Offshore Cable Connection With Mixed Flexibility and Dry Housing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Offshore wind farms with floating foundations face challenges in connecting cables due to dynamic ocean movements, requiring robust and flexible cables that are expensive to maintain and replace, especially in deep water depths where harsh sea conditions pose additional risks.
Innovation Solution
An offshore arrangement with a connecting device that uses a combination of more flexible and less flexible cables, surrounded by a gas-filled housing to protect electrical connections from water ingress, featuring a T-connector and pressure adjustment unit to maintain a dry environment and stabilize the cables, allowing for cost-effective and durable connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If robust flexible cables are used to accommodate ocean movements, then cable reliability is improved, but cable cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different cable flexibility characteristics to different locations in the cable system. The first and second cables connected to floating foundations use more flexible constructions to accommodate movement, while the intermediate cable uses a less flexible, more cost-effective design. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by providing flexibility only where dynamically loaded, not throughout the entire cable system.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable system is segmented into three distinct parts: a first cable, an intermediate cable, and a second cable. Each segment serves a specific function - the first and second cables handle dynamic loading at floating foundations, while the intermediate cable provides stable electrical connection. This segmentation allows optimization of each segment's properties independently, reducing overall system cost while maintaining reliability.
2Quantity of substance
If less flexible cables are used to reduce cost, then cable cost decreases, but cable flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by assigning different flexibility characteristics to different cable segments based on their specific operational requirements. The intermediate cable segment, which connects two floating foundations and experiences relatively stable conditions, uses a less flexible, more cost-effective design. This resolves the contradiction by providing flexibility only where absolutely necessary, rather than throughout the entire cable system.
3Device complexity
If electrical connections are exposed to sea water, then device complexity is reduced, but connection reliability deteriorates due to water ingress
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediate protective element - a housing filled with gas - that surrounds the electrical connection between cables. This housing acts as a mediator between the electrical connection and the harsh sea water environment, providing protection from water ingress while maintaining a relatively simple overall device structure. The gas-filled housing is a straightforward implementation that effectively resolves the contradiction between simplicity and reliability.
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
The solution reduces cable connection costs by using less flexible cables where possible, while maintaining flexibility where needed, and extends the lifespan of cables by protecting them from harsh sea conditions, enabling efficient electrical connections in dynamic ocean environments.
Implementation Method 1
The connecting device may be configured to provide a buoyancy force
Implementation Method 2
a volume of gas surrounding the electrical connection... The connecting device is configured to provide a buoyancy force and/or to counteract a weight of the connecting device
Data Source
AI summary
An offshore arrangement, a connecting device, and a method for providing an electrical offshore connection. An offshore arrangement, in particular offshore wind farm, including a first substation, second substation, a first connecting cable electrically connected to the first substation, a second connecting cable electrically connected to the second substation, and an intermediate cable electrically connecting the first and the second cable, wherein at least one of the first and the second connecting cable is more flexible than the intermediate cable. Thus, by using the less flexible cable, costs for a cable connection between substations may be reduced.