Going on location feasibility
AssigneeEnsco Services Limited
InventorsMason Corey Melkowits, Barton D. Grasso, Frank Strachan, Jose H. Vazquez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques and devices to assist an offshore unit in going on location and coming off location. A device may include an interface configured to receive a signal indicative of motions of an offshore unit. The device may also include a memory configured to store a set of values corresponding to acceptable motions of the offshore unit, as well as a processor configured to determine if a measured motion of the offshore unit exceeds at least one value of the set of values and generate an indication that going on location by the offshore unit can be undertaken when the processor determines that the measured motion of the offshore unit is less than or equal to the at least one value.
Claims20
A device, comprising:
- an interface configured to receive a first signal indicative of a sensed condition affecting an offshore unit when the offshore unit is disposed in an afloat mode in which legs of the offshore unit are disposed above a seabed and receive a second signal indicative of a second sensed condition affecting the offshore unit when the offshore unit is disposed in an elevated mode in which the legs of the offshore unit are coupled to the seabed;
- a memory configured to store a first set of values corresponding to limits for conditions affecting the offshore unit when the offshore unit is in the afloat mode and a second set of values corresponding to limits for conditions affecting the offshore unit when the offshore unit is in the afloat mode;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- determine if the sensed condition of the offshore unit indicated by the first signal exceeds at least one value of the first set of values when the first signal is received;
- determine if the second sensed condition of the offshore unit indicated by the second signal exceeds at least one value of the second set of values when the second signal is received;
- generate an indication to begin a going on location operation by the offshore unit inclusive of transitioning the offshore unit from the afloat mode to the elevated mode of the offshore unit when the processor determines that the sensed condition is less than or equal to the at least one value of the first set of values;
- and
- generate a second indication to begin a coming off location operation by the offshore unit inclusive of transitioning the offshore unit from the elevated mode to the afloat mode of the offshore unit when the processor determines that the second sensed condition is less than or equal to the at least one value of the second set of values.
A system, comprising:
- a sensor configured to measure a metocean condition about an offshore unit when the offshore unit is disposed in an elevated mode in which legs of the offshore unit are coupled to a seabed and generate a signal indicative of the metocean condition;
- and
- a control monitor configured to be coupled to the sensor, wherein the control monitor comprises:
- an interface configured to receive the signal indicative of the metocean condition;
- a memory configured to store a set of values corresponding to predetermined limits for metocean conditions when the offshore unit is in the elevated mode;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- determine if the metocean condition indicated by the signal exceeds at least one value of the set of values;
- and
- generate an indication to begin a coming off location operation by the offshore unit inclusive of transitioning the offshore unit from the elevated mode to an afloat mode of the offshore unit in which the legs of the offshore unit are disposed above the seabed when the processor determines that the metocean condition is less than or equal to the at least one value.
A tangible non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer executable code stored thereon, the code comprising instructions to cause a processor to:
- receive a signal indicative of a metocean condition about an offshore unit when the offshore unit is disposed in an elevated mode in which legs of the offshore unit are coupled to a seabed;
- receive a predetermined value corresponding to a limit of a metocean condition about the offshore unit when the offshore unit is in the elevated mode;
- determine if the metocean condition about the offshore unit indicated by the signal exceeds the predetermined value;
- and
- generate an indication to begin a coming off location operation by the offshore unit inclusive of transitioning the offshore unit from the elevated mode to an afloat mode of the offshore unit in which the legs of the offshore unit are disposed above the seabed when the processor determines that the metocean condition about the offshore unit is less than or equal to the at least one value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.