Deployment and recovery vessel for autonomous underwater vehicle for seismic survey
AssigneeCggveritas Services SA
InventorsThierry Brizard, Alice Hervé, Erwan Postic, Robert Dowle, Jonathan Grimsdale
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Method and vessel for performing marine acoustic survey of a subsurface. The vessel includes a launching module configured to deploy an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) underwater; a recovery module configured to recover the AUV; a homing device mounted on the recovery module and configured to guide the AUV to the recovery module; and a management module connecting the launching module to the recovery module and configured to transport the AUV.
Claims18
A vessel for performing a marine acoustic survey of a subsurface, the vessel comprising:
- a launching module configured to launch an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in water;
- a recovery module configured to recover the AUV from the water;
- a homing device mounted on the recovery module and configured to guide the AUV to the recovery module while in the water;
- a management module connecting the launching module to the recovery module and configured to transport the AUV while on the vessel;
- and
- an acoustic system configured to determine a location of the AUV after landing on the ocean bottom and configured to activate the AUV when a time to return to the surface arises.
A vessel for performing a marine acoustic survey of a subsurface, the vessel comprising:
- a launching module configured to launch an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) underwater;
- a recovery module configured to recover the AUV;
- and
- a management module connecting the launching module to the recovery module and configured to transport the AUV while on a deck of the vessel,
- wherein the management module includes,
- a first management zone configured to receive the AUV from the recovery module and to sort the AUV into damaged and undamaged AUVs;
- a conveyor zone configured to receive the undamaged AUV;
- a maintenance module configured to receive the damaged AUVs;
- and
- a second management zone connected to the conveyor zone and configured to receive the undamaged AUV,
- wherein the second management zone is also connected to the launching module.
A method for performing a marine acoustic survey of a subsurface, the method comprising:
- deploying through a launching module an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) underwater;
- guiding the AUV to a recovery module with a homing device mounted on the recovery module after the AUV has recorded seismic data of the subsurface;
- recovering with the recovery module the AUV;
- and
- transporting the recovered AUV with a management module back to the launching module for redeployment;
- inspecting the AUV after passing the recovery module;
- and
- sorting the AUV into damaged and undamaged AUVs and passing the AUV to a corresponding path.
A vessel for performing a marine acoustic survey of a subsurface, the vessel comprising:
- a launching module configured to launch an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in water;
- a recovery module configured to recover the AUV from the water;
- a homing device mounted on the recovery module and configured to guide the AUV to the recovery module while in the water;
- and
- a management module connecting the launching module to the recovery module and configured to transport the AUV while on the vessel,
- wherein the recovery module includes a body having a triangular cross-section that matches a cross-section of the AUV.
A vessel for performing a marine acoustic survey of a subsurface, the vessel comprising:
- a launching module configured to launch an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in water;
- a recovery module configured to recover the AUV from the water;
- a homing device mounted on the recovery module and configured to guide the AUV to the recovery module while in the water;
- and
- a management module connecting the launching module to the recovery module and configured to transport the AUV while on the vessel,
- wherein the launching module includes a body having a triangular cross-section that matches a cross-section of the AUV.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.