Elongated Marine EM Receiver Assembly for Compact Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional marine electromagnetic (EM) receiver assemblies face challenges in deployment and recovery due to their bulky cube-like structure, which limits the number that can be deployed and complicates handling and logistics on survey vessels.
Innovation Solution
The EM receiver assembly features an elongated housing with receiver electrodes mounted along its length, allowing for easier deployment and recovery, with a tubal shape facilitating single-person handling and storage in a compact container, and a detachable ballast material for efficient surface recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional cube-like EM receiver assemblies are used, then the structure provides stable mounting for sensors and electronics, but the bulky shape limits the number that can be deployed and complicates handling and logistics
Solution Approach 1:
The receiver assembly is divided into separate components: a compact housing containing sensors and electronics, and detachable ballast material. This segmentation allows the main housing to be small and easy to handle, while the ballast can be attached or detached as needed, resolving the contradiction between deployable quantity and handling ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The ballast material is made detachable rather than permanently attached, allowing the assembly configuration to change dynamically. During deployment, ballast can be attached to sink the assembly; during recovery, ballast can be detached to allow flotation. This dynamic reconfiguration resolves the contradiction between deployment efficiency and recovery ease.
2Reliability
If arms and ballast material are attached to the main body on the survey vessel, then the assembly is complete for deployment, but this adds additional time and complexity to the deployment process
Solution Approach 1:
The ballast material is pre-attached to the housing in a controlled environment (onshore or in a dedicated assembly area) before being loaded onto the survey vessel. This preliminary assembly action ensures deployment readiness while minimizing the time and complexity required during actual vessel-based deployment operations.
3Ease of manufacture
If the EM receiver assembly has a bulky cube-like structure, then it can accommodate all necessary components, but the bulky nature adds to the difficulty in deploying them from the survey vessel
Solution Approach 1:
The receiver electrodes and other components are integrated within a compact housing structure, with smaller elements nested within the main body. This nesting approach accommodates all necessary components in a minimized volume, eliminating the need for a bulky external structure and thereby reducing deployment difficulty.
4Strength
If conventional receiver assemblies are used, then the cube-like structure provides stable sensor mounting, but space constraints on the survey vessel limit deployment to around 50 assemblies
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the assembly into a compact housing and detachable ballast, the overall volume required for storage is minimized. The compact housing contains all sensors and electronics in a space-efficient configuration, allowing significantly more assemblies (up to 500) to be stored and deployed from the same vessel space.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enables the deployment of a larger number of EM receiver assemblies, up to 500, with improved handling and logistics, reducing deck space requirements and simplifying the recovery process by allowing for single-person deployment and surface retrieval.
Implementation Method 1
The EM source can emit an energy field into the body of water that interacts with the rock formations below the water bottom. Without limitation, a number of EM receiver assemblies positioned on or near the water bottom detect changes in the energy field due to the interaction with the rock formation
Implementation Method 2
A ballast material (e.g., a concrete block) for deployment of the assembly onto the water bottom
Implementation Method 3
a buoyant material for flotation may also be mounted to the main body
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is an electromagnetic receiver assembly for marine electromagnetic surveying, the electromagnetic receiver assembly comprising an elongated housing and receiver electrodes mounted at separate points along the elongated housing. An embodiment may include an electromagnetic receive assembly that includes an elongated housing, wherein the elongated housing defines an interior chamber. The electromagnetic receiver assembly may further include receiver electrodes configured to be in contact with water when in operation, wherein the receiver electrodes are mounted at separate points along the elongated housing. The electromagnetic receiver assembly may further include sensor electronics disposed in the interior chamber and electrically coupled to the receiver electrodes. The electromagnetic receiver assembly may be configured for deployment on or near a bottom of a body of water.