Development of Fast Current Oil Response System.

摘要

The primary objective of this work was to demonstrate the feasibility of a new oil control/recovery system concept in a fast current environment. This system consists of two basic components,the control function (a vented hydrofoil) and a recovery function (a rotating belt of polyurethane foam). The system is operated in the following manner: A thin layer of oil and water is separated by and passes over the top of the lead hydrofoil. A large portion of the remaining water in the oil/water layer is vented through a slot which separates the leading hydrofoil from the main hydrofoil. The remaining oil/water flow,which now contains a higher concentration of oil,passes over the main hydrofoil and is directed by a small ramp,placed at the rear of the main hydrofoil,tangentially onto the rotating belt of polyurethane foam. The water drains through the foam belt while retaining the oil until it is squeezed out and pumped to a storage container. Numerous experiments were performed with both small and full scale models in calm,wavy and choppy water conditions. Deficiencies in the full scale hardware design limited the device's operation to a small range of velocities (4.0 +or - 0.5fps);however,an 80% overall thoughput efficiency (oil recovered/oil delivered) was achieved.