Launching Elongate Subsea Structures
AssigneeSubsea 7 Limited
InventorsPhilip Derek Brown, Eric Fletcher McEwan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of launching an elongate subsea structure such as a pipeline bundle unit into water provides buoyant support to the structure by displacing water with a hollow buoyancy unit that applies buoyant upthrust to the structure. By lowering the buoyancy unit in the water to bring a permanently open aperture of the buoyancy unit beneath a surface level of the water, the buoyancy unit is flooded with water through the or each permanently open aperture to reduce the buoyant upthrust applied to the structure.
Claims34
1-34. (canceled)
A method of launching an elongate subsea structure into water, the method comprising:
- providing buoyant support to the structure by displacing water with a hollow buoyancy unit that applies buoyant upthrust to the structure;
- and
- by lowering the buoyancy unit in the water to bring at least one permanently open aperture of the buoyancy unit beneath a surface level of the water, flooding the buoyancy unit with water through the or each permanently open aperture to reduce the buoyant upthrust applied to the structure.
An elongate subsea structure equipped with a hollow buoyancy unit for applying buoyant upthrust to the structure when immersed in water, the buoyancy unit comprising at least one permanently open aperture through which the buoyancy unit is configured to be flooded with water in use when the at least one permanently open aperture is brought beneath a surface level of the water in order to reduce the buoyant upthrust applied to the structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.