Hot Tap Clamp With Integrated Pipe Socket for Subsea Welding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing subsea hot tapping technologies require diver assistance and use equipment with low mechanical strength and complexity, especially for depths beyond 180 meters, necessitating a simplified and stronger solution for establishing branching points in pipelines under pressure without water ingress and corrosion.
Innovation Solution
A hot tap clamp with a pipe socket integrated into one clamp part, allowing internal welding and featuring a hub for hyperbaric welding, seals, and feedthroughs for fluid evacuation, enabling diverless operation and maintaining mechanical stability through stiff connections and controlled welding atmospheres, suitable for subsea use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If traditional hot tap equipment is used for subsea operations, then diver assistance is required, but this limits operation to depths less than 180 meters and increases operational complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The pipe socket is fixedly integrated with the clamp part, merging the clamping function and the welding socket function into a single integrated component. This eliminates the need for separate positioning and alignment equipment, enabling automated diverless operation while reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The clamp part serves multiple functions: it provides mechanical clamping force to secure the pipeline section, integrates the pipe socket for welding operations, and includes seals and feedthroughs for fluid evacuation. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for multiple separate equipment components, enabling automated operation at greater depths.
2Strength
If seam stitch welding is used for friction stitch welding, then branching coupling can be welded to existing pipeline, but mechanical strength is relatively low and equipment is complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the complex seam stitch welding process with internal welding performed from within the pipe socket. This substitution simplifies the welding equipment needed while achieving superior mechanical strength through the integrated clamp-part socket structure that provides rigid support during welding.
3Reliability
If pipe socket is welded to pipeline surface, then hot tap coupling is established, but water ingress and corrosion occur without proper sealing
Solution Approach 1:
Seals are integrated into the clamp part beforehand, positioned to prevent water ingress at the pipeline surface contact point before welding occurs. This proactive sealing approach prevents corrosion and water contamination during and after the hot tap operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The pipe socket acts as an intermediary element between the clamp part and the pipeline. It provides a sealed transition zone that prevents water ingress while allowing the welding operation to proceed, protecting the pipeline from corrosion.
4Stability of the object's composition
If clamp parts are fastened around pipeline section, then hot tap location is secured, but forces from branch pipeline may cause malfunction
Solution Approach 1:
The pipe socket is fixedly integrated with the clamp part, creating a unified rigid structure. This merger ensures that forces from the branch pipeline are distributed throughout the entire clamp-socket assembly rather than concentrating stress at the weld point, maintaining clamp stability under load.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated clamp part and pipe socket form a composite structure that combines the clamping function with the welding socket function. This composite design provides enhanced mechanical strength and stiffness to resist forces from the branch pipeline without causing malfunction.
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
Enables reliable, diverless hot tapping at greater depths with enhanced mechanical strength and reduced complexity, preventing water ingress and corrosion, while maintaining fluid flow and pigging operations, and ensuring efficient hyperbaric welding for subsea pipelines.
Implementation Method 1
the pipe socket can be sealingly welded to the pipeline by internal welding
Implementation Method 2
The hot tap clamp preferably comprises an induction heating device for preheating of the pipeline surface and/or the pipe socket
Data Source
AI summary
A hot tap clamp. The clamp includes a first clamp part, a second clamp part, a fastener for stable fastening of the clamp parts around a section of a pipeline provided with a hot tap coupling, a pipe socket fixedly integrated with one of the clamp parts at an inner end and extending outward from the clamp part to an outer end, a hub on the outer end of the pipe socket, the pipe socket at the inner end going through the clamp part abutting the surface of the pipeline, such that the pipe socket can be sealingly welded to the pipeline by internal welding.