The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 14, 2014
Filed:
Dec. 14, 2010
John Charles Flint, Warwickshire, GB;
Richard Ian Stephens, Warwickshire, GB;
Anthony John Howard Wilkins, Warwickshire, GB;
John Charles Flint, Warwickshire, GB;
Richard Ian Stephens, Warwickshire, GB;
Anthony John Howard Wilkins, Warwickshire, GB;
GE Energy Power Conversion Technology Limited, Rugby, Warwickshire, GB;
Abstract
The present invention provides a method of controlling the position of a spread moored marine vessel (). In particular, the method of the present invention substantially maintains the position of a spread moored vessel () in, or on the boundary of a target area () using thruster assistance. This is done by monitoring the position of the vessel and when the vessel () is positioned outside of the target area () applying a position correcting thrust () to the vessel () in the direction of an aim position located on the boundary of the target area () and when the vessel () is positioned within the target area () reducing the position correcting thrust () applied to the vessel () or maintaining the position correcting thrust () applied to the vessel () at zero. The present invention may also apply a damping thrust () to the vessel () in order to damp the positional variation of the vessel (). The present invention also provides a thruster assisted mooring system for a spread moored vessel () operating according to the method of the present invention.