Subsea protective covering
OwnerJack Crain, Russell Lanclosinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A protective covering for subsea well apparatus is provided. The covering is generally a pyramidal structure and includes blades at the corners extending below the base of the structure. The blades are sized to prevent snaring of objects dragged over the covering. The covering may be assembled from sections after transport over a public highway. Methods for transporting and installing the covering and achieving penetration of the blades into the seafloor are also provided.
Claims13
A protective covering for equipment protruding from a subsea location, comprising:
- a skin, the skin being attached to a plurality of slanted support members, the slanted support members including a plurality of lateral slanted support members and a plurality of corner slanted support members, the corner slanted support members being disposed at a selected angle of slope and being attached to a plurality of bottom horizontal support members;
- a cap, the cap being attached to a selected number of the plurality of slanted support members and having an attachment point for lowering the protective covering to a selected seafloor location;
- and
- a plurality of blades, the blades being affixed to the corner slanted support members and being disposed at a selected angle of slope.
A method for installing a protective covering having a plurality of corner slanted support members over equipment protruding from a seafloor location, comprising:
- attaching a plurality of blades to the protective covering, the blades extending below the plurality of corner slanted support members;
- attaching the protective covering to a drill pipe operated from a rig;
- lowering the drill pipe and protective covering;
- and
- guiding the protective covering over the equipment protruding from the seafloor location and landing the protective covering on the seafloor location.
A method for installing a protective covering having a plurality of corner slanted support members over equipment protruding from a seafloor location, comprising:
- attaching a plurality of blades to the protective covering, the blades extending below the plurality of corner slanted support members;
- attaching the protective covering to a cable operated above the seafloor location;
- lowering the cable and protective covering;
- and guiding the protective covering over the equipment protruding from the seafloor location and landing the protective covering on the seafloor location.
A method for transporting a protective covering for equipment protruding from a seafloor location, the protective covering comprising a skin, a plurality of slanted support members including a plurality of lateral slanted support members and a plurality of corner slanted support members, at least two contiguous lateral slanted support members being joined such that they may be divided at a plane and re-joined by a joining apparatus, the corner slanted support members being disposed at a selected angle of slope and being attached to a plurality of bottom horizontal support members, at least two contiguous bottom horizontal support members being joined such that they may be divided at the plane and re-joined by a joining apparatus, a cap and a plurality of blades, comprising:
- dividing at least two contiguous lateral slanted support members and two bottom horizontal support members at the plane and transporting the protective covering to a selected location;
- re-joining the contiguous lateral slanted support members and the contiguous bottom horizontal support members at the plane;
- attaching the skin and the cap to a plurality of slanted support members;
- and
- attaching the blades.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.