- Number
- 9714072
- Published
- 2017-07-25
- Filed
- 2015-12-28
- Assignee
- Disney Enterprises, Inc.
- Inventors
- Swift; Brooke M. et al.
- CPC
- E02B3/26; B63B59/02
- Verdict
- Set aside boat dock damper system - generic marine/civil hardware (granted)
- Source
- Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline
Abstract
Dampers for mounting on a dock to control landing a boat. The dampers may be used individually or in damper systems made up of a plurality of dampers. Each damper has a flexible body with one or more sidewalls defining an inner chambers, and orifices are provided inone of the sidewalls to allow the chamber to be filled with water when the damper is in an at-rest state. When the boat approaches the dock and contacts the damper or the outer set of dampers in a damper assembly/system, the collision or impact force applied by the boat against the outer surfaces of the damper(s) causes the damper body to be compressed, which causes the sidewalls of the chamber to collapse so as to expel water out of the inner chamber via the orifices so as to reduce the speed of the boat at a desired rate of deceleration.
Background
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS(1) FIG. 1 is schematic or functional block drawing of a damper system in use in a water navigation system;(2) FIGS. 2-5 illustrate four exemplary dampers that may be used individually or in damper systems, such as the damper system of FIG. 1;(3) FIGS. 6A-6C illustrates a damper of the present description in use to dampen a collision of a boat with a dock;(4) FIG. 7 illustrates a damper system of one embodiment of the present description that may be attached to a dock to control docking ofa boat;(5) FIG. 8 illustrates another damper system of another embodiment of the present description showing differing body types and off-setting (non-parallel) arrangement of thedampers in each adjacent row;(6) FIG. 9 illustrates a docking system or water navigation system of the present description with assemblies of damper systems arranged on or near a dock to control landing or docking of a boat with the dock;(7) FIG. 10 is a graph showing results of modeling performance of a damper of the present description during docking of aparticular boat at a dock upon which the damper is mounted; and(8) FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrate exemplary dampers, respectively, that include physical springs.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS(9) Briefly, the present description is directed toward dampersand damper assemblies or systems including a plurality of such dampers. The damper or damper system is mounted to the surfaces of a dock where a boat is expected
Claims
1. A water navigation system for controlling docking a boat in a body ofwater, comprising: a dock with a surface proximate to the body of water; and a damper submerged in the body of water and positioned against the surface of the dock, wherein the damper includes a body formed of a flexible material, wherein the body includes a chamber and at least one orifice in the body defining a passageway to the chamber that is open to the body of water, whereby the chamber receives and contains a volume of the water when the body is in a non-compressed state, wherein a portion of the volume of the water is discharged from the chamber through the orifice when the body is deformed under compressive forces from the non-compressed state to a compressed state, wherein the water navigation systemfurther comprises a second damper with a second body with an outer shape and size matching the body of the damper, and wherein the second body includes an inner chamber and two ormore orifices defining passageways to the chamber that is open to the body of water allowflow of the water from the body of water at a different flow rate than through the orifice of the body of the damper, whereby the compressive forces required to deform the damper differ from compressive forces required to deform the second damper.
5. A damper system for use in controlling landing of a boat at a dock, comprising: a first set of dampers; and a second set of dampers, wherein each of the dampers in the first set of dampers comprisesa body, formed of a first flexible material, with an inner chamber defined by exterior sidewalls of the body and with an orifice providing a passageway through the exterior sidewalls to the inner chamber for receiving a first volume of fluid when the body is in an at-rest state; wherein each of the dampers in the second set of dampers comprises a body formed of a second flexible material, with an inner chamber defined by exterior sidewalls of the body and with an orifice providing a passageway through the exterior sidewalls to the inner chamber for receiving a second volume of fluid that differs from the first volume of fluid when the body is in an at-rest state, wherein each of the dampers in the first set ofdampers has a first damping coefficient, and wherein each of the dampers in the second set of dampers has a second damping coefficient differing from the first damping coefficient.
14. A system for damping impact of a moving object with a stationary object, comprising:a first row of dampers each comprising a flexible body with an inner chamber defined by exterior sidewalls of the flexible body, wherein one of the sidewalls includes one or more orifices each providing a fluid passageway into the inner chamber, whereby the inner chamber is adapted to receive a first volume of fluid when the flexible body is in a non-compressed state and to expel the fluid as the flexible body is compressed into a compressed state; and a second row of dampers positioned to be parallel and abutting the first row of dampers, each of the dampers in the second row of dampers comprising a flexible body with aninner chamber defined by exterior sidewalls of the flexible body, wherein one of the sidewalls includes one or more orifices each providing a fluid passageway into the inner chamber, whereby the inner chamber is adapted to receive a second volume of fluid when the flexible body is in a non-compressed state and to expel the fluid as the flexible body is compressed into a compressed state, wherein the inner chambers of the dampers in the first roweach has a first volume and the inner chambers of the dampers in the second row each has a second volume matching that of the first volume, wherein the one or more orifices of thedampers of the first row have a size, a number, or orientation pattern that differs from the one or more of the orifices of the dampers in the second row, wherein each of the dampers in the first row of dampers has a first damping coefficient and each of the dampers inthe second row of dampers has a second damping coefficient, and wherein the second damping coefficient is greater than the first damping coefficient.
18. A damper system for use in controlling landing of a boat at a dock, comprising: a first set of dampers; and a second set of dampers, wherein each of the dampers in the first set of dampers comprises a body, formed of a first flexible material, with an inner chamber defined by exterior sidewallsof the body and with an orifice providing a passageway through the exterior sidewalls to the inner chamber for receiving a first volume of fluid when the body is in an at-rest state, wherein each of the dampers in the second set of dampers comprises a body formed of a second flexible material, with an inner chamber defined by exterior sidewalls of the body and with an orifice providing a passageway through the exterior sidewalls to the inner chamber for receiving a second volume of fluid that differs from the first volume of fluid when the body is in an at-rest state, wherein each of the dampers in the first set of dampers is configured, when under a first predefined compressive force, to be deformed from the at-rest state with the first volume of the fluid in the at least one chamber to a compressed state in which at least a fraction of the first volume of the fluid is ejected from theat least one chamber via the orifice, and wherein each of the dampers in the second set of dampers is configured, when under a second predefined compressive force differing from the first predefined compressive force, to be deformed from the at-rest state with the second volume of the fluid in the at least one chamber to a compressed state in which at leasta fraction of the second volume of the fluid is ejected from the at least one chamber viathe orifice.
26. A damper system for use in controlling landing of a boat at a dock, comprising: a first set of dampers; and a second set of dampers, wherein each of the dampers in the first set of dampers comprises a body, formed of a first flexible material, with an inner chamber defined by exterior sidewalls of the body and with an orifice providing a passageway through the exterior sidewalls to the inner chamber for receiving a first volume of fluid when the body is in an at-rest state, wherein each of the dampers in the second set of dampers comprises a body formed of a second flexible material, with an inner chamberdefined by exterior sidewalls of the body and with an orifice providing a passageway through the exterior sidewalls to the inner chamber for receiving a second volume of fluid that differs from the first volume of fluid when the body is in an at-rest state, wherein each of the dampers in the first set of dampers is configured to be deformed from the at-reststate to a compressed state, whereby a depth of the body of each of the dampers in the first set of dampers is reduced by a first predefined magnitude, and wherein each of the dampers in the second set of dampers is configured to be deformed from the at-rest state to acompressed state, whereby a depth of the body of each of the dampers in the second set ofdampers is reduced by a second predefined magnitude differing from the first predefined magnitude, whereby a maximum amount of travel for the boat after initial contact with the damper system is defined by a combination of the first and second predefined magnitudes.