ES2584846T3 - Lifting mast structure of underwater vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

Mast structure (10) of underwater vehicle, consisting of: - a lifting mast (12), comprising a moving part (22) in translation in a lifting direction (Z), between a reduced position and an unfolded position, and - a support (14) of the mast, provided with at least one guide rail (18) in translation of the movable part (22) of the mast (12) in the direction of elevation (Z), said support extending (14) e the lifting direction between a lower end and an upper end (14B), characterized in that: - the movable part (22) of the mast (12) consists of a body (26) and guide elements (20), carried by this body (26), said guide bodies (20) cooperating with the guide rail (18), - the mast structure (10) consists of first means (42) for recovering efforts in at least a second direction ( X, Y) perpendicular to the direction of elevation (Z), intended to be coupled to a structural part (11) of the underwater vehicle near the upper end (14B) of the support (14) and intended to form a stop, in said second direction (X, Y), for the body (26) of the movable part (22) of the mast (12) when This moving part (22) is in its deployed position.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Lift mast structure of underwater vehicle.

[0001] The present invention relates to a structure of a lift mast of underwater vehicle.

[0002] A lifting mast, also called a telescopic mast, is generally intended to carry means of communication of the underwater vehicle, such as antennas for radio emission and / or reception and / or carrying means of exploration and detection of the environment of the underwater vehicle, such as antennas

10 radars, sensors or periscopes.

[0003] It is already known, in the state of the art, especially in accordance with FR 2 977 232, a mast structure of an underwater vehicle consisting of:

15 - a lifting mast, comprising a moving part in translation in a lifting direction, between a reduced position and an unfolded position,

- at least one mast support, provided with at least one guide rail in translation of the movable part of the mast in the direction of elevation and

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- means for fixing the support on a structural part of the underwater vehicle.

[0004] In this mast structure, each rail has a U-shaped cross section, consisting of lateral parts that form the branches of the U.

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[0005] On the other hand, the movable part of the mast has sliding skates, housed between the lateral parts of the rail and sliding on this rail. Thus, the lateral parts of the rail form stops for each sliding path, immobilizing this sliding path laterally.

[0006] Thus, the rails and skates have, in addition to the guiding function of the mast in translation along the direction of elevation, a function of recovery of efforts in a lateral direction perpendicular to said direction of elevation.

[0007] This stress recovery function allows the mast to resist external limitations, especially the limitations applied by the water in which the underwater vehicle travels when the mast

It is elevated in deployed position.

[0008] The inventor has verified that said sliding skates generate an important frictional effort during the movement of the movable part of the mast, sometimes representing more than 60% of the

40 resistant efforts that oppose the movement of the mast.

[0009] Thus, the drive means in translation of the movable part of the mast must be sized to compensate for these frictional stresses, which implies an important volume of these drive means and an important energy consumption.

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[0010] The invention is especially aimed at solving these drawbacks, by providing a mast structure that authorizes the use of guiding means that involve reduced friction efforts and this without reducing the quality of the recovery of the stresses applied to the mast.

[0011] For this purpose, the present invention has as its object an underwater vehicle mast structure consisting of:

- a lifting mast, which comprises a moving part in translation in a lifting direction, between a reduced position and an unfolded position, and

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- a mast support, provided with at least one guide rail in translation of the movable part of the mast in the direction of elevation, said support extending in the direction of elevation between a lower end and an upper end,

characterized in that:

- the movable part of the mast consists of a body and guide bodies, carried by this body, said guide bodies cooperating with the guide rail,

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- the mast structure consists of a first means of recovery of forces in at least a second direction perpendicular to the direction of elevation, intended to be coupled to a structural part of the underwater vehicle near the upper end of the support and intended to form a stop , in said second direction, for the body of the mobile part of the mast when this mobile part is in its deployed position.

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[0012] The inspector has found that the external limitations apply mainly to the mast when it is in the deployed position. Indeed, during the displacement of the movable part of the mast, the mast is less exposed to these limitations than when it is fully deployed and the duration of such displacement is sufficiently reduced so that the limitations applied during this displacement have no effect.

15 negative on the mast structure.

[0013] Thus, the present invention provides a means for recovering forces coupled to the submarine's dike, which form a stop for the body of the mast moving part when this mobile part is in its deployed position.

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[0014] The recovery of efforts is therefore conveniently guaranteed when it is mainly necessary, that is, when the mast is in the deployed position.

[0015] On the other hand, since the limitations applied to the mast during its movement are considered 25 as not very harmful, the invention makes it possible to use simplified guidance means, since they do not need

fulfill an important function of recovery of efforts.

[0016] Such simplified guiding means may, for example, consist of rolling guide bodies rather than sliding ones, which implies little friction efforts that oppose the movement of the mast.

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[0017] A mast structure according to the invention may also consist of one or more of the following features, taken alone or according to all the technically possible combinations.

- The first means of recovery of efforts consist of at least one organ of recovery of efforts, 35 destined to be coupled to said structural part of the underwater vehicle and a fixing organ

Complementary, carried by the body of the mobile part and destined to cooperate with the organ of recovery of efforts.

- Each stress recovery organ has a first inclined surface with respect to the vertical direction 40, so that it forms a stop surface that opposes the movement of the mobile part beyond

its deployed position and the complementary fixing organ has a second inclined surface with respect to the vertical direction, almost parallel to the first surface and intended to cooperate with the first surface when the mobile part is in its deployed position.

45 - At least one between the stress recovery organ and the fixing organ consists of a part of elastomer, for example of rubber, which bears said corresponding first or second surface.

- The means of recovery of effort consist of: - at least two organs of recovery of effort, arranged opposite each other in said second direction, and - at least two organs of fixation, destined each

50 one to cooperate with one of the respective effort recovery organs.

- The stress recovery means consist of: - at least two sets of two stress recovery organs arranged opposite each other in said second direction, the sets being separated by a predetermined distance in the direction of elevation, and - at least two sets of two fixing organs,

55 each fixing organ being destined to cooperate with a respective effort recovery organ.

- The mast structure consists of a second means of recovery of efforts in at least one direction perpendicular to the direction of elevation, intended to be coupled to said structural part of the underwater vehicle near the lower end of the support and intended to form a stop, in that direction, for the body of

the mobile part of the mast when this mobile part is in its reduced position.

- Said guide rafl has a first and second almost flat raceways, arranged so that they converge towards each other from the support in the direction of the mast, so that the rail has a section in

5 V-shape in any plane perpendicular to the elevation direction.

- Each guide organ consists of: - at least a first bearing element, carried by said body, and arranged in contact with the first raceway and intended to roll on it in the direction of elevation, and - at least a second bearing element, carried by said body and arranged in contact with

10 the second raceway and intended to roll on it in the direction of elevation.

- Each guide organ consists of two first bearing elements and a first support element, each first bearing element being connected to the first support element by a respective pivot connection and said first support element being connected to the body by a pivot connection .

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- The mast structure comprises two second bearing elements and a second support element, each second bearing element being connected to the second support element by a respective pivot connection and said second support element being connected to the body by a pivot connection.

20 - Each guide organ consists, for each support element, of elastic stabilization means, for compression, which extend between said support element and a support organ carried by the body, so that a pressure effort to the bearing elements carried by this support element against the corresponding raceway.

25 - The elastic stabilization means consist, for each bearing element carried by the corresponding support element, of an elastic organ for compression, which extends between a first seat carried by said organ of poyo and a second seat carried by the support element near this bearing element, each elastic organ being formed, for example, by a stack of Belleville type washers, each washer extending longitudinally between a small contour and a large contour, the 30 washers being stacked so that two washers adjacent have their respective small contours in contact or their respective large contours in contact.

- The movable part of the mast consists, for each rail, of an upper guide organ and a lower guide organ arranged at a predetermined distance from each other in the direction of elevation.

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[0018] The invention also relates to an underwater vehicle, consisting of a structural part, characterized in that it consists of a mast structure as defined above.

[0019] The invention will be better understood by reading the description that follows, given only by way of example and made in reference to the attached figures, among which:

- Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view, partially representing a mast structure according to a first example of embodiment of the invention,

45 - Figure 2 represents a guide organ of a movable part of the mast, which cooperates with a guide rail of the support of the structure of the mast of Figure 1

- Figure 3 is a schematic view of the upper part of a mast structure according to a second example of embodiment of the invention.

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[0020] A submarine vehicle mast structure 10 is shown in Figure 1. This mast structure 10 is intended to be added to a structural part 11 of the underwater vehicle, also called dock 11.

[0021] The mast structure 10 consists of a lifting mast 12 and a support 14 for this mast. In this figure 1, the mast 12 is represented in an unfolded position, also called a hoisted position. Indeed, the mast 12 consists of a movable part 22, movable in translation in a direction of elevation Z, between a reduced position and an unfolded position. This mobile part 22 consists of a device 13, which comprises, for example, means of communication or exploration.

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[0022] The support 14 extends in the direction of elevation Z, between a lower end (not shown) and an upper end 14B. The support 14 consists, for example, of two almost identical lateral uprights 15, arranged opposite each other in a transverse Y direction perpendicular to the elevation direction Z, the mast 12 being arranged between these lateral uprights 15 in this transverse direction Y. represented example, the side uprights 15 are separated, but could be joined as a variant by crossbars or by one or two transverse uprights.

[0023] Each upright 15 consists of fixing means in the structural part 11 of the underwater vehicle.

[0024] The mast 12 is attached to the support 14 and, more particularly, to each stud 15, by means of guiding the mast 16 in translation in a direction of elevation Z, for the elevation and reduction of this mast 12.

[0025] The guiding means 16 consist of guiding rails 18, carried by the support 14 and extending in the direction of elevation Z. More particularly, each upright 15 carries at least one respective guiding rail 18. Thus, the mast structure 10 consists of two guide rails 18, arranged opposite each other in the transverse direction Y.

[0026] The guide means 16 consist, for each guide rail 18, of at least one complementary guide element 20, carried by the mast 12 and intended to cooperate with this rail 18.

[0027] More particularly, the guiding elements 20 are carried by a body 26 of the movable part 22 of the mast 12.

[0028] Advantageously, said mobile part 22 carries, for each rail 18, an upper guide organ 20 and a lower guide organ 20, arranged at a predetermined distance from each other in the direction of elevation Z. This predetermined distance it allows a good stabilization of the mast 12 and the maintenance of this mast 12 parallel to the direction of elevation Z. Usually, said predetermined distance is greater than or equal to 1 meter.

[0029] In the example shown, each guide rail 18 has a U-shaped cross section, comprising an almost flat raceway.

[0030] Each guide organ 20 comprises at least one bearing element 28, carried by the body 26, arranged in contact with the rail raceway 18 and intended to roll on it in the direction of elevation Z. Asf, This bearing element 28 has a mobile bearing part in rotation about an axis perpendicular to the direction of elevation and almost parallel to the raceway. This bearing part is preferably made of polyurethane, in order to generate little noise during its bearing on the raceway.

[0031] More particularly, each guide member 20 advantageously consists of two bearing elements 28 and a support element 32, as shown in Figure 2. Each bearing element 28 is attached to the first support element 32 by a respective pivot connection 34 around said axis of rotation A.

[0032] In addition, the support member 32 is connected to the body 26 by a pivot connection 36 about an axis almost parallel to the rotation axes A of the bearing elements.

[0033] Advantageously, each guide organ 20 consists of elastic compression means 38 for compression, which extend between the support element 32 and a support organ (not shown) carried by the body 26, of so that a pressure effort is applied to the bearing elements carried by this support element, against the corresponding raceway.

[0034] The elastic stabilization means 28 consist, for example, for each bearing element carried by this corresponding support element, of a compression-elastic element 40, which extends between a first seat carried by said support member and a second seat carried by the support element near this bearing element.

[0035] Each elastic organ 40 is formed, for example, by a stack of Belleville type washers,

each washer extending longitudinally between a small contour and a second contour, the washers being stacked and coupled between them so that two adjacent washers have their respective small contours in contact or their respective large contours in contact.

[0036] The guiding bodies 20 described above make it possible to guarantee a contact of at least one bearing element 28 with the corresponding raceway and this even if the raceway is irregular.

[0037] Thus, the guide rails 18 can be relatively simple, therefore particularly economical, 10 since any irregularity of the raceway is compensated by the guide bodies 20.

[0038] In addition, such guiding means 16 comprising rolling elements only generate little or no frictional effort opposite to the movement of the mobile part 22 of the mast 12.

[0039] However, it should be noted that such simple guiding means 16 do not guarantee a satisfactory recovery of the efforts applied to the mast 12, due to external limitations.

[0040] Thus, in order to ensure a satisfactory recovery of the stresses applied to the mast 12, when it is most necessary, the mast structure 10 consists of a first means 42 of effort recovery in 20 at least a second direction Y perpendicular to the elevation direction Z, intended to be coupled to the structural part 11 of the underwater vehicle, near the upper end 14B of the support 14 and intended to form a stop, in said second direction Y, for the body 26 of the mobile part 22 of the mast 12 when this mobile part 22 is in its deployed position.

[0041] More particularly, the first stress recovery means 42 consist of at least one stress recovery organ 44 coupled to said structural part 11 of the underwater vehicle and a complementary fixing organ 45, carried by the body 26 of the mobile part 22 and destined to cooperate with the recovery agency 44.

[0042] Each stress recovery organ 44 has a first surface 44A inclined with respect to the vertical direction, so as to form a stop surface that opposes the movement of the mobile part 22 beyond its deployed position. Thus, the complementary fixing member 45 has a second surface 45A inclined with respect to the vertical direction, almost parallel to the first surface 44A and intended to cooperate with the first surface 44A when the mobile part 22 is in its deployed position.

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[0043] Thus, considering a direction of orientation taken from the lower end of the support 14 towards the upper end 14B of this support 14, the first surface 44A is inclined so that it approaches the mast in the second direction Y following said direction of orientation.

[0044] Advantageously, the stress recovery means 42 consist of at least two stress recovery organs 44, arranged opposite each other in said second direction Y, and at least two fixing organs 45, each intended to cooperate with one of the respective recovery forces 44. The first surfaces 44A of the stress recovery organs 44 therefore converge towards each other following said direction of orientation.

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[0045] Preferably, the stress recovery means 42 consist of at least two sets of two stress recovery bodies 44 arranged opposite each other in said second direction Y, the sets being separated by a predetermined distance in the direction of elevation Z, and at least two sets of two fixing organs 45, each fixing organ 45 being intended to cooperate with a recovery organ

50 of effort 44 respective. Said predetermined distance is for example almost equal to the distance between two guide organs 20 aligned in the direction of elevation Z.

[0046] Advantageously, at least one between each stress recovery member 44 and each fixing member 45 consists of a part of elastomer, for example of rubber, which bears said first 44A or second 45A

55 corresponding surface. This part of the elastomer allows a shock to be damped when the stress recovery member 44 and the fixing member 45 come into contact, in the deployed position of the mast 12.

[0047] Optionally, additional stress recovery means can also be provided in a third direction X perpendicular to the second direction Y, and to the elevation direction Z.

These supplementary stress recovery means are in this case similar to the first stress recovery means 42 described above.

[0048] Advantageously, the mast structure 10 also consists of a second means of stress recovery (not shown), intended to be coupled to the structural part 11 of the vehicle

submarine near the lower end of the support, intended to form a stop, in at least one direction perpendicular to the elevation direction, for body 26 when the movable part 24 of the mast is in its reduced position. Indeed, the reduced position is also a position in which the mast 12 may be subject to significant limitations, especially in the case of military shocks.

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[0049] These second stress recovery means are similar to the first effort recovery means 42, with the exception that the inclined surfaces of the stress recovery organs and the fixing organs are inverted with respect to those of the first effort recovery means 42, to form end-of-travel stops in the direction of elevation Z, which come into contact when the mast 12

15 is in its reduced position.

[0050] A mast structure 10 according to a second example of embodiment of the invention has been shown in Figure 3. In this figure, the elements analogous to those of the first embodiment are designated by identical references.

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[0051] According to this second embodiment, each guide rail 18 has a first 18A and second 18B almost flat raceways, arranged so that they converge towards each other from the upright 15 carrying this rail, in the direction of the mast 12, so that this rail 18 has a V-shaped section in any plane perpendicular to the elevation direction Z.

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[0052] Each guide organ 20 then comprises at least one first bearing element 28, carried by the body 26, arranged in contact with the first bearing race 18A and intended to roll on it in the direction of elevation Z. Asf , this bearing element 28 has a mobile bearing part in rotation about an axis A perpendicular to the elevation direction and almost parallel to the first raceway 18A.

30 This bearing part is preferably made of polyurethane, in order to generate little noise during rolling on the raceway 18a.

[0053] Each guide member 20 also comprises at least one second bearing element 30, carried by the body 26 and arranged in contact with the second raceway 18B and intended to roll on it.

35 the elevation direction Z. Thus, this bearing element 30 also consists of a movable part of the rotating bearing about an axis perpendicular to the direction of elevation and almost parallel to the second raceway 18A. This bearing part is preferably made of polyurethane, in order to generate little noise during rolling on the raceway 18B.

[0054] More particularly, each guide member 20 advantageously consists of two first bearing elements 28 and a first support element 32, as shown in Figure 3. Each first bearing element 28 is attached to the first element of support 32 by a respective pivot connection 34 about said rotation axis A.

[0055] In addition, the first support element 32 is connected to the body 26 by a pivot connection 36 about an axis almost parallel to the rotation axes A of the first bearing elements.

[0056] In the same way, each guide member 20 consists of two second bearing elements 30 and a second support element (not shown), each second bearing element 30 being attached to the

50 second support element by a respective pivot connection and said second support element being connected to the body by a pivot connection.

[0057] Advantageously, each guide organ 20 comprises, for each of the first 32 and second support elements, elastic stabilizing means 38, for compression, which extend

55 between this support element 32 and a support organ (not shown) carried by the body 26, so that a pressure effort is applied to the bearing elements carried by this support element, against the corresponding raceway.

[0058] It will be noted that the invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but could

present various variants without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0059] In particular, other guiding means than those described above may be provided.

Claims (14)

1. Mast structure (10) of underwater vehicle, consisting of: 5 - a lifting mast (12), comprising a moving part (22) in translation in a lifting direction (Z), between a reduced position and an unfolded position, and - a support (14) of the mast, provided with at least one guide rail (18) in translation of the movable part (22) of the mast (12) in the direction of elevation (Z), said support extending (14) and the direction of elevation between one end 10 lower and one upper end (14B), characterized in that: - the mobile part (22) of the mast (12) consists of a body (26) and guide organs (20), carried by this body 15 (26), said guide bodies (20) cooperating with the guide rail (18), - the mast structure (10) consists of first means (42) for recovering efforts in at least a second direction (X, Y) perpendicular to the elevation direction (Z), intended to be coupled to a structural part ( 11) of the underwater vehicle near the upper end (14B) of the support (14) and intended to form a 20 stop, in said second direction (X, Y), for the body (26) of the movable part (22) of the mast (12) when this movable part (22) is in its deployed position. 2. Mast structure (10) according to claim 1, wherein the first stress recovery means (42) consist of at least one stress recovery body (44), intended to be coupled to 25 said structural part (11) of the underwater vehicle and a complementary fixing organ, carried by the body (26) of the mobile part (22) and intended to cooperate with the effort recovery organ (44). 3. Mast structure (10) according to claim 2, in which: 30 - each stress recovery organ (44) has a first surface (44A) inclined with respect to the vertical direction, so that it forms a stop surface that opposes the movement of the mobile part (22) beyond its deployed position, - the complementary fixing member (45) has a second surface (45A) inclined with respect to the vertical direction, almost parallel to the first surface (44A) and intended to cooperate with the first surface (44A) when the mobile part (22) is in its deployed position. 4. Mast structure (10) according to claim 3, wherein at least one between the stress recovery organ (44) and the fixing organ (45) consists of an elastomer part, for example of 40 rubber, which bears said first (44A) or second (45A) corresponding surface. 5. Mast structure (10) according to any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the stress recovery means (42) consist of: 45 - at least two stress recovery organs (44), arranged opposite each other in said second direction (X; Y), and - at least two fixing organs (45), each destined to cooperate with one of the respective recovery bodies (44). fifty 6. Mast structure (10) according to claim 5, wherein the stress recovery means (42) consist of: - at least two sets of two stress recovery organs (44) arranged opposite each other in said second direction (X; Y), the sets being separated by a predetermined distance in the direction of elevation (Z), - at least two sets of two fixing organs (45), each fixing organ (45) being intended to cooperate with a respective stress recovery body (44). 7. Mast structure (10) according to any of the preceding claims, which consists of a second means of recovery of efforts in at least one direction (X, Y) perpendicular to the direction of elevation (Z), intended to be coupled to said structural part (11) of the underwater vehicle near the end 5 bottom of the support (14) and intended to form a stop, in said direction (X, Y), for the body (26) of the mobile part (22) of the mast (12) when this mobile part (22) is in its reduced position. 8. Mast structure (10) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said guide rail (18) has a first (18A) and second (18B) almost flat raceways, arranged so 10 that converge towards each other from the support (14) in the direction of the mast (12), so that the rail (18) has a V-shaped section in any plane perpendicular to the elevation direction (Z). 9. Mast structure (10) according to claim 8, wherein each guide organ (20) consists of: 15 - at least a first bearing element (28), carried by said body (26), and arranged in contact with the first raceway (18A) and intended to roll on it in the direction of elevation (Z), and - at least a second bearing element (30), carried by said body (26) and arranged in contact with the second raceway (18B) and intended to roll on it in the direction of elevation (Z). twenty 10. Mast structure (10) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein each guide organ (20) consists of two first bearing elements (28) and a first support element (32), each first element being bearing (28) connected to the first support element (32) by a respective pivot connection and said first support element (32) being connected to the body (26) by a pivot connection. 25 11. Mast structure (10) according to claim 10, taken in combination with claim 9, comprising two second bearing elements (30) and a second support element, each second bearing element (30) being attached to the second support element by a respective pivot connection and said second support element being connected to the body (26) by a pivot connection. 30 12. Mast structure (10) according to claim 10 or 11, wherein each guide organ (20) consists, for each support element (32), of elastic stabilization means (38), for compression , which extend between said support element (32) and a support organ carried by the body (26), so that a pressure effort is applied to the bearing elements (28, 30) carried by this element 35 support (32) against the corresponding raceway (18A, 18B). 13. Mast structure (10) according to claim 12, wherein the elastic stabilization means (38) consist, for each bearing element (28, 30) carried by the corresponding support element (32), of an organ elastic (40) for compression, which extends between a first seat carried by said organ 40 of poyo and a second seat carried by the support element (32) near this bearing element (28, 30), each elastic organ (40) being formed for example by a stack of Belleville type washers, each washer extending longitudinally between a small contour and a large contour, the washers being stacked so that two adjacent washers have their respective small contours in contact or their respective large contours in contact. Four. Five 14. Mast structure (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the movable part (22) of the mast (12) consists, for each rail, of an upper guide organ (20) and a guide organ ( 20) lower arranged at a predetermined distance from each other in the direction of elevation. 50 15. Underwater link, consisting of a structural part (11), characterized in that it consists of a Mast structure (10) according to any of the preceding claims.