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:
Sep. 19, 2006
Filed:
Jun. 04, 2001
Neal A. Brown, San Marcos, CA (US);
Victor G. Grinius, San Diego, CA (US);
Cam M. Shaar, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Neal A. Brown, San Marcos, CA (US);
Victor G. Grinius, San Diego, CA (US);
Cam M. Shaar, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
High Seas Engineering LLC, Escondido, CA (US);
Abstract
A marine riser that includes active boundary-layer control ('BLC') for reducing hydrodynamic drag and vortex-induced-vibration ('VIV') caused by currents. The marine riser includes at least one riser pipe surrounded by a BLC sheath. Extending through the sheath is at least one nozzle, preferably at least one pair of slot-nozzles, for discharging water into the sea in which the marine riser is deployed. The BLC sheath may be rotate-able to align a pair of slit-nozzles with the current direction, or in a fixed BLC sheath, pairs of slot-nozzles may be selectively activated based on the current direction. The BLC sheath may also include a tail-jet or retractable tail-fin. The BLC sheath may be formed from telescoping sections that decrease in diameter toward the bottom of the riser and that are nested when the telescoping sheath is retracted. Finally, a BLC system may also be implemented in a production riser system.