Subsea Control Transmission With Selective Valve Couplings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing subsea control systems for subsea control are cumbersome, complex, and costly, especially for use in underwater applications, and lack the flexibility to operate multiple valves simultaneously without sequential actuation or.
Innovation Solution
A subsea control mechanism comprising a transmission system for transmitting torque or drive from a common input to multiple outputs, each comprising a transmission system with selective couplings and a torque reverser, each comprising a torque splitter and a torque converter, each of which are arranged to be advanced into engagement with a control element of a subsea structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a hydraulic control system is used to operate subsea valves remotely, then the valves can be actuated, but the system becomes complex, heavy, and requires expensive long umbilical connections from surface to seabed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the actuation function from the valve body by providing a separate, movable actuator that can be positioned at different valves. This separates the control system into a mobile actuation unit and stationary valve interfaces, eliminating the need for complex fixed hydraulic infrastructure and long umbilical connections while maintaining reliable valve actuation capability
Solution Approach 2:
The actuator is designed as a universal device that can service multiple different valves through movement along the subsea structure. This single multi-functional actuator replaces what would traditionally require multiple dedicated actuators or complex hydraulic routing, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining the ability to actuate any valve in the system
2Device complexity
If a shared actuation system moves one actuator sequentially from valve to valve, then individual actuators can be omitted, but only sequential valve actuation is possible which wastes time and introduces critical delays in emergency situations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the actuation capability by providing multiple actuators that can operate simultaneously on different valves. Each actuator can be independently positioned and activated, allowing parallel valve operations. This segmentation of the actuation function across multiple units eliminates the sequential bottleneck while maintaining reduced complexity compared to individual actuators on each valve
Solution Approach 2:
The actuators can be pre-positioned at their respective valves before emergency situations arise. This preliminary positioning eliminates the time required to move actuators during critical events, allowing immediate simultaneous actuation of multiple valves when needed, thus resolving the time delay problem while maintaining the shared actuation concept
Data Source
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AI summary
A subsea control mechanism comprises a transmission system for transmitting drive mechanically from a common drive input to multiple control outputs engaged with respective control elements of a subsea system, such as a manifold. The transmission system comprises multiple branches, each conveying drive to a respective one of the outputs. Each branch includes a coupling that is operable individually to engage the associated output with, or to disengage that output from, drive transmitted from the input. The couplings selectively engage the outputs with, or disengage the outputs from, drive transmitted from the input to control movement of the control elements individually.