Large subsea package deployment methods and devices
AssigneeSafe Marine Transfer, LLC
InventorsJames E. Chitwood, Art J. Schroeder, Jr.
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to one or more embodiments disclosed herein is a method of transporting equipment between sea-surface and seafloor by providing a structure with equipment mounted thereon. The equipment may be liquid storage tanks, pumps, compressors, separators, metering systems, energy sources, communication systems, buoyancy tanks, and the like. The structure is used for disposal and installation in a subsea environment by changing the volume of buoyancy material within at least one buoyancy tank.
Claims19
A method of transporting at least one liquid storage tank between a sea surface and a seafloor, comprising:
- providing a structure comprising at least one vented buoyancy tank, the structure supporting a payload comprising at least one liquid storage tank;
- and
- adjusting an amount of buoyancy material within the at least one vented buoyancy tank to lower the structure and the supported payload to the seafloor;
- wherein the at least one vented buoyancy tank comprises a dynamic buoyancy tank, the method further comprising adding gas to the dynamic buoyancy tank to maintain a water-gas interface in the dynamic buoyancy tank at a tank vent level.
A method of transporting equipment between sea-surface and seafloor, by:
- providing an assembly comprising a base structure, at least one vented buoyancy tank, at least one liquid storage tank, and equipment;
- changing a volume of buoyancy material within the at least one vented buoyancy tank to fully submerse and dispose the assembly subsea and lower the assembly to the seafloor or lift the assembly from fully submersed subsea to sea surface;
- and
- wherein that at least one liquid storage tank and the equipment are mounted on the base structure and is selected from the group consisting of pumps, compressors, separators, metering systems, energy sources, and communication systems.
A method of transporting at least one liquid storage tank between a sea surface and a seafloor, by:
- providing a structure comprising at least one vented buoyancy tank and having a central area on which at least one liquid storage tank, separate from the at least one vented buoyancy tank, and optional equipment, are located;
- wherein the equipment is selected from the group consisting of pumps, compressors, separators, metering systems, energy sources, and communication systems;
- lowering the structure to the seafloor by removing at least a portion of at least one of air, nitrogen or spheres of buoyant material from the at least one vented buoyancy tank;
- routing a stored chemical from the at least one liquid storage tank to a subsea point of injection;
- and
- lifting the structure from the seafloor by adding at least one of air, nitrogen or spheres of buoyant material to the at least one vented buoyancy tank.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.