Analysis of the Interface for an Autonomous Trash Collection Vessel and Its Mothership
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ANALYSIS OF THE INTERFACE FOR AN AUTONOMOUS TRASH COLLECTION VESSEL AND ITS MOTHERSHIP by Nicholas Hanslin de Sherbinin and Alice Panek A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of The requirements for the Bachelor of Science Degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering _______________________________________ Nicholas Hanslin de Sherbinin _______________________________________ Alice Panek Certification of Approval _______________________________________ Matthew Werner, Dean _______________________________________ Date _______________________________________ Professor Benjamin Scott, Principal Advisor _______________________________________ Date Webb Institute Glen Cove, New York ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the support of our thesis advisor, Professor Benjamin Scott, who guided us through the process, our reader, Professor John Daidola, for his revisions and comments to our drafts, and Ms. Jessica Gottdank and Ms. Susan Baer of Clear Blue Sea for giving us this topic and helping us throughout the process. We would also like to thank Andrew Vogeler, Brandon Louis, Chris Johnson, Taylor Reiss, Vincent Commisso, Chase Geschwilm, Ian McReal, and Justyn Hochheiser for letting us use various parts of their ship design projects in our thesis. Finally, we would like to give a special thanks to Justyn Hochheiser for lowering our advisor’s expectations to allow us to pass first semester, and Nicholas Ratinaud for lowering expectations during the presentations to make us look better. ii ABSTRACT The accumulation of plastics in the oceans is a growing concern in the world today, as it causes harm to wildlife, and navigation hazards to ships. The San Diego startup company, Clear Blue Sea (CBSea), is designing a Floating Robot for Eliminating Debris (FRED) to clean plastics out of the ocean. FRED will autonomously collect garbage from the ocean, and when FRED is filled, it will offload its garbage to a manned mothership. This thesis looks at CBSea’s options for mothership types, methods for FRED to dock with the mothership, and methods for the garbage to be transferred from FRED to the mothership. Four candidates were selected to be designed. The final recommendation is that CBSea eliminate the use of a mothership and sail FRED directly to a shore-based port. When CBSea is more financially established, we recommend that they look further into using a heavylift ship to lift FRED or having FRED dock alongside a project heavylift ship and have the garbage bins removed by cranes. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix NOMENCLATURE ....................................................................................................................... x INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 OBJECTIVE ................................................................................................................................... 1 BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................ 2 OCEAN PLASTIC PROBLEM .................................................................................................. 2 EXISTING FRED ARCHITECTURE AS OF OCTOBER 1, 2017 ........................................... 7 EXISTING REFUSE COLLECTION METHODS .................................................................. 12 MOTHERSHIP RESEARCH ................................................................................................... 13 INITIAL DOCKING CONCEPTS CONSIDERED..................................................................... 13 CONCEPTUAL DESIGN ............................................................................................................ 14 DOCKING INTERFACES ....................................................................................................... 14 Dock Alongside ..................................................................................................................... 14 Floodable Cargo Hold ........................................................................................................... 15 Pallet ...................................................................................................................................... 16 Bay in Stern ........................................................................................................................... 18 Ramp ...................................................................................................................................... 20 Lift on Board ......................................................................................................................... 24 Heavylift ................................................................................................................................ 26 Go Directly to Shore .............................................................................................................. 26 Catamaran .............................................................................................................................. 28 GARBAGE OFFLOADING INTERFACES ............................................................................ 30 Hopper to Conveyor Belt ....................................................................................................... 30 Suction ................................................................................................................................... 31 Gravity Feed .......................................................................................................................... 32 Scoop ..................................................................................................................................... 33 Lift ......................................................................................................................................... 34 Removable Bins ..................................................................................................................... 35 INITIAL CONCEPT COMPARISON ......................................................................................... 36 SAFETY .................................................................................................................................... 36 Personnel ............................................................................................................................... 36 Mothership ............................................................................................................................. 37 FRED ..................................................................................................................................... 37 Environment .......................................................................................................................... 37 RELIABILITY .......................................................................................................................... 38 Custom versus Commercial Products .................................................................................... 38 Sea State ................................................................................................................................ 38 Dynamic Positioning Required .............................................................................................. 38 PERFORMANCE ..................................................................................................................... 39 Cost and Mothership Modifications ...................................................................................... 39 iv Timely .................................................................................................................................... 39 Capacity ................................................................................................................................. 39 MAINTAINABILITY ............................................................................................................... 40 Ease of Maintenance .............................................................................................................. 40 Frequency of Maintenance .................................................................................................... 40 DECISION MATRICES ........................................................................................................... 40 Primary Matrices ................................................................................................................... 40 Mapping Matrices .................................................................................................................. 48 CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT .....................................................................................................