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US 4,843,713 AGranted
Apparatus for making helical flowline bundles
AssigneeShell Oil Company
InventorsCarl G. Langner, Joe O. Esparza
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flowline bundle is twisted or braided into a permanent rope-like helical configuration, prior to laying the flowline bundle offshore by the reel method. Apparatus for forming the helical flowline bundle includes a pipe twist head and a series of pipe tumblers alternating with intermediate pipe supports, which apparatus rotates and translates part of a flowline bundle while simply translating the other part.
Claims32
An apparatus for fabricating a helical flowline bundle comprising:
- means for assembling a first bundle of essentially parallel flowlines;
- first means for twisting the first bundle into an essentially torque-free helical configuration;
- means for assembling a second bundle of essentially parallel flowlines;
- means for attaching the first bundle to the second bundle with fluid-tight connections;
- and
- second means for twisting the second bundle into an essentially torque-free helical configuration.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.