchoring base, and the secondary decelerating wing is on both sides of the support base. At least one diversion component is installed between the secondary decelerating wing and the anchoring base for further improving the diversion and support effects, and at least one diversion channel is formed adjacent to the diversion component and communicates with the resistance space, and at least a portion of the secondary decelerating wing is sheltered by the overhanging main decelerating wing. During the sinking process of the deep-sea anchoring device of the present invention, the water flow can be guided to the resistance space between the decelerating wing and the anchoring base to improve the water flow resistance.

The anchor body is pivotally coupled to the bottom of the anchoring base. For a sea floor mainly consisting of gravels and deposited soil, the anchor body burrows into the gravels and deposited soil. For a rocky sea floor, the anchor body can tilt to abut against the protruding rocks. Since the rocks have an excellent hardness, the anchoring body provides a good anchoring force.

The anchor body is substantially in a conical shape, and an end of the anchor body is formed into a sharp end, so that the anchor body can burrow into gravels and deposited soil.

The anchoring base has at least one groove formed at the bottom of the anchoring base, and a stop portion disposed on a sidewall of the groove. The groove has at least one of the anchor bodies disposed at the top of a wall of the groove, so that the angle of the anchor body is limited by the stop portion to facilitate abutting against the protruding rocks.

An elastic unit is installed between the top of the anchor body and the top wall of the groove and configured to be elastically abutting against the anchor body, so that the anchor body abuts against the stop portion. With the weight of the anchor body and the elastic force of the elastic unit, the anchor body at its initial position is protruded from the groove to facilitate embedding the anchor body into a bedrock gap or inserting the anchor body into a sea floor.

At least one thrust element is installed at an end of the groove relative to the stop portion, so that when the anchoring base sinks, the water pressure is exerted on the anchor body, and the elastic unit is elastically compressed. As a result, the end of the anchor body corresponding to the stop portion abuts against the bottom of the thrust element.

The pipe is installed at the bottom of the anchoring base, and at least one accommodation slot is upwardly and concavely formed at the bottom of the anchoring base for accommodating the pipe. The pipe may be a circular steel pipe, and an end of a radial side edge of the pipe is fixed to the accommodation slot and the other end of the radial side edge of the pipe is protruded out from the accommodation slot and disposed at the bottom of the anchoring base, so as to further reduce the impact force of the anchoring base exerted on to the sea floor and provide a safety collision protection for the anchoring base.

With the gravitational force of the anchoring base of the present invention, when the anchoring base sinks to a sea floor, the sea floor (which is a hard sea floor) will be pressed and deformed to facilitate abutting the anchor body against the sea floor or burrowing into the sea floor. For a soft sea floor, the anchor body may burrow into the soft sea floor, and the gravitational force of the anchoring base compresses the sea floor disturbed by the anchor body to obtain a more compact and denser sea floor, so that the soil or gravels of the sea floor cannot be turned over by the anchor body to prevent the anchor body from being separated from the sea floor. This design provides an excellent anchoring force, and the gravitational force required by the anchoring base is much smaller than the gravitational force provided by the conventional dead weight. Therefore, this invention can lower the installation and construction costs significantly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a conventional anchoring method;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partial bottom view of an anchoring base of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of Section A-A of FIG. 3 showing a deep-sea anchoring device floating on a sea surface, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of Section A-A of FIG. 3 showing a switch valve in an open position to input water into a chamber, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of Section A-A of FIG. 3 showing an anchoring device sinking into water, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of Section A-A of FIG. 3 showing a deformation of a pipe caused by the pipe impacting a sea floor, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of Section B-B of FIG. 3 showing an anchor body being situated at an initial position, abutted by an elastic unit, and protruding substantially at an angle θ_Aout from a groove, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a partial cross-sectional view of Section B-B of FIG. 3 showing an anchor body being exerted by water pressure to drive an elastic unit to be elastically compressed and abut against a thrust element at an angle θ_Bwhile the anchor body is sinking, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a partial cross-sectional view of Section B-B of FIG. 3 showing an anchor body partially burrowed into a soft sea floor, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a partial cross-sectional view of Section B-B of FIG. 3 showing an anchoring base being towed to burrow the anchor body into a soft sea floor more securely, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a partial cross-sectional view of Section B-B of FIG. 3 showing an anchor body abutting against a rock sea floor, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The technical contents of the present invention will become apparent with the detailed description of preferred embodiments accompanied with the illustration of related drawings as follows.

With reference to FIGS. 2 to 4 for a gravity-operated deep-sea anchoring device combining an anchor with a decelerating wing, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the deep-sea anchoring device comprises the following elements:

An anchoring base 1 is used for providing a gravitational force to produce an anchoring force by heavy pressure and friction.

To facilitate the transportation, laying and construction of the anchoring base 1, the anchoring base 1 of a preferred embodiment is a floating body such as a hull or a floating device in form of a boat as shown in FIG. 4, so that the anchoring base 1 can float on the sea. In addition, the anchoring base 1 can be towed on the sea by another vessel (such as a boat).

The anchoring base 1 has a chamber 11 formed therein, and the chamber 11 is like a ballast of a traditional boat, which is a prior art and will not be described here. At least one water diversion pipe 12 is installed at a side end of the anchoring base 1 and communicates with the chamber 11, and the water diversion pipe 12 has a switch valve 13. In FIG. 4, when the anchoring base 1 is towed initially, water has not entered into the chamber 11 of the anchoring base 1 yet, and the switch valve 13 is shut and seawater cannot enter into the chamber 11, the density of the anchoring base 1 is smaller than the density of the seawater. Therefore, the anchoring base 1 floats on the sea. In FIG. 5, when it is necessary to sink the anchoring base 1 into the sea, the switch valve 13 is opened, and seawater enters into the chamber 11 of the anchoring base 1 from the water diversion pipe 12 to increase the weight and density of the anchoring base 1, so that the density of the anchoring base 1 is much greater than the density of the seawater, and the anchoring base 1 sinks into the sea. The principle of floating and sinking the anchoring base 1 is the same as that of the ballast of a conventional boat.

People having ordinary skill of the art should be able to understand that the switch valve 13 may be a conventional valve used for switching a water path and this valve can be opened or shut by an operator. For example, the switch valve 13 is an electronic valve which may be opened or shut by a remote control. In another embodiment, the switch valve 13 is a butterfly valve or a ball valve, so that after an operator enters into the chamber 11 and opens the switch valve 13 manually, water enters into the chamber 11 of the anchoring base 1. The operator has to escape from the chamber 11 to a boat dragging the anchoring base 1 before the anchoring base 1 sinks. This design requires a channel (not shown in the figures) at the chamber, and the channel is provided for the operator to escape. To consider the safety of the operator, the electronic valve is preferably used as the switch valve 13. The structure of the switch valve 13 is a prior art, and thus will not be described here. To improve the stability of the sinking of the anchoring base 1, and to prevent the anchoring base 1 from being turned over due to the cause of an unstable sinking or the influence of the ocean current, in an embodiment, the anchoring base 1 comes with a balance device, so that a stable sinking of the anchoring base 1 can be maintained. Such a balance device is widely used in a vessel such as a boat, and thus it will not be described here.

A decelerating wing structure 2 including at least one decelerating wing is installed at a top end of the anchoring base 1, and a resistance space 3 is defined between the decelerating wing structure 2 and the anchoring base 1. When the anchoring base 1 sinks into the sea, water flows to the resistance space 3 to improve the fluid resistance, so as to reduce the falling speed to a safe range.

In an embodiment, an outer edge of the decelerating wing structure 2 tilts towards the anchoring base 1 as shown in FIG. 2, and such design maintains the water in the resistance space 3 effectively to improve the fluid resistance.

In a preferred embodiment, the decelerating wing structure 2 includes at least one main decelerating wing 21 and at least one secondary decelerating wing 22 to increase the cross-sectional area of the decelerating wing structure 2 and further improve the fluid resistance effectively. The position of the main decelerating wing 21 is higher than the secondary decelerating wing 22. An end of the secondary decelerating wing 22 is extended beyond a side end of the anchoring base 1 to increase the overall cross-sectional area of the decelerating wing structure 2, and the secondary decelerating wing 22 is also used to guide the water into the resistance space 3 to improve the overall water flow resistance. As to the setup of the decelerating wing structure 2, a support base 14 is vertically disposed at a top end of the anchoring base 1. The resistance space 3 is defined between the support base 14 and the decelerating wing structure 2, the support base 14 has the main decelerating wing 21 provided for covering an end of the anchoring base 1, and both sides of the support base 14 has a secondary decelerating wing 22.

To reduce the impact force of the water flow exerted on the secondary decelerating wing 22 when the anchoring base 1 sinks, and to effectively improve the overall fluid resistance, at least one diversion component 15 is installed between the secondary decelerating wing 22 and the anchoring base 1, and at least one diversion channel 151 is formed adjacent to the diversion component 15 and communicates with the resistance space 3. In FIG. 6, during the process of sinking the anchoring base 1, the resistance exerted on the secondary decelerating wing 22 is produced by water flowing along the inclined angle of the secondary decelerating wing 22 and passing from the diversion channel 151 to the resistance space 3 between the main decelerating wing 21 and the anchoring base 1. To maintain the water flow in the resistance space 3 and to thereby increase the resistance produced by the water flow, at least a portion of the secondary decelerating wing 22 is preferably sheltered by the main decelerating wing 21, so that the water passing through the diversion channel 151 will not flow out directly, but will be blocked by the main decelerating wing 21, and finally discharged from the periphery of the main decelerating wing 21. This design of the present invention can improve the overall water flow resistance significantly. If the water flow resistance is greater than the overall gravitational force, the falling speed will be reduced.

The present invention has taken the impact force between the anchoring base 1 and the sea floor into consideration. Assuming that the weight of the anchoring base 1 completely entering into water is 500 metric tons, the falling speed is 3 m/s, and no decelerating wing structure 2 is installed, the braking stop time and impact force so produced on different types of sea floor are listed in Table 1 below:

TABLE 1 Weight of Sea Floor Deep Sea Impact Braking Rebound Anchoring Force Sea Floor Stop Time Deceleration F_res Base 1 F_impact Nature Δt (sec) V/Δt (m/s2) (tons) W (tons) (tons) Rough 0.2 15 764.53 500 1264.53 Hard Sea Floor Slightly 0.5 6 305.81 500 805.81 Hard Sea Floor Slightly 1 3 152.91 500 652.91 Soft Sea Floor Soft Sea 1.5 2 101.94 500 601.94 Floor

Where, the impact force F_impactis the sum of the rebound F_resof the sea floor and the weight W of the anchoring base 1, and the rebound F_resof the sea floor is calculated by the Mathematical Formula 1 given below:

$\begin{matrix} F_{res} = ma = m \frac{V}{Δ t} & [Mathematical Formula 1] \end{matrix}$

In Table 1, the impact produced by the anchoring base 1 impacting on the rough hard sea floor is approximately 1264.53 metric tons. Such impact force is too large, and there is a risk of damaging the anchoring base 1.

The relation between the fluid resistance F_Dand the falling speed V is given in the Mathematical Formula 2 below:

F_D=C_D12½ρ(A₁+A₂)V² [Mathematical Formula 2]

Where, C_D12is the resistance coefficient of the anchoring base 1 with the decelerating wing structure 2 (which is relatively large due to the design of the present invention); ρ is the density of seawater; A₁is the cross-sectional area of the anchoring base 1; and A₂is the cross-sectional area of the decelerating wing structure 2.

The fluid resistance is equal to the equilibrium speed of the weight of the anchoring base 1 (which is the falling speed V) as shown in the Mathematical Formula 3 below:

W=F_D=C_D12½ρ(A₁+A₂)V₁₂² [Mathematical Formula 3]

Where, V₁₂is the falling speed of the anchoring base 1 with the decelerating wing structure 2.

If the decelerating wing structure 2 has not been installed, the fluid resistance is calculated by the Mathematical Formula 4 given below:

W=F_D=C_D½ρA₁V₁² [Mathematical Formula 4]

Where, C_D1is the resistance coefficient of the anchoring base 1 without the installation of the decelerating wing structure 2, which is relatively small. In general, the boat-shaped bottom has a streamlined design to reduce the resistance, and V₁is the falling speed of the anchoring base 1 without the installation of the decelerating wing structure 2.

When the Mathematical Formula 3 is equivalent to the Mathematical Formula 4, the relation between the falling speeds V₁₂and V₁can be obtained by the Mathematical Formula 5 given below:

$\begin{matrix} V_{1}^{2} = \frac{C_{D 12}}{C_{D 1}} \frac{(A_{1} + A_{2})}{A_{1}} V_{12}  V_{12}, ∵ \frac{C_{D 12}}{C_{D 1}}  1, \frac{(A_{1} + A_{2})}{A_{1}} > 1 & [Mathematical Formula 5] \end{matrix}$

In the Mathematical Formula 5, the falling speed V₁of the anchoring base 1 without the decelerating wing structure 2 is much greater than the falling speed V₁₂of the anchoring base 1 having the decelerating wing structure 2. This demonstrates that the falling speed V₁is fast and there is a risk of damaging the anchoring base 1. Therefore, the decelerating wing structure 2 is installed to reduce the falling speed.

The design of the aforementioned decelerating wing structure 2 can reduce the falling speed of the anchoring base 1 to decrease the impact force of the anchoring base 1. In another embodiment, a collision protection design is added to the bottom of the anchoring base 1 as shown in FIGS. 2 to 7 in order to further protect the anchoring base 1. At least one accommodation slot 16 is upwardly and concavely formed at the bottom of the anchoring base 1, and at least one pipe 161 is provided, wherein the pipe 161 may be a circular steel pipe, and the pipe 161 comes with a singular quantity or a plural quantity. For the plural quantity of pipes 161, the pipes 161 are arranged side by side with one another. An end of a radial side edge of the pipe 161 is fixed to the accommodation slot 16, and the other end of a radial side edge of the pipe 161 is protruded out from the accommodation slot 16 and disposed at the bottom of the anchoring base 1. In an embodiment, the width of the accommodation slot 16 is slightly greater than the diameter of the pipe 161 in order to provide the space for the deformation of the pipe 161. The pipe 161 may be fixed to the accommodation slot 16 by welding, riveting, locking and other fixing methods. Since these fixations are prior art, they will not be described here.

In FIGS. 6 and 7, when the bottom of the anchoring base 1 hits the sea floor, the pipe 161 protruded from the bottom of the anchoring base 1 will be in contact with the sea floor first, and bears the impact force when the anchoring base 1 hits the sea floor. Therefore, the pipe 161 will be deformed by the impact force to absorb a vast majority of the impact energy, so as to provide a buffer effect and prevent the anchoring base 1 from being damaged by the impact. The conservation of mass and energy can be calculated by the Mathematical Formula 6 given below:

½M_boatV_fall²=eM_pipe [Mathematical Formula 6]

Where, M_boatis the weight of the anchoring base 1, V_fallis the falling speed, e is the unit destruction energy of the pipe without side support, and M_pipeis the weight per unit length of the pipe 161.

The weight of the anchoring base 1 completely submerged into water is 1,000 metric tons. Assuming that the falling speed of the anchoring base 1 sinking into the sea is 3.5 m/s, the required length of the pipe 161 and the percentage of absorbed impact energy are listed in the following Table 2:

TABLE 2 Length of Pipe Weight Unit required per Unit Destruction for Length of Energy of absorbing Percentage Pipe Pipe Pipe Pipe without all kinetic of Impact Diameter thickness M_pipe Side Support energy L Energy D (mm) t (mm) (kg/m) e (kgf-m/kg) (m) % 140 8 26.04 31.15 770 8.4 508 10.3 126.53 26 190 34.2 609.6 10.3 152.37 24 171 38.0 609.6 12.7 186.94 26 128.6 50.5 660.4 12.7 202.85 25 123.24 52.7

In Table 2, if the pipe diameter D is 660.4 mm and the length of the pipe L is 123.24 m, the impact energy absorbed will be is 52.7%. In general, the deep sea mooring base (such as the anchoring base 1 of the present invention) completely submerged into water has a weight of 1,000 metric tons, and the maximum length of the pipe 161 is 65 m. In other words, 26.35% of the impact energy can be absorbed by the present invention under the condition of the same size. The installation of the aforementioned decelerating wing structure 2 can reduce the impact force between the anchoring base 1 and the sea floor to protect the anchoring base 1 effectively and prevent it from being easily damaged by the impact force.

At least one anchor body 4 is pivotally coupled to the bottom of the anchoring base 1 and provided for fixing the anchoring base 1 to the sea floor after the anchoring base 1 sinks to the sea floor.

In an embodiment, the anchor body 4 tilts downward. In a specific embodiment, the bottom of the anchoring base 1 further has at least one groove 17, a stop portion 171 disposed on a sidewall of the groove 17, and at least one of the anchor bodies 4 pivotally coupled to the sidewall above the stop portion 171 of the groove 17. To ensure that the anchor body 4 protrudes out from the groove 17, at least one elastic unit 18 is added, wherein an end of the elastic unit 18 is disposed on the top wall of the groove 17 and the other end of the elastic unit 18 is coupled to the top of the anchor body 4. The elastic unit 18 is configured to be elastically abutting against the anchor body 4, so that the anchor body 4 can be made to protrude out from the groove 17 at an angle θ_A. In another embodiment, the groove 17 has at least one thrust element 19 disposed at an end of the groove relative to the stop portion 171. When a force is exerted onto the elastic unit 18 to elastically compress the elastic unit, the end of the anchor body 4 relative to the stop portion 171 can abut against the bottom of the thrust element 19 to prevent the anchor body 4 from retreating excessively into the groove 17 or affecting the elastic force of the elastic unit 18. Now, the anchor body 4 is situated at an angle θ_B.

In FIG. 3, the accommodation slot 16 and the groove 17 are spaced from each other and disposed at the bottom of the anchoring base 1 for buffering the pipe 161 which is installed into the accommodation slot 16, and the anchor body 4 received in the groove 17 is provided for anchoring.

In FIG. 8, the anchor body 4 at its initial position is elastically abutted by the elastic unit 18, so that the anchor body 4 is protruded out from the groove 17 to facilitate embedding the anchor body 4 into a bedrock gap or inserting the anchor body 4 into a sea floor. During the process of sinking the anchoring base 1 to the sea floor, the anchor body 4 may be driven by the water pressure to press the elastic unit 18, so that the anchor body 4 is retreated into the groove 17 as shown in FIG. 9. With the installation of the thrust element 19, the position of the anchor body 4 retreating into the groove 17 is limited. When the anchoring base 1 approaches the sea floor and the water pressure reduces, the anchor body 4 is elastically abutted by the elastic unit 18 and protruded out from the groove 17 again as shown in FIG. 8. In another embodiment, if the modulus of elasticity of the elastic unit 18 is large enough, the anchor body may not be pressed by the water pressure to retreat into the groove 17. The anchor body may continue to protrude out from the groove 17 in the sinking process. In addition, the elastic unit 18 is installed and selected according to the water pressure exerted to the anchor body 4. This setup is a prior art, and thus will not be described here.

When the anchoring base 1 sinks to the sea floor 5, the anchoring base 1 is dragged in the anchoring direction of the anchor body 4 by a boat on the sea. If the sea floor 5 mainly consists of gravels or deposited soil, the anchor body 4 will be partially burrowed into the sea floor 5 by the abutment of the elastic unit 18, or rested on the surface of the sea floor 5. With a dragging force T, the elastic force of the elastic unit 18 is exerted to the anchor body 4, and the shape of the anchor body 4 and the effect of the dragging force T are shown in FIG. 10. In FIG. 11, the anchor body 4 is set at an angle θ_Cto ensure the anchor body 4 will burrow securely into the sea floor, and the bottom of the anchor body 4 abuts against the stop portion 171 to anchor the anchor body 4 stably. Therefore, the anchor body 4 is preferably in a conical shape, wherein an end of the anchor body 4 is formed into a sharp end to facilitate burrowing the anchor body 4 into the sea floor. After the anchor body 4 burrows into the sea floor, the anchoring base 1 with a certain weight will press the burrowed anchor body 4 into the sea floor and will make the gravel or deposited soil around the burrowing position more compact and dense. Therefore, the gravel or deposited soil will not be loosened and turned over to disable the anchoring effect of the anchor body 4. In FIG. 12, if the sea floor 5′ is mainly consisted of hard rocks, the elastic force of the elastic unit 18 will be exerted on the pivoted anchor body 4, so that the anchor body 4 will be pivoted according to the contour of the rocks. When the anchor body 4 is dragged, an end of the anchor body 4 can abut against a protruding portion of a side end of the rock to achieve the anchoring effect.

In summation of the description above, regardless of the type of the sea floor 5, 5′, the present invention leverages the gravitational force provided by the anchoring base 1, the heavy pressure and friction with the sea floor, and the way of abutting the anchor body 4 against the sea floor 5, 5′ or burrowing the anchor body 4 into the sea floor 5, 5′ to achieve an excellent anchoring force, provided that the gravitational force of the anchoring base 1 is much smaller than that of the conventional dead weight. The laying or construction of offshore facilities or ocean power generation equipment no longer needs to take the type of sea floor into consideration for setting the anchoring device. The anchoring process according to the present invention does not require the high-cost underwater operation. Obviously, the present invention has the effects of high applicability and low cost.

Claims

1. An anchoring device having a decelerating wing, comprising:

an anchoring base, being a floating body, and having a chamber formed therein, at least one groove formed in a bottom end thereof;

at least one water diversion pipe installed at a side end of the anchoring base and communicating with the chamber, the at least one water diversion pipe having a switch valve;

a support base disposed at a top end of the anchoring base;

at least one main decelerating wing disposed upon the support base to cover the top end of the anchoring base, an outer edge of the at least one main decelerating wing tilting towards the anchoring base, a resistance space being defined between the at least one main decelerating wing, the support base, and the anchoring base;

at least one secondary decelerating wing disposed on each side of the support base below the at least one main decelerating wing, an end of each secondary decelerating wing extending beyond a corresponding side end of the anchoring base;

at least one anchor body pivotally coupled to the bottom end of the anchoring base within the at least one groove, and tilted relative to the bottom end; and

at least one elastic spring having a first end disposed on a top wall of the at least one groove and a second end coupled to a top of a corresponding anchor body, each elastic spring being configured to elastically abut the corresponding anchor body, the corresponding anchor body thereby protruding from the groove.

2. The anchoring device having a decelerating wing according to claim 1, further comprising at least one diversion panel installed between the secondary decelerating wing and the anchoring base, and at least one diversion channel formed adjacent to the diversion panel and communicating with the resistance space.

3. The anchoring device having a decelerating wing according to claim 2, wherein the at least one main decelerating wing overhangs at least a portion of the at least one secondary decelerating wing.

4. The anchoring device having a decelerating wing according to claim 1, wherein the at least one anchor body has a substantially conical end portion.

5. The anchoring device having a decelerating wing according to claim 1, wherein the at least one groove includes a stop portion, and a thrust element disposed relative to the stop portion, and when a force is exerted to elastically compress the at least one elastic unit, a free end of the at least one anchor body is capable of abutting against the bottom of the thrust element.

6. The anchoring device having a decelerating wing according to claim 1, wherein the at least one groove has a stop portion disposed on a sidewall thereof, and at least one of the anchor bodies is pivotally coupled to the sidewall on which the stop portion is disposed.

7. The anchoring device having a decelerating wing according to claim 1, wherein the anchoring base has at least one accommodation slot formed in a bottom thereof, and at least one pipe fixed to the at least one accommodation slot at an upper end of a radial side edge of the at least one pipe a lower end of the radial side edge of the at least one pipe protruding from the at least one accommodation slot and disposed at the bottom of the anchoring base.

8. The anchoring device having a decelerating wing according to claim 7, wherein the at least one accommodation slot and the at least one groove are arranged alternatingly along the bottom end of the anchoring base.

9. The anchoring device having a decelerating wing according to claim 7, wherein the at least one pipe is a circular steel pipe.