The present invention relates to a floating platform. In particular, the present invention relates to a floating platform of the modular type comprising a plurality of support members which can be mutually coupled in an orderly way. In more detail, the present invention relates to a floating platform of the modular type comprising a plurality of support members, designed so that they can be mutually coupled laterally, each of which being shaped so as to bear at least one panel of given geometry.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

In the sector of solar energy conversion it is well known to use panels allowing production of electrical or thermal power, depending on their nature. These panels are often installed on pre-existing structures by interposing coupling devices; the roof surfaces of the buildings are frequently used for this purpose, in order to economise on the construction of the necessary bases. Furthermore, in this way the normal inclination of these roofs is exploited to maximise the flow of solar radiation, and thus the efficiency of the energy production. It should be noted that the current laws provide for contributions to the construction of plants for the production of electricity, in the form of direct current, through the use of photovoltaic panels, that are the greater, the more the arrangement of the panels is integrated in their base structure. The purpose of this law requirement is the homogeneous architectural and landscape integration of the projects for power conversion plants provided with photovoltaic panels in the environment inside which they are inserted.

The engineers of these plants, in the attempt to improve the landscape integration of the panels, orient themselves to the exploitation of areas naturally arranged for the installations, and thus for minimising the landscape impact. A particularly new trend is that of exploiting delimited water reservoirs, preferably artificial reservoirs such as for example those resulting from removal of sand or gravel near fluvial areas and therefore of building plants that comprise floating platforms produced by coupling modules on the relative perimeter sides. It is well known to fix these platforms stably to at least one of the edges of the corresponding water reservoir by means of a plurality of tie rods and at least one catwalk, which is frequently used to support the cable for transporting the direct current produced by the panels. Each plant of the type described above therefore presents itself as a small island which is covered with photovoltaic panels and can be displaced at will, but always near the banks of the corresponding water reservoir, for the most various requirements or for maintaining and cleaning the panels.

It is well known to construct these small islands by laterally coupling modules that are substantially rectangular. Each module is surrounded by blocks of floats, between which connecting elements, substantially beams, are arranged so as to form a support structure for supporting the photovoltaic panels; this structure is shaped to support these panels mutually flanked transversally to a given direction, along which each rectangular module develops, so as to facilitate the installation, maintenance and cleaning operations of each panel.

This construction choice has clearly the drawback of the stagnation of the water, completely covered by the small island, caused by a circulation defect due to the presence of perimeter floating blocks. This stagnation of water has highly negative consequences, among which a lack of oxygenation of involved waters and the localised heating thereof, resulting in proliferation of algae and microorganisms that can deteriorate the structure and putrefy the water reservoir. Obviously, combination of these effects greatly interferes with the development of animal and veg-etal species, and can lead to climatic changes if the extension of the reservoir and of the small island are particularly significant.

The respect for the above mentioned law requirements is not therefore sufficient to allow the plant coexisting with the animal and vegetal populations, whose life is connected to the chemical composition of the water and to the free circulation thereof.

The prior art gives some references for building floating structures. The patent document US 3673976 describes a pontoon shaped as a catamaran, provided with a pair of floating members presenting a considerable longitudinal development and connected to each other through a structure comprising spars and crossbeams arranged between said spars. Each spar is carried longitudinally by a float through a plurality of U-shaped seats, obtained superiorly, and threaded connections, arranged transversally to these U-shaped seats. Adding that the floating members present considerable longitudinal extension, the teachings of this document are useful to construct only boats, and not a floating structure whose shape and extension can be defined at will to support solar or photovoltaic panels in inland waters maximising exploitation of the water reservoir.

The patent document DE 10311844 informs about the construction of floating houses using modular modules according to a scheme definable at will by the customer, so as to minimise the overall production costs of the boat. In particular, each module is constructed so as to be independent and delimited by four plane side walls parallel to each other and orthogonal two by two to allow interchangeability of their position. The connection between two adjacent modules is made through a coupling device based upon the use of a tie rod arranged transversally to two opposite vertical walls of the two adjacent modules. Different masses applied to adjacent modules can cause a shear stress between the modules, to which the cable cannot resist, due to its nature, resulting in that the connecting device does not avoid relative displacements of adjacent modules according to a direction parallel to the coupled walls. To solve this drawback in section [0025] of this document it is proposed that the coupling between two adjacent modules is stiffened through threaded connections transverse to the mutually coupled walls. This solution is questionable for this application as it opens waterways that can flood the modules and cause sinking of the structure.

According to the document US 6431106, it is possible to construct a floating structure which is usable as a pontoon to strand a boat, or a water motorcycle, and presents a longitudinal and transverse extension sufficient just to support such a vehicle. In this regard, the floating structure is constructed by coupling to each other modular elements of substantially parallelepiped shape and of reduced bulk relative to the longitudinal and transverse dimension of the same pontoon. An access portion of the floating structure presents modular elements of reduced height, so as to be flexible under the weight of the motorcycle fairing and to allow the motorcycle to easily go on board of the floating structure. Each modular element is provided with angle brackets usable to connect the modular elements to each other by means of threaded connections. These angle brackets are flexible and allow the pontoon to flex so as to follow the waves movement and to facilitate the motorcycle to go on board. The flexibility of the connection between modular elements allows to obtain a structure whose elasticity is diffused and a user walking on this structure would cause local depression of the modular elements, thus feeling a sensation similar to that felt standing on trampolines, bearable only if the permanence on the floating structure after having loaded the water motorcycle is short, but unpleasant if the floating structure is very wide and you must work on it for a long time, for maintenance or similar operations.

The patent document JP 10328694 gives teachings to construct a floating island, whose function is to purify the water below. In this regard, the island presents a shaped body defining a path of given shape, spiral or labyrinthine, for the water; a submerged pump allows to feed water to, and discharge water from, this path. The island is supported by floating bodies arranged below the shaped body so that plants can vegetate on the shaped body. It is easily understood that the teachings allowing, in this document, to construct the floating island of given dimensions, do not take into account the chance of constructing a structure of variable dimensions. There are not teachings to couple islands to each other in a serial manner and useful to construct floating structures that can be adapted to the dimensions and conformation of any water reservoir.

The document DE 102007029921 gives teachings to construct a semi-submerged artificial small island in the sea to produce energy and drinking water. In particular, the small island comprises a hollow body supported by at least three floating bodies and provided with a surface resting on the hollow body and on which photovoltaic modules and wind converters are installed. All the components of the plant necessary to produce energy and drinking water are housed inside the hollow body; the small island is anchored to the bottom through only a mooring wire so as to be rotatable, and each floating body is motorised, to align the photovoltaic modules with the sun and to optimise the electrical efficiency, and is provided with a motorised unit so that it can be filled with a water quantity necessary to control the sinking level of the artificial small island. The document also suggests the chance of coupling islands to each other, connecting them through the respective hollow bodies, without however specifying the way. The conformation of the hollow body of each island is rigid and its construction characteristics make it inadequate and excessively expensive for the installation in water reservoirs of reduced dimensions to cover as much as possible widely, and therefore it can be used only in open waters.

In view of the above description, none of the prior art documents, singularly or in combination, gives teachings useful to arrange a floating photovoltaic plant that can be installed in closed waters maximising the respective exploitation, and that is therefore modular and economical, requires reduced maintenance and allows operators to go on board safely both during the installation phase and for maintenance and cleaning operations of panels.

Therefore, the problem of producing a floating platform of the modular type, designed to carry a plurality of panels fully respecting the aquatic environment into which it is inserted, is currently unsolved, and represents an interesting challenge for the applicant, in order to facilitate the diffusion of these engineering solutions.

In view of the situation described above, it would be desirable to have available a floating platform which, in addition to enabling to limit and possibly to overcome the typical drawbacks of the prior art illustrated above, defines a new standard for these types of constructions.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention relates to a floating platform.

In particular, the present invention relates to a floating platform of the modular type comprising a plurality of support members which can be mutually coupled in an orderly way. In more detail, the present invention relates to a floating platform of the modular type comprising a plurality of support members, designed so that they can be mutually coupled laterally, each of which being shaped so as to bear at least one panel of given geometry.

The object- of the present invention is to provide a floating platform, which allows the disadvantages described above to be solved, and which is suitable to satisfy a plurality of requirements that to date have still not been addressed, and therefore suitable to represent a new and original source of economic interest and capable of modifying the current market of the supports for panels.

According to the present invention, a floating platform is provided, whose main characteristics will be described in at least one of the appended claims.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a plant for producing electricity, comprising a floating platform usable to support a plurality of panels for the solar energy conversion.

According to the present invention a plant is furthermore provided for producing electricity, comprising a floating platform, the characteristics of this plant being described in at least one of the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Further characteristics and advantages of the platform and of the plant according to the present invention will be more apparent from the description below, set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate some non-limiting examples of embodiment, in which identical or corresponding parts of the platform and of the plant are identified by the same reference numbers. In particular :

- figure 1 is a plan view of a first preferred embodiment of a platform according to the present invention;

- figure 2 is an exploded axonometric view in enlarged scale of a first module extracted from figure 1;

- figure 3 is a sectional view, in enlarged scale and with some parts removed for the sake of clarity, of a first module extracted from figure 1 according to a plane oriented as the trace III - III of figure 1;

- figure 4· is side elevation view, in enlarged scale and with some parts removed for the sake of clarity, of a first module extracted from figure 1 according to a plane perpendicular to the trace III - III of figure 1;

- figure 5 is an exploded axonometric view in enlarged scale of a second module extracted from figure 1;

- figure 6 is a sectional view, in enlarged scale and with some parts removed for the sake of clarity, of two portions of a second module extracted from figure 1, according to a plane oriented as the trace III - III of figure 1;

- figure 7 is an exploded axonometric view in enlarged scale of a third module extracted from figure 1 ;

- figure 8 is an exploded axonometric view in enlarged scale of a fourth module extracted from figure 1 ;

- figure 9 is a plan view of a detail extracted from figure 8, in enlarged scale and with some parts removed for the sake of clarity;

- figure 10 is a side elevation view in enlarged scale of a detail extracted from figure 9;

figure 11 is an exploded axonometric view in enlarged scale of a fifth module extracted from figure 1;

- figure 12 is a schematic plan view of a variant of figure 1;

figure 13 is a plan view of a second preferred embodiment of figure 1 ;

- figure 14 is a longitudinal sectional view according to a plane oriented as the trace XIV-XIV of a portion of figure 13 in enlarged scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In figure 1, number 1 indicates, in its entirety, a floating platform of the modular type that can be installed above a fluid contained inside a reservoir B (visible only in figure 12) or in natural aquatic environments of limited extension delimited by a contour of given shape. The platform 1 comprises a plurality of modular supports 10 designed so that they can be mutually coupled laterally according to a substantially matrix-shaped structure, each of which being shaped to carry at least one panel P of given geometry. The platform 1 is therefore globally designed for supporting, through the support members 10, a plurality of panels P and, without losing generality, it would be useful to specify that each panel P can comprise a device for the conversion of solar energy into energy of different nature, generally electrical or thermal energy. In the first case reference will be made preferably, but without limitation, to photovoltaic panels P, and in the second case to panels with water tubes. It should be specified that, if not otherwise required by the context, hereinafter the term panel will indicate a photovoltaic panel, graphically illustrated in the attached tables as a parallelepiped with reduced thickness, which is usually in practice of some centimetres.

With particular reference to figures 2, 5, 7, 8, 11, each of the modular supports 10 comprises at least two floating bodies 12 suitable to operate partially immersed, which are mutually coupled by means of an intermediate connecting member 120, which presents substantially rectangular shape and gives entirely a bridge structure to each modular support 10 and supports a plurality of panels P, depending upon the dimensions of these latter. For the sake of completeness, it would be useful to specify that each intermediate connecting member 120 presents extension which is a multiple of the shorter base of a panel P, so as to support a given number of adjacent panels, in contact with the respective flanks. Furthermore, the modular supports 10 are shaped so as to be mutually coupled along a first given direction D, which is arranged transversally to the respective intermediate connecting member 120, so as to delimit superiorly and laterally a longitudinally open channel C in order to allow, in use, a free circulation of the fluid below along the first direction D.

Each floating body 12 is arranged according to the first given direction D and presents a plurality of substantially parallelepiped floating members 122, arranged in a chessboard-like manner, i.e. in a substantially matrix-shaped manner, each of which presents a square or rectangular base, depending upon the specific requirements. In particular, in the attached figures when this base is rectangular, a respective longitudinal extension measures twice as the side of the square base, without however limiting the protective scope of the present invention. Each floating member 122 is moreover provided with a plurality of brackets 124 for each of the corresponding corner portions, each of which being usable to couple stably with other members 122 by means of threaded connections 126, along the given direction D or transversally to it. With particular reference to figure 2, 5, 7, 8, 11 again, each modular support 10 can present a different conformation depending on the number and the arrangement of the members 122 of each respective floating body 12. In particular, among the modular supports 10 a first module 100 is distinguished, provided with two floating bodies 12, each of which presents only one row of members 122, which is oriented according to the first direction D. Furthermore, each first module 100 presents, between the respective floating bodies 12, a pair of connecting intermediate members 120, each of which presents angular portions 121, through which it is connected to the corresponding members 122 at the corner brackets 124 coaxially to the threaded connections 126. In this regard, it should be noted that to each threaded connection 126 a constraining device 1200 is associated, which comprises a hollow cylindrical body 1202 axially delimited by a ring 1204 carried rigidly by an axial end of the cylindrical body 1202 to be held by the head of a screw 1206 of the corresponding threaded connection 126. The angular portion 121 of the corresponding intermediate connecting member 120 presents a bracket 1212 rigidly connected to a sleeve 1208 coupled with radial clearance to the cylindrical body 1202, which presents longitudinal extension greater than the sleeve 1208, so as to allow a regulating movement for adjusting the position transverse to the water surface of the angular portion 121. This movement is limited by the presence of a stop 1210 carried by the cylindrical body 1202 at the opposite side from the corresponding ring 1204. This stop 1210 can be simply defined as in figure 3 by means of a cotter 1210, which engages transversally the cylindrical body 1202, or in any other technically equivalent manner. Again with reference to figure 3, it should be noted that the bracket 1212 can be arranged at the side of the ring 1204 or at the side of the cotter 1210 so as to define at will the inclination of the intermediate connecting member 120 at rest, and therefore the inclination of the panel P supported by this intermediate connecting member 120. Usually, in each constraining device 1200 the extension of the respective cylindrical body 1202, the extension of the corresponding sleeve 1208 and the position of the bracket 1212 are defined so that the inclination at rest of the corresponding intermediate connecting member 120 relative to the water surface, and therefore the inclination of the panel P, substantially approximates an angle a of reduced width. This angle a can advantageously have a width of 2°, without however limiting the protective scope of the present invention. In this way, the effect is obtained of maintaining the panels P substantially parallel to the free surface of the surrounding water, thus minimising the landscape alteration for an observer arranged at a level substantially coplanar to the free surface, in addition to maximising the integration of the panels P with the surrounding environment. Additionally, it should be specified that this presents an important economic result, as it contributes to maximise the value of the parameter, set forth in the laws, for the calculation of the percentage according to the calls for proposals for funding relating to the execution of the plant. Again with reference to figure 1, among the modular supports 10 a second module 102 is distinguished, better visible in figure 5, shaped similarly to the first module 100 and comprising a substantially rectangular shelf 140 shaped to be coupled to an outer side of a respective floating body 12 by means of threaded connections of fixed type, wherein the cylindrical body 1202 carries the bracket 1212. It should be noted that this shelf 140 presents a respective free edge 142, which carries inferiorly mushroom-shaped floating elements 144, facing downwards in figure 6, at an height substantially identical to that of the corresponding floating body 12. Moreover, it should be noted that, as visible in figure 6 again, the two cylindrical bodies 1202 carry the respective bracket 1212 in different positions so as to guarantee the inclination of the corresponding panel P at rest, in view of the above description. In view of the above description, this shelf 140 allows to carry at least one panel P overhanging. Each model 102 can be therefore used to define an outer border of the platform 1. Each second module 102 thus allows to increase an its own capacity for supporting these panels P. It should be specified that, by considering each second module 102, the respective floating members 122, the respective brackets 124, each shelf 140 associated to these brackets 124 and, in particular, the respective floats 144 are designed so as to give to the edge 142 the ability to support the mass of the corresponding shelf 140 added with a user, in the case this latter would lose the balance for any reason. Therefore, this set of components allows to consider each said second module 102 as an accident- preventing safety device for supporting an operator installing or maintaining the platform 1, and in particular suitable for preventing accidents which can result from falls into the reservoir.

Among the -modular supports 10 a third module 104 should be noted, which is visible in figure 1 and in more detail in figure 7 and presents the same overall dimensions as the second module 102, but differs from it in that at least one of the two respective floating bodies 12 presents a greater number of members 122 and two intermediate connecting members 120 of reduced extension. In particular, this third module 104 comprises a first floating body 12, which presents only one row of members 122, which is oriented according to the first direction D, and a second floating body 12, which presents a plurality of rows of members 122 oriented according to the first direction D. In figure 4 this second floating body 12 presents three parallel rows of members 122.

Among the modular supports 10 at least one fourth module 106 should be noted, better visible in figure 8 and partially in figure 10, which is shaped in a manner substantially identical to that of the third module 104, but lacks some members 122 to produce housings/spaces 1060 engaged to house inverters 15 by means of respective cross- shaped base portions 150, as shown in figure 9, whose extension reproduces the extension of the diagonals of the members 122. It should be noted that in the attached figures the inverter 15 has been illustrated, for the sake of practicality, as a parallelepiped, but it can assume any conformation. Moreover, it is known that each inverter 15 comprises a transforming member which can be electrically coupled to at least one panel P to transform direct current, produced by this panel P, into alternating current. The use of inverters 15 in association with each fourth module 106 is therefore justified by the need of maximising the efficiency of the electrical transport from the platform 1 to remote users and of limiting the electric leakages, in addition to allow a high saving in the installation cost. The construction characteristic of comprising an increased number of floating members 122 allows to give the fourth module 106 a supporting capacity adequate to a greater lateral mass due to the presence of at least one inverter 15.

Finally, among the modular supports 10 at least one fifth module 108 should be noted, which is visible in figure 11 and comprises a substantially rectangular elongated body 1080, with transverse extension substantially identical to the transverse extension of the members 122 and arranged between two members 122. This elongated body 1080 is longitudinally delimited by respective end portions 1082, each of which is coupled to the corresponding member 122 through the interposition of a substantially C-shaped supporting element 1220. Each fifth module 108 furthermore presents at least one tie rod, which holds the two members 122 coupled. The use of fifth modules 108 allows to provide the platform 1 with catwalks 1084 for installing the panels P and for maintaining the platform 1 or the respective panels P. It is easily understood that each fifth module 108 can be used perpendicularly to the direction D, as shown in figure 1. This allows the movement in the direction perpendicular to the first direction D, in case it is necessary to carry out maintenance operations, allowing the water change below the platform 1 without interrupting the aquatic flow, and allowing the natural oxygenation along the channels C. In fact, in this case each respective floating body 12 presents a single floating member 122 and, therefore, it never represents an obstacle to the free circulation of the waters of the channels C defined by the floating bodies 12 of the platform 1.

In view of the above description it is easily understood that the platform 1 described above can be constructed and installed together with panels P, photovoltaic or of other nature, and that no further explanations are required. It is easily understood that the choice of using rectangular modules, whose lateral dimensions are substantially identical to each other, allows to produce platforms of any shape, which can be assimilated to portions extracted by a chessboard, whose number of rows and columns corresponds to the row or the column of maximum extension. In particular, it is possible to produce substantially rectangular platforms or platforms with an edge substantially reproducing a broken line with mutually orthogonal segments of length definable at will according to the real requirements.

Moreover, it is easy to understand that each platform 1 or the like can be used to construct a plant 1000 for energy production in aquatic environments, in particular for producing electricity in the form of alternating current from the origin, according to a process optimised from the origin, which maximises the potentialities of the electricity production through the use of photovoltaic panels .

Lastly, it is clearly apparent that modifications and variants can be made to the platform 1 and to the plant 1000 described and illustrated herein, without however departing from the protective scope of the present invention .

It should be noted that, in the case of installations in very wide aquatic environments and/or in aquatic environments rich in bird fauna, it could be interesting to associate green areas to the platform 1, so as to allow the birds to stop and/or nest. These areas should be carried by the floating members 122 exactly like the modules that support the panels P and that have been previously described. In particular, with reference to figure 13 a variant 1100 of the platform 1 is illustrated, provided with some first, second, third, fourth, fifth modules 100, 102, 104, 106, 108 and with some sixth modules 109, which differ from the first modules 100 in that they comprise at least one substantially rectangular intermediate member 1090 carried by the floating members 122 that are arranged towards the outside by means of threaded connections 126, analogously to what described with reference to the connecting members 120. With particular reference to figure 14, a tank 1092 is associated with this intermediate member 1090; the tank is of substantially parallelepiped shape and dimensioned so as to be coupled to the intermediate member 1090 in a substantially conjugated manner on relative external sides. This tank 1092 is produced by using a wire or plastic mesh and is designed to contain in a substantially matching manner a bottom 1094 made of closed cell polystyrene. This sixth module 109 furthermore comprises a plurality of mutually overlapping layers supported by the bottom 1094 among which, in the order from the bottom to the top in figure 14, a layer 1095 of non- woven fabric, a layer 1096 of expanded clay and a layer 1097 of topsoil, which can be used to house seeds or, in any case, to grow aquatic plants, preferably of limited height so as to avoid the surrounding panels P being significantly shadowed.

It should be specified that the corner brackets 124 of each floating member 122 can be used to anchor the platform 1 to the bottom and/or to the banks of the respective water reservoir, in a position which can be defined at will. Obviously, the absence of a connecting catwalk between the platform 1 and the bank of the installation reservoir makes more complex for malicious persons to move towards the platforms 1 and remove components of the platform 1 or of the plant 1000, such as for example panels P. Therefore, not only the platform 1 is highly protected against theft and acts of vandalism, with significant advantages in terms of containment of the premiums of the insurance policy; but this absence represents a limit neither for the routine maintenance, which can be performed simply by reaching the island by boat, nor for more complex maintenance, for which it will be possible to move at will the platform 1 by release it from the respective anchoring rods and by towing it towards the- bank. Therefore, in view of the above description it is easily understood that each platform 1 constructed according to the teachings described above allows to produce a plant for converting solar energy into electric power overcoming the drawbacks typical of the prior art described above and presents characteristics that allow to define a new standard for these type of constructions and of the corresponding plants.