A subsea buoy 10 comprises a rigid watertight external shell 14 extending continuously around a supporting internal structure that is sealed and fully enclosed by the shell. The shell is formed integrally and simultaneously with the internal structure by the same additive manufacturing process. The internal structure is foraminous comprising cavities 20 disposed between structural members 18, such as struts of a lattice or webs of a matrix. The structural members and cavities may be in a hierarchical or fractal array comprising a relatively narrow outer tier (20B, Fig 8) adjoining the shell and at least one relatively wide inner tier (20C, 20D, Fig 8) within the outer tier. A method of making the subsea buoy using the additive manufacturing process is also disclosed.
Pressure-resistant buoys
2020-09-30
Patent
Electronic Resource
English