| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 405223100 | Tension leg platform | 11 |
| 20100232886 | SELF-TENSIONING TENDON FOR TENSION LEG PLATFORM APPLICATION - A self-tensioning tendon for pulling a tension leg platform (TLP) down to a desired draft position. The self-tensioning tendon can be utilized with either a co-installation process or a pre-installation process and connects to an assembled tendon joint. The self-tensioning tendon comprises a hydraulically controlled Length Adjustment Joint (LAJ) that further comprises an integral cylinder with external threads and a piston rod. The self-tensioning apparatus has features that advantageously reduce the time required to ballast the hull of the TLP. A hydraulic source actuates the integral cylinder to pull the TLP down to the target draft position, significantly reducing the time needed to ballast the hull of the TLP with millions of gallons of water. A Top Tendon Connector (TTC) ratchets down along the cylinder to lock the TLP at the final draft position. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20120099930 | SYSTEM FOR SUPPLEMENTAL TENSIONING FOR ENHANCED PLATFORM DESIGN AND RELATED METHODS - Riser management systems, apparatus, and methods to maintain a selected range of tension on a plurality of risers extending between subsea well equipment and a floating vessel, are provided. A riser management system can include a mono-buoyancy can platform operably coupled to a plurality of risers extending between subsea well equipment and a moored floating vessel, and a plurality of tensioner units each connected to a top portion of a separate one of the risers to provide tension to each of the risers. The mono-buoyancy can platform can provide tension to each of the risers sufficient to compensate for a relative vertical offset between the risers and the vessel due to vessel movement, which generally affects each of the risers equally, within tolerances, while the tensioner units can simultaneously provide tension to compensate for one or more additional factors which can affect each riser differently. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20100254767 | Ram Style Tensioner - A riser tensioner configured to apply a tension to a riser. The riser tensioner includes a frame configured to be fixedly attached to the riser; plural cylinder assemblies spaced around the riser, each cylinder assembly having a cylinder and a piston configured to slidably move inside the cylinder, the piston being configured to connect to the frame; a guide roller support stationarily mounted to and extending from the frame; at least one bearing fixedly attached to the guide roller support; and a guide member configured to be in rolling engagement with the at least one bearing as the cylinder moves relative to the frame. | 10-07-2010 |
| 20090279958 | PONTOONLESS TENSION LEG PLATFORM - A pontoonless tension leg platform (TLP) has a plurality of buoyant columns connected by an above-water deck support structure. The design eliminates the need for subsea pontoons extending between the surface-piercing columns. In certain embodiments, the buoyancy of the columns is increased by the addition of subsea sections of increased diameter (and/or cross-sectional area) to provide the buoyancy furnished by the pontoons of the TLPs of the prior art. A pontoonless TLP has a smaller subsea projected area in both the horizontal and vertical planes than a conventional multi-column TLP of equivalent load-bearing capacity having pontoons between the columns. This reduction in surface area produces a corresponding reduction in the platform's response to ocean currents and wave action and consequently allows the use of smaller and/or less costly mooring systems. Moreover, the smaller vertical projected area results in a shorter natural period which enables a pontoonless TLP according to the invention to be used in water depths where conventional TLPs cannot be used due to their longer natural periods. The absence of pontoons in a multi-column TLP also has the added benefit of providing an unobstructed path for risers to connect with the deck of the platform. | 11-12-2009 |
| 20110206466 | Tension Leg Platform With Improved Hydrodynamic Performance - A tension leg platform that is stable with a quayside-integrated deck without the use of temporary stability modules or specialized installation techniques. The hull preferably consists of four radially-oriented vertical corner columns connected with four central ring pontoon segments. The vertical columns are fixed to the outer periphery of the central pontoon. The columns are characterized by a major radial axis and a minor transverse axis. The mooring system includes tendons supported at tendon porches directly at the four column outboard lower corners, without additional radially-extending tendon support structures. | 08-25-2011 |
| 20080240864 | Assembly, transportation and installation of deepwater windpower plant - A deepwater windpower plant (DWP) has a tension leg-type floating platform with an evacuable base for adjusting its buoyancy for installation at ocean depths ranging from 40 meters up to 1.5 kilometers and more. The DWP has a typical offshore wind turbine assembled close to shore which is then towed to a desired installation site on the ocean, and held in place by a gravity anchoring base (GAB), to which an evacuable portion or space of the DWP platform is anchored. The GAB has upwardly extending mooring tethers and a power cable which are brought to the ocean surface by attached buoys. The GAB is sunk to the ocean floor at the installation site under controlled conditions so that the GAB lands flat on the ocean floor. As the GAB sinks to the ocean floor, the mooring tethers and power cable are pulled to the surface by their respective buoys. The GAB is loaded with heavy ballast material that can be dropped from barges on the ocean surface into the upwardly open GAB below the barges. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20100129160 | Tendon-Supported Membrane Pipe - A pipe comprising a flexible membrane that is disposed over a plurality of spaced-apart tendons is disclosed. | 05-27-2010 |
| 20090080981 | WAVE ATTENUATION SYSTEM - A wave attenuation system having a floating member, at least one anchor member, and a plurality of interconnected wave attenuation members. The floating member has a generally flat top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface is configured to be disposed above a waterline and the bottom surface is configured to be disposed below the waterline. The anchor member is disposed below the water line and is interconnected with the floating member through at least one elastic member. The wave attenuation members are connected to the floating member and disposed below the bottom surface of the floating member. | 03-26-2009 |
| 20100290838 | Fractal column offset tension leg platform (COTLP) - A Fractal Column Offset Tension Leg Platform (COTLP) consists of a semi-submersible hull type, tension moored to the seabed. The Fractal COTLP advances the state of technology by utilizing fractal arrangements of repeated, similar structural units, consisting of continuous pontoons and intermittent columns, to provide better construction, operation, stability, payload and service life advantages over existing Tension Leg Platform (TLP) types. Varying, fractal-like geometric arrangements also provide for sizing and configuration advantages and the capability to work in greater water depths than existing TLP technology. Furthermore, fractal arrangements and inter-column spacing can also be optimized to minimize platform hydrodynamic response to waves, thereby reducing mooring and hydrodynamic loads and consequently achieving an optimal and safer platform structure with a longer fatigue life. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20110164927 | SYSTEM FOR INCREASED FLOATATION AND STABILITY ON TENSION LEG PLATFORM BY EXTENDED BUOYANT PONTOONS - The disclosure provides a tension leg platform (“TLP”) with a plurality of buoyant pontoons suitable for highly disturbed seas that can expand the stability of the tension leg platform by extending at least one buoyant pontoon beyond an intersection of two pontoons. In at least one embodiment, the location of the column can be decoupled from the customary end of the pontoon. The tendons can be located at the ends of the pontoons extending beyond the intersection. In some embodiments, such as four-column TLPs, the pontoons can be extended orthogonally relative to an adjacent pontoon. The extending pontoon increases a buoyancy of the pontoon, increases a pitch stability of the TLP, and increases quayside stability. The extended pontoon can be structurally intersected with the adjacent pontoon to strengthen the extended pontoon and reduce the failure mode of such structure. | 07-07-2011 |
| 20090185869 | BATTERED COLUMN TENSION LEG PLATFORM - A tension leg platform includes a deck supported on the upper ends of three or more columns interconnected at the lower ends thereof by horizontally disposed connecting members. The columns are battered inwardly and upwardly from the platform base to the deck. Tendons connected at the columns anchor the platform to the seabed. The footprints of the base of the battered columns and the tendons are larger than the footprint of the deck supported on the upper ends of the columns. | 07-23-2009 |
