Movable Louvers on Drilling Outrigger Feet
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Drilling devices designed for underwater operations face difficulties in soft seafloor conditions, where they tend to sink too far into the seafloor, making safe operation and retrieval challenging, especially in cases of system failures like loss of power or control.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a drilling device with a set of movable louvers on its outrigger feet, which increase the landed surface area and prevent sinking, and can be opened hydraulically to assist in releasing the device from the seafloor during retrieval.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the drilling device uses outrigger feet with fixed surface area, then the structure is simple, but the device sinks too far into soft seafloor
Solution Approach 1:
The outrigger feet incorporate movable louvers that can change their configuration dynamically. The louvers are initially closed during operation to provide maximum surface area and prevent sinking, then can be opened during retrieval to facilitate release from the seafloor. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by adapting the foot structure to different operational phases.
Solution Approach 2:
The outrigger feet are segmented into multiple louvers that can move independently. Each louver can be opened or closed to adjust the overall surface area of the foot. This segmentation allows the structure to transform from a simple fixed form to a complex adjustable form only when needed, minimizing complexity while improving reliability.
2Area of stationary object
If the outrigger feet have small surface area, then the device is compact, but the device sinks into soft seafloor
Solution Approach 1:
The outrigger feet use movable louvers that can expand the surface area when needed. During operation on soft seafloor, the louvers are closed to maximize the landed surface area and prevent sinking. The feet remain compact during transport when the louvers are open, thus resolving the contradiction between compactness and sinking prevention.
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 safe operation and easy retrieval of the drilling device from soft seafloor conditions by preventing excessive sinking and facilitating release through the use of louvers that open under suction force, ensuring reliable operation and recovery even in failure scenarios.
Implementation Method 1
the feet may experience natural suction to a soft seafloor after landing on the soft seafloor due to cavities created underneath the feet/louvers in the seafloor
Implementation Method 2
the drill is lifted by its umbilical and the outrigger legs start to retract (e.g., under control of hydraulics) such that the suction force opens the louvers to assist with release of the feet from the seafloor
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A foot for a drilling device includes a foot frame and a plurality of louver assemblies attached to the foot frame. Each louver assembly includes a louver that is at a first position when the foot is on a surface and that is movable toward a second position to facilitate release of the foot from the surface.