Mankind's demand for oil worldwide has led to large volumes of it being transported over long distances, mainly by sea. Oil spilled in this environment can have disastrous consequences which makes rapid containment and recovery crucial. However, past incidents show that existing methods of response do not adequately prevent environmental disasters.
The Recoil winch is designed as part of an innovative new system for recovering oil contamination from the sea. Oil is encircled and concentrated in a continuous process, producing an increased recovery rate as well as a significant increase in recovery process efficiency.
The oil is encircled using a length of oil containment boom and the Recoil winch then constricts the circle by pulling the boom between two elastomeric rollers. As the circle reduces in diameter like a lasso, the free end of boom increases in length and this is deployed simultaneously in encircling further areas of oil contamination.
1.An area of oil contamination is encircled
2.The circle is constricted making the oil layer thicker
3.The thicker oil layer is recovered, more oil is encircled
The inspiration for this project came from witnessing the effects of an oil spill in Norway in 2009. I thoroughly enjoy applying my creativity to find innovative solutions to a variety of problems and hope to continue this in my future career.
