US 4,735,167 AGranted

Offshore mooring/loading system

AssigneeBrian Watt Associates, Inc.

InventorsGeoff C. White, Costas P. Manoudakis

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Abstract

A mooring system for connecting a vessel having an opening in its bow, to a fixed non-compliant offshore structure allows the moored vessel to weathervane 360 degrees around the structure while it is being loaded or while it tranfers fluids back to the production structure. The mooring system includes an outer boom pivotally mounted to the structure and an inner boom slidably mounted to the outer boom. The inner boom has an inboard end slidably mounted within the outer boom and a curved outboard end extending beyond the inner boom and defining an opening. The assembly of the inner and outer boom is articulated so that it may be placed in contact with a mooring receptacle of the vessel so that the opening in the inner boom is adjacent to mooring receptacle of the vessel. An elongated mating link is retained by the inner boom and extends through the aligned openings in the inner and in the bow of the vessel. Upon extension the elongated mating link is rotatably mounted with respect to the longitudinal axis of the inner boom. Upon all vessel movements, the inner boom remains in contact with the mooring receptacle of the vessel due to the rotatable connection between the elongated mating link and the inner boom. A shock absorption system mounted with the inner and outer boom resists tensile and compressive forces in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the inner boom exerted by the vessel on the inner boom.

Claims38

Dependent claims

A mooring system for connecting a vessel having a mooring receptacle to a fixed noncompliant offshore structure comprising:

boom means mounted to said structure for establishing an extensible, semi-rigid coupling between the vessel and the structure, said boom means further comprising:
an outer boom pivotally mounted to the structure for movement in a plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of the offshore structure and for movement about the periphery of the structure in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the structure;
an inner boom slidably mounted within said outer boom, and adapted for telescoping motion therewith in response to vessel movement;
said inner boom having an inboard end disposed within said outer boom, and an outboard end extending beyond said outer boom, said outboard end having an opening formed therein and adapted for contact with a mooring receptacle on the vessel;
luffing means for coarsely aligning said opening in said inner boom with the mooring receptacle of the vessel;
an elongated mating link retained by said inner boom and adapted for selective extension through said opening in said inner boom to engage the mooring receptacle on the vessel, said elongated mating link engaging said end of said inner boom so as to provide a pivotal mounting therebetween with respect to the longitudinal axis of said inner boom when said elongated link is extended through said opening in said inner boom;
shock absorption means with said inner and outer boom for dampening tensile and compressive forces exerted by the vessel on said inner boom in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of said inner boom;
and
whereby said inner boom remains in contact with the mooring receptacle on the vessel notwithstanding movement of the vessel.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.