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US 6,928,947 B1Granted
Submersible vehicle
AssigneeCoflexip
InventorPaul David Clapham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A remotely controlled submersible vehicle comprises a fore section and an aft section. In use, they are held apart from each other, such as by telescopic arms, in order to define a gap within which a payload is received. This keeps the payload near the center of the vehicle, improving the balance of the vehicle and minimizing any threat of disruption to the wash path of thrusters.
Claims31
An independently mobile submersible vehicle comprising:
- two vehicle sections;
- at least one independently operable, remotely controlled thruster on at least one of the two sections for providing said submersible vehicle with said independent mobility, at least one of said sections comprising a robot arm which is operable for performing a task at a subsea installation;
- each of said vehicle sections having a respective connection member, said connection members being operable for joining said vehicle sections to each other along a longitudinal direction;
- said vehicle sections defining respective cross-sectional shapes, defined transversely to said longitudinal direction, the respective cross-sectional shapes of said two vehicle sections being substantially the same so as to form a compact vehicle when connected together;
- said vehicle sections defining a gap therebetween, for accommodating a payload within said gap, said payload within said gap being disposed away from a wash path of said thruster.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.