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JP-7856365-B2 - Method of launching a floating foundation

JP7856365B2JP 7856365 B2JP7856365 B2JP 7856365B2JP-7856365-B2

Inventors

  • 外山 雅昭
  • 倉門 孝志
  • 佐藤 要太
  • イム ソンギュ
  • 川邉 裕登
  • 川村 宇紀

Assignees

  • 大成建設株式会社

Dates

Publication Date
20260511
Application Date
20220829

Claims (7)

  1. A method for launching a floating foundation that supports the tower of an offshore wind turbine, A transport process comprising: manufacturing multiple concrete segments that form the floating foundation, each on its own dedicated support structure; connecting multiple segments on multiple support structures to create the floating foundation; and transporting the floating foundation, along with the multiple support structures, to a barge on the water using a transport means; A method for launching a floating foundation, characterized by comprising a launching step of submerging the barge and launching the floating foundation into the water.
  2. The method for launching a floating foundation according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the transporting means is a self-propelled trolley equipped with a lifting mechanism for lifting the platform and lifting it off the ground, the method further comprises a recovery step of recovering the transporting means from the barge to the quay following the transporting step.
  3. The method for launching a floating foundation according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, in the transport step, multiple frames are connected together as a single unit before being transported to the barge.
  4. The method for launching a floating foundation according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, in the transport step, a plurality of the frames are fixed to the barge.
  5. The method for launching a floating foundation according to claim 4, further comprising an offshore wind turbine manufacturing step, which involves connecting the tower to the floating foundation mounted on the barge, following the aforementioned transport step, to manufacture the offshore wind turbine.
  6. The aforementioned barge is equipped with a ballast room, A method for launching a floating foundation according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the submersion of the barge is performed by filling the ballast chamber with water.
  7. The aforementioned barge has support legs equipped with a lifting mechanism, The method for launching a floating foundation according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the submersion of the barge is performed by lowering the support legs.

Description

This invention relates to a method for launching a floating foundation. The demand for renewable energy is increasing with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable energy sources include, for example, solar power, wind power, hydroelectric power, geothermal power, and biomass. Wind power facilities can affect the living environment due to noise and vibration from the wind turbines, and because the impact on living spaces must be carefully considered, they are often installed in mountainous areas far from residential areas. However, securing land in mountainous areas for installing large wind turbines is difficult, and securing transportation routes to wind power generation facilities and installing power transmission lines are also challenging. Therefore, technological development is underway to install offshore wind turbines, which constitute wind power generation facilities, on the sea (including on water and lakes). When constructing offshore wind turbines at sea, floating foundations are sometimes used as the base. These floating foundations include semi-submersible, spar, purge, and TLP (Tension Leg Platform) types. Among these, the semi-submersible foundation (semi-submersible floating foundation) has a center column that supports the wind turbine tower (support), multiple (three or four) side columns arranged at intervals around the center column, and a pontoon that connects the center column and the side columns. Because it can provide excellent stability against waves and sea breezes, it is a relatively well-established foundation. Conventional floating foundations are generally constructed from steel, which makes high manufacturing costs a significant challenge. This challenge becomes even more pronounced as the scale of the floating foundation increases. Therefore, while it is possible to reduce manufacturing costs by fabricating a floating concrete foundation in a dock and towing it out to sea, currently there is no established method for stably and efficiently transporting the dock-fabricated floating concrete foundation to a barge and launching it into the water. Thus, a method for launching floating foundations that can achieve stable and efficient transport to a barge and launch them into the water is desired. Here, Patent Document 1 proposes a tower assembly method in which multiple tower members, formed by dividing the offshore wind turbine tower in the height direction, are assembled on a jack-equipped frame constructed on a base installed on the ground. On the other hand, Patent Document 2 proposes an offshore wind turbine installation method in which the tower of the offshore wind turbine is divided in the height direction and multiple tower members are assembled and installed offshore. This installation method includes a caisson installation step of installing a caisson, which will serve as the foundation of the offshore wind turbine, at the installation location of the offshore wind turbine; an assembly step of assembling multiple tower members using the caisson; and a blade installation step of attaching blades to the nacelle attached to the uppermost tower member using the caisson. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2021-80852Japanese Patent Publication No. 2021-76043 This is an overall perspective view of an example of a floating foundation manufacturing system according to an embodiment.This is a perspective view of an example of a floating foundation manufactured by the floating foundation manufacturing method according to the embodiment.This is a perspective view of an example of an offshore wind turbine manufactured by the offshore wind turbine manufacturing method according to the embodiment.This is a process diagram of an example of a method for manufacturing a floating foundation according to the first embodiment.Following Figure 4A, this is a process diagram illustrating an example of a manufacturing method for a floating foundation according to the first embodiment.This figure shows both an example of a method for manufacturing a floating foundation according to the second embodiment and an example of a method for manufacturing a floating foundation according to the third embodiment.This is a perspective view of an example of a multi-axle bogie.This figure shows the arrangement of multi-axle trolleys in the first method of transporting a floating foundation, where (a) is a plan view of multiple multi-axle trolleys transporting side columns, (b) is a plan view of multiple multi-axle trolleys transporting pontoons, and (c) is a plan view of multiple multi-axle trolleys transporting center columns.This diagram illustrates an example of a first transport method in which a floating foundation is transported together with a support structure using multiple multi-axle trolleys.This figure shows the arrangement of multi-axle trolleys in the second method of transporting a floating foundation, where (a), (b), and (c) are plan views of multiple multi-axle trolleys transp