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:
Aug. 09, 2011
Filed:
Apr. 28, 2006
Vincent Marcel Ghislain Alliot, Paris, FR;
Vincent Marcel Ghislain Alliot, Paris, FR;
Acergy France S.A., Suresnes, FR;
Abstract
An elongate article () such as a prefabricated pipeline of several kilometers length is towed through water. The article is provided along its length with buoyancy adjusting material () fitted closely to the article. The buoyancy adjusting material is sufficient to give the article overall a positive buoyancy so that it will not sink to the seabed, and is distributed unevenly along the length of the article so as to create regions of negative buoyancy. This causes the article to adopt a wave profile with peaks (+) and troughs (−) along its length. The article is connected at its extremities to lead and trail tugs () for controlling movement of the article through the water. Intermediate peaks are optionally coupled to intermediate tugs () or buoys () via self-adjusting ballast chains (). The wave profile allows the towed structure to extend without undue tension on the article itself. The article can be laid to the seabed progressively removing buoyancy elements () using an ROV ().