1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to subsea production facilities, and more particularly, to an insulation shroud with an internal support structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are thousands of subsea oil and gas wells, and associated production equipment, located throughout the world. Such subsea facilities include numerous pipe designs and connectors that are employed to connect various items of subsea equipment to one another. In many subsea hydrocarbon fields, a certain amount of water is produced along with the hydrocarbons. This is commonly known as the water cut. As fields approach the end of their productive lives, the water cut can exceed 50% or more of the produced fluid. Another contributor of water cut may be seawater that is injected to maintain reservoir pressure. This injected seawater can be produced back by the production wells. When the right combination of high pressure and low temperature is present, this mixture of produced hydrocarbons and produced water has the potential to form solid hydrates, which can form blockages in the production system. This is a common problem in deepwater wells, because of the high hydrostatic pressure and the low temperature of the surrounding seawater.
In normal operation, the produced fluid flows through the production equipment at a temperature well above the hydrate formation temperature. As the fluid continues to flow to a surface facility, it does not have time to cool, and thus hydrate formation is not an issue. However, situations can occur which require a planned or unplanned shutdown of the production system for extended periods of time. When this occurs, the produced fluid that remains trapped in the production equipment located above the floor of the ocean is cooled by the surrounding seawater. If this trapped fluid remains static for too long, it will cool below the hydrate formation temperature and solid hydrates may form. Avoiding hydrates and wax blockages is an important aspect of subsea systems flow assurance management, system reliability, and safety of subsea production systems. The subsea industry has increased focus on flow management issues significantly due to the more challenging environments encountered in deepwater fields and the high cost of remediation.
One technique that is employed in an effort to prevent or reduce hydrate formation is to provide insulation around the components to delay the cooling of the hydrocarbon fluid.
While the prior art design depicted in
The present invention is directed to various devices and methods for solving, or at least reducing the effects of, some or all of the aforementioned problems.
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is discussed later.
The present invention is directed to an insulation shroud with internal support structure. In one illustrative embodiment, the insulation shroud comprises a body adapted to be positioned around a subsea component, the body including an insulating material having an internal support structure positioned therein and a door.
The invention may be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.
The present invention will now be described with reference to the attached figures. The words and phrases used herein should be understood and interpreted to have a meaning consistent with the understanding of those words and phrases by those skilled in the relevant art. No special definition of a term or phrase, i.e., a definition that is different from the ordinary and customary meaning as understood by those skilled in the art, is intended to be implied by consistent usage of the term or phrase herein. To the extent that a term or phrase is intended to have a special meaning, i.e., a meaning other than that understood by skilled artisans, such a special definition will be expressly set forth in the specification in a definitional manner that directly and unequivocally provides the special definition for the term or phrase.
As shown in
The present invention may be manufactured using well known molding techniques to form the shroud 30 with the internal support structure 40 positioned in the insulating material 32.
As shown in FIGS. 9 and 11-12, the outer mold 51 has through holes 60 formed therein to allow a bushing 62 and bolt 64 to be bolted to the nut 66 (or tapped bar stock) attached to the frame 42 and/or mesh 44 and remain in place during the molding process. By forming the holes 60 in the outer mold 51, a high degree of accuracy can be achieved as it relates to properly locating the external hardware 33 relative to the internal support structure 40. Once the molding process is complete, the bolts 64 are removed and the external hardware 33 and latches 36 may be secured to the internal support structure 40 by bolting them in the tapped bushing or nut 66.
The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. For example, the process steps set forth above may be performed in a different order. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below.
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