Marine airbag, not only for ship launching now! Sales Manager at Qingdao Luhang Marine Airbag and Fender Co., Ltd What were the first uses of air bags in the launching of ships? The history of marine air bag ship launching dates back to 1981. Xiao Qinghe ship repair and building shipyard, located in Jinan city of Shangdong Province, launched a 60 DWT tank barge with air bag suspension on January 20, 1981. Seven air bags were deployed in that project. One was 2 meters in diameter and 6 meters long and used for elevating. The remaining six air bags were 0.8 meters x 6 meters long and acted as the rollers. The first intention of that trial launch was to develop a prompt, less landform limited ship launching method for warfare purposes. How has the technology advanced since then? Over the past twenty years, the airbag ship launching system has made advancements in not only the air bag, but also the ship launching/landing technology. The first generation air bags used a rubber dipped canvas as a reinforcement layer to form the air chamber trunk. Two cone-shaped molds were then used to make the ends and everything was stuck together. With today’s air bags, the whole-enlacing-technology used for manufacturing is done together. Rubber dipped synthetic-tyre-cords are used as the reinforcement layers with the trunk and two cone-shaped ends made at the same time. Everything is then-laced together, so the air bag doesn’t have any joints. Due to the development of rubber chemistry, the performance of the rubber employed in the latest air bags is highly enhanced and about 15 times that of the first generation bag with the same specifications. The launching and landing technology has also developed. In the beginning, only small and flat bottom ships located on a fabricated slope could be launched with air bags. Now this technology is more flexible and less limited by the ship and landform. Now any type of ship with a DWT below 55,000 and in a place with enough launching space can be launched using air bags. The launching slope even can be sloped upward. It has really developed into a cutting edge technology for launching ships, and especially useful for some marine emergencies. They look very similar to Yokohama Fenders, how do they differ? The main use of Yokohama fenders and Luhang air bags are definitely different. It is well known that Yokohoma fenders offer an effective fender system providing a soft and stable berthing condition to ships. Luhang air bags are widely used for ship launching, landing, heavy transport and air lifting. Due to the special use, structures of Luhang air bags are optimized for safety and built for heavy duty use. The surface layers are enhanced for anti-abrasion and are pierce resistant. Even if they are somewhat wounded, Luhang air bags can still work safely until repaired. The length of air bags are usually more than 10 meters and two cone-shaped ends make them look like huge sausages. Also, Luhang air bags never use tires and shackles. What are the advantageous to using this system over traditional ship launching techniques? An air bag ship launching system does not need the traditional fabricated slipway so it saves time, investment, land, etc. Air bags need no extra maintenance and after use they can be cleaned and folded in the corner to wait for another mission. It is easy to find that air bags’ elasticity can give more protection to the launched ship. A remarkable character of air bags is that the working height can be changed to redirect the ship or object being launched by adjusting the inner air pressure. For this character it is peerless compared to traditional ship launching techniques. So what are the other uses for this system? Luhang air bags are not only used for ships, floating docks and caisson launching but they are also cutting edge for ship landing, heavy transport, marine salvage, etc. It is a versatile tool for many marine applications. Credit to -Fiona Li
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 07:39:04 +0000
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