Upper bearing support assembly for internal turret
AssigneeFMC Technologies, Inc.
InventorsStephen P. Lindblade, Quoc A. Dang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A turret mooring system for a vessel which includes a moon pool comprises a turret which is positioned in the moon pool, a buoy and anchor chain assembly for anchoring the turret to the sea floor, a bearing assembly for rotatably connecting the turret to the vessel, and a bearing support assembly which comprises an upper ring member to which the bearing assembly is connected, a lower ring member which is connected to the vessel in the moon pool, and a number of elongated support beams which are connected between the upper and lower ring members. In addition, the lower ring member is connected to the vessel near the vertical center of the vessel in order to minimize the deflections of the bearing assembly due to hogging and sagging of the vessel.
Claims34
A turret mooring system for a vessel which includes a moon pool, the turret mooring system comprising:
- a turret which is positioned in the moon pool;
- means for anchoring the turret to the sea floor;
- an upper bearing assembly for rotatably connecting the turret to the vessel;
- and
- a bearing support assembly which comprises an upper ring member to which the upper bearing assembly is connected, a lower ring member which is connected to the vessel in the moon pool, and a number of elongated support beams which are connected between the upper and lower ring members;
- wherein the lower ring member is connected to the vessel near the vertical center of the vessel;
- and
- wherein the upper ring member, the lower ring member and the support beams together comprise an integral assembly which is pre-fabricated prior to being installed in the moon pool.
A bearing support assembly for a turret mooring system which includes a turret that is positioned in a moon pool of a vessel and is rotatably connected to the vessel by an upper bearing assembly, the bearing support assembly comprising:
- an upper ring member to which the upper bearing assembly is connected;
- a lower ring member which is connected to the vessel in the moon pool;
- and
- a number of elongated support beams which are connected between the upper and lower ring members;
- wherein the lower ring member is located closer to the vertical center of the vessel than to the top of the moon pool;
- and
- wherein the upper ring member, the lower ring member and the support beams together comprise an integral assembly which is pre-fabricated prior to being installed in the moon pool.
A turret mooring system for a vessel which includes a moon pool, the turret mooring system comprising:
- a turret which is positioned in the moon pool;
- means for anchoring the turret to the sea floor;
- an upper bearing assembly for rotatably connecting the turret to the vessel;
- and
- a bearing support assembly which comprises an upper ring member to which the upper bearing assembly is connected, a lower ring member, and a number of elongated support beams which are connected between the upper and lower ring members;
- wherein the lower ring member is secured to a support ring which is attached to the moon pool near the vertical center of the vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.