Segmented Canopy System for Deepwater Oil Leakage Containment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in effectively containing and recovering lighter-than-water substances like crude oil from deep-sea leaks due to high pressures and distances, which hinder efficient containment and recovery, especially in deep water scenarios, leading to environmental and economic concerns.
Innovation Solution
The use of canopies with weighted structures and fluid exchange openings that take advantage of the density difference between oil and water, allowing oil to rise and be collected through a series of canopies connected by cables, enabling rapid and economical containment and recovery of oil from leaks at any depth.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If massive closed structures or materials are lowered from the surface to block oil escape, then containment capability is improved, but deployment difficulty increases due to deep water pressure and distance
Solution Approach 1:
The containment system is divided into multiple floating barriers positioned at different depths along the oil rise path. Each barrier segment is independently deployable and manageable, allowing deployment without requiring single massive structures to be lowered from the surface, thereby reducing deployment difficulty while maintaining containment effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of lowering containment structures from the surface downward, the invention uses floating barriers that rise with the oil or are positioned to intercept rising oil naturally. This inverted approach exploits the natural buoyancy and rise of oil to facilitate containment rather than fighting against it, significantly easing deployment operations.
2Area of stationary object
If conventional containment structures are used at great depths, then containment coverage is improved, but operational complexity increases due to pressure and temperature conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The floating barriers are designed to automatically respond to oil presence through buoyancy forces and natural convection currents. The system self-adjusts and self-regulates without requiring complex external control mechanisms, reducing operational complexity while maintaining broad containment coverage across varying pressure and temperature conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes changes in physical parameters such as buoyancy, density differences between oil and water, and thermal convection to achieve containment. By leveraging these natural parameter changes rather than imposing complex mechanical controls, the system achieves broad coverage with reduced operational complexity.
3Productivity
If rapid deployment is achieved with simpler structures, then deployment speed is improved, but containment effectiveness may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The containment system uses multiple simpler floating barrier segments that can be rapidly deployed individually or in sequence. Each segment is simple in design for quick deployment, but collectively they provide comprehensive containment effectiveness by covering the entire oil rise path from wellhead to surface.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple simple floating barriers work together in combination to achieve the containment effectiveness that would otherwise require a single complex structure. The merged system of simpler components provides both rapid deployability and high containment 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
This approach minimizes oil escape into the sea, facilitates efficient recovery, and is adaptable to various leak depths and sizes, reducing costs and environmental damage, while allowing for rapid deployment and easy operation.
Implementation Method 1
one or more canopies with weights and fluid exchange openings thereamong to take advantage of the density difference between oil and water
Implementation Method 2
A canopy can, by way of further example, be like or similar to the material and configuration of a hot air balloon, without its ancillary basket, heater, and gas fill
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus and method for containing and recovering undersea oil or gas well leakage by reason of the leaked fluid being lighter than sea water may include a canopy, or a series of interconnected canopies, which, when placed over a leak site, allow leaked fluid to be captured and displace sea water with the canopy or series of canopies having an arrangement, such as one or more conduits, for flow of leaked fluid upward from a respective canopy to the surface. With a system with multiple canopies in a series with exit arrangements for leaked fluid from a lower canopy to a next upper canopy, the series can readily extend from the surface to a great depth and allow transfer of volumes of the leaked fluid that are not limited by the capacity of canopies or conduits at deep locations.