Undersea hydraulic coupling with interlocking poppet valve actuators

Abstract

Interlocking poppet valve actuators for undersea hydraulic coupling members are disclosed. The actuators extend from the poppet valves of each coupling member, and interlock to resist bending and / or other lateral displacement caused by hydraulic fluid flow and turbulence in the coupling member bores and at the junction between the coupling members.

Description

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention[0002] This invention relates, in general, to hydraulic couplings, and specifically to hydraulic couplings used in undersea drilling and production applications. More particularly, the invention involves poppet valves for subsea hydraulic couplings that open to allow flow of hydraulic fluid when the coupling members are connected together.[0003] 2. Description of Related Art[0004] Subsea hydraulic couplings are old in the art. The couplings generally consist of a male member and a female member with sealed fluid passageways connecting therebetween. The female member generally is a cylindrical body with a relatively large diameter longitudinal bore, or receiving chamber, at one end and a relatively small diameter longitudinal bore at the other. The small bore facilitates connections to hydraulic lines, while the larger bore seals and slidingly engages the male member of the coupling. The male member includes a cylindrical portion at one end having an o...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, increasing the dimensions of a manifold plate to accommodate additional coupling members increases its weight and makes it more difficult for hoists, divers or remote operating vehicles to handle the manifold plates and engage the coupling members together, especially at subsea depths of several thousand feet or more.

Reducing the diameter of coupling members, however, may also result in narrower flow passages and decreased wall thickness.

Otherwise, couplings with narrower flow passages and decreased wall thickness may sacrifice performance and reliability, have lower flow rates, and increased risk of leaking hydraulic fluid into sensitive subsea environments.

Valve actuators are especially vulnerable to the high hydraulic fluid forces.

Hydraulic fluid pressure and turbulence exerts lateral pressure against the valve actuators and may even bend, deflect, or laterally displace the valve actuators.

Bent or deflected valve actuators may not properly contact each other to reliably open the poppet valves when undersea hydraulic coupling members are engaged together.

Damaged valve actuators also can increase the risk of leakage or detrimentally affect the performance of the hydraulic system of which the coupling is a part.

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