A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements • Hacker News Board

Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements

#61

Post by ChuckMcM » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 6:17 PM UTC

I have always enjoyed articles on this research platform. I imagined at one time that it would make for an interesting tourist site if you could put an observation "dome" at what would become the bottom and viewing galleries along the length. Then tow your tour out somewhere, flip, and let people move up and down looking at various levels of sea life.

At the time, an older engineer pointed out that if you didn't fill the bottom with sea water it didn't flip. So really the tourists would all have to wear scuba gear anyway :-). Which crushed my young dreams of a Captain Nemo style encounter in the tidewaters of the great barrier reef.

Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements

#62

Post by troisx » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 6:22 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #20

Similar 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...

I saw the FLIP when I was sailing one time. If I hadn't previously read about it I probably would have called the coast guard because it looked like a ship going down.

Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements

#63

Post by pavel_lishin » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 6:33 PM UTC

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #16

J-dawg wrote: post #13

I 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://d2ydh70d…

Are you sure J-dawg's the one overthinking this?

Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements

#64

Post by pavel_lishin » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 6:33 PM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #61

I have always enjoyed articles on this research platform. I imagined at one time that it would make for an interesting tourist site if you could put an observation "dome" at what would become the bottom and viewing galleries along the length. Then tow your tour out somewhere, flip, and let people move up and down looking at various levels of sea life. At the time, an older engineer pointed out that if you didn't fill…

You don't have to fill the entire bottom with sea water - you could leave a (presumably pressurized, which is a bummer) empty bubble at the bottom.

Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements

#65

Post by sandworm101 » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 6:36 PM UTC

troisx wrote: post #62

sandworm101 wrote: post #20

Similar 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...

I saw the FLIP when I was sailing one time. If I hadn't previously read about it I probably would have called the coast guard because it looked like a ship going down.

Also the sea king helos. When they do water landings everyone panics.

Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements

#66

Post by cmsmith » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 6:45 PM UTC

amingilani wrote: post #26

The article didn't address it so I'll just ask: why? Why do you need to build a flipping (no pun intended) ship? Couldn't they have just as easily built a tall floating rig that could be dragged by the same tugboat? Why do they even need to change to boat form? Can't they tug it when it's vertical? Drilling platforms are stable floating structures aren't they? They consist of a stable floating upper platform.

I'll take a guess:

300 feet is awfully deep. If you believe that 300 feet of draft is needed to get the stability they need, then this seems like the only way to get it. There are no ports, or even semi-protected waters, where you could build, launch, or dock something like that without it running aground.

Some quick research shows that the deepest draft on oil platforms is in the range of 25m (1/4 of the FLIP ship), and further that this ship was built a decade before the development of floating oil platforms.

Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements

#67

Post by panic » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 6:55 PM UTC

nashashmi wrote: post #15

gerbilly wrote: post #6

>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.

It's not necessarily about interest. US policy for the past few decades has been to reduce taxes (in 1945 we took 94% from the highest income tax bracket!) and let the private sector decide how to allocate money. Since people spend a lot of money on tech, that's where the money ends up.

Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements

#68

Post by cm2187 » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 7:12 PM UTC

J-dawg wrote: post #13

I 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!

And they'd better flush too!

Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements

#69

Post by ge96 » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 7:25 PM UTC

Gracana wrote: post #5

ge96 wrote: post #2

Hmm Makes me think like why would they design a hovering rocket crane to lower a Rover autonomously on another planet. There is a reason/it worked, and with this ship hmm, like is that the only solution? You could have floating bouys that have either neumatic or electromagnetic suspension stabilized... But then again the scale/weight of this thing... I guess the design makes sense as far as being able to operate in s…

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.

Yeah 300 feet is a lot of ballast I imagine.

Re: A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements

#70

Post by jlg23 » Wed, Aug 23, 2017, 7:29 PM UTC

fcbrooklyn wrote: post #37

jdmichal wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I would have just towed it out empty, flipped it vertical, then loaded people on. That way, only one orientation needs to be supported at all.

I imagine it might be quite dangerous to transfer people from one ship to the other in heavy seas, and in the article they were talking about seas of 30 feet.

> I imagine it might be quite dangerous to transfer people from one ship to the other in heavy seas

The article states that daily transfers of people was the M.O. initially and that they only installed sleeping quarters so experiments could be run 24/7.