Abstract: A chain table for connecting mooring legs to a turret. The chain table includes downwardly sloping connection flanges with bosses for forming holes for pivoting members of a coupler assembly. The downward slope of the flanges allows forces from connected anchor legs to be better directed to the chain table as compared to connecting flanges which extend perpendicularly from the body of the chain table. As a result, the chain table can be made smaller which allows it to be fabricated by casting techniques. An anchor leg pattern is established by connecting vessel end portions of anchor legs to the chain table while the vessel is in port, installing at a mooring site seabed portions of anchor legs according to an anchor leg pattern, and after the vessel arrives at the mooring site, connecting each vessel end portion to each corresponding seabed anchor leg portion to establish the anchor leg pattern for mooring the vessel.

Abstract: A lower bearing arrangement between a turret of an FPU and a moonpool. The outer housing of the bearing is mounted about the turret instead of the FPU's hull structure. Bearing segments are captured between an outer ring of the turret and an inner ring of the outer housing. The outer housing of the bearing assembly is coupled to a reaction ring of the moonpool so that rotation forces of the vessel are transferred to the outer housing of the bearing. The coupling also includes an arrangement by which the outer housing contacts said reaction ring in the nature of a spherical joint.

Abstract: In a fluid swivel with at least an outer housing and an inner housing, the temperature of both inner and outer housings are measured. When the temperature of the inner housing is greater than the temperature of the outer housing, a heating element elevates the temperature of the outer housing.

Abstract: A self-righting buoy having an oil/water sensor is provided which includes a radio transmitter or signaling beacon to trail a loading hose or a potential source of leaking oil, such as a FPSO, down current for remote detection of oil sheens.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for dissolving chemical tablets for creating a variable rate of chemical dissolution in a stream of constant flow rate of untreated liquid, especially water. The apparatus includes a housing in which a container is placed. The container includes a sieve plate or perforated grid which separates the container into an upper chamber in which chemical tablets are stored and a lower mixing chamber. A collection reservoir is defined in an annular outside the container wall and inside of the housing. Several arrangements are illustrated by which a vortex of liquid is generated of controllable variable intensity in the lower or mixing chamber thereby creating uneven liquid pressure beneath the perforated grid as a function of radial distance. As a result, fluid passes aggressively through outer radial perforations or holes in the grid and which impinge on the chemical tablets stacked on the grid.

Abstract: A production swivel with passive control of dynamic seal gap width using internal swivel pressure. The swivel includes inner and outer housings with a middle housing which transfers, component deformation due to fluid pressure from the dynamic sealing interface to the static sealing interface. The outer housing and inner housing rotate together, but the outer housing is free to expand radially outward from the middle housing with increasing fluid pressure. A floating riser spool is pressure balanced at the connection to the inner housing and to a fixed swivel stack base. Swivels are stacked with a swivel connector/spool and upper and lower mounting rings cooperatively dimensioned so that access to seals can be obtained while the swivels remained stacked without the use of overhead cranes or other lifting points than the swivel being serviced.

Abstract: A vessel with a mooring tube assembly with swivel mounted chain supports. The assembly includes a frame arranged and designed for support within a vertical opening of the vessel at its bow and/or its stern. A plurality of chain tubes are carried on the outer side of the frame in an arc such that their top ends extend upwardly generally parallel to the vertical axis of opening of the vessel. The vessel includes a deck mounted above the upper end of the frame. A track on the deck allows a single winch to be moved so that a pull-in line can be registered with any of the top ends of the tubes. A plurality of chain supports are rotationally mounted on the frame where each chain support has an outlet and an inlet. A trunnion chain stopper is provided between the outlet and inlet of the chain support. The outlet of each chain stopper is in registration with the lower end of one of the chain tubes.

Abstract: A mooring system including a body/arm/vessel arrangement with passive damping and/or an active force restoring system. The active force restoring system includes a sensor for generating a displacement signal representative of the displacement of the vessel from a quiescent position and an active forcing device which responds to the displacement signal to force the arm in a direction to move the vessel toward the quiescent position. The passive damping arrangement includes a device, independent of and in addition to the damping of the water on the vessel or the arm, that damps the oscillation of the vessel in response to environmental conditions which force the vessel from its quiescent position. Hydraulic cylinder arrangements are provided for active forcing and passive damping. Powered winch/cable arrangements are also provided for active force systems.

Abstract: An arrangement for providing fluid communication between an offshore hydrocarbon production and/or storage facility and an offshore loading system such as a CALM buoy is disclosed. A pipeline from a FPSO or production platform runs to a submerged flowline termination buoy which is positioned beneath and separated a short distance from a CALM buoy. The flowline termination buoy is separately anchored to the sea bed from the CALM buoy, and is at a depth below the turbulent zone of the sea. The end of the pipeline is suspended from the flowline termination buoy, and a marine hose fluidly connects the end of the pipeline to a stationary part of a fluid swivel on the CALM buoy. The arrangement isolates the end of the pipeline from fatigue inducing motions of the CALM buoy.

Abstract: A computer program and a method incorporated therein, called ContourFill, provides several features that enhance the display of contour maps. Even without using color, tick marks and gray-scale shading provide useful and cheaply reproducible representations of contoured surfaces. More dramatic effects are achieved when using color. Occasionally localized peculiarities are observed in the graphical outputs. These are usually traceable to data illegalities such as intersection of contour lines with other lines or penetration of contour lines into blanked areas. The localization of such effects is a tribute to the robustness of the computational algorithms.

Abstract: A load limiting break away arrangement for a subsea umbilical includes telescoping inner and outer bodies. The inner body includes multiple cross-bored holes; the outer body has slotted openings on its top and bottom sides. A shearing blade is positioned at one end of a top slot of the outer body. Individual umbilical tubes pass through a bottom slot of the outer body, through individual holes in the inner body and out a top slot of the outer body for attachment to multiple quick connect couplers on an umbilical termination head of an Umbilical Termination Assembly (UTA) and of an Electro-Hydraulic Distribution Module (EHDM). Tension resistant actuation members run between the UTA and EHDM so that when a snag of an umbilical occurs, the inner and outer bodies are pulled apart and the tubes are severed one by one by the blade of the outer body.

Abstract: A non-flowing pilot valve is disclosed having a sense piston assembly (16) and a feedback sleeve (40) co-axially mounted within a valve body (12). A dome-line chamber (32) and an exhaust-line chamber (34) are isolated from each other by a feedback sleeve top shoulder (48) contacting a pop seal (52) on the valve body (12) below set pressure. At a few percentage points of inlet (19) pressure below set pressure, a reseat seal of a foot (20) portion of the sense piston (16) contacts the bottom shoulder (48) of the feedback sleeve (40) thereby closing off the dome-line chamber (32) from below and above and “locking in” dome line pressure. An increase in inlet (19) pressure above set pressure causes the sense piston (16) to move up simultaneously carrying feedback sleeve (40) with it thereby opening the dome-line chamber (32) to the exhaust-line chamber (34) below the open top shoulder (48).

Abstract: A method for filling the space between two neighboring polyline ribs is disclosed. The method, called ladder triangulation, likens two ribs, which generally outline a complex structure, to the two rails of a ladder. The ladder triangulation is built by adding rungs, each rung connecting a node on one rib to a node on the other rib and thereby (after the first rung) creating one more triangle. In essence the first rung connects node 1 of polyline 1 to node 1 of polyline 2, and the second rung connects either node 1 polyline 1 to node 2 polyline 2 or else node 1 polyline 2 to node 2 polyline 1, whichever rung is shorter. There are (n1+n2)/2 such rungs where n1 and n2 are the respective node counts of the two polylines, and computation is linear with node count. Where there are multiple polylines, the same process is repeated between polylines 2 and 3, 3 and 4, etc. and may also be repeated between the last polyline and the first one (cyclic rib fill).

Abstract: A medical video-teleconferencing and treatment system, having a central video-conferencing station and one or more remote video-conferencing stations and a communications link establishing video-conferencing communication therebetween. A central video monitor and audio system is located at the central video-conferencing station, and a controller unit is coupled with the communications link. The remote video-conferencing stations each have a mobile emergency center cart including a remote video monitor and audio system and a video-conferencing camera controlled by the controller unit via the communications link and capable of responding to control signals of the controller unit for panning and zoom movement of said video-conferencing camera by a medical practitioner located at the central video-conferencing station.

Abstract: An uplift spring assembly to compensate for hull deflection at a main bearing of a mooring turret is disclosed. Elastomeric pads are used to react turret uplift because of their properties of large deflections and resistance to cold weather. Tie rods are provided to transmit the uplift loads into the elastomeric pads. The elastomeric pads react the uplift loads in compression. The assembly arrangement prevents the elastomeric pads from reacting tension loads.

Abstract: A subsea system is provided for producing a number of subsea wells which may be arranged in groups. Each of the groups of subsea wellheads is connected to deliver production flow to a subsea manifold and each subsea manifold is connected to deliver production flow to a production riser. A plurality of production risers each being connected to receive production flow from one of said subsea manifolds extend from the subsea manifolds for groups of wells. A deep draft floating spar is located generally above the subsea wellheads with mooring lines and has a production platform located above the sea surface and has buoyancy and ballast chambers to control floatation. The spar structure defines a riser bore receiving the production risers extending from the subsea wellheads to the production platform. The spar is also capable of being shifted laterally by its mooring lines for positioning above a selected well to thus permit well intervention activities as needed.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for dissolving chemical tablets for creating a variable rate of chemical dissolution in a stream of constant flow rate of untreated liquid, especially water. The apparatus includes a housing in which a container is placed. The container includes a sieve plate or perforated grid which separates the container into an upper chamber in which chemical tablets are stored and a lower mixing chamber. A collection reservoir is defined in an annular outside the container wall and inside of the housing. Several arrangements are illustrated by which a vortex of liquid is generated of controllable variable intensity in the lower or mixing chamber thereby creating uneven liquid pressure beneath the perforated grid as a function of radial distance. As a result, fluid passes aggressively through outer radial perforations or holes in the grid and which impinge on the chemical tablets stacked on the grid.

Abstract: The timing gear device or structure (26) has a pair of timing gears (28, 30) mounted on parallel rotating shafts (22, 24). Each timing gear (28, 30) has an outer gear portion (32) and a concentric interfitting inner gear portion (34). Outer gear portions (34) have teeth (48) which intermesh to transmit torque from drive shaft (22) to driven shaft (24). Each concentric inner gear portion (34) has longitudinally extending splines (44) in meshing relation with splines (46) on the inner periphery of outer gear portion (32). As shown in particular in FIGS. 5-8, the timing gears can be replaced by timing structure (26) by angular alignment or indexing of driven shaft (24) with inner gear portion (34) secured thereto while outer concentric gear portion (32) is removed. For indexing, drive shaft (22) is fixed and timing gear (28) is mounted thereon by key (40).

Abstract: Elastomeric pads are arranged radially around the main bearing which rotatably supports a mooring turret with respect to a vessel. The elastomeric pads act as radial springs to react the radial turret loads in the vessel and to compensate for ovaling of the vessel in response to sea environmental forces on the vessel. A radial spring assembly is provided which applies compressive load to the elastomeric pads when the vessel and turret move radially toward each other, but prevent tension from being applied to the pads when the vessel and turret move radially away from each other.