Subsea plough for burying a flexible elongate member
AssigneeOsbit Limited
InventorsRobert Garner, Matthew Heap, Robert Blakeman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A subsea plough includes a plough share coupled to a chassis, boulder clearance and spoil clearance members, and front and rear support surfaces. In a first configuration, a maximum span of the boulder clearance member in an extended position is greater than a span of the spoil clearance member. The plough may be reconfigurable to include a backfill member. A method of use of the plough is provided in a boulder clearing only mode, and optional modes of simultaneous boulder clearing and trenching, second pass trenching, and backfilling a trench to bury a flexible elongate member in a seabed.
Claims20
A plough for forming a trench in a seabed, the plough comprising a chassis and having a longitudinal axis;
- wherein in a first configuration, the plough comprises:
- a share coupled to the chassis;
- a boulder clearance member, comprising a boulder clearing surface, provided towards a first, leading end of the plough, for clearing boulders from a plough path, extending between a port side and a starboard side of the plough, and urging the boulders from the plough path to a first distance away from a longitudinal centreline of the plough;
- a spoil clearance member provided towards a second, trailing end of the plough, for clearing spoil from the plough path, and urging the spoil from the plough path to a second distance away from the longitudinal centreline of the plough, wherein the second distance is less than the first distance;
- a front support surface and a rear support surface;
- and wherein in the first configuration, a maximum span of the boulder clearance member in a first position is greater than a span of the spoil clearance member,
- wherein in the first configuration, the boulder clearing surface extends from a first distal end of the boulder clearance member located the first distance away from the longitudinal centreline of the plough, on the port side, to a second distal end of the boulder clearance member located the first distance away from the longitudinal centreline of the plough, on the starboard side.
A plough for forming a trench in a seabed, the plough comprising a chassis and having a longitudinal axis;
- wherein in a first configuration, the plough comprises:
- a share coupled to the chassis;
- a boulder clearance member provided towards a first, leading end of the plough;
- a spoil clearance member provided towards a second, trailing end of the plough;
- a front support surface and a rear support surface;
- and wherein in the first configuration, a maximum span of the boulder clearing member in a first position is greater than a span of the spoil clearance member,
- wherein the share is coupled to the chassis by a share depth controlling means, wherein the share depth controlling means is configured to vary a vertical position of the share in relation to the chassis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.