Underwater latch and power supply
AssigneeCoflexip
InventorsAndrew M. Watt, Allen F. Leatt, Calum MacKinnon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An underwater apparatus for performing subsurface operations adapted to be operated from a remote location above the surface of a body of water is disclosed. The apparatus includes a linelatch system that is made up of a tether management system connected to a flying latch vehicle by a tether. The tether management system controls the amount of free tether between itself and the flying latch vehicle. The flying latch vehicle interfaces with various underwater structures. Also disclosed are methods for recovering, deploying, and relaying power to a subsurface vehicle using the linelatch system.
Claims22
A submersible vehicle for underwater operations including engaging a subsurface device, comprising:
- a chassis;
- a propulsion system attached to said chassis;
- a tether fastener for attachment to a tether, said tether fastener including at least one tether port for communicating power between the tether and said vehicle;
- a connector attached to said chassis for engaging the subsurface device, said connector remotely detachably connectable to the subsurface device, and including at least one connector port for communicating power between said vehicle and the subsurface device;
- and
- a power transmitter, wherein said power transmitter transmits at least 50% to 100% of the power received from said tether port to said connector port.
A submersible system for underwater operations including engaging a subsurface device, said submersible system attached to a vessel via an umbilical, said system comprising:
- a tether;
- a tether management system for retrieving and deploying said tether, said tether management system including at least one umbilical port for communicating power between the umbilical and said tether management system;
- a submersible vehicle, said tether communicating power received from said tether management system to said submersible vehicle, said vehicle including:
- a chassis,
- a propulsion system attached to said chassis,
- a connector attached to said chassis for engaging the subsurface device, and including at least one connector port for communicating power between said vehicle and the subsurface device;
- and
- a power transmitter, wherein said power transmitter transmits at least 50% to 100% of the power received from the umbilical to said at least one connector port.
A method of relaying power from a vessel to an underwater device in a body of water, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) deploying an output source into the body of water, the output source connected to the vessel;
- (b) remotely maneuvering the output source to the underwater device;
- (c) connecting the output source to the underwater device;
- (d) receiving power from the vessel;
- and,
- (e) transmitting between 50% to 100% of the received power to the underwater device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.