KR101722449B1

KR101722449B1 - Submerged turret mooring system

Info

Publication number: KR101722449B1
Application number: KR1020150127820A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 유동훈
Original assignee: 삼성중공업 주식회사
Priority date: 2015-09-09
Filing date: 2015-09-09
Publication date: 2017-04-04
Also published as: KR20170030343A

Abstract

An underwater turret mooring system is disclosed. An underwater turret mooring system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an underwater turret in which an underwater turret connected to an offshore structure and a submarine turret connected to a seabed are combined and placed underwater; A first mooring rope connected between the hull and the hovering turret; And a second mooring rope connected between the seabed surface and the seabed surface turret.

Description

[0001] Submerged turret mooring system [0002]

The present invention relates to an underwater turret mooring system.

Floating oil / gas production facilities such as FPSO, FLNG, etc. are fixed and operated by the mooring system in the corresponding field.

In particular, turret mooring systems have been applied to weather vaning to minimize wind and wave resistance in poorly watered areas. In the production of oil / gas, the production facility revolves around the turret so that it can be fixed in position and a riser can be installed inside the turret.

The structure of the turret mooring system is also disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/244986, and the turret muooring system is largely classified into two types, an internal type and an external type.

The internal turret mooring system is permanently fixed inside the hull. The cost of the turret is high and the size of the hull must be large enough, since the turret is installed inside the hull. The turret installation space is required to have a small cargo tank area, and there is a space limitation in which the installation space of the upper structure module is reduced. In addition, turret installation causes design constraints and large cost increase problems.

The external turret mooring system is fixed outside the hull, but the turret cost is also high. To avoid interference with the mooring rope, the turret has to be pulled forward and this requires a large steel construction, which is a poorly structured design. As such, the installation of turrets and large steel structures creates design constraints and high costs.

US Open Patent US 2004/244986 (published Dec. 2004) - Offshore production system with drilling / workover rig

The present invention is to provide an inexpensive turret mooring system that is less expensive than conventional turrets using an underwater turret comprising two buoyant bodies.

It is not necessary to increase the size of the hull due to the turret and it is necessary to reduce the area and the capacity of the cargo tank without being restricted by the design such as the arrangement of the upper structure module due to the turret Without turret mooring system.

The present invention is to provide an underwater turret mooring system that does not require a large steel structure and reinforcement since it is not a hull-connected system like an existing external turret.

The present invention is to provide an underwater turret mooring system in which, when the underwater turret is installed for each field, a general float production facility comes and the production activity becomes possible immediately after connection.

Other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, An underwater turret in which a submarine turret connected to the seabed is combined and located in the water; A first mooring rope connected between the offshore structure and the hulling turret; And a second mooring rope connected between the underside surface and the underside sole turret.

The hulling turret can be rotated on the basis of the bottom sole turret.

The hulling turret comprises: an upper flange to which the first mooring rope is connected; A support having one end coupled to a lower surface of the upper flange and inserted through a through hole formed in the center of the bottom sole turret; And a lower flange coupled to the other end of the support.

The diameter of the lower end flange may be greater than the diameter of the upper end flange.

The offshore structure includes a riser, which can be installed to penetrate the center of the underwater turret.

The upper end of the first mooring rope may be connected to the upper portion of the deck through guide pipes formed on both sides of the hull.

Other aspects, features, and advantages will become apparent from the following drawings, claims, and detailed description of the invention.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the use of an underwater turret including two buoyant bodies is inexpensive compared to a conventional turret.

In addition, it is not necessary to increase the size of the hull due to the turret because it is not installed in the hull like the existing inner turret, and there is no need to reduce the area and the capacity of the cargo tank without being restricted by design in arrangement of the upper structure module due to the turret It is effective.

In addition, since the system is not connected to the hull like the existing external turret, there is no need of a large steel structure and reinforcement.

Also, when the underwater turret is installed in each field, the general float-type production facility comes and the production activity becomes possible immediately after the connection.

1 is a perspective view of an offshore structure having an underwater turret mooring system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 illustrates a submerged turret mooring system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a side view of an offshore structure having an underwater turret mooring system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
4 is a longitudinal sectional view of an offshore structure having an underwater turret mooring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart of a method of mooring an offshore structure using an underwater turret mooring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, . On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like refer to the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

Also, the terms " part, "" module," " unit, "and the like, which are described in the specification, mean a unit for processing at least one function or operation and may be implemented by hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software .

It is to be understood that the components of the embodiments described with reference to the drawings are not limited to the embodiments and may be embodied in other embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is to be understood that although the description is omitted, multiple embodiments may be implemented again in one integrated embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an offshore structure having an underwater turret mooring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a view illustrating an underwater turret mooring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of an offshore structure having an underwater turret mooring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a side view of an offshore structure having an underwater turret mooring system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 4 illustrate an embodiment of an offshore structure 1, a hull 10, a first mooring rope 20, a second mooring rope 30, a hull turret 110, a sea floor turret 120, (100), a riser (50), and a guide pipe (12).

The underwater turret mooring system according to an embodiment of the present invention is a system in which a turret is separated from a hull and disposed underwater, thereby eliminating a design restriction considering a turret in a marine structure (in particular, a floating production facility) Thereby maximizing the efficiency.

The offshore structure 1 according to the present embodiment can be fixedly operated in a specific field through an underwater turret mooring system provided in a specific field of water.

The underwater turret mooring system includes an underwater turret 100, a first mooring rope 20, and a second mooring rope 30.

The underwater turret 100 includes a hulling turret 110 and a bottom sole turret 120.

The hulling turret 110 is a floating rotating body for connecting the first mooring rope 20 to the hull 10 side. A rotating body rotatable with respect to the turret 120 for sea floor, which enables free weathering of the marine structure 1.

The hulling turret 110 includes a top flange 112, a bottom flange 114, and a support 116 connecting them (see Fig. 2 (a)). Although the upper flange 112 and the lower flange 114 are shown as being disc-shaped, this is merely an example, and may have various plate-like structures as required.

The support base 116 has a cylindrical shape. The diameter of the support base 116 may be designed to be relatively small to increase the rotational force.

The bottom surfacing turret 120 is a float for connecting the second mooring rope 30 toward the seabed. The hulling turret 110 becomes a freely rotating base.

The bottom surfacing turret 120 has a plate-like structure (see FIG. 2 (b)) in which a through hole 122 penetrates through the center, and may have a disk shape, for example, as shown in the drawing. The through hole 122 has the same shape as the cross-sectional shape of the support base 116, so that the support base 116 can be inserted through the through hole 122 in a rotatable manner.

FIG. 2C is a view showing the assembly of the hulling turret 110 and the bottom turret 120. The hulling turret 110 is freely rotatable with respect to the bottom turret 120.

Here, the hulling turret 110 is shown with the lower flange 114 having a greater diameter than the upper flange 112. The upper surface of the lower end flange 114 and the lower surface of the turntable 120 for bottom seam come into contact with each other by the tension of the first mooring rope 20 and the second mooring rope 30, The turtle 110 can be rotated with respect to the bottom turret 120 with a stable structure because the contact area can be increased. However, this is merely an example, and it goes without saying that the upper flange 112 may have a larger diameter or have the same diameter if necessary.

When the underwater turret 100 is installed in the offshore structure 1, the bottom mooring turret 120 among the underwater turrets 100 which are supposed to float upward with buoyancy, And the upper flange 112 of the hulling turret 110 is tensioned upward by the first mooring rope 20 in the hull direction. The first mooring rope 20 and the second mooring rope 30 can be tensioned and balanced with respect to the underwater turret 100 as a reference.

The first mooring rope 20 has an upper end connected to the hull 10 and a lower end connected to the hulling turret 110 and in particular to the upper flange 112 to support the hulling turret 110 of the underwater turret 100 And the rotation of the hull 10 is transmitted to the hulling turret 110 so that the hulling turret 110 is rotated in accordance with the hull 10.

The lower end of the second mooring rope 30 is connected to the sea floor and the upper end of the second mooring rope 30 is connected to the bottom surface turret 120 to apply tension to the bottom turret 120 among the underwater turrets 100, So that the underwater turret 100 having buoyancy and floating on the sea surface can be fixed in water of a predetermined depth.

In particular, the upper end of the first mooring rope 20 is connected to the upper part of the deck via guide pipes 12 formed on both sides of the hull 10 (see FIG. 4). The first mooring rope 20 is disposed inside the hull 10 to prevent the first mooring rope 20 from being damaged by the external environment and the hull 10.

The riser 50 of the offshore structure 1 may be provided so as to penetrate the middle portion of the underwater turret 100 to prevent interference with the rotation of the underwater turret 100. To this end, a riser through hole 118 for penetrating the riser 50 may be formed at the center of the underwater turret 100. Here, the diameter of the support base 116 of the hare turret 110 may be larger than the diameter of the riser through hole 118.

The underwater turret 100 according to the present embodiment is constituted by two buoyant bodies (the hull turret 110 and the bottom sole turret 120) and is inexpensive compared to the currently applied internal / external turret.

In addition, since it is not installed in the hull like the inner turret, the turret does not need to be enlarged in size and is not restricted by the design of the upper structure module. In addition, there is no need to reduce the area and capacity of the cargo tank. Also, since it is not a hull connected system like an external turret, there is no need for large steel structures and reinforcement.

5 is a flowchart of a method of mooring an offshore structure using an underwater turret mooring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the offshore structure is a floating production facility.

Referring to FIG. 5, the above-mentioned underwater turret is installed for each field for production (step S200). The underwater turret 100 is connected to the second mooring rope 30 and may be floated within a predetermined depth of water.

When the floating production facility arrives at the corresponding field (step S210), the hull of the float production facility and the hull turret 110 among the underwater turrets 100 are connected to the first mooring rope 20 (step S220).

The riser 50 of the floating production facility may be installed to penetrate the center of the underwater turret 100 (step S230) and immediately perform oil / gas production (step S240).

If the underwater turret according to the present embodiment is installed for each field, the production operation can be performed immediately after the general floating production equipment comes and connects the first mooring rope and the riser is installed.

The underwater turret mooring system according to the present embodiment may be applied to vessels of all types (commercial ships, marine vessels) that require weatherbathing.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the following claims And changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1: Offshore structure 10: Hull
12: Guide pipe
110: Underwater turret 110: Hull turret
112: upper flange 114: lower flange
116: Support 120: Turret for submarine surfacing
122: through hole 20: first mooring rope
30: second mooring rope

Claims

An underwater turret with a combination of hull turrets connected to offshore structures and seabed turrets connected to the seabed;
A first mooring rope connected between the offshore structure and the hull turret; And
And a second mooring rope connected between the bottom sole and the bottom sole turret,
The hull-
An upper flange to which said first mooring rope is connected;
A support having one end coupled to a lower surface of the upper flange and inserted through a through hole formed in the center of the bottom sole turret; And
And a lower flange coupled to the other end of the support.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the hull turret is rotated on the basis of the bottom sole turret.

delete

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the diameter of the lower flange is greater than the diameter of the upper flange.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the offshore structure comprises a riser and the riser is installed to penetrate the center of the underwater turret.

An underwater turret with a combination of hull turrets connected to offshore structures and seabed turrets connected to the seabed;
A first mooring rope connected between the offshore structure and the hull turret; And
And a second mooring rope connected between the bottom sole and the bottom sole turret,
Wherein an upper end of the first mooring rope is connected to an upper portion of a deck through a guide pipe formed on both sides of the hull.