WO2009060105A1 - Marine navigation light trainer that can move in rotation and translation, controlled using manual and automatic means - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a marine navigation light trainer that can move in rotation and translation, controlled using manual and automatic means. The invention includes a platform on which are simulated the lights that would be found on a merchant or fishing vessel in accordance with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea. The platform can move so that it can be used to teach, and evaluate knowledge relating to, the arrangement of navigation lights and the different appearances they may adopt on a vessel when the vessel changes position and course at night.

Description

 COACH OE MARITIME NAVIGATION LIGHTS WITH MOVEMENT OF ROTATION AND TRANSFER, CONTROLLABLE THROUGH AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL MEANS.

SECTOR OF THE TECHNIQUE. Teaching of Maritime Navigation.

STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE.

At present, for the teaching of lighting systems, included in the International Regulation to prevent boarding, it is mainly used colored chalks on waxing, in which it is a question of representing the lights of vessels in the distance, it is not possible to show by this method a continuous movement.

Another commonly used method is to use magnets, generally round, painted or coated with plastic of a similar color to that of the light to be simulated, which are moved manually on blackboards or magnetic panels. Another possibility has been the use of software with patches of colors on a computer screen, however, using this system it is more difficult to simulate the three dimensions, in addition to using a projector when teaching a large group of students.

Among the advantages of the proposed system over the methods used to date are among others:

• That in the presented invention it is not necessary for the instructor to interpose at any time between the lights and the people who witness the simulation and their appearance is controlled remotely by means of the switch control panel and the antenna rotor control . • That allows the introduction of a computer in order to perform the same exercise with different types of ships, as well as the introduction of balance, head and yaw movements and different falling speeds of the alien vessel, which can be controlled by computer , What the chalk or magnet techniques do not allow. • That allows the examination of the students' knowledge through a battery of questions (short or test type) in which the duration of the images or configurations of the lights of the ship are defined by the instructor according to the level of difficulty that you want to contribute . EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

The invention consists of a platform that is installed on a rotor with two degrees of freedom, horizontal and vertical, the dimensions of the platform must be adapted proportionally to the distance to which it is to be observed.

On the platform, scheme of which can be seen in Figure 1, are installed the sticks that support all navigation lights that can be found in a merchant or fishing vessel, with optical simulation of its scope according to international regulations to prevent the approaches of the International Maritime Organization.

By using terms used in nautical vessels, the front part of the platform will be called the bow and the rear stern. We will also call port on the left side or side of the platform looking from stern to bow, and starboard to the right side of it. The first stick of the front part of the platform, which we will call Proa, supports the light that we will call funding, whose characteristics are white light with a pole welded to a brass rod that makes stick and the other to the power cable, insulating itself from the environment by insulating tape, as shown in figure 5.

Figure 6 reflects the next two bow poles, which will be called respectively Trailer and Fishing.

The towing stick consists of three white bulbs equipped with darkening sectors, formed by insulating tape superimposed on a transparent plastic cylinder, which covers the bulb in its entirety. In each of the bulbs a pole was welded to the brass rod that acts as a support and the other to its power cable.

The fishing stick consists of a stick with a cock, both of brass, which follows the same method of installation for white lights, although in this case they are of the "all horizon" type, which avoids the use of darkening, while for LEDs they are installed by welding the cathode directly to the brass mast and the anode to the power cable. Once the cathode has been covered with black insulating tape, the welding of the anode to the power cable is covered, as can be seen in Figure 6. The stick that represents the main stick of the ship, as shown in figures 7 and 8, is formed by a brass rod that makes a stick and five dicks, the upper three are smaller and could be replaced by the three arms that support the "no government" lights and two other lower and larger cocks that support the red and green "dredging operations" LEDs. The way of installation and connection of white bulbs and red and green LEDs is similar to that already explained.

Figure 9 shows the two poop sticks of the scale model. The stick closest to the stern consists of a brass rod of smaller dimensions than that of the rod of the bow anchoring stick (figure 5) and is equipped with a white light all horizon with fixing and feeding method already explained above .

The foremost stick is equipped with two independent lights, the yellow one at the top, or towing light, and made by means of a LED of said color and the one with a white bottom or scope light. Both lights have two plastic capsules equipped with obscurators according to the International Regulations to prevent boarding. Figure 10 shows how two LEDs (red to port and green to starboard) equipped with plastic capsule and insulating tape obscurators according to the International Regulations to Prevent Approaches have been fixed on the superstructure.

Figure 14 shows a diagram of the position of all the sticks and the lights installed in each of them, looking from bow to stern. The lights marked with * carry an opaque sector that allows it to comply with the International Regulations to Prevent Approaches (RIPA) in terms of visibility and darkening sectors.

Likewise _/ in the rear part, which we will call "aft", it has a superstructure, where the electronics and electrical splice cards are housed, as well as the position, reach and trailer lights.

As can be seen in Figure 11, below the superstructure are the electrical connection strips with the polarization resistors of the LEDs.

The output of the control and power cables of the lights is carried out by means of one or more perforations made in the plate and immediately below the superstructure.

The entire coach is painted black to simulate night navigation conditions when using a room in complete darkness and with the walls and ceiling painted in matt black. To activate the lights, a two-position electric switch is used for each simulated light and a general switch to be able to turn on / off the activated lights simultaneously.

The switches are installed on a switch panel on which each stick is screen printed and the position in which each switch is inserted is that of its corresponding light on the ship's stick, as shown in Figure 3.

To be able to give the foreign ship a feeling of movement, a rotor with elevation rotation and azimuth is used, installed on a black painted pollin and equipped with wheels that allow the movement of movement in the horizontal plane.

To control the rotor, an antenna rotor control or a computer is available, with the appropriate interface, in which a predetermined defeat can be simulated, projecting it on another wall or screen by means of a projector installed for this purpose.

This system allows:

• Teach several students at the same time the navigation lights and the different appearances that they can adopt by varying the relative position of a foreign vessel to ours by passing the time, changing the course of the alien vessel, changing the course of the own vessel or changing the type of ship from which its lights are seen at night.

• To familiarize the student with the movements of the alien ship, such as balance, head or yaw and its effects on their nocturnal appearance. • Practically examine students of navigation lights.

• Revalidate the knowledge of professionals if necessary.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.

Figure 1.- Scale model layout. They are shown: Fig 1.1.- Profile view. Fig 1.2.- Elevation view. Fig 1.3.- Plan view.

Figure 2.- Electrical junction sheets with polarization resistors.

Figure 3.- Control panel for position lights with general switch. The lighting positions of the following sticks are shown on the board: 1. - Funding.

2.- Trailer. 3.- Fishing. 4.- Main. 5.- Navigation. 6.- Trailer.

7.- Funding.

Figure 4.- Outline of the complete System. In the same they are distinguished:

A.- Platform. B.- Superstructure.

C- Rotor.

D.- Polín.

E.- Rotor Control.

F.- Personal Computer. G.- Lights control.

H.- Power supply.

J.- Red.

Figure 5, - Image of the first Bow Stick, Mooring Light. Figure 6, - Image of the second and third bow sticks. Trailer and Fishing.

Figure 7.- Image of the installation of lights on the Trailer and Fishing sticks.

Figure 8.- Image of the main mast of the ship.

Figure 9.- Image of lights of the stern sticks.

Figure 10.- Image of side or position lights. Figure 11.- Image of connections to the connecting strips.

Figure 12.- Output image of power and control cable hoses.

Figure 13.- Prototype image of Navigation Lights Control Panel. Figure 14.- Position of navigation light sticks looking from Proa. Figure 15.- Simplified electrical scheme.

MODE OF EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION. The platform can be made in any type of material that is light, non-conductive and of sufficient rigidity to support the sticks, cables and superstructure, as well as to be screwed to the rotor. It will be painted black, to be able to be matt to avoid the light reflection of the lights on.

The sticks and their rods, which can be metallic, are made using brass, copper, or similar material, of a measure and thickness suitable for the dimensions of the scale model.

The colored lights will be made using light emitting diodes (LEDs), red, green and yellow.

The anode of the LED will be soldered to the power cable that is connected to the polarization resistance and this in turn, and by means of the splice card (figure 2), to the cable that leads to the control switch and the cathode will support Ia light, welding directly to the brass rod that makes stick.

The white lights will be simulated by small size lights and low light intensity, one of its poles being welded to the stick and the other to a power cable that connects to the control switch through the splice card.

As reflected in Figure 15, all the switches will be connected in series to a single general switch and this to the positive pump of the DC power supply. All the sticks will be connected, at their base, to a common cable (through the corresponding splice card) that will be directly connected to a fuse and to the negative terminal of the power supply.

All LEDs have a polarization resistance in accordance with the distance marked in the International Regulations to prevent approaches to which they should be seen.

In the case of wanting to use a computer to configure the navigation lights, the switches will be replaced by a card or set of electromechanical or semiconductor contactor cards that will function to activate the LEDs and bulbs using the instructions generated by software. The man-machine interface and the logical instructions will be the most appropriate for the interpreter chosen in each case.

WAY IN WHICH THE INVENTION IS SUSCEPTIBLE OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION It is not considered necessary to make this description more extensive so that any expert in the field understands the scope of the invention and the advantages derived therefrom.

The materials, shape, size and arrangement of the elements will be susceptible of variation, provided that this does not imply an alteration of the essentiality of the invention.

The terms in which this report has been described must always be taken broadly and not limitatively.

Claims

CLAIMS. 1. Maritime navigation light trainer with rotation and translation movement, controllable by automatic and manual means, characterized by comprising: a) A platform, on which are located, vertically to it, sticks on which Lights are placed, in the same arrangement and colors that a merchant or fishing vessel would have, according to the International Approach Prevention Regulation. b) A superstructure, located on the platform, where the electronics and electrical splice cards that allow the lights to be electrically powered are housed. c) A rotor, on which the platform is placed, with two degrees of horizontal and vertical freedom, which is controlled by a rotor control, or a computer with the appropriate interface. d) A wheel endowed wheel, on which the rotor is placed and which allows the movement of translation in the horizontal plane. e) A switch panel, in which there is a two-position electric switch for each simulated light, and a general switch to simultaneously turn on / off the activated lights. 2. Use of the maritime navigation light trainer with rotation and translation movement, controllable by automatic and manual means, according to claim 1, for teaching and evaluating the knowledge related to the disposition of the navigation lights and the different appearances that they can adopt in a boat, by changing its position and heading at night.