Lateral Force Control Foil for Marine Seismic Streamer Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current marine seismic survey systems face challenges in maintaining the precise lateral position and depth control of seismic streamers due to interactions with water and currents, affecting the quality of subsurface imaging.
Innovation Solution
A lateral force and depth control device is introduced, featuring a housing with a changeable control surface that can be rotated and angled to provide hydrodynamic lift, allowing for precise control of streamer position and depth through a combination of direct drive torque motors and linear actuators, integrated with a removable coupling system for easy installation and retrieval.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a traditional lateral force device with a winged fuselage is used, then the device can provide displacement in horizontal and vertical directions, but the device lacks active control of direction or depth of the streamer
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the control surface movable and adjustable. The control surface can be rotated about the longitudinal axis and its angle of attack can be changed, allowing the device to dynamically adapt to different control requirements. This transforms a static lateral force device into an actively controllable system that can adjust streamer position in real-time.
2Ease of operation
If a control module with a large diameter body is used, then attitude adjustment is possible, but spooling and unspooling the streamer becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the control function from the streamer body by using a compact control surface that can be independently adjusted. The control surface is mounted on a reduced-size body with a through-bore, separating the attitude adjustment capability from the streamer spooling path. This allows the streamer to pass freely through the device while the control surface provides attitude control.
3Adaptability or versatility
If birds with complex rotary mechanisms are affixed to the streamer, then full control of deformation, immersion and heading is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential control function from complex bird mechanisms. Instead of using full rotary birds with differential wing actions, the invention takes out only the necessary attitude adjustment capability through a simpler control surface mounted on a reduced-size body. This provides streamer control with significantly reduced mechanical complexity.
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 solution enhances the control over the geodetic direction, relative lateral position, and depth of seismic streamers, improving the geometry of seismic data sensor arrays and simplifying the deployment and retrieval processes.
Implementation Method 1
A foil is mounted to the housing such that a rotary orientation and an angle of attack of the foil with respect to the housing are changeable
Data Source
AI summary
A lateral force and depth control device for a marine streamer includes a housing configured to be coupled within the streamer. A control surface is mounted to the housing such that a rotary orientation and an angle of attack of the control surface with respect to the housing are changeable. The device includes means for moving the control surface to a selected rotary orientation with respect to the housing. The device includes means for moving the control surface to a selected angle of attack with respect to the housing. A removable coupling is provided to couple the control surface to the means for moving to a selected rotary orientation and means for moving to a selected angle of attack.