Barrier fluid pressure system and method
AssigneeOneSubsea IP UK Limited
InventorsStig Kaare Kanstad, Kjartan Juul Skarboe, Anders Brunvold
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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.
Claims16
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;
- and
- 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.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.