The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 10, 2005
Filed:
Feb. 09, 2001
Helge Andreas Qvam, Oslo, NO;
Patrice Augilera, Hvalstad, NO;
Steinar Hestetun, Asker, NO;
ABB Offshore Systems AS, Billingstad, NO;
Abstract
Method for protecting subsea installations against cooling which leads to hydrate formation, in particular during production halts. This is achieved by thermally isolating portions of the installation () against the surrounding water (), and particularly by completely encompassing the subsea installation () by means of a cap () which seals against the surrounding water (). The cap () comprises several elements of which each separately can be exposed to cooling and internal hydrate formation. The invention also comprises a thermally isolating apparatus, adapted for protecting subsea installations () against cooling, which involves a risk for hydrate formation. An apparatus () for implementing the method comprises a relatively tight-fitting cap () which encompasses at least two of the elements to be protected from cooling. Thus, the water inside the cap () is kept separately from the surrounding water () and evenly distribute the heat energy present under the cap () to all the elements encompassed by the cap.