WO2023194818A1 - System and method of pipe joint transfer from a pipe carrier to a pipelay vessel or to an offshore structure - Google Patents

System and method of pipe joint transfer from a pipe carrier to a pipelay vessel or to an offshore structure Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2023194818A1
WO2023194818A1 PCT/IB2023/052126 IB2023052126W WO2023194818A1 WO 2023194818 A1 WO2023194818 A1 WO 2023194818A1 IB 2023052126 W IB2023052126 W IB 2023052126W WO 2023194818 A1 WO2023194818 A1 WO 2023194818A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
pipe
spreader bar
crane
instant
lifting
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IB2023/052126
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Fabio Cordasco
Salvatore TORCIVIA
Original Assignee
Saipem S.P.A.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Saipem S.P.A. filed Critical Saipem S.P.A.
Publication of WO2023194818A1 publication Critical patent/WO2023194818A1/en

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
    • B66C—CRANES; LOAD-ENGAGING ELEMENTS OR DEVICES FOR CRANES, CAPSTANS, WINCHES, OR TACKLES
    • B66C23/00—Cranes comprising essentially a beam, boom, or triangular structure acting as a cantilever and mounted for translatory of swinging movements in vertical or horizontal planes or a combination of such movements, e.g. jib-cranes, derricks, tower cranes
    • B66C23/18—Cranes comprising essentially a beam, boom, or triangular structure acting as a cantilever and mounted for translatory of swinging movements in vertical or horizontal planes or a combination of such movements, e.g. jib-cranes, derricks, tower cranes specially adapted for use in particular purposes
    • B66C23/36—Cranes comprising essentially a beam, boom, or triangular structure acting as a cantilever and mounted for translatory of swinging movements in vertical or horizontal planes or a combination of such movements, e.g. jib-cranes, derricks, tower cranes specially adapted for use in particular purposes mounted on road or rail vehicles; Manually-movable jib-cranes for use in workshops; Floating cranes
    • B66C23/52—Floating cranes
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
    • B63B—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; EQUIPMENT FOR SHIPPING 
    • B63B35/00—Vessels or similar floating structures specially adapted for specific purposes and not otherwise provided for
    • B63B35/03—Pipe-laying vessels
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
    • B66C—CRANES; LOAD-ENGAGING ELEMENTS OR DEVICES FOR CRANES, CAPSTANS, WINCHES, OR TACKLES
    • B66C13/00—Other constructional features or details
    • B66C13/04—Auxiliary devices for controlling movements of suspended loads, or preventing cable slack
    • B66C13/06—Auxiliary devices for controlling movements of suspended loads, or preventing cable slack for minimising or preventing longitudinal or transverse swinging of loads

Definitions

  • the present invention concerns the technical field of loading or unloading of equipment, especially pipe joints, at sea between two ships or between ships and off-shore structures.
  • the present invention further relates to an improved system and method for the offshore trans-shipping of pipe joints or pipe sections from a pipe carrier vessel to a pipelay vessel.
  • pipe joint refers to a portion of conventional length, e.g. 12 meters long, of a pipeline that is intended to be assembled to form greater lengths of pipeline that are subsequently laid by means of different methodologies, such as for example so-called S- lay and J-lay methods in which:
  • each welding phase is followed by a movement of the vessel, so that at each movement of the laying vessel a new length of pipe is laid to the seabed.
  • the problem of pipe joints trans-shipping is similar to the problem of containers trans-shipping: the payload is within the range of 10-50 tons, the payload shall not be effected by wind that disturbs motion, the payload transfer operation shall be robust and fast; cranes shall reach each loading point with a single mooring.
  • a typical onshore payload logistic system uses quay movable gantry cranes with a special rigging for connecting containers and for repetitive payload movements with a high degree of automation. Similar to the offshore trans-shipping of pipe-joints, also the on-shore movements of the payload shall not be effected by wind that disturbs motion and, for this purpose, the crane hook and wire robe are configured to improve stability; the payload transfer cycle shall be robust and fast; the cranes shall reach each loading point with a single mooring. [0009] The main difference between the off-shore pipe-joints trans-shipping and the on-shore payload transfer through cranes is the presence of waves in the off-shore operation, which move the involved vessels relative to one another in multiple directions.
  • pipe joints are transported from a logistics base to the offshore field by means of cargo barges or so-called pipe carriers.
  • the selection of the pipe carrier characteristics is determined by either cost or time. If the pipe laying time is to be minimized, typically high value pipe laying vessels are used and the cost of the supply logistic becomes secondary. In this scenario the supply logistic is required to supply pipe joints to the pipe laying vessel to assure continuous laying without interruptions. This means that, generally, the mooring and transfer speed of the supply system shall be higher than the pipe laying speed of the pipe laying vessel.
  • the pipe carrier vessel is selected on the basis of a set of primary features, i.e.
  • a recent evolution of pipe carriers is the so-called DP2 B-type Spliethoff multy deck carrier vessel with remotely operated gantry cranes, transfer station and heavy lift crane.
  • a known pipe lay vessel the Allseas Solitaire PLV, is equipped with two 35tons articulated flag cranes. Each crane has two arms with a rotating beam at the end of the second arm. Each crane has winches and wires to lift and lower a hook - spreader bar close to the pipe joint. Pipe lifting wires are extended through the hook - spreader bar so that the spreader bar acts as a longitudinal spacer for the pipe lift wires.
  • the known crane also has an anti-yaw function.
  • the rotating beam of the crane can pivot around a vertical axis to produce a controlled rotation of the pipe joint relative to the crane arm.
  • the rotating beam and the hook - spreader bar have mainly anti-yaw functions.
  • the known hook - spreader bar is adapted to engage or disengage from the rotating beam of the crane arm and, when disengaged, the hook - spreader bar can move to a height close to the pipe joints and two transfer wires can be lowered through the hook - spreader bar, and their ends can be connected to the pipe joint by riggers.
  • the connected pipe joint can be lifted to the hook - spreader bar, and a set of guides at a bottom side of the hook - spreader bar allows a temporary connection of the lifted pipe joint to the spreader bar. Then the hook - spreader bar can be lifted and rotated together with the attached pipe joint in order to transfer, align and lower the joint to a pipe storage at the pipe lay vessel.
  • Pipe joint transfer from a hold to a pipe transfer station onboard the pipe carrier vessel the pipe joints shall be within the crane reach and the relative motion between a lifting connector and the pipe joint shall be substantially zero.
  • a known method to avoid relative motion problems is to move the pipe joints to the pipe transfer station of the carrier vessel and land (by mechanically resting) a hoisting means and/or a pipe coupling device of the pipe lay vessel at the transfer station. This allows to perform the connection and the first phase of the lifting of the pipe joint in a stable condition without disturbing relative motion.
  • WO2012038776 (Saipem) and US9315244B2 (Spliethoff) describe systems for improving the operational limit of a cargo barge during these pipe joint handling phases.
  • EP1679462 (Liebherr) describes a quick-release coupling system with a rotary drive and with a pendulum brake system.
  • GB2031842A (Peiner) describes a load rotating device for controlling the rotation of a payload and torque-prestressed rigging cables which tend to rotate to the opposite direction of the rotation of the payload.
  • tugger lines are pulling cables extending from the crane hook or from the spreader bar in a non vertical direction (preferably horizontal direction) to an external reference body, e.g. to a tugger line winch at the pipe lay vessel, and by applying pulling forces to multiple tugger lines it is possible to influence the rotational position of the crane hook or of the spreader bar.
  • the tugger lines are cables pulling towards the crane, mainly in the horizontal plane and acting on the hook or on the spreader bar or on the suspended load, often in pairs with parallel or crossed directions.
  • the tugger lines are held in a substantial constant tension mode, taking the suspended load slightly off the vertical so as to limit its pendulum movement.
  • hooks that are not actively mechanically rotating may have bushings or bearings that allow a yaw rotation of the hook which is controlled by the tugger lines connected to the suspended load.
  • connection and lifting off of the payload from the pipe carrier vessel shall be as fast as possible to avoid that the payload stacks.
  • the rigging arrangement includes two inclined slings with a hook at each lower end and which, together with the pipe joint, form a stable lifting connection. In this way the necessarily manual connection of the rigging arrangement to the pipe joint was fast and the subsequent lifting off operation was immediately obtained by tensioning the rope systems. Due to the vessel movements caused by wave movement, the vessel heave oscillates between a maximum heave and a minimum heave, the crane lifting operation and speed must be adapted thereto.
  • W02008136766 describes an apparatus and a method for the engagement of containers. It still remains a challenge to accurately control the pipe joint landing/lifting/ coupling/uncoupling phases to an extend that allows to eliminate manual interventions and, hence, the risk of injuring the operator.
  • the alignment rotation is usually already taken into consideration by planning the relative position between the lifting crane and the pipe joint position and orientation at the start end at the end of the pipe joint transfer from the pipe carrier vessel to the pipe laying vessel, so that the necessary rotation of the pipe joint takes place ideally during and due to the crane rotation only.
  • Pipe joint rotation angles between about 40 and 80 degrees are typical angles that must take place within the transfer time that must be as short as possible, and which is usually about 3 minutes. If, for example the pipe carrier vessel is moored with a longitudinal orientation parallel to a longitudinal orientation of the pipe lay vessel and the required crane boom rotation with respect to the pipe lay vessel is 60° then the necessary compensating counter-rotation of the transferred pipe joint or spreader bar with respect to the crane boom should be - 60°.
  • US9556006 B2 (Liebherr) describes a method for controlling the orientation of a crane load and a boom crane, in which a manipulator is connected to a rotation unit attached to a crane hook suspended on ropes.
  • the pipe joint transfer involves risks for the health of the operators. Riggers must climb to the pipe joint stack, manually grasp and pull pilot lines hanging from the rigging arrangement (spreader bar or hook) to it in the desired landing position, and connect the pipe joints to the rigging arrangement, running the risk of falling from considerable heights and colliding with pipe joints, wherein all movements are amplified by the movement of the pipe carrier vessel, especially by the most significant vertical heave movement component.
  • the pipe joint transfer also involves operational risks of collisions and damages of pipe joints and/or vessel parts caused by wind, waves, loss of dynamic positioning, e.g. as a consequence of an unstable mooring, that is the temporary loss of a substantially fixed relative position with minimal relative movements between the involved vessels, especially under bad weather conditions. Also in this respect, the most significant movement component is the vertical heave movement component.
  • the pipe joint transfer also still involves operational delays and drawbacks due to undesirably poor control and influence of the yaw rotation, i.e. the target orientation in a horizontal plane (or rotational position about a vertical rotation axis) of the pipe joints landing on the deck of the pipe lay vessel.
  • the aim of the present invention is to provide an improved system and method for the offshore crane transfer of pipe joints from a pipe carrier vessel to a pipe laying vessel having features such as to: [0031] A) maintain a stable orientation of the pipe joint during landing/lifting of the pipe joint on/from the pipe carrier vessel and pipe laying vessel,
  • Fig. 1 A shows pipe joint transfer operation from a pipe carrier vessel to a pipe lay vessel and some motion components of the involved vessels and crane load
  • Fig. 1 B shows a vessel and vessel motion components in the local vessel reference system
  • FIG. 2A schematically shows an off-shore pipe joint transfer system according to an embodiment of the invention
  • FIG. 2B schematically shows a rigging arrangement, including a part of a crane boom, lifting wires, a crane hook and a spreader bar with an attached pipe joint of the pipe transfer system according to an embodiment
  • Fig. 2C is a schematic top view of a spreader bar of the pipe transfer system according to an embodiment
  • Fig. 2D is a schematic bottom view of the spreader bar in figure 2C
  • Fig. 2E is an exemplary schematic top view showing a crane hook, rigging ropes, a spreader bar, tugger lines and tugger winches or hoists on board of a pipe laying vessel
  • Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a spreader bar with adjustable flywheels and remotely operatable pipe joint connectors according to an embodiment of the invention
  • Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the spreader bar in figure 3 with a pipe joint connected thereto
  • FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a detail of a spreader bar, showing multiple flywheels with adjustable flywheel axes, in a first flywheel orientation, wherein at some of the flywheels a drive motor is removed from the figure for better showing other components,
  • Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a detail of a spreader bar, showing multiple flywheels with adjustable flywheel axes, in a second flywheel orientation, different from the first flywheel orientation in figure 5,
  • Fig. 7 shows a detail of a flywheel arrangement of a spreader bar according to an embodiment
  • Fig. 8 shows a detail of a flywheel orientation adjustment system according to an embodiment.
  • Figs. 9 and 10 show a detail of a spreader bar with a hydraulic pipe connecter in a release position (Fig. 9) and in a connection position (Fig. 10), according to an embodiment,
  • Fig. 1 1 shows a hydraulic pipe connecter according to an embodiment
  • Fig. 12 shows a detail of a spreader bar with multiply hydraulic pipe connecters according to an embodiment.
  • a system 1 for the offshore crane transfer of pipe joints 2 from a pipe carrier vessel 3 to a pipe laying vessel 4 comprises:
  • a boom crane 7 positioned on the pipelay vessel 4 and having a crane boom 8 rotatable about a vertical crane rotation axis 9, a plurality of lifting ropes 10 extending from the crane boom 8 downward, a crane hook 11 connected to the lifting ropes 10 to hang below the crane boom 8, one or more motor driven lifting winches 12 for winding and unwinding the lifting ropes 10 and thereby lifting and lowering the crane hook 11 , and a spreader bar 13 hangingly connected to the crane hook 11 by a plurality of rigging ropes 14,
  • the crane hook 1 1 comprises a base portion 15 to which the lifting ropes 10 are connected and a hook portion 16 to which the rigging ropes 14 are connected, wherein the hook portion 16 is coupled to the base portion 15 and rotatable with respect to the base portion 15 about a vertical yaw rotation axis 17 by a yaw adjusting motor 18 connected to the crane hook 11 ,
  • [0062] optionally two or more motor driven tugger winches 19 or hoists positioned on the pipe lay vessel 4 (e.g. on the crane 7 itself) for winding and unwinding two or more tugger lines 20 that can be extended with a horizontal distance 21 to each other and with a non-zero horizontal direction component from the two or more tugger winches or hoists 19 to one of the crane hook 1 1 and spreader bar 13 and connected thereto in two horizontally spaced apart tugger points 22,
  • a position control system 23, 24, 35, 36 configured to determine (detect and/or calculate) an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6,
  • the two or more tugger winches 19 to selectively pull the two or more tugger lines 20 with different pulling forces for yaw rotating the spreader bar 13 with respect to the crane boom 8,
  • the spreader bar 13 comprises a plurality of electrically controlled pipe connectors 26 configured to engage opposite end portions of the pipe joint 2 to connect the pipe joint 2 to the spreader bar 13, said pipe connectors 26 being remotely controlled by a pipe connecting control system 27 of said crane control system 25,
  • the base portion 15 of the crane hook 11 forms at least two lifting rope attachment seats 28 which transmit a lifting force from the lifting ropes 10 to the crane hook 1 1 , the lifting rope attachment seats 28 being horizontally spaced apart by a minimum horizontal lifting rope distance 29 of more than 2 meters, e.g. 2352mm, or more than 2,5 meters, or more than 3 meters, [0072] wherein the lifting ropes 10 comprise at least two lifting ropes engaging the two lifting rope attachment seats 28 and extending from the lifting rope attachment seats 28 upward to the crane boom 8 with said minimum horizontal lifting rope distance 29 therebetween,
  • the rigging ropes 14 extend between the crane hook 11 and the spreader bar 13 at a rigging rope angle 30 to the horizontal of less than 70°, or less than 60° or in the range of 40° and 55°.
  • the system 1 achieves a significantly increased torsional stiffness of the entire upper part of the rigging arrangement due to the large minimum lifting rope distance, thereby avoiding that an activation of the yaw adjusting motor 18 rotates the upper rigging arrangement instead of the spreader bar 13 and pipe joints 2 (due to the high mass inertial moment of the spreader bar 13 and attached pipe joints 2, having a weight of tenths of tons).
  • the system 1 also achieves a significantly increased torsional stiffness of the lower part of the rigging arrangement due to the flat rigging rope angle 30, thereby assuring that the activation of the yaw adjusting motor 18 rotates the spreader bar 13 rather than only twisting the rigging ropes 14.
  • the crane control system 25 automatically controls not only the yaw adjusting motor 18, but also the lifting winches 12, the crane boom rotation (by means of a crane rotation motor 31 ), and possibly the tugger winches 19, depending on the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6, i.e.
  • A) maintain a stable orientation of the pipe joint 2 during landing/lifting of the pipe joint 2 on/from the pipe carrier vessel 3 and pipe laying vessel 4,
  • the described pipe transfer system 1 is particularly intended for high productivity pipe lay vessels.
  • the spreader bar 13 comprises one or more motor driven flywheels 32, each rotating about a dedicated flywheel axis 33, and an electrically controlled flywheel adjusting system 34 for adjusting an orientation of the flywheel axis 33 with respect to the spreader bar 13 to generate (due to the obtained gyroscopic effect) and apply a yaw rotation moment (about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17) to the spreader bar 13.
  • the flywheel adjusting system 34 is connected with and controlled by the crane control system 25 to rotate the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17.
  • the flywheel adjusting system 34 is automatically controlled by the crane control system 25 to rotate the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6 and according to a target transfer trajectory of the spreader bar 13 at the pipe transfer station 5 and at the pipe landing station 6.
  • the system 1 achieves a significantly improved control on the yaw position and yaw rotation of the spreader bar 13.
  • a system 1 for the offshore crane transfer of pipe joints 2 from a pipe carrier vessel 3 to a pipe laying vessel 4 comprises:
  • a pipelay vessel 4 having a pipe landing station 6 for the landing of the pipe joints 2
  • a boom crane 7 positioned on the pipelay vessel 4 with a crane boom 8 rotatable about a vertical crane rotation axis 9, a plurality of lifting ropes 10 extending from the crane boom 8 downward, a crane hook 1 1 connected to the lifting ropes 10 to hang below the crane boom 8, one or more motor driven lifting winches 12 or hoists for winding and unwinding the lifting ropes 10 and thereby lifting and lowering the crane hook 1 1 , and a spreader bar 13 hangingly connected to the crane hook 11 by a plurality of rigging ropes 14,
  • the two or more tugger winches 19 or hoists to selectively pull the two or more tugger lines 20 with different pulling forces for yaw rotating the spreader bar 13 with respect to the crane boom 8,
  • the spreader bar 13 comprises a plurality of electrically controlled pipe connectors 26 configured to engage opposite end portions of the pipe joint 2 to connect the pipe joint 2 to the spreader bar 13, said pipe connectors 26 being remotely controlled by a pipe connecting control system 27 of said crane control system 25,
  • the spreader bar 13 comprises one or more motor driven flywheels 32, each rotating about a dedicated flywheel axis 33, and an electrically controlled flywheel adjusting system 34 for adjusting an orientation of the flywheel axis 33 with respect to the spreader bar 13 to generate (due to the obtained gyroscopic effect) and apply a yaw rotation moment (about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17) to the spreader bar 13.
  • the flywheel adjusting system 34 is connected with and controlled by the crane control system 25 to rotate the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17.
  • the flywheel adjusting system 34 is automatically controlled by the crane control system 25 to rotate the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6 and according to a target transfer trajectory of the spreader bar 13 at the pipe transfer station 5 and at the pipe landing station 6.
  • the system 1 achieves a significantly improved control on the yaw position and yaw rotation of the spreader bar 13.
  • the crane control system 25 automatically controls also the lifting winches 12, the crane boom rotation (by means of a crane rotation motor 31 ), and possibly the tugger winches 19, in dependency from the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6, i.e.
  • the described system can be advantageously applied to medium productivity pipelay vessels and to rigging arrangements with standard hooks.
  • the crane hook 11 comprises a base portion 15 to which the lifting ropes 10 are connected and a hook portion 16 to which the rigging ropes 14 are connected, wherein the hook portion 16 is coupled to the base portion 15 and rotatable with respect to the base portion 15 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 by a yaw adjusting motor 18 connected to the crane hook 11 , and
  • the crane control system 25 automatically controls the yaw adjusting motor 18 to rotate the hook portion 16 together with the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6 and according to the target transfer trajectory of the spreader bar 13 at the pipe transfer station 5 and at the pipe landing station 6.
  • the base portion 15 of the crane hook 1 1 forms at least two lifting rope attachment seats 28 which transmit a lifting force from the lifting ropes 10 to the crane hook 11 , the lifting rope attachment seats 28 being horizontally spaced apart by a minimum horizontal lifting rope distance 29 of more than 2 meters, e.g. 2352mm, or more than 2,5 meters, or more than 3 meters,
  • the lifting ropes 10 comprise at least two lifting ropes engaging the two lifting rope attachment seats 28 and extending from the lifting rope attachment seats 28 upward to the crane boom 8 with said minimum horizontal lifting rope distance 29 therebetween, [001 17] wherein the rigging ropes 10 extend between the crane hook 11 and the spreader bar 13 at a rigging rope angle 30 to the horizontal of less than 70°, or less than 60° or in the range of 40° and 55°.
  • the system 1 also achieves a significantly increased torsional stiffness of the lower part of the rigging arrangement due to the flat rigging rope angle 30, thereby assuring that the activation of the yaw adjusting motor 18 actually rotates the spreader bar 13 rather than only twisting the rigging ropes14.
  • the position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) can be signal-connected to the crane control system 25 or at least partially integrated in the crane control system 25.
  • the position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) is configured to determine an instant relative position and/or distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe transfer station 5 on the basis of distance signals provided by positioning sensors 35 (e.g. one or more of optical sensors, laser optical sensors, digital cameras, ultrasound sensors, etc.) positioned and configured to detect the distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe transfer station 5.
  • positioning sensors 35 e.g. one or more of optical sensors, laser optical sensors, digital cameras, ultrasound sensors, etc.
  • the position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) is configured to determine an instant relative position and/or distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station 6 on the basis of distance signals provided by positioning sensors 35 (e.g. one or more of optical sensors, laser optical sensors, digital cameras, ultrasound sensors, etc.) positioned and configured to detect the distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station 6,
  • positioning sensors 35 e.g. one or more of optical sensors, laser optical sensors, digital cameras, ultrasound sensors, etc.
  • the distance sensor 35 or sensors 35 are arranged on the spreader bar 13, so that the same distance sensors 35 can be used both when approaching and leaving the pipe transfer station 5 and when approaching and leaving the pipe landing station 6.
  • the position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) comprises:
  • a first position control system 23 configured to monitor the position and movement of the pipe transfer station 5 with respect to a reference system (e.g. global reference system earth) and to provide carrier vessel position data containing an instant pipe transfer station position with respect to the reference system,
  • a reference system e.g. global reference system earth
  • a second position control system 24 configured to monitor the position and movement of the pipe landing station 6 with respect to the position reference system and to provide pipe lay vessel position data containing an instant pipe landing station position with respect to the reference system
  • the crane control system 25 is configured to:
  • the crane control system 25 may be configured to:
  • positioning sensors 35 e.g. one or more of optical sensors, laser optical sensors, digital cameras, ultrasound sensors, etc.
  • This sensor based local distance verification further increases the safety of the pipe transfer operation and increases the reliability of a fully automatic crane operation, which in turn increases pipe transfer speed, also in adverse weather conditions.
  • the crane control system 25 may be configured to:
  • positioning sensors 35 e.g. one or more of optical sensors, laser optical sensors, digital cameras, ultrasound sensors, etc.
  • This sensor based local distance verification further increases the safety of the pipe transfer operation and increases the reliability of a fully automatic crane operation, which in turn increases pipe transfer speed, also in adverse weather conditions.
  • the distance sensor 35 or sensors 35 are arranged on the spreader bar 13, so that the same distance sensors 35 can be used both when approaching and leaving the pipe transfer station 5 and when approaching and leaving the pipe landing station 6.
  • the first position control system 23 comprises a global positioning system (GPS) and a plurality of accelerometers arranged on the pipe carrier vessel 3 to monitor the position and displacement of the pipe carrier vessel 3 in a global (earth) reference system (3D, six degrees of freedom, three translations, three rotations) and, possibly, to provide in addition local pipe joint position data of the local position of the individual pipe joint/s 2 within the pipe transfer station 5.
  • GPS global positioning system
  • accelerometers arranged on the pipe carrier vessel 3 to monitor the position and displacement of the pipe carrier vessel 3 in a global (earth) reference system (3D, six degrees of freedom, three translations, three rotations) and, possibly, to provide in addition local pipe joint position data of the local position of the individual pipe joint/s 2 within the pipe transfer station 5.
  • the local pipe joint position data may contain predetermined pipe joint positions and/or sensor detected (e.g. optical sensor, digital camera, ecc.) pipe joint positions within the pipe transfer station 5.
  • sensor detected e.g. optical sensor, digital camera, ecc.
  • the first position control system 23 can be connected wireless or wired with the crane control system 25.
  • the second position control system 24 comprises a global positioning system (GPS) and a plurality of accelerometers arranged on the pipe lay vessel 4 to monitor the position and displacement of the pipe lay vessel 4 in a global (earth) reference system (3D, six degrees of freedom, three translations, three rotations) and, possibly, to provide in addition target pipe joint position data of the target position of the individual pipe joint/s 2 within the pipe landing station 6.
  • GPS global positioning system
  • accelerometers arranged on the pipe lay vessel 4 to monitor the position and displacement of the pipe lay vessel 4 in a global (earth) reference system (3D, six degrees of freedom, three translations, three rotations) and, possibly, to provide in addition target pipe joint position data of the target position of the individual pipe joint/s 2 within the pipe landing station 6.
  • the target pipe joint position data may contain predetermined target positions and/or sensor detected (e.g. optical sensor, digital camera, ecc.) target (e.g. not yet occupied) positions within the pipe landing station 6.
  • sensor detected e.g. optical sensor, digital camera, ecc.
  • target e.g. not yet occupied
  • the second position control system 24 can be connected wireless or wired with the crane control system 25.
  • the crane control system 25 may comprise a third position control system 36 comprising a plurality of accelerometers, and possibly global positioning system (GPS), and arranged on the spreader bar 13 to monitor the position and displacement of the spreader bar 13 in a global (earth) reference system (3D, six degrees of freedom, three translations, three rotations) or in the reference system of the pipe laying vessel 4.
  • a global (earth) reference system (3D, six degrees of freedom, three translations, three rotations) or in the reference system of the pipe laying vessel 4.
  • the crane control system 25 can have an onboard user interface 37 onboard the boom crane 7, e.g. in a crane operator cabin, and/or a remote user interface 38 remote from the boom crane 7.
  • the crane control system 25 can allow a user-selection and execution of a fully automatic control mode, a semi - automatic control mode with user involvement only during approaching and leaving the pipe transfer station and the pipe landing station, and a user- controlled mode.
  • the crane control system 25 is configured to automatically maintain a fixed orientation of the pipe joints 2 during their transfer movement along the target transfer trajectory from the pipe transfer station 5 to the pipe landing station 6, e.g. an orientation parallel to both a longitudinal orientation of the pipe carrier vessel 3 and a longitudinal orientation of the pipe lay vessel 4.
  • the target transfer trajectory can be programmable and/or preset and memorized in a memory of the crane control system 25 and, possibly, additionally adapted by the crane control system 25 in dependency of the motion of the pipe carrier vessel 3 and the pipe laying vessel 4 and, optionally, the spreader bar 13.
  • the target transfer trajectory can be user-inputted in the crane control system 25 and adjusted by a crane operator by means of a user interface of the crane control system 25.
  • the target transfer trajectory comprises a set of one or more minimum (safety) distance conditions and/or one or more maximum relative angular offset conditions (alignment criteria) that must be met during the spreader bar’s approximation to and detachment from the pipe transfer station 5 and the pipe landing station 6.
  • the crane hook 1 1 e.g. the hook portion 16 or the base portion 15, forms two tugger line attachment seats 39 in said tugger points 22 for connecting the tugger lines 20 and transmitting a pulling force from the tugger lines 20 to the crane hook 11.
  • the tugger line attachment seats 39 are horizontally spaced apart by a horizontal tugger attachment distance 40 of more than 6 meters, or more than 8 meters, or more than 10 meters, wherein the horizontal tugger line distance 21 of the two tugger lines 20 attached to the tugger line attachment seats 39 is greater than 2 meters, or greater than 4 meters, or greater than 6 meters. It is to be noted that the tugger lines 20 need not be parallel but can also extend along paths crossing at a close distance.
  • the two tugger line attachment seats 39 are alingned with each other along a direction substantially parallel to a direction of alignment of the two spaced apart lifting rope attachment seats 28.
  • the lifting ropes 10 can comprise individual sections of one single continuous lifting rope line or separate pieces of lifting rope line.
  • the lifting ropes can comprise two or more, e.g. four lifting ropes 10, i.e. sections of lifting rope individually extending upward from the crane hook 1 1 to the crane boom 8.
  • the spreader bar 13 is an elongate beam shaped or plate shaped steel structure connected by the rigging ropes 14 to the crane hook 11 , particularly to the lower hook portion 16 of the crane hook 1 1 , so that a spreader bar longitudinal axis 41 (in case of an elongate beam shape) or a spreader bar plane 42 (in case of a plate shape) is substantially horizontal.
  • the rigging ropes 14 connecting the spreader bar 13 to the crane hook 11 are at least two or more, e.g. four, and can be embodied by different rigging rope sections of one and the same continuous rigging line or by separate rigging rope sections.
  • a lower hook portion 16 of the crane hook 1 1 forms one or more upper rigging attachment points/seats 43 which can be relatively close to each other, e.g. formed in a common hook seat, for the connection and force transmission between the crane hook 1 1 and the rigging ropes 14.
  • the spreader bar 13 forms, preferably on an upper side thereof, at least two or more, e.g. four, lower rigging attachment seats 44 for the connection and force transmission between the rigging ropes 14 have a length such that the rigging rope angle 30 defined between the tensioned rigging rope 14 and the horizontal, i.e. the spreader bar plane 42, meets the earlier described range of less than 70°, or less than 60° or from 40° and 55°.
  • the lower rigging attachment seats 44 can be arranged at four corner regions of the spreader bar 13 when the spreader bar 13 is substantially rectangular in top view, or at to opposite end regions of the spreader bar 13 when the spreader bar 13 is substantially linear beam shaped in top view.
  • the one or more pipe connectors 26 are arranged on a downward facing lower side of the spreader beam 13 and may comprise pairs of oppositely arranged engagement pins 45 that are displaceable toward each other and away from each other to enter the opposite ends of the pipe joint 2 for connecting the pipe joint 2 to the spreader bar 13 and to release the ends of the pipe joint 2 for disconnecting the pipe joint 2 from the spreader bar 13.
  • the engagement pins 45 are connected to a hydraulic cylinder 46 selectively actuated by an electro-hydraulic pump and valve system 47.
  • the spreader bar 13 can have a single pair of pipe connectors 26 for connecting only one pipe joint 2 or, preferably, a plurality of pairs of pipe connectors 26 for connecting a plurality of pipe joints 2 to the same spreader bar 13 and for contemporaneously transferring the plurality of pipe joints 2 together (see Figures 2D, 12).
  • the spreader bar 13 defines a plurality of connector positions 48 ( Figure 12) in which the pipe connectors 26 can be removably connected to the spreader bar 13, allowing adjustment of the position of the pipe connectors 26 and, hence, adaption of the system 1 to different pipe joint diameters and/or lengths.
  • the one or more flywheels 32 are each rotatably supported in a flywheel holder 49 and rotatable with respect to the flywheel holder about the flywheel axis 33.
  • the flywheel holder 49 is rotatably supported in a mounting portion 50 of/at the spreader bar 13 and rotatable with respect to the mounting portion 50 (and hence with respect to the spreader bar 13) about a swivel axis 51 which is orthogonal to the flywheel axis 33 and, possibly, transversal (preferably perpendicular) to a spreader bar longitudinal direction.
  • the flywheel 32 is driven to rotate about the flywheel axis 33 by an electric drive motor 52 connected to the flywheel 32 by means of a transmission 53, e.g. a friction wheel.
  • the drive motor 52 and the friction wheel are supported by a support lever 55 which is elastically biased, by a spring member 56, in a transmission position in which the friction wheel is elastically pressed against an external circumferential surface of the flywheel 32.
  • the flywheel adjusting system 34 comprises an electrical or electro-hydraulic swivel actuator 57 which adjusts the orientation of the flywheel holder 49 about the swivel axis 51 .
  • the application of the torque to orient the flywheel holder 49 together with the rotating flywheel 32 about the swivel axis 51 cause a change in the angular momentum in the same direction of the swivel axis 51 and generates a force in the direction of the swivel axis 51 .
  • the spreader bar 13 comprises one or more pairs 58 of said flywheels 32, wherein the two swivel axes 51 of each pair 58 are parallel to each other, horizontal and horizontally spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to the swivel axes 51 , and wherein the flywheel adjusting system 34 swivels the two rotating flywheels 32 of the pair 51 in opposite directions (as seen in figure 6), thereby generating a pair of opposite and spaced apart horizontal forces 59, 59’ acting on the spreader bar 13 and constituting the yaw rotating moment.
  • the flywheel adjusting system 34 may be activated contemporaneously with an activation of the yaw adjusting motor 18 of the crane hook 11 for a synergistic improvement of the spreader bar 13 position control.
  • the orientation of the pipe joints 2 is maintained fixed during the entire transfer from the pipe transfer station 5 to the pipe landing station 6.
  • the orientation of the pipe joints 2 is maintained fixed only during an initial phase and during a final phase of the transfer from the pipe transfer station 5 to the pipe landing station 6, and the orientation of the pipe joints 2 is changed, e.g. in a range of 35° to 40° of yaw angle, in an intermediate phase of f the transfer from the pipe transfer station 5 to the pipe landing station 6.
  • the initial phase and end phase are the takeoff of the pipe joints 2 from the pipe transfer station 5 and the landing of the pipe joints 2 on the pipe landing station 6, and the intermediate phase is a flight phase, free from obstacles.
  • the system 1 is configured to transport one or more than one pipe joint 2 at a time.
  • Power (electric and or hydraulic) and signals can be transmitted from the pipe lay vessel 4 or boom crane 7 to the crane hook 1 1 and to the spreader bar 13 by an umbilical 60.

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Abstract

A system (1) for the offshore crane transfer of pipe joints (2) comprises a pipe carrier vessel (3), a pipelay vessel (4), a boom crane (7) on the pipelay vessel (4), a crane hook (11) comprising a base portion (15) a hook portion (16) rotatable with respect to the base portion (15) by a yaw adjusting motor (18), a crane control system (25) automatically controlling the yaw adjusting motor (18) to rotate the hook portion (16) together with a spreader bar (13) about a vertical yaw rotation axis (17), the spreader bar (13) comprising electrically controlled pipe connectors (26) to engage the pipe joint (2) and connect the pipe joint (2) to the spreader bar (13), the base portion (15) of the crane hook (11) forms at least two lifting rope attachment seats (28) horizontally spaced apart by at least a minimum horizontal lifting rope distance (29) of more than 2 meters, at least two lifting ropes engaging the two lifting rope attachment seats (28) and extending from the lifting rope attachment seats (28) upward to a crane boom (8) with at least said minimum horizontal lifting rope distance (29) therebetween, rigging ropes (14) extending between the crane hook (11) and the spreader bar (13) at a rigging rope angle (30) to the horizontal in the range of 40° and 55°.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PIPE JOINT TRANSFER FROM A PIPE CARRIER TO A PIPELAY VESSEL OR TO AN OFFSHORE STRUCTURE
[0001] The present invention concerns the technical field of loading or unloading of equipment, especially pipe joints, at sea between two ships or between ships and off-shore structures.
[0002] The present invention further relates to an improved system and method for the offshore trans-shipping of pipe joints or pipe sections from a pipe carrier vessel to a pipelay vessel.
[0003] The terminology “pipe joint” refers to a portion of conventional length, e.g. 12 meters long, of a pipeline that is intended to be assembled to form greater lengths of pipeline that are subsequently laid by means of different methodologies, such as for example so-called S- lay and J-lay methods in which:
[0004] - pipe joints are welded at the upper end of a pipe string that is kept suspended by holding means of the Pipe Lay Vessel (PLV);
[0005] - the assembly of an additional pipe joint to the pipe string is performed by welding the additional pipe joint at a welding station of a so-called firing line;
[0006] - each welding phase is followed by a movement of the vessel, so that at each movement of the laying vessel a new length of pipe is laid to the seabed.
[0007] In general, the problem of pipe joints trans-shipping is similar to the problem of containers trans-shipping: the payload is within the range of 10-50 tons, the payload shall not be effected by wind that disturbs motion, the payload transfer operation shall be robust and fast; cranes shall reach each loading point with a single mooring.
[0008] A typical onshore payload logistic system uses quay movable gantry cranes with a special rigging for connecting containers and for repetitive payload movements with a high degree of automation. Similar to the offshore trans-shipping of pipe-joints, also the on-shore movements of the payload shall not be effected by wind that disturbs motion and, for this purpose, the crane hook and wire robe are configured to improve stability; the payload transfer cycle shall be robust and fast; the cranes shall reach each loading point with a single mooring. [0009] The main difference between the off-shore pipe-joints trans-shipping and the on-shore payload transfer through cranes is the presence of waves in the off-shore operation, which move the involved vessels relative to one another in multiple directions.
[0010] PIPE JOINTS TRANFER - FROM ONSHORE TO OFFSHORE FIELD -
[001 1] In known off-shore pipe lay methods, pipe joints are transported from a logistics base to the offshore field by means of cargo barges or so-called pipe carriers. As required by the offshore pipe-laying project, the selection of the pipe carrier characteristics is determined by either cost or time. If the pipe laying time is to be minimized, typically high value pipe laying vessels are used and the cost of the supply logistic becomes secondary. In this scenario the supply logistic is required to supply pipe joints to the pipe laying vessel to assure continuous laying without interruptions. This means that, generally, the mooring and transfer speed of the supply system shall be higher than the pipe laying speed of the pipe laying vessel. In this circumstance, the pipe carrier vessel is selected on the basis of a set of primary features, i.e. payload, volume capacity, and speed, and a set of secondary features, i.e. dynamic positioning capabilities, water displacement, ice class and transfer aids. A recent evolution of pipe carriers is the so-called DP2 B-type Spliethoff multy deck carrier vessel with remotely operated gantry cranes, transfer station and heavy lift crane.
[0012] OFFSHORE FIELD - PIPE JOINTS TRANFER FROM A PIPE CARRIER VESSEL TO A PIPELAY VESSEL -
[0013] A known pipe lay vessel, the Allseas Solitaire PLV, is equipped with two 35tons articulated flag cranes. Each crane has two arms with a rotating beam at the end of the second arm. Each crane has winches and wires to lift and lower a hook - spreader bar close to the pipe joint. Pipe lifting wires are extended through the hook - spreader bar so that the spreader bar acts as a longitudinal spacer for the pipe lift wires. The known crane also has an anti-yaw function. The rotating beam of the crane can pivot around a vertical axis to produce a controlled rotation of the pipe joint relative to the crane arm. The rotating beam and the hook - spreader bar have mainly anti-yaw functions. The known hook - spreader bar is adapted to engage or disengage from the rotating beam of the crane arm and, when disengaged, the hook - spreader bar can move to a height close to the pipe joints and two transfer wires can be lowered through the hook - spreader bar, and their ends can be connected to the pipe joint by riggers. The connected pipe joint can be lifted to the hook - spreader bar, and a set of guides at a bottom side of the hook - spreader bar allows a temporary connection of the lifted pipe joint to the spreader bar. Then the hook - spreader bar can be lifted and rotated together with the attached pipe joint in order to transfer, align and lower the joint to a pipe storage at the pipe lay vessel. [0014] The main method steps of a pipe joint transfer operation are:
[0015] - Mooring of the pipe carrier vessel to the pipelay vessel: This could be done by physical mooring or by so-called “dynamic positioning” (DP). Physical mooring is more sensitive to adverse weather conditions. In any case the pipe joints to be lifted and transferred shall be within a crane operability area or reach of the crane of the pipe lay vessel. Ideally, each crane has a fixed optimal pipe joint transfer position, so that the crane kinematics is repetitive and fixed relative to pipe lay vessel reference system. Therefore, the pipe joints are lifted at this transfer position (fixed relative to the pipe lay vessel, while the pipe joints are still on the carrier vessel. The pipe joints can reach the transfer position either by moving the carrier vessel or by using carrier vessel onboard cranes to transfer the pipe joints to the transfer position (e.g. a dedicated transfer station at the carrier vessel itself), without changing the mooring position of the carrier vessel with respect to the pipe lay vessel. This saves time with respect to a change of mooring of the carrier vessel.
[0016] - Pipe joint transfer from a hold to a pipe transfer station onboard the pipe carrier vessel: the pipe joints shall be within the crane reach and the relative motion between a lifting connector and the pipe joint shall be substantially zero. A known method to avoid relative motion problems is to move the pipe joints to the pipe transfer station of the carrier vessel and land (by mechanically resting) a hoisting means and/or a pipe coupling device of the pipe lay vessel at the transfer station. This allows to perform the connection and the first phase of the lifting of the pipe joint in a stable condition without disturbing relative motion.
[0017] WO2012038776 (Saipem) and US9315244B2 (Spliethoff) describe systems for improving the operational limit of a cargo barge during these pipe joint handling phases.
[0018] - Trans-shipment of pipe joints - rigging connection and lifting: for the rigging and pipe joint connection it is known to use a stable rigging and a spreader bar with pipe connectors. In this phase, it is desirable to reduce the movement of the rigging which typically involves yaw (rotation about a vertical axis) and pendulum movements (swinging rotation about a horizontal axis). It is also known to make efforts to reduce the pendulum movement of the hook whose considerable weight has a significant effect on the attached payload. It is further desired to gain control of the rotation of the pipe joint, that is to be able to control rotation of the pipe joint relative to the crane boom. Such rotation shall be reliable, stable, and possibly automatized.
[0019] With regard to the reduction of the pendulum movement and of the yaw movement of the rigging arrangement, it is known to provide a possibly stiff rigging arrangement obtainable e.g. by a larger dimensioning of the rigging arrangement. With regard to the control of the rotation of the crane hook, EP1679462 (Liebherr) describes a quick-release coupling system with a rotary drive and with a pendulum brake system. GB2031842A (Peiner) describes a load rotating device for controlling the rotation of a payload and torque-prestressed rigging cables which tend to rotate to the opposite direction of the rotation of the payload.
[0020] With regard to the reduction of the pendulum movement of the rigging arrangement, it is known to use tugger lines connected to the crane hook, to cross or purposefully redirect the tugger line and to pull the hook such that both cross-pendulum movement and inline pendulum movement are reduced. Generally speaking, tugger lines are pulling cables extending from the crane hook or from the spreader bar in a non vertical direction (preferably horizontal direction) to an external reference body, e.g. to a tugger line winch at the pipe lay vessel, and by applying pulling forces to multiple tugger lines it is possible to influence the rotational position of the crane hook or of the spreader bar. [0021] The tugger lines are cables pulling towards the crane, mainly in the horizontal plane and acting on the hook or on the spreader bar or on the suspended load, often in pairs with parallel or crossed directions.
[0022] In order to control or suppress the pendulum motion, the tugger lines are held in a substantial constant tension mode, taking the suspended load slightly off the vertical so as to limit its pendulum movement.
[0023] With regard to the jaw movement, hooks that are not actively mechanically rotating may have bushings or bearings that allow a yaw rotation of the hook which is controlled by the tugger lines connected to the suspended load.
[0024] In general, the connection and lifting off of the payload from the pipe carrier vessel shall be as fast as possible to avoid that the payload stacks. Traditionally, the rigging arrangement includes two inclined slings with a hook at each lower end and which, together with the pipe joint, form a stable lifting connection. In this way the necessarily manual connection of the rigging arrangement to the pipe joint was fast and the subsequent lifting off operation was immediately obtained by tensioning the rope systems. Due to the vessel movements caused by wave movement, the vessel heave oscillates between a maximum heave and a minimum heave, the crane lifting operation and speed must be adapted thereto. Typically, the detachment of the pipe joint from the pipe carrier vessel should take place when the pipe carrier vessel is in a maximum heave position. This requires an experienced crane operator. Recently, automatic movement (heave) compensation systems and algorithms have been proposed and at least experimentally field tested. Also, the traditional manual pipe joint coupling by robe slings has been at least partially replaced by modern spreader bar systems with integrated electro-hydraulic pipe coupling systems (e.g. manufactured by RAM, Salzgitter Maschinenbau AG, PEINER SM AG Lifting Technologies GmbH, Norsea Group). EP2516317B1 describes a system and method for the coupling of a head frame, having a crane hook with a spreader bar and pipe connectors. W02008136766 describes an apparatus and a method for the engagement of containers. It still remains a challenge to accurately control the pipe joint landing/lifting/ coupling/uncoupling phases to an extend that allows to eliminate manual interventions and, hence, the risk of injuring the operator.
[0025] - Trans-shipment of pipe joints - pipe joint transfer path and movement from the pipe carrier vessel to the pipe laying vessel: The pipe joint, on its way from the pipe carrier vessel to the pipe-laying vessel, must rotate in a planned manner in order to land on board the pipe laying vessel with a desired orientation. Therefore, on the pipe laying vessel, the pipe joint is firstly rotated to the planned orientation and only subsequently landed on a roller track for further transferring the pipe joints into the hold of the pipe laying vessel. The roller tracks generally tolerate misalignments up to maximum 20 degrees. Alignment rotations of the hanging pipe joints are generally undesirable and reduced to a minimum in order to save pipe transfer time. The alignment rotation is usually already taken into consideration by planning the relative position between the lifting crane and the pipe joint position and orientation at the start end at the end of the pipe joint transfer from the pipe carrier vessel to the pipe laying vessel, so that the necessary rotation of the pipe joint takes place ideally during and due to the crane rotation only. Pipe joint rotation angles between about 40 and 80 degrees are typical angles that must take place within the transfer time that must be as short as possible, and which is usually about 3 minutes. If, for example the pipe carrier vessel is moored with a longitudinal orientation parallel to a longitudinal orientation of the pipe lay vessel and the required crane boom rotation with respect to the pipe lay vessel is 60° then the necessary compensating counter-rotation of the transferred pipe joint or spreader bar with respect to the crane boom should be - 60°.
[0026] To increase the productivity, systems and algorithms for controlling the rotation of the pipe joints have been proposed. US9556006 B2 (Liebherr) describes a method for controlling the orientation of a crane load and a boom crane, in which a manipulator is connected to a rotation unit attached to a crane hook suspended on ropes.
[0027] The pipe joint transfer involves risks for the health of the operators. Riggers must climb to the pipe joint stack, manually grasp and pull pilot lines hanging from the rigging arrangement (spreader bar or hook) to it in the desired landing position, and connect the pipe joints to the rigging arrangement, running the risk of falling from considerable heights and colliding with pipe joints, wherein all movements are amplified by the movement of the pipe carrier vessel, especially by the most significant vertical heave movement component.
[0028] The pipe joint transfer also involves operational risks of collisions and damages of pipe joints and/or vessel parts caused by wind, waves, loss of dynamic positioning, e.g. as a consequence of an unstable mooring, that is the temporary loss of a substantially fixed relative position with minimal relative movements between the involved vessels, especially under bad weather conditions. Also in this respect, the most significant movement component is the vertical heave movement component.
[0029] The pipe joint transfer also still involves operational delays and drawbacks due to undesirably poor control and influence of the yaw rotation, i.e. the target orientation in a horizontal plane (or rotational position about a vertical rotation axis) of the pipe joints landing on the deck of the pipe lay vessel.
[0030] In view of the prior art and of the complex operational conditions described above, the aim of the present invention is to provide an improved system and method for the offshore crane transfer of pipe joints from a pipe carrier vessel to a pipe laying vessel having features such as to: [0031] A) maintain a stable orientation of the pipe joint during landing/lifting of the pipe joint on/from the pipe carrier vessel and pipe laying vessel,
[0032] B) reducing the risk of clash between hanging pipe joints and stacked pipe joints and between a hanging pipe joint and the pipe laying vessel,
[0033] C) imposing a possibly rapid and controlled rotation, especially around the yaw axis, of the pipe joint when flying from the pipe carrier vessel to the pipelay vessel,
[0034] D) reduce or possibly completely obviating to human operator’s (riggers) involvement in the landing, lifting off, coupling and uncoupling phases of the pipe joints, thereby reducing human risks of injuring.
[0035] E) lower operative and capital costs in comparison to the alternative of using an high specification Pipe carrier spread while maintaining or increasing the operational limits and the pipelaying productivity.
[0036] Summary of the invention
[0037] These and other objectives are achieved by a system for the offshore crane transfer of pipe joints from a pipe carrier vessel to a pipe laying vessel according to claim 1 .
[0038] The features and advantages of the present invention shall be made apparent from the accompanying drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention, and, together with the general description of the invention given above, and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.
[0039] Brief description of the figures
[0040] Fig. 1 A shows pipe joint transfer operation from a pipe carrier vessel to a pipe lay vessel and some motion components of the involved vessels and crane load,
[0041] Fig. 1 B shows a vessel and vessel motion components in the local vessel reference system,
[0042] Fig. 2A schematically shows an off-shore pipe joint transfer system according to an embodiment of the invention,
[0043] Fig. 2B schematically shows a rigging arrangement, including a part of a crane boom, lifting wires, a crane hook and a spreader bar with an attached pipe joint of the pipe transfer system according to an embodiment,
[0044] Fig. 2C is a schematic top view of a spreader bar of the pipe transfer system according to an embodiment,
[0045] Fig. 2D is a schematic bottom view of the spreader bar in figure 2C,
[0046] Fig. 2E is an exemplary schematic top view showing a crane hook, rigging ropes, a spreader bar, tugger lines and tugger winches or hoists on board of a pipe laying vessel, [0047] Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a spreader bar with adjustable flywheels and remotely operatable pipe joint connectors according to an embodiment of the invention, [0048] Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the spreader bar in figure 3 with a pipe joint connected thereto,
[0049] Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a detail of a spreader bar, showing multiple flywheels with adjustable flywheel axes, in a first flywheel orientation, wherein at some of the flywheels a drive motor is removed from the figure for better showing other components,
[0050] Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a detail of a spreader bar, showing multiple flywheels with adjustable flywheel axes, in a second flywheel orientation, different from the first flywheel orientation in figure 5,
[0051] Fig. 7 shows a detail of a flywheel arrangement of a spreader bar according to an embodiment,
[0052] Fig. 8 shows a detail of a flywheel orientation adjustment system according to an embodiment.
[0053] Figs. 9 and 10 show a detail of a spreader bar with a hydraulic pipe connecter in a release position (Fig. 9) and in a connection position (Fig. 10), according to an embodiment, [0054] Fig. 1 1 shows a hydraulic pipe connecter according to an embodiment,
[0055] Fig. 12 shows a detail of a spreader bar with multiply hydraulic pipe connecters according to an embodiment.
[0056] Detailed description of embodiments - System 1
[0057] In accordance with an embodiment (not all described features need to be necessarily or always present, the following description is rather a description of an example having many of possible features and accessories, some of which can be optional, as can be seen in the claims), a system 1 for the offshore crane transfer of pipe joints 2 from a pipe carrier vessel 3 to a pipe laying vessel 4 comprises:
[0058] - a pipe carrier vessel 3 having a pipe transfer station 5 for holding a plurality of pipe joints 2 having all a same predetermined transfer orientation with respect to the pipe carrier vessel 3,
[0059] - a pipelay vessel 4 having a pipe landing station 6 for landing the pipe joints 2,
[0060] - a boom crane 7 positioned on the pipelay vessel 4 and having a crane boom 8 rotatable about a vertical crane rotation axis 9, a plurality of lifting ropes 10 extending from the crane boom 8 downward, a crane hook 11 connected to the lifting ropes 10 to hang below the crane boom 8, one or more motor driven lifting winches 12 for winding and unwinding the lifting ropes 10 and thereby lifting and lowering the crane hook 11 , and a spreader bar 13 hangingly connected to the crane hook 11 by a plurality of rigging ropes 14,
[0061] wherein the crane hook 1 1 comprises a base portion 15 to which the lifting ropes 10 are connected and a hook portion 16 to which the rigging ropes 14 are connected, wherein the hook portion 16 is coupled to the base portion 15 and rotatable with respect to the base portion 15 about a vertical yaw rotation axis 17 by a yaw adjusting motor 18 connected to the crane hook 11 ,
[0062] - optionally two or more motor driven tugger winches 19 or hoists positioned on the pipe lay vessel 4 (e.g. on the crane 7 itself) for winding and unwinding two or more tugger lines 20 that can be extended with a horizontal distance 21 to each other and with a non-zero horizontal direction component from the two or more tugger winches or hoists 19 to one of the crane hook 1 1 and spreader bar 13 and connected thereto in two horizontally spaced apart tugger points 22,
[0063] - a position control system 23, 24, 35, 36 configured to determine (detect and/or calculate) an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6,
[0064] - a crane control system 25 in data-connection with the position control system 23, 24, 35, 36, the crane control system 25 allowing a user-selection of an automatic crane control mode and, if the automatic crane control mode is selected, automatically controls:
[0065] - the one or more lifting winches 12 to vertically displace the spreader bar 13,
[0066] - the yaw adjusting motor 18 to rotate the hook portion 16 together with the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17,
[0067] - the rotation of the crane boom 8 to horizontally displace the spreader bar 13,
[0068] - optionally, the two or more tugger winches 19 to selectively pull the two or more tugger lines 20 with different pulling forces for yaw rotating the spreader bar 13 with respect to the crane boom 8,
[0069] in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6 and according to a target transfer trajectory of the spreader bar 13 at the pipe transfer station 5 and at the pipe landing station 6,
[0070] wherein the spreader bar 13 comprises a plurality of electrically controlled pipe connectors 26 configured to engage opposite end portions of the pipe joint 2 to connect the pipe joint 2 to the spreader bar 13, said pipe connectors 26 being remotely controlled by a pipe connecting control system 27 of said crane control system 25,
[0071] wherein the base portion 15 of the crane hook 11 forms at least two lifting rope attachment seats 28 which transmit a lifting force from the lifting ropes 10 to the crane hook 1 1 , the lifting rope attachment seats 28 being horizontally spaced apart by a minimum horizontal lifting rope distance 29 of more than 2 meters, e.g. 2352mm, or more than 2,5 meters, or more than 3 meters, [0072] wherein the lifting ropes 10 comprise at least two lifting ropes engaging the two lifting rope attachment seats 28 and extending from the lifting rope attachment seats 28 upward to the crane boom 8 with said minimum horizontal lifting rope distance 29 therebetween,
[0073] wherein the rigging ropes 14 extend between the crane hook 11 and the spreader bar 13 at a rigging rope angle 30 to the horizontal of less than 70°, or less than 60° or in the range of 40° and 55°.
[0074] The system 1 achieves a significantly increased torsional stiffness of the entire upper part of the rigging arrangement due to the large minimum lifting rope distance, thereby avoiding that an activation of the yaw adjusting motor 18 rotates the upper rigging arrangement instead of the spreader bar 13 and pipe joints 2 (due to the high mass inertial moment of the spreader bar 13 and attached pipe joints 2, having a weight of tenths of tons).
[0075] The system 1 also achieves a significantly increased torsional stiffness of the lower part of the rigging arrangement due to the flat rigging rope angle 30, thereby assuring that the activation of the yaw adjusting motor 18 rotates the spreader bar 13 rather than only twisting the rigging ropes 14.
[0076] Both achieved torsional stiffening effects are increased with an increase of the weight of the pay load which increases the tension in both the lifting ropes 10 and the rigging ropes 14, thereby individually increasing the resistance against torsional twisting of the upper rigging region and of the lower rigging region and assuring that the yaw adjusting motor 18 efficiently rotates the payload about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17.
[0077] In synergic combination, the crane control system 25 automatically controls not only the yaw adjusting motor 18, but also the lifting winches 12, the crane boom rotation (by means of a crane rotation motor 31 ), and possibly the tugger winches 19, depending on the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6, i.e. on the basis of the different instant position and motion of the pipe transfer station 5 (pipe carrier vessel 3), of the pipe landing station 6 (the pipe lay vessel 4) and of the spreader bar 13, taking account of the continuous change of relative position between the pipe carrier vessel 3 and the pipe lay vessel 4, the change of local position of the pipe joint 2 or of the multiple pipe joints in the pipe transfer station 5 and in the pipe landing station 6, also with respect to the crane 7 whose base is stationary with respect to the pipe laying vessel 4, but not necessarily with respect to the pipe landing station 6 in the sense of a target landing position of the individual or multiple pipe joints 2.
[0078] This allows to:
[0079] A) maintain a stable orientation of the pipe joint 2 during landing/lifting of the pipe joint 2 on/from the pipe carrier vessel 3 and pipe laying vessel 4, [0080] B) reducing the risk of clash between hanging pipe joints 2 and stacked pipe joints 2 and between a hanging pipe joint 2 and the pipe laying vessel 4,
[0081] C) imposing a possibly rapid and controlled rotation, especially around the vertical yaw axis 17, of the pipe joint 2 when flying from the pipe carrier vessel 3 to the pipe lay vessel 4, [0082] D) reducing or possibly completely obviating to human operator’s (riggers) involvement in the landing, lifting off, coupling and uncoupling phases of the pipe joints 2, thereby reducing human risks of injuring.
[0083] The described pipe transfer system 1 is particularly intended for high productivity pipe lay vessels.
[0084] In accordance with an advantageous further development of the invention, the spreader bar 13 comprises one or more motor driven flywheels 32, each rotating about a dedicated flywheel axis 33, and an electrically controlled flywheel adjusting system 34 for adjusting an orientation of the flywheel axis 33 with respect to the spreader bar 13 to generate (due to the obtained gyroscopic effect) and apply a yaw rotation moment (about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17) to the spreader bar 13.
[0085] Advantageously, the flywheel adjusting system 34 is connected with and controlled by the crane control system 25 to rotate the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17.
[0086] Even more advantageously, in the automatic crane control mode, the flywheel adjusting system 34 is automatically controlled by the crane control system 25 to rotate the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6 and according to a target transfer trajectory of the spreader bar 13 at the pipe transfer station 5 and at the pipe landing station 6.
[0087] Thanks to the orientation-adjustable flywheels 32, the system 1 achieves a significantly improved control on the yaw position and yaw rotation of the spreader bar 13.
[0088] In accordance with a further embodiment (here, too, not all described features need to be necessarily or always present, the following description is rather a description of an example having many of possible features and accessories, some of which can be optional, as can be seen in the claims), a system 1 for the offshore crane transfer of pipe joints 2 from a pipe carrier vessel 3 to a pipe laying vessel 4 comprises:
[0089] - a pipe carrier vessel 3 having a pipe transfer station 5 for holding a plurality of pipe joints 2 having all a same predetermined transfer orientation with respect to the pipe carrier vessel 3,
[0090] - a pipelay vessel 4 having a pipe landing station 6 for the landing of the pipe joints 2, [0091] - a boom crane 7 positioned on the pipelay vessel 4 with a crane boom 8 rotatable about a vertical crane rotation axis 9, a plurality of lifting ropes 10 extending from the crane boom 8 downward, a crane hook 1 1 connected to the lifting ropes 10 to hang below the crane boom 8, one or more motor driven lifting winches 12 or hoists for winding and unwinding the lifting ropes 10 and thereby lifting and lowering the crane hook 1 1 , and a spreader bar 13 hangingly connected to the crane hook 11 by a plurality of rigging ropes 14,
[0092] - optionally, two or more motor driven tugger winches 19 positioned on the pipe lay vessel 5 for winding and unwinding two or more tugger lines 20 that can be extended with a horizontal tugger line distance 21 to each other and with a non-zero horizontal direction component from the two or more tugger winches 19 or hoists to one of the crane hook 11 and spreader bar 13 and connected thereto in two horizontally spaced apart tugger points 22, [0093] - a position control system 23, 24, 35, 36 configured to determine (detect and/or calculate) an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6,
[0094] - a crane control system 25 in data-connection with the position control system 23, 24, 35, 36, the crane control system 25 allowing a user-selection of an automatic crane control mode and, if the automatic crane control mode is selected, automatically controls:
[0095] - the one or more lifting winches 12 to vertically displace the spreader bar 13,
[0096] - the rotation of the crane boom 8 to horizontally displace the spreader bar 13,
[0097] - optionally, the two or more tugger winches 19 or hoists to selectively pull the two or more tugger lines 20 with different pulling forces for yaw rotating the spreader bar 13 with respect to the crane boom 8,
[0098] in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6 and according to a target transfer trajectory of the spreader bar 13 at the pipe transfer station 5 and at the pipe landing station 6,
[0099] wherein the spreader bar 13 comprises a plurality of electrically controlled pipe connectors 26 configured to engage opposite end portions of the pipe joint 2 to connect the pipe joint 2 to the spreader bar 13, said pipe connectors 26 being remotely controlled by a pipe connecting control system 27 of said crane control system 25,
[00100] wherein the spreader bar 13 comprises one or more motor driven flywheels 32, each rotating about a dedicated flywheel axis 33, and an electrically controlled flywheel adjusting system 34 for adjusting an orientation of the flywheel axis 33 with respect to the spreader bar 13 to generate (due to the obtained gyroscopic effect) and apply a yaw rotation moment (about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17) to the spreader bar 13.
[00101 ] Advantageously, the flywheel adjusting system 34 is connected with and controlled by the crane control system 25 to rotate the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17.
[00102] Even more advantageously, in the automatic crane control mode, the flywheel adjusting system 34 is automatically controlled by the crane control system 25 to rotate the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6 and according to a target transfer trajectory of the spreader bar 13 at the pipe transfer station 5 and at the pipe landing station 6.
[00103] Thanks to the orientation adjustable flywheels 32, the system 1 achieves a significantly improved control on the yaw position and yaw rotation of the spreader bar 13.
[00104] In synergic combination, the crane control system 25 automatically controls also the lifting winches 12, the crane boom rotation (by means of a crane rotation motor 31 ), and possibly the tugger winches 19, in dependency from the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6, i.e. on the basis of the different instant position and motion of the pipe transfer station 5 (pipe carrier vessel 3), of the pipe landing station 6 (the pipe lay vessel 4) and of the spreader bar 13, taking account of the continuous change of relative position between the pipe carrier vessel 3 and the pipe lay vessel 4, the change of local position of the pipe joint 2 or of the multiple pipe joints in the pipe transfer station 5 and in the pipe landing station 6, also with respect to the crane 7 whose base is stationary with respect to the pipe laying vessel 4, but not necessarily with respect to the pipe landing station 6 in the sense of a target landing position of the individual or multiple pipe joints 2.
[00105] This allows to:
[00106] A) maintain a stable orientation of the pipe joint 2 during landing/lifting of the pipe joint 2 on/from the pipe carrier vessel 3 and pipe laying vessel 4,
[00107] B) reducing the risk of clash between hanging pipe joints 2 and stacked pipe joints 2 and between a hanging pipe joint 2 and the pipe laying vessel 4,
[00108] C) imposing a possibly rapid and controlled rotation, especially around the vertical yaw axis 17, of the pipe joint 2 when flying from the pipe carrier vessel 3 to the pipe lay vessel 4,
[00109] D) reducing or possibly completely obviating to human operator’s (riggers) involvement in the landing, lifting off, coupling and uncoupling phases of the pipe joints 2, thereby reducing human risks of injuring.
[001 10] The described system can be advantageously applied to medium productivity pipelay vessels and to rigging arrangements with standard hooks.
[001 11 ] In an advantageous embodiment:
[001 12] - the crane hook 11 comprises a base portion 15 to which the lifting ropes 10 are connected and a hook portion 16 to which the rigging ropes 14 are connected, wherein the hook portion 16 is coupled to the base portion 15 and rotatable with respect to the base portion 15 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 by a yaw adjusting motor 18 connected to the crane hook 11 , and
[001 13] - in the automatic crane control mode, the crane control system 25 automatically controls the yaw adjusting motor 18 to rotate the hook portion 16 together with the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe transfer station 5 and the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the pipe landing station 6 and according to the target transfer trajectory of the spreader bar 13 at the pipe transfer station 5 and at the pipe landing station 6.
[001 14] The combined action of the yaw adjusting motor 18 and the flywheel adjusting system 34 further improve the control of the yaw orientation of the spreader bar 13.
[001 15] In a further advantageous embodiment, the base portion 15 of the crane hook 1 1 forms at least two lifting rope attachment seats 28 which transmit a lifting force from the lifting ropes 10 to the crane hook 11 , the lifting rope attachment seats 28 being horizontally spaced apart by a minimum horizontal lifting rope distance 29 of more than 2 meters, e.g. 2352mm, or more than 2,5 meters, or more than 3 meters,
[001 16] wherein the lifting ropes 10 comprise at least two lifting ropes engaging the two lifting rope attachment seats 28 and extending from the lifting rope attachment seats 28 upward to the crane boom 8 with said minimum horizontal lifting rope distance 29 therebetween, [001 17] wherein the rigging ropes 10 extend between the crane hook 11 and the spreader bar 13 at a rigging rope angle 30 to the horizontal of less than 70°, or less than 60° or in the range of 40° and 55°.
[001 18] This configuration increases the torsional stiffness of the entire upper part of the rigging arrangement due to the large minimum lifting rope distance 29, thereby avoiding that activation of the yaw adjusting motor 18 rotates the upper rigging arrangement instead of the spreader bar 13 and pipe joints 2 (due to the high mass inertial moment of the spreader bar 13 and attached pipe joints 2, having a weight of tenths of tons).
[001 19] The system 1 also achieves a significantly increased torsional stiffness of the lower part of the rigging arrangement due to the flat rigging rope angle 30, thereby assuring that the activation of the yaw adjusting motor 18 actually rotates the spreader bar 13 rather than only twisting the rigging ropes14.
[00120] Both achieved torsional stiffening effects are increased with an increase of the weight of the pay load which increases the tension in both the lifting ropes 10 and the rigging ropes 14, thereby individually increasing the resistance against torsional twisting of the upper rigging region and of the lower rigging region and assuring that the yaw adjusting motor 18 can effectively rotate the payload about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17.
[00121 ] Detailed description of the crane control system 25
[00122] The position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) can be signal-connected to the crane control system 25 or at least partially integrated in the crane control system 25.
[00123] In an embodiment, the position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) is configured to determine an instant relative position and/or distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe transfer station 5 on the basis of distance signals provided by positioning sensors 35 (e.g. one or more of optical sensors, laser optical sensors, digital cameras, ultrasound sensors, etc.) positioned and configured to detect the distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe transfer station 5.
[00124] Similarly, the position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) is configured to determine an instant relative position and/or distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station 6 on the basis of distance signals provided by positioning sensors 35 (e.g. one or more of optical sensors, laser optical sensors, digital cameras, ultrasound sensors, etc.) positioned and configured to detect the distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station 6,
[00125] In accordance with an embodiment, the distance sensor 35 or sensors 35 are arranged on the spreader bar 13, so that the same distance sensors 35 can be used both when approaching and leaving the pipe transfer station 5 and when approaching and leaving the pipe landing station 6.
[00126] In an embodiment, the position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) comprises:
[00127] - a first position control system 23 configured to monitor the position and movement of the pipe transfer station 5 with respect to a reference system (e.g. global reference system earth) and to provide carrier vessel position data containing an instant pipe transfer station position with respect to the reference system,
[00128] - a second position control system 24 configured to monitor the position and movement of the pipe landing station 6 with respect to the position reference system and to provide pipe lay vessel position data containing an instant pipe landing station position with respect to the reference system,
[00129] wherein the crane control system 25 is in data-connection with the first position control system 23 and the second position control system 24.
[00130] In accordance with a further embodiment, the crane control system 25 is configured to:
[00131 ] - monitor an instant position of the spreader bar 13 with respect to the reference system,
[00132] - control the one or more lifting winches 12 to vertically displace the spreader bar 13 in dependency of the instant position of the spreader bar 13, of the instant pipe landing station position, and of the instant pipe transfer station position,
[00133] - control the yaw adjusting motor 18 (if provided) to rotate the hook portion 16 together with the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 in dependency of the instant position of the spreader bar 13, of the instant pipe landing station position, and of the instant pipe transfer station position,
[00134] - control the flywheel adjusting system 34 (if provided) to apply a yaw rotation moment to the spreader bar 13 in dependency of the instant position of the spreader bar 13, of the instant pipe landing station position, and of the instant pipe transfer station position,
[00135] - control the rotation of the crane boom 8 to horizontally displace the spreader bar 13 in dependency of the instant pipe landing station position, and of the instant pipe transfer station position,
[00136] - optionally, control the two or more tugger winches 19 or hoists to selectively pull the two or more tugger lines 20 with different pulling forces for yaw rotating (about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17) the spreader bar 13 with respect to the crane boom 8 in dependency of the instant position of the spreader bar 13.
[00137] This allows a reliable continuous control of the spreader bar 13 position and of the pipe joint 2 position and motion with respect to al boundary conditions, so as to be able to increase the speed of the pipe transfer operation and at the same time reduce the risk of clash, positioning errors and damage to human health and material.
[00138] For this purpose, the crane control system 25 may be configured to:
[00139] - determine an instant relative position and/or distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe transfer station 5 on the basis of the instant pipe transfer station position and the instant position of the spreader bar 13, and/or on the basis of distance signals provided by positioning sensors 35 (e.g. one or more of optical sensors, laser optical sensors, digital cameras, ultrasound sensors, etc.) positioned and configured to detect the distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe transfer station 5,
[00140] - control the one or more lifting winches 12 to vertically displace the spreader bar 13 in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe transfer station 5, and/or
[00141 ] - control the yaw adjusting motor 18 (if provided) to rotate the hook portion 16 together with the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar and the pipe transfer station 5, and/or
[00142] - control the flywheel adjusting system 34 (if provided) to apply a yaw rotation moment to the spreader bar 13 in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe transfer station 5, and/or
[00143] - control the rotation of the crane boom 8 (using the crane rotation motor 31 ) to horizontally displace the spreader bar 13 in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe transfer station 5, and/or
[00144] - control the two or more tugger winches 19 or hoists to selectively pull the two or more tugger lines 20 with different pulling forces for yaw rotating (about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17) the spreader bar 13 with respect to the crane boom 8 in dependency of said instant distance between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe transfer station 5,
[00145] in particular during a landing operation and/or lifting off operation of the spreader bar 13 towards and away from the pipe transfer station 5.
[00146] This sensor based local distance verification further increases the safety of the pipe transfer operation and increases the reliability of a fully automatic crane operation, which in turn increases pipe transfer speed, also in adverse weather conditions.
[00147] Similarly, the crane control system 25 may be configured to:
[00148] - determine an instant relative position and/or distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station 6 on the basis of the instant landing station position and the instant position of the spreader bar 13, and/or on the basis of distance signals provided by positioning sensors 35 (e.g. one or more of optical sensors, laser optical sensors, digital cameras, ultrasound sensors, etc.) positioned and configured to detect the distance (in a 3D reference system) between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station
6,
[00149] - control the one or more lifting winches 12 to vertically displace the spreader bar 13 in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station 6, and/or
[00150] - control the yaw adjusting motor 18 (if provided) to rotate the hook portion 16 together with the spreader bar 13 about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17 in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station 6, and/or
[00151 ] - control the flywheel adjusting system 34 (if provided) to apply a yaw rotation moment to the spreader bar 13 in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station 6, and/or [00152] - control the rotation of the crane boom 8 (using the crane rotation motor 31 ) to horizontally displace the spreader bar 13 in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station 6, and/or
[00153] - control the two or more tugger winches 19 or hoists to selectively pull the two or more tugger lines 20 with different pulling forces for yaw rotating (about the vertical yaw rotation axis 17) the spreader bar 13 with respect to the crane boom 8 in dependency of said instant distance between the spreader bar 13 and the pipe landing station 6,
[00154] in particular during a landing operation and/or lifting off operation of the spreader bar 13 towards and away from the pipe landing station 6.
[00155] This sensor based local distance verification further increases the safety of the pipe transfer operation and increases the reliability of a fully automatic crane operation, which in turn increases pipe transfer speed, also in adverse weather conditions.
[00156] In accordance with an embodiment, the distance sensor 35 or sensors 35 are arranged on the spreader bar 13, so that the same distance sensors 35 can be used both when approaching and leaving the pipe transfer station 5 and when approaching and leaving the pipe landing station 6.
[00157] In accordance with an embodiment, the first position control system 23 comprises a global positioning system (GPS) and a plurality of accelerometers arranged on the pipe carrier vessel 3 to monitor the position and displacement of the pipe carrier vessel 3 in a global (earth) reference system (3D, six degrees of freedom, three translations, three rotations) and, possibly, to provide in addition local pipe joint position data of the local position of the individual pipe joint/s 2 within the pipe transfer station 5.
[00158] The local pipe joint position data may contain predetermined pipe joint positions and/or sensor detected (e.g. optical sensor, digital camera, ecc.) pipe joint positions within the pipe transfer station 5.
[00159] The first position control system 23 can be connected wireless or wired with the crane control system 25.
[00160] In accordance with an embodiment, the second position control system 24 comprises a global positioning system (GPS) and a plurality of accelerometers arranged on the pipe lay vessel 4 to monitor the position and displacement of the pipe lay vessel 4 in a global (earth) reference system (3D, six degrees of freedom, three translations, three rotations) and, possibly, to provide in addition target pipe joint position data of the target position of the individual pipe joint/s 2 within the pipe landing station 6.
[00161 ] The target pipe joint position data may contain predetermined target positions and/or sensor detected (e.g. optical sensor, digital camera, ecc.) target (e.g. not yet occupied) positions within the pipe landing station 6. [00162] The second position control system 24 can be connected wireless or wired with the crane control system 25.
[00163] In accordance with an embodiment, the crane control system 25 may comprise a third position control system 36 comprising a plurality of accelerometers, and possibly global positioning system (GPS), and arranged on the spreader bar 13 to monitor the position and displacement of the spreader bar 13 in a global (earth) reference system (3D, six degrees of freedom, three translations, three rotations) or in the reference system of the pipe laying vessel 4.
[00164] The crane control system 25 can have an onboard user interface 37 onboard the boom crane 7, e.g. in a crane operator cabin, and/or a remote user interface 38 remote from the boom crane 7.
[00165] The crane control system 25 can allow a user-selection and execution of a fully automatic control mode, a semi - automatic control mode with user involvement only during approaching and leaving the pipe transfer station and the pipe landing station, and a user- controlled mode.
[00166] In accordance with an embodiment, the crane control system 25 is configured to automatically maintain a fixed orientation of the pipe joints 2 during their transfer movement along the target transfer trajectory from the pipe transfer station 5 to the pipe landing station 6, e.g. an orientation parallel to both a longitudinal orientation of the pipe carrier vessel 3 and a longitudinal orientation of the pipe lay vessel 4.
[00167] The target transfer trajectory can be programmable and/or preset and memorized in a memory of the crane control system 25 and, possibly, additionally adapted by the crane control system 25 in dependency of the motion of the pipe carrier vessel 3 and the pipe laying vessel 4 and, optionally, the spreader bar 13.
[00168] Alternatively, the target transfer trajectory can be user-inputted in the crane control system 25 and adjusted by a crane operator by means of a user interface of the crane control system 25.
[00169] In an embodiment, the target transfer trajectory comprises a set of one or more minimum (safety) distance conditions and/or one or more maximum relative angular offset conditions (alignment criteria) that must be met during the spreader bar’s approximation to and detachment from the pipe transfer station 5 and the pipe landing station 6.
[00170] Detailed description of the crane hook 11 and lifting ropes 10
[00171 ] In accordance with an embodiment the crane hook 1 1 , e.g. the hook portion 16 or the base portion 15, forms two tugger line attachment seats 39 in said tugger points 22 for connecting the tugger lines 20 and transmitting a pulling force from the tugger lines 20 to the crane hook 11. The tugger line attachment seats 39 are horizontally spaced apart by a horizontal tugger attachment distance 40 of more than 6 meters, or more than 8 meters, or more than 10 meters, wherein the horizontal tugger line distance 21 of the two tugger lines 20 attached to the tugger line attachment seats 39 is greater than 2 meters, or greater than 4 meters, or greater than 6 meters. It is to be noted that the tugger lines 20 need not be parallel but can also extend along paths crossing at a close distance.
[00172] In accordance with an embodiment, the two tugger line attachment seats 39 are alingned with each other along a direction substantially parallel to a direction of alignment of the two spaced apart lifting rope attachment seats 28.
[00173] The lifting ropes 10 can comprise individual sections of one single continuous lifting rope line or separate pieces of lifting rope line.
[00174] The lifting ropes can comprise two or more, e.g. four lifting ropes 10, i.e. sections of lifting rope individually extending upward from the crane hook 1 1 to the crane boom 8.
[00175] Detailed description of the spreader bar 13 and rigging ropes 14
[00176] In accordance with an embodiment, the spreader bar 13 is an elongate beam shaped or plate shaped steel structure connected by the rigging ropes 14 to the crane hook 11 , particularly to the lower hook portion 16 of the crane hook 1 1 , so that a spreader bar longitudinal axis 41 (in case of an elongate beam shape) or a spreader bar plane 42 (in case of a plate shape) is substantially horizontal.
[00177] The rigging ropes 14 connecting the spreader bar 13 to the crane hook 11 are at least two or more, e.g. four, and can be embodied by different rigging rope sections of one and the same continuous rigging line or by separate rigging rope sections.
[00178] A lower hook portion 16 of the crane hook 1 1 forms one or more upper rigging attachment points/seats 43 which can be relatively close to each other, e.g. formed in a common hook seat, for the connection and force transmission between the crane hook 1 1 and the rigging ropes 14.
[00179] The spreader bar 13 forms, preferably on an upper side thereof, at least two or more, e.g. four, lower rigging attachment seats 44 for the connection and force transmission between the rigging ropes 14 have a length such that the rigging rope angle 30 defined between the tensioned rigging rope 14 and the horizontal, i.e. the spreader bar plane 42, meets the earlier described range of less than 70°, or less than 60° or from 40° and 55°.
[00180] The lower rigging attachment seats 44 can be arranged at four corner regions of the spreader bar 13 when the spreader bar 13 is substantially rectangular in top view, or at to opposite end regions of the spreader bar 13 when the spreader bar 13 is substantially linear beam shaped in top view.
[00181 ] The one or more pipe connectors 26 are arranged on a downward facing lower side of the spreader beam 13 and may comprise pairs of oppositely arranged engagement pins 45 that are displaceable toward each other and away from each other to enter the opposite ends of the pipe joint 2 for connecting the pipe joint 2 to the spreader bar 13 and to release the ends of the pipe joint 2 for disconnecting the pipe joint 2 from the spreader bar 13.
[00182] The engagement pins 45 are connected to a hydraulic cylinder 46 selectively actuated by an electro-hydraulic pump and valve system 47.
[00183] The spreader bar 13 can have a single pair of pipe connectors 26 for connecting only one pipe joint 2 or, preferably, a plurality of pairs of pipe connectors 26 for connecting a plurality of pipe joints 2 to the same spreader bar 13 and for contemporaneously transferring the plurality of pipe joints 2 together (see Figures 2D, 12).
[00184] Preferably, the spreader bar 13 defines a plurality of connector positions 48 (Figure 12) in which the pipe connectors 26 can be removably connected to the spreader bar 13, allowing adjustment of the position of the pipe connectors 26 and, hence, adaption of the system 1 to different pipe joint diameters and/or lengths.
[00185] Detailed description of the flywheels 32
[00186] In accordance with an embodiment (Figures 5, 6) the one or more flywheels 32 are each rotatably supported in a flywheel holder 49 and rotatable with respect to the flywheel holder about the flywheel axis 33. The flywheel holder 49 is rotatably supported in a mounting portion 50 of/at the spreader bar 13 and rotatable with respect to the mounting portion 50 (and hence with respect to the spreader bar 13) about a swivel axis 51 which is orthogonal to the flywheel axis 33 and, possibly, transversal (preferably perpendicular) to a spreader bar longitudinal direction.
[00187] The flywheel 32 is driven to rotate about the flywheel axis 33 by an electric drive motor 52 connected to the flywheel 32 by means of a transmission 53, e.g. a friction wheel.
[00188] In an embodiment, the drive motor 52 and the friction wheel are supported by a support lever 55 which is elastically biased, by a spring member 56, in a transmission position in which the friction wheel is elastically pressed against an external circumferential surface of the flywheel 32.
[00189] The flywheel adjusting system 34 comprises an electrical or electro-hydraulic swivel actuator 57 which adjusts the orientation of the flywheel holder 49 about the swivel axis 51 . [00190] The application of the torque to orient the flywheel holder 49 together with the rotating flywheel 32 about the swivel axis 51 cause a change in the angular momentum in the same direction of the swivel axis 51 and generates a force in the direction of the swivel axis 51 .
[00191 ] Advantageously, the spreader bar 13 comprises one or more pairs 58 of said flywheels 32, wherein the two swivel axes 51 of each pair 58 are parallel to each other, horizontal and horizontally spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to the swivel axes 51 , and wherein the flywheel adjusting system 34 swivels the two rotating flywheels 32 of the pair 51 in opposite directions (as seen in figure 6), thereby generating a pair of opposite and spaced apart horizontal forces 59, 59’ acting on the spreader bar 13 and constituting the yaw rotating moment.
[00192] Even though it is not essential where exactly the pairs 58 of flywheels 32 are arranged on the spreader bar 13, advantageously the two flywheels 32 belonging to one of said pairs 58 are arranged on two opposite sides of the spreader bar 13 with respect to a spreader bar central region 54.
[00193] This allows a fast rotation of the spreader bar 13 about the yaw rotation axis 17. The flywheel adjusting system 34 may be activated contemporaneously with an activation of the yaw adjusting motor 18 of the crane hook 11 for a synergistic improvement of the spreader bar 13 position control.
[00194] In accordance with an embodiment, the orientation of the pipe joints 2 is maintained fixed during the entire transfer from the pipe transfer station 5 to the pipe landing station 6.
[00195] In accordance with a further embodiment, the orientation of the pipe joints 2 is maintained fixed only during an initial phase and during a final phase of the transfer from the pipe transfer station 5 to the pipe landing station 6, and the orientation of the pipe joints 2 is changed, e.g. in a range of 35° to 40° of yaw angle, in an intermediate phase of f the transfer from the pipe transfer station 5 to the pipe landing station 6.
[00196] The initial phase and end phase are the takeoff of the pipe joints 2 from the pipe transfer station 5 and the landing of the pipe joints 2 on the pipe landing station 6, and the intermediate phase is a flight phase, free from obstacles.
[00197] The system 1 is configured to transport one or more than one pipe joint 2 at a time.
[00198] Power (electric and or hydraulic) and signals can be transmitted from the pipe lay vessel 4 or boom crane 7 to the crane hook 1 1 and to the spreader bar 13 by an umbilical 60.
Reference numerals
1 system
2 pipe joint
3 pipe carrier vessel
4 pipe laying vessel
5 pipe transfer station
6 pipe landing station
7 boom crane
8 crane boom
9 crane rotation axis
10 lifting ropes crane hook lifting winches spreader bar rigging ropes base portion of crane hook hook portion of crane hook vertical yaw rotation axis yaw adjusting motor tugger winches or hoists tugger lines horizontal tugger line distance tugger points at hook or spreader bar first position control system second position control system crane control system pipe connector pipe connecting control system lifting rope attachment seat horizontal lifting rope distance rigging rope angle crane rotation motor flywheel flywheel axis flywheel adjusting system positioning sensors third position control system onboard user interface remote user interface tugger line attachment seats tugger attachment distance spreader bar longitudinal axis spreader bar plane upper rigging attachment seat lower rigging attachment seat engagement pins hydraulic cylinder electrohydraulic pump and valve system connector positions flywheel holder flywheel mounting portion swivel axis drive motor transmission spreader bar central region support lever spring member swivel actuator pair of flywheels , 59’ pair of forces umbilical

Claims

Claims
1 . A system (1 ) for the offshore crane transfer of pipe joints (2) from a pipe carrier vessel (3) to a pipe laying vessel (4) comprising:
- a pipe carrier vessel (3) having a pipe transfer station (5) for holding a plurality of pipe joints
(2) having all a same predetermined transfer orientation with respect to the pipe carrier vessel
(3),
- a pipelay vessel (4) having a pipe landing station (6) for landing the pipe joints (2),
- a boom crane (7) positioned on the pipelay vessel (4) and having a crane boom (8) rotatable about a vertical crane rotation axis (9), a plurality of lifting ropes (10) extending from the crane boom (8) downward, a crane hook (11 ) connected to the lifting ropes (10) to hang below the crane boom (8), one or more motor driven lifting winches (12) for winding and unwinding the lifting ropes (10) and thereby lifting and lowering the crane hook (11 ), and a spreader bar (13) hangingly connected to the crane hook (1 1 ) by a plurality of rigging ropes (14), wherein the crane hook (1 1 ) comprises a base portion (15) to which the lifting ropes (10) are connected and a hook portion (16) to which the rigging ropes (14) are connected, wherein the hook portion (16) is coupled to the base portion (15) and rotatable with respect to the base portion (15) about a vertical yaw rotation axis (17) by a yaw adjusting motor (18) connected to the crane hook (11 ),
- two or more motor driven tugger winches (19) positioned on the pipe lay vessel (4) for winding and unwinding two or more tugger lines (20) connectable to one of the crane hook (1 1 ) and spreader bar (13) in two horizontally spaced apart tugger points (22),
- a position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) configured to determine an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar (13) with respect to the pipe transfer station (5) and an instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar (13) with respect to the pipe landing station (6),
- a crane control system (25) in data-connection with the position control system (23, 24, 35, 36), the crane control system (25) allowing a user-selection of an automatic crane control mode and, if the automatic crane control mode is selected, automatically controls:
- the yaw adjusting motor (18) to rotate the hook portion (16) together with the spreader bar (13) about the vertical yaw rotation axis (17), in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar (13) with respect to the pipe transfer station (5) and in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar (13) with respect to the pipe landing station (6) and according to a target transfer trajectory of the spreader bar (13) at the pipe transfer station (5) and at the pipe landing station (6), wherein the spreader bar (13) comprises a plurality of electrically controlled pipe connectors (26) configured to engage opposite end portions of the pipe joint (2) to connect the pipe joint (2) to the spreader bar (13), said pipe connectors (26) being remotely controlled by a pipe connecting control system (27) of said crane control system (25), wherein the base portion (15) of the crane hook (11 ) forms at least two lifting rope attachment seats (28) which transmit a lifting force from the lifting ropes (10) to the crane hook (11 ), the lifting rope attachment seats (28) being horizontally spaced apart by at least a minimum horizontal lifting rope distance (29) of more than 2 meters, or 2352mm, or more than 2,5 meters, or more than 3 meters, wherein the lifting ropes (10) comprise at least two lifting ropes engaging the two lifting rope attachment seats (28) and extending from the lifting rope attachment seats (28) upward to the crane boom (8) with at least said minimum horizontal lifting rope distance (29) therebetween, wherein the rigging ropes (14) extend between the crane hook (1 1 ) and the spreader bar (13) at a rigging rope angle (30) to the horizontal of less than 70°, or less than 60° or in the range of 40° and 55°.
2. The system (1 ) according to claim 1 , wherein, in said automatic crane control mode, the crane control system (25) automatically controls:
- the one or more lifting winches (12) to vertically displace the spreader bar (13),
- the rotation of the crane boom (8) to horizontally displace the spreader bar (13),
- optionally, the two or more tugger winches (19) to selectively pull the two or more tugger lines (20) with different pulling forces for yaw rotating the spreader bar (13) with respect to the crane boom (8), in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar (13) with respect to the pipe transfer station (5) and in dependency of the instantaneous relative position of the spreader bar (13) with respect to the pipe landing station (6) and according to a target transfer trajectory of the spreader bar (13) at the pipe transfer station (5) and at the pipe landing station (6).
3. The system (1 ) according to claim 1 o 2, wherein the spreader bar (13) comprises one or more motor driven flywheels (32), each rotating about a dedicated flywheel axis (33), and an electrically controlled flywheel adjusting system (34) for adjusting an orientation of the flywheel axis (33) with respect to the spreader bar (13) to generate and apply a yaw rotation moment about the vertical yaw rotation axis (17) to the spreader bar (13).
4. The system (1 ) according to claim 3, wherein the flywheel adjusting system (34) is connected with and controlled by the crane control system (25) to control rotation of the spreader bar (13) about the vertical yaw rotation axis (17).
5. The system (1 ) according to claim 4, wherein, in the automatic crane control mode, the flywheel adjusting system (34) is automatically controlled by the crane control system (25) to control rotation of the spreader bar (13) about the vertical yaw rotation axis (17).
6. The system (1 ) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) comprises:
- a first position control system (23) configured to monitor the position and movement of the pipe transfer station (5) with respect to a reference system and to provide carrier vessel position data containing an instant pipe transfer station position with respect to the reference system,
- a second position control system (24) configured to monitor the position and movement of the pipe landing station (6) with respect to the position reference system and to provide pipe lay vessel position data containing an instant pipe landing station position with respect to the reference system, wherein the crane control system (25) is in data-connection with the first position control system (23) and the second position control system (24).
7. The system according to any one of claims 3 and 6, wherein the crane control system (25) is configured to:
- monitor an instant position of the spreader bar (13) with respect to the reference system,
- control the one or more lifting winches (12) to vertically displace the spreader bar (13) in dependency of the instant position of the spreader bar (13), of the instant pipe landing station position, and of the instant pipe transfer station position,
- control the yaw adjusting motor (18) to rotate the hook portion (16) together with the spreader bar (13) about the vertical yaw rotation axis (17) in dependency of the instant position of the spreader bar (13), of the instant pipe landing station position, and of the instant pipe transfer station position,
- control the flywheel adjusting system (34) to apply a yaw rotation moment to the spreader bar (13) in dependency of the instant position of the spreader bar (13), of the instant pipe landing station position, and of the instant pipe transfer station position,
- control the rotation of the crane boom (8) to horizontally displace the spreader bar (13) in dependency of the instant pipe landing station position, and of the instant pipe transfer station position,
- optionally, control the two or more tugger winches (19) to selectively pull the two or more tugger lines (20) with different pulling forces for yaw rotating the spreader bar (13) with respect to the crane boom (8) in dependency of the instant position of the spreader bar (13).
8. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, as dependent on claim 3, wherein the crane control system (25) is configured to:
- determine an instant distance between the spreader bar (13) and the pipe transfer station (5),
- control the one or more lifting winches (12) to vertically displace the spreader bar (13) in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar (13) and the pipe transfer station
(5), and
- control the yaw adjusting motor (18) to rotate the hook portion (16) together with the spreader bar (13) about the vertical yaw rotation axis (17) in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar and the pipe transfer station (5), and
- control the flywheel adjusting system (34) to apply a yaw rotation moment to the spreader bar (13) in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar (13) and the pipe transfer station (5), during a landing operation and during a lifting off operation of the spreader bar (13) towards and away from the pipe transfer station (5).
9. The system according any one of the preceding claims, as dependent on claim 3, wherein the crane control system (25) is configured to:
- determine an instant distance between the spreader bar (13) and the pipe landing station (6),
- control the one or more lifting winches (12) to vertically displace the spreader bar (13) in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar (13) and the pipe landing station
(6), and
- control the yaw adjusting motor (18) to rotate the hook portion (16) together with the spreader bar (13) about the vertical yaw rotation axis (17) in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar (13) and the pipe landing station (6), and
- control the flywheel adjusting system (34) to apply a yaw rotation moment to the spreader bar (13) in dependency of the instant distance between the spreader bar (13) and the pipe landing station (6), during a landing operation and/or lifting off operation of the spreader bar (13) towards and away from the pipe landing station (6).
10. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the crane control system (25) comprises a third position control system (36) comprising a plurality of accelerometers 1 and a global positioning system GPS, and arranged on the spreader bar (13) to monitor the position and displacement of the spreader bar (13) in a global reference system or in the reference system of the pipe laying vessel (4).
1 1 . The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein:
- the one or more pipe connectors (26) are arranged on a downward facing lower side of the spreader beam (13) and comprise pairs of oppositely arranged engagement pins (45) that are displaceable toward each other and away from each other to enter the opposite ends of the pipe joint (2) for connecting the pipe joint (2) to the spreader bar (13) and to release the ends of the pipe joint (2) for disconnecting the pipe joint (2) from the spreader bar (13),
- the engagement pins (45) are connected to a hydraulic cylinder (46) selectively actuated by an electro-hydraulic pump and valve system (47) connected with the crane control system (25),
- the spreader bar (13) forms a plurality of connector coupling positions (48) in which the pipe connectors (26) can be removably connected to the spreader bar (13), allowing adjustment of the position of the pipe connectors (26) and the removable connection of a plurality of pairs of pipe connectors (26) for connecting a plurality of pipe joints (2) to the same spreader bar (13) and for contemporaneously transferring said plurality of pipe joints (2) together.
12. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the position control system (23, 24, 35, 36) is configured to:
- determine an instant relative position and/or distance in a 3D reference system between the spreader bar (13) and the pipe transfer station (5) on the basis of distance signals provided by positioning sensors (35),
- determine an instant relative position and/or distance in a 3D reference system between the spreader bar (13) and the pipe landing station (6) on the basis of distance signals provided by positioning sensors (35), wherein said positioning sensors (35) are:
- selected in the group consisting of optical sensor, laser optical sensor, digital camera, ultrasound sensor,
- positioned and configured to detect the distance between the spreader bar (13) and the pipe transfer station (5).
13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the distance sensor (35) or sensors (35) are arranged on the spreader bar (13), so that the same distance sensors (35) is used both when approaching and/or leaving the pipe transfer station (5) and when approaching and/or leaving the pipe landing station (6).
PCT/IB2023/052126 2022-04-06 2023-03-07 System and method of pipe joint transfer from a pipe carrier to a pipelay vessel or to an offshore structure WO2023194818A1 (en)

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IT102022000006827 2022-04-06
IT102022000006827A IT202200006827A1 (en) 2022-04-06 2022-04-06 System and method of transferring pipeline pipes, in particular from a pipe carrier to a pipeline vessel or an offshore facility

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GB2031842A (en) 1978-09-13 1980-04-30 Peiner Masch Schrauben A load rotating device
EP1679462A2 (en) 2005-01-10 2006-07-12 Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH Pipe laying apparatus
WO2008136766A1 (en) 2007-05-03 2008-11-13 Nsl Engineering Pte Ltd Apparatus and method for the engagement of intermodal units
WO2012038776A1 (en) 2010-09-24 2012-03-29 Saipem S.P.A. Carrier vessel for supplying pipes to an underwater-pipeline laying vessel, and method and kit for transferring pipes from a carrier vessel to an underwater-pipeline laying vessel
US9315244B2 (en) 2011-07-26 2016-04-19 P. Kalkman Waddinxveen Beheer B.V. Hold crane as well as pipefeeder vessel with such hold crane
US9556006B2 (en) 2014-06-02 2017-01-31 Liebherr-Werk Nenzing Gmbh Method for controlling the orientation of a crane load and a boom crane
EP2516317B1 (en) 2009-12-23 2017-11-01 NSL Engineering Pte Ltd System and method for the coupling of a head frame

Patent Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2031842A (en) 1978-09-13 1980-04-30 Peiner Masch Schrauben A load rotating device
EP1679462A2 (en) 2005-01-10 2006-07-12 Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH Pipe laying apparatus
WO2008136766A1 (en) 2007-05-03 2008-11-13 Nsl Engineering Pte Ltd Apparatus and method for the engagement of intermodal units
EP2516317B1 (en) 2009-12-23 2017-11-01 NSL Engineering Pte Ltd System and method for the coupling of a head frame
WO2012038776A1 (en) 2010-09-24 2012-03-29 Saipem S.P.A. Carrier vessel for supplying pipes to an underwater-pipeline laying vessel, and method and kit for transferring pipes from a carrier vessel to an underwater-pipeline laying vessel
US9387998B2 (en) * 2010-09-24 2016-07-12 Saipem S.P.A. Method and kit for transferring pipes from a carrier vessel to an underwater-pipeline laying vessel
US9315244B2 (en) 2011-07-26 2016-04-19 P. Kalkman Waddinxveen Beheer B.V. Hold crane as well as pipefeeder vessel with such hold crane
US9556006B2 (en) 2014-06-02 2017-01-31 Liebherr-Werk Nenzing Gmbh Method for controlling the orientation of a crane load and a boom crane

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