Oil-in-water detector buoy arrangement

A system for detecting sea surface oil sheens comprising;

• a buoyant buoy arranged and designed to be self-righting in heavy seas and having an oil/water sensor which produces an oil/water signal representative of the presence of oil floating on said sea surface and having an electronics module and a beacon coupled to said oil/water sensor which generates a signal on said beacon which corresponds to said oil/water signal,
• a receiving antenna coupled to a receiving electronics module placed on a vessel which is coupled to a mooring buoy,
• said mooring buoy being anchored to a seabed and being coupled to a hydrocarbon conduit via a fluid swivel,
• said mooring buoy having a floating loading hose arranged and designed to transfer hydrocarbons between said fluid swivel and said vessel, with a portion of said floating loading hose forming a “U” shape at an entrance point of the vessel,
• said buoyant body being tethered to float down-current of said “U” shape of said floating hose,
• whereby said receiving antenna with said receiving electronics module on said vessel in response to said signal on said beacon produces a signal representative of oil on said sea surface at said buoyant body.

A system for detecting oil sheens on a sea surface comprising,

• a buoyant body arranged and designed to be self-righting in heavy seas and having an oil/water sensor which produces an oil/water signal representative of the presence of oil floating on said sea surface and having an electronics module and a beacon coupled to said oil/water sensor which generates a signal on said beacon which corresponds to said oil/water signal,
• said mooring buoy being anchored to a seabed and being coupled to a hydrocarbon conduit via a fluid swivel,
• said mooring buoy having a floating loading hose which is arranged and designed to transfer hydrocarbons between said fluid swivel and said vessel, said floating loading hose floating down current from said mooring buoy,
• said buoyant body being coupled to said floating loading hose for generating a beacon signal when an oil sheen on said sea surface is detected.

A system for detecting sea surface oil sheens from a leaking oil source comprising;

• a buoyant body arranged and designed to be self-righting in heavy seas including,
• a submerged section including ballasting material,
• a buoyant section coupled to said submerged section, said buoyant section being partially submerged and partially extending above the sea surface,
• said buoyant section including an oil/water sensor arranged to contact with the sea surface and which produces an oil/water signal representative of the presence of oil floating on said sea surface,
• an electronics module and a sending antenna carried by said buoyant section, with said electronics module being in communication with said oil/water sensor and responsive to said oil/water signal to produce an electromagnetic signal on said sending antenna,
• a receiving antenna coupled to a receiving electronics module placed at a remote body for receiving said electromagnetic signal and for producing a signal at said remote body indicative of oil on said sea surface at said buoyant body,
• a coupling between said remote body and said buoyant body, whereby said buoyant body and said oil/water sensor of said buoyant body floats down-current in the path of said leaking oil source, wherein
• said receiving antenna and said receiving electronics module are disposed on a vessel which is tethered to a mooring buoy,
• said mooring buoy being anchored to a seabed and being coupled to a hydrocarbon conduit via a fluid swivel,
• said mooring buoy having a floating loading hose arranged and designed to transfer hydrocarbons between said fluid swivel and said vessel, with a portion of said floating loading hose forming a “U” shape at an entrance point of the vessel,
• said buoyant body being tethered to the side of said vessel and arranged to float down current of said “U” shape of said floating loading hose.