The name of the ship is FLIP: FLoating Instrument Platform.
Nice acronym work is done there.
A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements
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Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements
#12>As research budgets shrink, and fewer people go into oceanographic research, it’s hard to say what is on the horizon for FLIP. Why is it that budgets everywhere from businesses public/private to government to scientific research are always shrinking? It's like it's the invariant of our age: well you know, budgets are shrinking...
Maybe growing budgets don't make the headlines, or newly created budgets don't enter in the "growing" category.
Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements
#13I thought the photo of the two basins at 90 degrees to each other was a nice example that it sometimes makes sense to violate the DRY principle.
Someone must have looked at installing a gimballed basin, realised how complicated the custom-made gimbal and plumbing would have to be, and thought "screw it, let's just order a second basin".
Also, someone really needs to put a lid on that soap container!
Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements
#14>As research budgets shrink, and fewer people go into oceanographic research, it’s hard to say what is on the horizon for FLIP. Why is it that budgets everywhere from businesses public/private to government to scientific research are always shrinking? It's like it's the invariant of our age: well you know, budgets are shrinking...
Maybe growing budgets don't make the headlines, or newly created budgets don't enter in the "growing" category.
I learned recently that often when it is said that "budgets are shrinking" it actually means the purposed year over year increase has been cut and in terms of total dollars it continues to increase or stay the same. Not sure if this is the case here but something to look out for.
Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements
#15>As research budgets shrink, and fewer people go into oceanographic research, it’s hard to say what is on the horizon for FLIP. Why is it that budgets everywhere from businesses public/private to government to scientific research are always shrinking? It's like it's the invariant of our age: well you know, budgets are shrinking...
Because budgets elsewhere are expanding. Interest in science has waned and research in tech has increased.
My own field of civil engineering has seen much better days in terms of research and innovation. The field is now seen as ancient and specs are top heavy. Well, the brighter minds have turned to other areas and our field has flatlined.
Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements
#16I thought the photo of the two basins at 90 degrees to each other was a nice example that it sometimes makes sense to violate the DRY principle. Someone must have looked at installing a gimballed basin, realised how complicated the custom-made gimbal and plumbing would have to be, and thought "screw it, let's just order a second basin". Also, someone really needs to put a lid on that soap container!
You're over thinking it. It only needs to move +/-45 in one plane. Weld a hinge to the wall above the sink. Suspend the sink from the hinge. The radius can be determined by how much flex hose you want to purchase for the drain and supply lines.
The same should work for toilets and showers.
Run all your drain piping toward the corner of the ship that's always under water.
Install these on your showers.
http://d2ydh70d4b5xgv.cloudfront.net/images/2/7/shower-head-...
You might want to let things move more than +/-45 or install pins to lock stuff. Taking a crap in rough seas could get weird when you and the toilet can stay level as the ship moves but only in one direction.
It all comes down to weight vs tolerance for squeaks and rattles. Maintenance should be in the same ballpark. Greasing hinges and more flexible plumbing/wiring/infrastructure to worry about is probably not much worse than twice as much everything.
Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
They say this thing is stable in 30 foot seas. 300 feet of the ship is underwater. I don't think you could match that with buoys.
In the vertical configuration it is described as a buoy: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/ships/flip
Likely because it can't move under its own power. It's akin to a barge when horizontal and akin to a buoy when vertical.
Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements
#18I would have designed the crew quarters on a kind of gimbal so that they are always upright. Make better use of the space and no need to put everything away (thinking of the soap dispenser on the basin) when changing orientation.
Like the central bureaucracy in Futurama?
Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements
#19Why can't they just use a probe of some kind? Or a small submarine released from the ship?
Because the instability of a submarine is precisely why this ship was conceived in the first place. From the wiki:
"Development started in January 1960 after a conversation between MPL researcher Frederick H. Fisher and MPL Director Fred N. Spiess regarding stability problems that Fisher was encountering when using the submarine USS Baya (SS-318) as a research platform."
I'm not clear however why a submarine was too unstable for the research they were doing.
Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements
#20Similar approach, but private sector and far bigger. 911 operators get calls whenever these ships operate in view of the public.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/virals/10583550/Ho...