Subsea Coupling Sealing Surface Particle Flush
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Solution Overview
Problem
Subsea coupling arrangements face challenges in maintaining a watertight seal due to the risk of particles and dirt being trapped between sealing surfaces, particularly when metallic materials are used, which can impair sealing efficiency and damage the surfaces.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the continuous feeding of filtered sea water between coupling parts during their engagement, using a pump in a Remotely Operated Vehicle, to prevent unfiltered sea water from entering and flush out particles, ensuring a reliable and quick connection without additional cleaning of the sealing surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If coupling parts are displaced into contact with each other to establish connection, then connection speed is improved, but particles and dirt may be trapped between sealing surfaces impairing sealing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by introducing filtered sea water into the space between coupling parts before they are fully engaged. This pre-flush prevents particles and dirt from being trapped between sealing surfaces during the connection process, thereby maintaining sealing efficiency while enabling quick connection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses filtered sea water as an intermediary substance to prevent direct contact between particles/dirt and sealing surfaces. The filtered water acts as a protective medium that flows over the sealing surfaces during engagement, carrying away contaminants and ensuring reliable sealing without compromising connection speed.
2Loss of time
If coupling parts are displaced quickly into contact, then connection time is reduced, but sealing surfaces may be damaged by trapped particles
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary flushing with filtered sea water before the coupling parts make full contact. This pre-action protects the sealing surfaces from particle damage during the quick engagement process, maintaining surface integrity while minimizing connection time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the potentially harmful effect of quick engagement (which could trap particles) into a benefit by using the movement itself to drive filtered water through the system. The displacement that could cause damage is instead used to flush contaminants away, protecting sealing surfaces while maintaining fast connection.
3Reliability
If additional cleaning of sealing surfaces is performed before connection, then sealing efficiency is improved, but operation complexity and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service cleaning by automatically flushing the space between coupling parts with filtered sea water during the connection process itself. This eliminates the need for separate pre-cleaning operations, maintaining sealing efficiency while simplifying the overall operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The flushing action continues throughout the engagement process, providing continuous protection to the sealing surfaces. This continuous useful action ensures sealing efficiency is maintained without requiring intermittent stopping for cleaning operations, thereby reducing operational 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 method effectively prevents particle and dirt entrapment between sealing surfaces, ensuring a quick and reliable watertight connection in environments with sandy or silty sea water, without requiring pre-cleaning of the sealing surfaces, thus maintaining sealing efficiency and protecting the metallic surfaces.
Implementation Method 1
feeding filtered sea water into a space between a first coupling part and a second coupling part
Implementation Method 2
The filtered sea water is discharged from said space and into the surroundings through a gap between a contact housing of the first coupling part and a contact housing of the second coupling part while flowing over sealing surfaces of the coupling parts
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A method for connecting a first coupling part (1 a) and a second coupling part (1b) of a subsea coupling arrangement (1) to each other, the first coupling part being provided with at least one sealing surface (12a) which is adapted to abut against a corresponding sealing surface (12b) of the second coupling part to form a watertight seal between the coupling parts. Said sealing surfaces are brought into contact with each other by displacing the coupling parts towards each other. Filtered sea water is fed through a channel (25) in one of said coupling parts and into a space (14) between the coupling parts during said displacement of the coupling parts towards each other, said filtered sea water being discharged from said space and into the surroundings while flowing over said sealing surfaces to thereby prevent particles and dirt from being trapped between the sealing surfaces.