Barrier fluid pressure system and method
AssigneeOneSubsea IP UK Limited
InventorsStig Kaare Kanstad, Kjartan Juul Skarboe, Anders Brunvold
Life of this patent
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Abstract
System and methods are configured to adjust fluid pressure within a barrier fluid system on a subsea fluid processing machine. More specifically, a barrier fluid pressure system is located at the subsea location and includes a barrier fluid pressure regulator module having one input communicating or being pressure matched with a process fluid flowline and a second input communicating with the barrier fluid pressure system. The pressure regulator module is configured to locally adjust the barrier fluid pressure depending upon the fluid process pressure.
Claims13
A subsea pressure regulation system for barrier fluid used to lubricate and protect a subsea fluid processing machine configured to process a process fluid in a subsea location, the pressure regulation system comprising:
- a housing configured for deployment at the subsea location;
- a movable member disposed within the housing and configured to longitudinally translate within the housing, the member having at least first and second surfaces, the first surface and an inner portion of the housing defining a first volume and the second surface and an inner portion of the housing defining a second volume, the first and second volumes being variable in size depending on the longitudinal position of the moveable member, the first volume configured to be filled with barrier fluid and be in fluid communication with barrier fluid circulating in the fluid processing machine and the second volume configured to be pressure matched with the process fluid in the fluid processing machine;
- a biasing mechanism configured to maintain the fluid pressure of the barrier fluid circulating in the machine at a predetermined differential above the fluid pressure of the process fluid in the fluid processing machine at least in part by translation of the moveable member;
- a second housing;
- a second movable member disposed within the second housing and configured to longitudinally translate within the second housing, the second member having unequal third and fourth surfaces, the third surface and an inner portion of the second housing defining a third volume and the fourth surface and an inner portion of the second housing defining a fourth volume, the third and fourth volumes being variable in size depending on the longitudinal position of the second moveable member, the third volume configured to be filled with barrier fluid and be in fluid communication with barrier fluid circulating in the fluid processing machine and the fourth volume configured to be pressure matched with the process fluid in the fluid processing machine;
- and
- a second biasing mechanism configured to maintain the fluid pressure of the barrier fluid circulating in the machine at a second predetermined differential above the fluid pressure of the process fluid in the fluid processing machine at least in part by translation of the second moveable member, wherein the biasing mechanism and the second biasing mechanism together assuring that the fluid pressure of the barrier fluid circulating in the machine exceeds that of the process fluid in the fluid processing machine by an amount greater than or equal to the predetermined differential and less than or equal to the second predetermined differential;
- and
- wherein:
- the area of the first surface is larger than the area of the second surface by a proportion of the area of the second surface;
- and
- the predetermined differential is a fixed proportion that is equal to the proportion that the area of the first surface is larger than the area of the second surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.