One of Seven

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Lurssen Werft Dampening Device As I read through the text in the 'Dampening device for wind breaker doors for large Mega Yachts' description, my intent was guided by the sentences that read "Sometimes the wind is so strong that the door can be blown out of a person's hand when they open the door", and “Therefore, the challenge is to design hinges that make the door easy to open or close with minimum resistance to people, yet resists the force of heavy winds.” The text implied to me that dampening control originates at the hand lever. I chose the solution described in Type a. First, a dampening system that functioned separately from the hand lever was conceived. The three hinges were converted to miniature hydraulic door closers. The outward appearance of the hinges did not change too much, only their function. I call this the 'clients original vision'. Next, a hydraulic system was designed at the hand lever control, closely resembling the braking system on a bicycle. Secondly, how to control hydraulic hinges through a glass door. Looking through the Lurssen Werft drawings I realized there were two sheets of glass separated by what I assumed was a layer of silicone. A channel or gap is cut from the silicone layer that leads from the hand lever control to the hydraulic hinges between the sheets of glass. The channel is the equivalent of a brake line. The combination of glass, silicone, and clear hydraulic fluid will make the system almost invisible as the refractive index of the materials is close (n=1.4 - 1.5). This combination of materials creates an illusion of invisibility that might be called the 'Predator Effect', based on the science fiction character. The system would distribute the hydraulic load evenly. Spring-loaded pins in the hydraulic hinges are depressed controlling passage of hydraulic fluid from one side of the radial piston chamber to the other. The dampening adjustment of these pins is set at the hand lever control via set screw. Setting may be adjusted for the door to close slowly by adjusting hydraulic pressure. When the lever is activated by the user, pins in the hinges allow a greater flow of hydraulic fluid, making the door easier to push. If the wind blows the door from the user's hand, hydraulic pressure immediately drops, returning the pins to their original setting and slowing the door.