1. A method, comprising:
circulating through a flow loop a cooling fluid which includes a fluid coolant, said flow loop passing through heat-generating structure disposed in an environment having an ambient pressure, said fluid coolant having a boiling temperature in the range of 60\xb0 C. to 75\xb0 C. at at least one pressure in the range of two to eight psia;
reducing a pressure of said cooling fluid at a selected location along said flow loop to a subambient pressure at which said cooling fluid has a boiling temperature less than a temperature of said heat-generating structure;
bringing said cooling fluid at said subambient pressure into thermal communication with said heat-generating structure, so that said coolant boils and vaporizes to thereby absorb heat from said heat-generating structure;
supplying said cooling fluid from said heat-generating structure to a device which removes heat from said coolant so as to condense substantially all of said coolant to a liquid;
thereafter extracting from said flow loop a selected portion of said cooling fluid that has been cooled by said device, said selected portion being a vapor that includes a non-condensable gas; and
wherein said selected portion includes some vapor of said coolant, and including:
increasing a pressure of said selected portion to a selected pressure higher than said subambient pressure;
supplying said selected portion at said selected pressure to a heat exchanger which removes heat from said selected portion to condense to a liquid substantially all of said vapor of said coolant which is present in said selected portion;
thereafter separating said non-condensable gas of said selected portion from said liquid coolant of said selected portion;
discharging to said environment said non-condensable gas separated from liquid coolant of said selected portion; and
returning said liquid coolant of said selected portion to said flow loop.
2. A method according to claim 1, including discharging said selected portion to said environment.
3. An apparatus, comprising:
heat-generating structure disposed in an environment having an ambient pressure;
a first portion defining a flow loop which passes through said heat-generating structure, said flow loop having a cooling fluid circulating therethrough, and said cooling fluid including a fluid coolant;
a second portion which reduces a pressure of said cooling fluid at a selected location along said flow loop to a subambient pressure at which said cooling fluid has a boiling temperature less than a temperature of said heat-generating structure, said cooling fluid at said subambient pressure moving along said flow loop into thermal communication with said heat-generating structure, so that said coolant boils and vaporizes to thereby absorb heat from said heat-generating structure;
a third portion along said flow loop which receives said cooling fluid from said heat-generating structure and which removes heat from said coolant so as to condense substantially all of said coolant to a liquid; and
a fourth portion which extracts from said flow loop a selected portion of said cooling fluid that has been cooled, said selected portion being a vapor that includes a non-condensable gas;
wherein said selected portion includes some vapor of said coolant, and including:
a fifth portion which increases a pressure of said selected portion to a selected pressure higher than said subambient pressure;
a heat exchanger which receives said selected portion at said selected pressure and which removes heat from said selected portion to condense to a liquid substantially all of said vapor of said coolant which is present in said selected portion;
a sixth portion which separates said non-condensable gas of said selected portion from said liquid coolant of said selected portion;
a seventh portion which discharges to said environment said non-condensable gas separated from liquid coolant of said selected portion;
an eighth portion for thereafter returning to said flow loop said liquid coolant of said selected portion; and
including between said fourth and fifth portions a valve which is selectively operable in first and second operational modes, wherein in said first operational mode said valve discharges said selected portion from said fourth portion to said environment, and wherein in said second operational mode said valve supplies said selected portion from said fourth portion to said fifth portion.
4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said seventh portion includes a chamber which recites said liquid coolant, and which has an opening that provides fluid communication between an interior of said chamber and said environment.
5. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said eighth portion includes a valve, and includes a level switch coupled to said valve and responsive to a level of said liquid coolant in said chamber for selectively actuating said valve.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of preparing a skin plate for a hydrofoil structure, comprising:
(a) cutting a metal plate to an initial size and shape as a skin blank;
(b) determining separation line locations on the skin blank for parallel cuts to separate the skin blank into skin parts for respective structural sections of the hydrofoil structure;
(c) bending the skin blank into a required hydrofoil skin shape;
(d) supporting the skin blank in a predetermined position; and
(e) cutting the skin blank into at least two separate skin parts and simultaneously providing a beveled margin on each of those separate skin parts in a single cutting operation by utilizing at least one pair of cutting torches, each cutting torch of each pair cutting a respective bevel on a margin of one of a respective pair of adjacent skin parts while the respective pair of cutting torches are cutting the skin blank along a separation line to separate the same pair of adjacent skin parts from each other.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of cutting the skin blank into the separate skin parts includes cutting the skin blank to provide a nose skin part, a middle skin part, and a tail skin part.
3. The method of claim 1 including cutting respective oppositely beveled margins with opposite respective slopes on the respective skin parts formed on opposite sides of a respective separation line between the skin parts.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein said oppositely beveled margins define a V-shaped groove between adjacent ones of the separate skin parts formed from the skin blank.
5. The method of claim 1 including as a part of the single cutting operation the step of also simultaneously using one of the cutting torches to cut the skin blank so as to form a beveled surface along a nose margin, at an outwardly inclined slope, so that the beveled surface can become a side of a V-shaped groove defined partially by the nose margin of the skin plate.
6. Apparatus for constructing a hydrofoil member of a waterborne vessel, comprising:
(a) a parts support structure;
(b) a gantry having a front end, a rear end, a length, and a width, the gantry being mounted for movement of the gantry longitudinally along a predetermined path with respect to the parts support structure, and including a drive mechanism arranged to move the gantry along the predetermined path;
(c) a plurality of cutting torches spaced apart from one another laterally across the width of said gantry and useable while the gantry is moving along the predetermined path, the plurality of cutting torches including at least one pair, and the ones of the at least one pair of cutting torches being arranged closely behind one another and oriented at an acute angle with respect to each other, so as to cut respective oppositely beveled faces on a pair of margins extending along two opposite sides of a cut through a workpiece supported on the parts support structure; and
(d) a plurality of arc welders spaced apart from one another laterally across the width of the gantry, each arc welder being supported on the gantry and all of the plurality being operable simultaneously while the gantry is moving along the predetermined path.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the drive mechanism is arranged to drive said gantry along the predetermined path at a controlled adjustable rate of speed.
8. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the parts support structure is adjustable to hold a workpiece in a desired alignment with respect to the gantry.
9. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the plurality of cutting torches includes at least four said cutting torches arranged in a plurality of pairs, and wherein each pair is arranged to form respective oppositely beveled faces on a pair of margins extending along two opposite sides of a respective cut through a workpiece.
10. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the cutting torches are gas-burning torches.
11. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the cutting torches are mounted at the front end of the gantry.
12. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the arc welders are submerged arc welders.
13. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the arc welders are mounted at the rear end of the gantry.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the arc welders are operable while the gantry is moving in a rearward direction.
15. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the arc welders are arranged with respect to the gantry so as to precede the gantry, while welding, as the gantry moves along the predetermined path with respect to the workpiece.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the cutting torches are arranged on the front end of the gantry and the arc welders are arranged on the rear end of the gantry.
17. A method of manufacturing a hydrofoil structure, comprising:
(a) providing a first skin plate;
(b) bending the first skin plate to a predetermined skin shape;
(c) cutting the first skin plate into a plurality of skin parts including a hydrofoil nose skin part and a hydrofoil tail skin part, in a single cutting pass along the skin plate, thereby forming a pair of mutually confronting oppositely beveled margins along a cut separating adjacent ones of the resulting plurality of pieces;
(d) assembling a plurality of respective web members and a corresponding opposite side skin part with each of the skin parts to form a plurality of hydrofoil structural sections each including a respective one of the skin parts;
(e) tacking the hydrofoil structural sections to one another as a preliminarily fastened hydrofoil structure; and
(f) welding to each other the skin parts cut from the first skin plate, on a first side of the preliminarily fastened hydrofoil structure, by operating a submerged arc welder to weld along a seam joining the oppositely beveled margins of the skin parts on the first side of the preliminarily fastened hydrofoil structure, using a gantry to move said submerged arc welders along the preliminarily fastened hydrofoil structure.
18. A method of manufacturing a hydrofoil structure, comprising:
(a) providing a pair of opposite first and second skin plates;
(b) bending each one of the pair of skin plates to a respective predetermined skin shape;
(c) cutting each one of the pair of skin plates into a plurality of skin parts including a respective hydrofoil nose skin part and a respective hydrofoil tail skin part, in a single cutting pass along each one of the pair of skin plates, thereby forming respective pairs of oppositely beveled confronting margins along cuts separating the plurality of skin parts;
(d) fastening a plurality of nose section webs to the nose skin part of the first one of the pair of skin plates;
(e) thereafter fastening the nose skin part of the second one of the pair of skin plates to the plurality of nose section webs in a position wherein a nose margin of each one of the nose skin parts is aligned with a nose margin of the other one of the nose skin plates;
(f) fastening the respective other skin parts of each one of the pair of skin plates to a respective plurality of web members and corresponding opposite skin parts, thereby forming a plurality of hydrofoil structural sections;
(g) tacking said hydrofoil structural sections to one another, thereby forming a preliminarily fastened hydrofoil structure including a pair of parallel skin joint seams;
(h) supporting the preliminarily fastened hydrofoil structure in a predetermined location with respect to a gantry; and
(i) welding the skin parts of a first side of the preliminarily fastened hydrofoil structure to each other by using the gantry to move at least two submerged arc welders to weld simultaneously along at least two parallel seams on the first side of the preliminarily fastened hydrofoil structure.
19. The method of claim 18 including the welding each of the two parallel seams simultaneously at least twice on each of the opposite sides of the preliminarily fastened hydrofoil structure to form respective welded seams each having desired dimensions.