Bechtel International Corporation

Other

Bechtel Power Corporation

Norman R Wallace

Frederick S Ellers

Edgerton G Jones

Two concentric, liquid jets are discharged from a fluid spray apparatus into ambient gaseous surroundings to achieve either one of two purposes:

Sheathed jet fluid dispersing apparatus

A fluid dispersing apparatus suitable for use as a sprinkler in water irrigation applications whereby a jet of fluid is reflected from one or more rigid surfaces to preserve fluid particle speed. The reflecting surfaces are shaped to provide a variable but adjustable range of sector coverage in the spray pattern while maintaining range of fluid dispersal coverage. Through substitution of system components, a broad range of fluid dispersing requirements can be met with the same basic substructure. In the absence of fluid jet pressure, the principal jet reflecting assembly settles into a compact, low profile configuration.

Jet deflecting sprinkler head

A riser system having at least one riser with a J-shaped configuration for transporting hydrocarbon fluids from a subsea manifold or wellheads to a surface vessel. The riser has a horizontal section, an upright section, and a sag bend section interconnecting the horizontal and upright sections. The horizontal section is connected at one end to the subsea manifold and extends along and in frictional engagement with the seabed away from the manifold. The upright section has a vertical end part coupled to the surface vessel. The vessel can remain in position with dynamic thrusters or mooring lines, and the vessel remains on station applying horizontal pull to the riser while heading into the prevailing sea and as hydrocarbon fluids are transported from the manifold through the riser to the surface vessel. The horizontal pull on the riser due to the surface vessel is taken up by friction forces between the horizontal section of the riser and the seabed. The riser system can be comprised of a number of risers coupled together in a cluster. In this case, the manifold has a rotatable connector box provided with a number of bores for receiving the lower ends of respective risers.

J-configured offshore oil production riser

A subsea connection assembly including a connection box having an open top and provided with a plurality of pipe segments coupled thereto, each pipe segment having an outlet end near the open top of the connection box. The pipe segments have their inlet ends coupled to a manifold assembly having connections to subsea wells. Guide wires are attached to the connection box for guiding a frame downwardly from a floating vessel or platform on the surface of the sea, the frame being operable to carry the lower ends of a plurality of fluid conductors downwardly to the connection box so that such lower ends can become connected to the outlet ends of the pipe segments. The connection box is adapted to be pivotally mounted on the sea bed so that it can pivot through an angle, such as 90 degrees, and lay on its side after the fluid conductors have been coupled to the pipe segments, whereby the fluid conductors define a J-shaped riser for transport of hydrocarbons from the subsea wells and, through the manifold assembly, the pipe segments, and the fluid conductors to the vessel. The material of the pipe segments allows them to be twisted or torqued to assure that they remain tubular as the connection box pivots, yet no sliding or rotating seals are required in the connections of the pipe segments to the fluid conductors and to the manifold assembly.

Rotating connection assembly for subsea pipe connection

A nonswiveling rotatable link formed from flexible conduits extending between two parallel planes of which one is rotatable relative to the other is stabilized without the use of a gear wheel mated to teeth on each of the two planes. The link instead includes two flexible conduits which together form two loops or circles, one on each plane. Each conduit also forms an arc traversing the gap between the planes, through which the conduit passes and reverses direction while transferring from one plane to the other as one plane rotates, the two arcs curving in opposite directions and overlapping to form a closed crossover loop. Tension within the crossover loop and thus proper alignment of the conduits is provided by pairs of idlers forced apart laterally inside the loop by a spring or cylinder mounting which maintains expansive pressure as conditions in the conduits cause the loop to expand or contract.

Double-looped rotatable coupler with tension stabilizer

An encasing method and apparatus in which an external casing, has an insulating, tubular liner therewithin, and one or more pipes or electrical cable are located within the liner. The liner and pipe or cable are floated into the casing after the casing has been flooded with water or other flotation liquid, following the laying of the casing on a support surface, such as the ground or a seabed. After installation of the liner and pipe or cable, water continuously flows through the casing and through the liner, whereby dissipation of waste heat can be controlled by controlling the velocity of flow of the water through the casing. The pipe or cable can be floated out of the liner for repair or replacement without removing or modifying the casing or the liner. Moreover, leaks in the pipe or cable can be monitored on a continuous basis, such as by using a gas chromatograph.

Method and apparatus for encasing pipeline or cable

An improved apparatus for coupling a fixed unit, such as a fluid riser or electrical cable rising from a sea bed and fixed in space, with a movable unit, such as a production vessel floating on the prevailing sea. The apparatus includes a pair of vertically spaced, coaxial, relatively shiftable disks, the lower disk being coupled with the riser or cable, and the upper disk being coupled with the vessel. A conduit extends between and can be moved onto and off the members as a function of the rotation of the vessel due to the wave action. The upper and lower members move in a manner to allow the conduit to move onto the circumferential extent of the outer periphery of one member and off the circumferential extent of the outer periphery of the other member as a function of the rotation of the vessel through at least two revolutions in one direction.

Swivel-less coupling apparatus

Apparatus and a method for handling a slurry contained in a tank having a slurry inlet and a slurry outlet. The tank has an open top, and a framework on which a plurality of buckets are mounted is located in the tank for rotation about a central axis through a shaft mounted on the upper margins of the tank. The buckets move along a circular path and into the tank to scoop settled particles on the bottom of the tank and then to lift the particles out of the slurry. In one form of the apparatus, the particles are dropped back into the slurry in the tank to thereby eliminate the growth of settled particles on the bottom of the tank to achieve uniform particle concentrations in the slurry. In another embodiment, the apparatus operates as a thickener in which the particles are unloaded from the buckets exteriorly of one side of the tank and carried away by a launder while the liquid in the tank overflows the tank at the opposite side thereof. In another embodiment, the apparatus operates as a classifier in which bed particles are dropped from the buckets into an adjoining tank and the overflow from the opposite side of the adjoining tank is directed back into the primary tank.

Bucket-lift slurry storage apparatus and method

Apparatus and method for laying a pipeline on the bottom of an ocean wherein a wheel-like, buoyant body is adapted to carry a single, continuous length of pipe in the form of horizontal convolutions from a first site at which the pipe is wrapped on the body to a second site where the convolutions are moved into vertical positions and the pipe is unwrapped from the body and allowed to gravitate toward and to be laid on the bottom of the ocean. The pipe is wrapped on the body when the latter is horizontally disposed and floating on the water near a dock, and the wrapping can be accomplished whether the elastic bending limit of the pipe is exceeded or not. The body with the convolutions of pipe are towed to the second site while the body and the pipe remains horizontally disposed. Then a tank forming part of the body receives sea water to unbalance the body and cause it to be moved into a vertical position. In this position, the body is simultaneously towed forwardly and rotated about a horizontal axis below the upper level of the water to allow the pipe to be vertically unwrapped from the body and to gravitate therefrom. The body normally has a curvature less than the curvature at which the pipe exceeds its elastic bending limit; however the body could have a greater curvature for some specific uses. A second, smaller tank having a power actuated mechanism therein is coupled by gear means to the body near its outer periphery to rotate the latter upon actuation of the mechanism during a pipe laying operation. The mechanism can also be used to rotate the tank when the body is in a horizontal position near a dock to allow the pipe to be continuously wrapped onto the body after being formed from pipe segments connected together in end-to-end relationship.

Growing community of inventors

Walnut Creek, CA, United States of America

Norman R Wallace