Connector assembly

Abstract

The present application describes a connector assembly comprising a male part (200) removably locatable in a female part (104), wherein one of the male and female parts comprises at least one substantially flexible yet resilient retaining element (132) located at a fixed edge region thereof between at least one first support surface (118) and at least one second support surface (128) and extending radially to terminate at a free edge region (134) thereof beyond respective edges of the first and second support surfaces, and wherein the other one of the male and female parts comprises a substantially rigid and radially extending flange region (202) for engagement with the at least one retaining element (132) when at least one of the male and female parts is moved axially towards or away from the other one of male and female parts, and wherein the at least one resilient retaining element is configured to flex about a respective edge of the first and second support surfaces when urged in either axial direction by engagement with the substantially rigid flange region to locate the same on a first or second side of the resilient retaining element to respectively connect or disconnect the male and female parts. The connector assembly may be configured for automatically and repeatedly connecting and disconnecting a subsea bend stiffener connector (BSC) to a rigid structure hang-off location and/or a BSC to a subsea pipe/cable pull-head, or the like.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.