1-25. (canceled)
26. A fluidified inert material spreading device configured to travel in a body of water in a travelling direction along and over a pipeline, the fluidified inert material spreading device comprising:
a hull which:
extends along a longitudinal axis,
houses at least one expansion chamber for fluidified inert material,
is connected to at least one feed port configured to to feed the fluidified inert material to the at least one expansion chamber, and
has a plurality of outlet ports:
configured to release the fluidified inert material from the at least one expansion chamber to an area close to the pipeline, and
which collectively define a flow cross section greater than a flow cross section of the at least one feed port.
27. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 26, wherein the hull includes a bottom wall and two side walls adjacent to the bottom wall, and at least one of the outlet ports is arranged along the bottom wall.
28. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 27, wherein at least one of the outlet ports is arranged along the side walls.
29. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 26, wherein each of the outlet ports has a flow cross section smaller than the flow cross section of the at least one feed port.
30. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 27, wherein the bottom wall is humpbacked, with respect to a directrix, to orient the plurality of outlet ports to produce an outflow of the fluidified inert material in diverging directions.
31. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 26, wherein each of the outlet ports has a flow cross section defined by a mesh.
32. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 26, wherein each of the outlet ports has a flow cross section defined by a plurality of slats.
33. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 32, wherein the plurality of slats are oriented to produce an outflow of the fluidified inert material in a preferential outflow direction.
34. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 26, wherein a height of the hull increases along the longitudinal axis in the travelling direction.
35. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 26, wherein a width of the hull decreases along the longitudinal axis in the travelling direction.
36. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 26, which includes a flow distributor configured to distribute the fluidified inert material in the hull along the longitudinal axis.
37. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 36, wherein the flow distributor extends along the longitudinal axis and has a free end defining the at least one feed port at a fore end of the hull.
38. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 37, wherein the flow distributor has a plurality of openings arranged along the longitudinal axis to distribute the flow of the fluidified inert material inside the hull.
39. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 38, which includes a screen located along a conduit between the at least one feed port and the plurality of openings to separate, from the flow of the fluidified inert material, any chunks of the fluidified inert material greater than a designated size.
40. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 39, wherein the flow distributor communicates with a bin, upstream from the screen, for any chunks of fluidified inert material greater than the designated size.
41. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 26, wherein the hull includes a plurality of expansion chambers arranged along the longitudinal axis.
42. The fluidified inert material spreading device of claim 41, wherein a bottom of each of the expansion chambers is bounded by at least one of the outlet ports.
43. A method of spreading fluidified inert material over a pipeline in a body of water, the method comprising:
moving a hull of a spreading device in the body of water in a travelling direction along and over the pipeline;
feeding the fluidified inert material through a feed port into at least one expansion chamber of the hull; and
releasing the fluidified inert material from the at least one expansion chamber through a plurality of outlet ports, which define an overall flow cross section greater than a flow cross section of the feed port.
44. The method of claim 43, which includes orienting outflow of the fluidified inert material from the outlet ports based on a configuration of the outlet ports.
45. The method of claim 43, which includes distributing the fluidified inert material in the at least one expansion chamber along a longitudinal axis.
46. The method of claim 45, which includes distributing the fluidified inert material such that a distributed amount of the fluidified inert material decreases along the longitudinal axis in an opposite direction to the travelling direction.
47. The method of claim 45, wherein the spreading device includes a plurality of expansion chambers arranged along the longitudinal axis, and which includes distributing the fluidified inert material along the longitudinal axis by dividing the fluidified inert material between the plurality of expansion chambers.
48. The method of claim 43, which includes screening the fluidified inert material to prevent any chunks of the fluidified inert material greater than a designated size from accessing the at least one expansion chamber.
49. The method of claim 43, wherein the hull includes a bottom wall and which includes keeping the bottom wall, with the plurality of outlet ports, tilted with respect to the pipeline, and substantially converging with the pipeline in the travelling direction.
50. The method of claim 43, which includes keeping the spreading device, as it moves in the travelling direction, at least partly inside a trench housing the pipeline.
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 for determining the absolute position (\u03c6) of a moving carrier (4) for scale marks (6) of an incremental encoder (2) with respect to a sensor array (12), wherein scale segments (10) having segment lengths (L0, L1, L2, . . . ) differing by pairs are present between the scale marks (6) on the carrier (4), comprising the following steps:
a) generating a first measuring signal (x) with a first sensor (14a) of the sensory array (12),
b) correspondingly generating a second measuring signal (y) with a second sensor (14b) of the sensor array (12), which is disposed offset relative to the first sensor (14a) along a direction of movement (16) of the carrier (4),
characterized by the further steps:
c) for each scale segment (10): theoretically determining a respective is theoretical phase shift (\u0394\u03b1t) between theoretically ideal measuring signals (xi, yi) of the first (14a) and second sensors (14b),
d) generating a first (xm) and second model signal (ym) based on a set of parameters (P1, P2, . . . ), and which model the first (x) and second associated measuring signal (y) respectively, using starting values for the parameters (P1, P2, . . . ),
e) repeatedly carrying out the steps:
aa) adapting the respective model signal (xm,ym) to the associated measuring signal (x,y) by adapting the parameters (P1, P2, . . . ) based on an adaptation criterion (20) and instantaneous values of the measuring signals (x,y)
bb) determining an instantaneous model phase shift (\u0394\u03b1m) between the model signals (xm,ym),
cc) selecting the theoretical phase shift (\u0394\u03b1t) corresponding to the instantaneous model phase shift (\u0394\u03b1m) and choosing as an instantaneous scale segment (10) for the absolute position (\u03c6) the scale segment (10) related to the selected theoretical phase shift (\u0394\u03b1t),
dd) determining the absolute position (\u03c6) of the carrier (4) with respect to the sensor array from the known position of the instantaneous scale segment and from a relative position (\u03c6rel) within the instantaneous scale segment, which is defined based on an instantaneous phase position (\u03b1m) of the model signals (xm, ym) within the instantaneous scale segment.
2. The method according to claim 1, in which in step bb), the instantaneous model phase shift (\u0394\u03b1m) is determined from the set of parameters (P1, P2, . . . ).
3. The method according to claim 2, in which,
a complex measuring locus (K) is generated from the first measuring signal as the real part (x) and from the second measuring signal (y) as the imaginary part,
a complex model locus (Km) is generated with the first model signal (xm) as the real part and the second model signal (ym) as the imaginary part,
the respective model signal (xm,ym) is adapted to the associated measuring signal (x,y) in step aa) by adapting the model locus (Km) to the measuring locus (K),
the absolute position (\u03c6) is determined in step dd) from the instantaneous phase position (\u03b1m) of the model locus.
4. The method according to claim 3, in which in step d) the first model signal (xm) is represented in the form
xm=x0+(xc+xd)cos \u221d\u2212(yc\u2212yd)sin \u221d
and the second model signal (ym) is represented in the form
ym=y0+(yc+yd)cos \u221d+(xc\u2212xd)sin \u221d
wherein the parameters {x0,y0,xc,yc,xd,yd} form the parameter set (P1, P2, . . . ).
5. The method according to claim 4, in which in step c) purely cosinusoidal measuring signals (xi,yi) are assumed to be theoretical ideal measuring signals (xi, yi), which cosinusoidal measuring signals have as their period length, the segment length (L0, L1, . . . ) of the respective scale segment (10), and each of which have the same phase angle at the start of the same scale segment (10).
6. The method according to claim 5, in which in step bb),
the first model signal (xm) is represented in the form
xm=x0+a cos \u03c9t+b sin \u03c9t=x0+c sin(\u03c9t+\u03b3)
and the second model signal (ym) is represented in the form
ym=y0+d cos \u03c9t+e sin \u03c9t=y0+f sin(\u03c9t+\u03b7)
and the instantaneous model phase shift (\u0394\u03b1m) is determined from the difference \u03b3\u2212\u03b7.
7. The method according to claim 6, in which in step b), the second sensor (14b) is disposed offset along the carrier (4) relative to the first sensor (14a) by at most half the smallest segment length (L0, L1, L2, . . . ).
8. A carrier (4) for scale marks (6) of an incremental encoder (2), wherein scale segments (10) having segment lengths (L0, L1, L2, . . . ) differing by pairs are disposed between the scale marks (6) on the carrier (4) along a direction of movement (16),
characterized by
a first scale segment (10) of a base length (L0) disposed approximately centrally in the direction of movement (16),
wherein the segment lengths (L0, L1, L2, . . . ) of the remaining scale segments (10) each alternately solely increase or solely decrease along the direction of movement (16) on both sides starting from the first scale segment (10).
9. The carrier (4) according to claim 8, in which the first scale segment (10) is followed on both sides along the direction of movement (16) in each case by an equal number of additional scale segments (10).
10. The carrier (4) according to claim 9, in which each of the scale segments (10) has a segment length (L0, L1, L2, . . . ), which corresponds to the base length (L0) plus a whole-numbered multiple (n) of a length increment (\u0394L).
11. The carrier (4) according to claim 10, in which the smallest or largest scale segment (10) has the base length (L0) and, based on this, the remaining scale segments (10) are each larger or smaller by complete whole-numbered multiples (n) of the length increment (\u0394L), wherein the multiples (n) are even numbered in or counter to the direction of movement (16) and odd-numbered in the opposite direction.
12. The carrier (4) according to claim 11, in which the segment lengths (L0, L1, L2, . . . ) of the two edge scale segments (10) differ only by the length increment (\u0394L).
13. The carrier (4) according to claim 12, in which the size of the length increment (\u0394L) is in the range of 0.1% to 10% of the base length (L0).
14. The carrier (4) according to claim 13, which is a self-contained annular, in particular, circular carrier (4) of an incremental encoder (2) in the form of a rotary encoder, and in which a division of the scale segments (10) is selected in such a way that all scale segments (10) adjoin one another completely and without overlapping along the direction of movement (16).
15. (canceled)