FR2906287A1 - INSTALLATION FOR THE PRACTICE OF AQUATIC ACTIVITIES - Google Patents

Abstract

Installation for the practice of aquatic activities comprising a pond (3) having a bottom (3a), a flow path (20) extending between an upstream end (20a) and a downstream end (20b) through which it opens in the basin (3), means for supplying the flow path (20) with water at its upstream end (20a). The flow path (20) comprises at its downstream end (20b) a deflector (7) having a trailing edge (7a) extending in the basin (3), away from the bottom (3a) of the basin said deflector (7) being inclined upwards towards its trailing edge (7a).

Description

1 Installation for the practice of aquatic activities The invention

  concerns an installation for the practice of aquatic activities.

  Numerous examples are known of installations for the practice of aquatic activities consisting of a swimming pool comprising devices for creating waves. The document US 4,539,719 describes an example of such a pool comprising at one end of the pool, a tank communicating with the pool floor, with a suction for sucking and storing in the tank a volume of water above the water level of the pool. A valve allows to expel gravity at high speed the volume of water stored in the tank to the pool. This device allows to produce in the pool a wave for surfing, similar to a natural wave, and with a depth of water corresponding to the depth of the pool. However the wave advances in the pool and the surfer's evolution is limited by the length of the pool. On the other hand, creating a new wave requires some time to refill the tank. Furthermore, the document US Pat. No. 5,236,280 describes another example of an installation for practicing aquatic activities in which a sheet of water is forced to flow over a surface whose shape makes it possible to obtain the equivalent of a wave, which is perfectly stationary. Various forms of surfaces under the water table make it possible to obtain different wave shapes, ranging from continuous waves, to a tunnel-type wave. However, the water sheet used has a small thickness, which prohibits the use of means requiring a relatively large water depth, such as a finboard usually used at sea, and when the user it can hit the solid surface without the shock with the surface being effectively retarded by the water level. The present invention aims to overcome the disadvantages of each of the two previous installations, which until now seemed difficult to reconcile. For this purpose, according to the invention, the installation comprises: a basin having a bottom, a flow path extending between an upstream end and a downstream end through which it opens into the basin; supply of the water flow path at its upstream end, and said flow path comprises at its downstream end 15 a deflector having a trailing edge extending into the basin, away from the bottom of the basin said deflector being inclined upwards towards its trailing edge. Thanks to these provisions, a wave is created downstream of the deflector in the basin allowing for example the practice of surfing with fin surfboards on a stationary wave, deep, and a shape substantially identical to a natural wave. Unlike prior art, with such an installation it is possible to have any type of aquatic activity, such as kayaking, canoeing, canoeing, surfing, or body surfing. In various embodiments of the plant for the practice of aquatic activities, according to the invention, it may be possible further to use one and / or the other of the following provisions: the deflector is provided with means for adjusting its inclination; the installation further comprises means for regulating the level of water in the basin, slightly above the trailing edge of the deflector; The means for regulating the level of water in the basin include a height-adjustable weir; - the trailing edge of the deflector is located between 50 centimeters and 1 meter above the bottom of the basin; The basin is delimited by a lateral wall extending under the deflector; the flow path comprises an inclined section upstream of the deflector. The invention also relates to a method for generating a stationary wave in which: a basin is provided having a bottom, a flow path extending between an upstream end and a downstream end through which it opens into the basin a deflector located at the downstream end of the flow path, said deflector having a trailing edge, - the water level in the pool is regulated to create a volume of water immersing the trailing edge of the deflector the flow path is fed with water at its upstream end so as to circulate the water from its upstream end to its downstream end; the trailing edge of the deflector is arranged at a distance from the bottom of the basin and the baffle is tilted upward along the direction of flow of water in the feed path to generate a stream of water forming a stationary wave on the pool water volume. In the method of the invention it is furthermore possible to regulate the level of water in the basin at the level of the trailing edge plus the height of water flowing through the flow channel above the 10% deflector. near. On the other hand, in the method of the invention, the deflector can be tilted between 10 and 30 degrees from the horizontal and preferably between 2.5 and 17.7 degrees from the horizontal.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of one of its embodiments, given by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: - Figure 1 is a top view of an installation according to the invention; - Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the installation along the line II-II of Figure 1; FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the installation along the line III-III of FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a top view of the aquatic activity installation 25 essentially comprising a basin 3 of substantially rectangular, a flow path 20 upstream of the basin 3, and feed means 12, 13, 14, 15 in water of the flow path 20. A large amount of water flows in the way. supply 20 from an upstream weir 1 to an upstream end 20a of the flow path 20 to a downstream end 20b of said flow path 20. At its downstream end 20b, the flow path has a deflector 7 through which the water arrives in the basin 3.

Said basin 3 has a bottom 3a and side walls 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e including an upstream wall 3b and a downstream wall 3c. On either side of the flow path 20 are two beaches 16 for user access, access to wave 15 (visible in FIG. 2), and seating for spectators. On the opposite side to the flow path 20 and on both lateral sides, the basin 3 has a downstream weir 5 located behind the downstream wall 3c and lateral weirs 4 located behind the side walls 3d, 3e respectively. The downstream weir and the lateral weirs 4 are covered with safety grids 11 to prevent a user or a lost object from being sucked into the channels of the aquatic activity facility.

FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the installation, making it possible to view the upper part of the installation in profile with the flow path 20, the basin 3 and a curve representing the surface of the installation. water, and the lower part of the installation including the water supply means. The flow path 20 consists of a lower inclined section 2 on which the water flows and takes speed by gravity. The inclined pan may be stationary or movable with an adjustable slope value of between 5 10 and 30, in other words between 2.5 degrees and 17.5 degrees. In the latter case, a sealing device makes it possible to avoid any leakage of water with side guides 9 of the flow path 20. The variation of the slope of the inclined face 2 varies the speed and the energy of the the water in the flow path 20, which makes it possible to vary the shape and the height of the wave 15. A deflector 7 making the entire width of the flow path 20 is located at its downstream end 20b, while water from the flow path 20 has taken a maximum of speed. The deflector 7 is articulated about a substantially horizontal axis and disposed transversely to the flow path 20, along the downstream end 20b, near the upstream wall 3b. The inclination of the deflector 7 is adjustable by any means 25 mechanical actuation, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, or manual. The deflector 7 may have in cross-section, as illustrated in FIG. 2, a rectilinear or curved profile, curved upwards, so as to initiate a particular movement with the water coming from the flow path 20. When the deflector 7 is in a position where its profile is substantially horizontal, it has little effect, and the stirrings caused do not form a real wave with height and shape adequate to the practice of an aquatic activity. The baffle 7 may optionally be made up of several sectors extending in the direction of its axis of articulation, making it possible to give each sector different inclinations. In addition, each sector may have a different profile. However we prefer a deflector 7 formed of a single section to obtain a wave 15 as regular as possible across the entire width of the basin 3 allowing a user as a surfer to have large evolution on said wave 15. The The deflector 7 has at its downstream end a trailing edge 7a extending into the basin 3, away from the bottom 3a of the basin, said deflector 7 being inclined upwards towards its trailing edge 7a. Preferably, the trailing edge 7a will be below the level of the water in the basin. The water is accelerated by the flow path 20, is guided by the deflector 7 and meets the water of the basin 3, producing in said basin 3 downstream of the deflector 7 a wave 15 by the intake water from the flow path 20 and the water already present in the basin 3 under the baffle 7 and downstream the upstream side wall 3b of the basin. Although the trailing edge 7a is below the water level of the basin 3, the inclined section 2 and the force of the water coming from the flow path 20 prevent water from the basin from coming in. upstream of deflector 7.

Preferably, the trailing edge 7a of the deflector 7 is located at a distance d between 50 cm and 1 meter from the bottom 3a of the basin. This water depth below the baffle 7 is important for creating a large wave, implementing water movements producing a realistic waveform representative of what a user can find at sea or in the water. river. On the other hand, lateral deflectors 8 may be integrated upstream of the deflector 7 and on each lateral side of the flow path 20 called guide 9, and 35 to modify the shape of the wave 15 at its ends, so that for example a surfer can easily perform a U-turn. Like the deflector 7, the lateral deflectors 8 can be actuated by any means of mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electric or even manual actuation, from a complete erasure state 5 to a state of projection in the flow path 20. Downstream of the guides 9 of the flow path 20, movable guide walls 18 are arranged and are each rotatably mounted in a vertical axis on each side of the deflector 7. When they are positioned in the extension of 9, they limit the width of the wave 15. When they are in an open position relative to the direction of the flow, They can change the shape of the wave 15 and especially cause the creation of a second wave downstream wave 15, useful 15 for the practice of aquatic activities, such as canoeing or canoeing. The opening of its movable guide walls can be increased until it is in a folded position, perpendicular to the extension of the guides 9 of the flow path 20.

Means 10 for regulating the water level in the basin 3 are arranged at the periphery thereof and limit lateral weirs 4 and downstream weir 5. They consist for example of flat valves or adjustable nozzles. height disposed at the upper end of the downstream wall 3c and optionally the side walls 3d and 3e. These means for regulating the water level make it possible to adjust the water level of the basin, so that it is above the trailing edge of the deflector 7, which is a paramount parameter for adjusting the characteristics of the water. The shape and height of the wave 15. Consequently, the water discharged by the lateral weirs 4 and the downstream weir 5 through the safety grids 11 goes down into lateral channels 12 for the lateral weirs 4 and the downstream weir 5. Under basin 3, the water necessary for the proper operation of the closed circuit plant is stored.

Each of these channels 12 is provided with a pumping device 13 for forcing the water to return to a water plenum and guiding device 14 enabling it to ascend, in the upper part, upstream 5 of the water. flow path 20, where is installed a mask 6 which smooths the surface of the water entering the upstream weir 1 supplying the flow path 20. Said mask 6 participates in the formation of a sheet of water smooth and smooth in the flow path 20, allowing to obtain a wave 15 itself regular and smooth. Each of the side channel pumping devices 13 are located beneath the tracks 16 of the installation, as shown in FIG. 3. Therefore, the shown installation utilizes all the space available to circulate water through a closed circuit, and the areas where the pumping devices 13 are located are ideally located to maximize the energy transferred to the circuit water is give it a high speed. Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiment which has just been described by way of nonlimiting illustration. Thus, although the installation described installation works with a closed water circuit, it also applies to an installation using a natural source of water supply.

In addition, the invention may take the form of a fixed structure on the ground using any type of construction, or the form of a mobile structure constructed of one or more elements. For example, the structure of the installation can be installed in a floating barge.

The facility for the practice of aquatic activities according to the invention allows the regular practice of aquatic activities through the creation of at least one stationary wave similar to natural waves. The water depth of the pool under the wave 35 also allows for a variety of activities, such as fin surfing, canoe-kayak free style or rodeo.

Claims (9)

  1. Installation for practicing aquatic activities comprising: - a basin (3) having a bottom (3a), - a flow path (20) extending between an upstream end (20a) and a downstream end (20b) ) by which it opens into the basin (3), - feeding means (12, 13, 19, 15) of the flow path (20) in water at its upstream end (20a), in which the channel outlet (20) has at its downstream end (20b) a deflector (7) having a trailing edge (7a) extending into the basin (3), away from the bottom (3a) of the basin (3). ), said deflector (7) being inclined upwards towards its trailing edge (7a).   2. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the baffle (7) is provided with means for adjusting its inclination.   3. Installation according to claim 1 or claim 2, further comprising means for regulating the water level (10) in the basin (3), slightly above the trailing edge (7a) of the baffle (7).   4. Installation according to claim 3, wherein the means for regulating the water level (10) in the basin (3) comprise a weir (4,   5) at variable height. 5. Installation according to claim 4, wherein the trailing edge (7a) of the deflector (7) is located at a distance (d) between 50 centimeters and 1 meter above the bottom (3a) of the basin.   6. Installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the basin (3) is delimited by a side wall (3b) extending substantially under the baffle (7).   7. Installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the flow path (20) comprises an inclined section (2) upstream of the deflector (7).   A method for generating a stationary wave (15) in which: a basin (3) having a bottom (3a), a flow path (20) extending between an upstream end (20a) and a downstream end (20b) through which it opens into the basin (3), a baffle (7) located at the downstream end (20b) of the flow path (20), said baffle (7) having an edge of leak (7a), - the water level in the pond (3) is regulated to create a volume of water immersing the trailing edge (7a) of the deflector (7), - the flow path (2D ) in water at its upstream end (20a) to circulate water from its upstream end (20a) to its downstream end (20b), the trailing edge (7a) of the deflector (7) is arranged at of the bottom (3a) of the basin and the baffle (7) is inclined upwards in the direction of circulation of water in the feed path (20) to generate a stream of water forming a wave (15). ) stationary r the volume of water in the basin.   The method of claim 8, wherein the water level in the pond (3) is regulated at the trailing edge (7a) plus the height of water flowing through the flow path ( 20) above the baffle to within 10%. 10.A method according to any one of claims 8 or 9, wherein the baffle (7) is tilted between 2.5 degrees and 17.5 degrees from the horizontal.