Buoyancy module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10611100-B2
Application number	US-201615735762-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2016
Priority date	Jun 12, 2015
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

Buoyancy modules ( 200 ) are made from a foam composition that includes a combination of a thermally fusable powder and glass microspheres heated in a manner that provides a hardened syntactic foam having both low density and a high degree of compressive strength. An outer barrier ( 220 ) may enclose the buoyancy module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making a foam composition comprising:
obtaining a mixture by blending the following components:
35 to 60 volume percent thermally fusable powder; and
40 to 65 volume percent glass microspheres, each amount based on the overall volume of the mixture; and

while applying a load to a mold containing the mixture to shape the mixture,
heating the thermally fusable powder under a vacuum to provide a hardened syntactic foam, the vacuum being sufficient to remove substantially all embedded voids in the hardened syntactic foam such that the hardened syntactic foam has at most 1.5 percent by volume of such embedded voids, excluding voids associated with the glass microspheres.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising disposing a barrier layer over at least a portion of the hardened syntactic foam.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hardened syntactic foam has at most 0.5 percent by volume of such embedded voids excluding voids associated with the glass microspheres.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermally fusable powder comprises a thermoset selected from: one-part crosslinkable epoxy resins, phenolic resins, epoxy modified polyesters, urethane acrylics, urethane polyesters, epoxy functionalized acrylics, glycidyl methacrylate acrylics, polyester triglycidyl isocyanurates, and copolymers and mixtures thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the glass microspheres have a median diameter D 50 of from 10 micrometers to 70 micrometers.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the glass microspheres have a D 80 -D 20 diameter ratio of from 5 micrometers to 50 micrometers.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermally fusable powder has a median particle diameter ranging from 10 micrometer to 100 micrometers.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermally fusable powder and glass microspheres have a median particle diameter ratio ranging from 0.5:1 to 1.25:1.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shaped mixture defines a recess or aperture for accommodating at least a portion of a subsea conduit.

10. A foam composition made using the method of claim 1 .

11. The foam composition of claim 10 , further comprising a barrier layer disposed on at least a portion of the hardened syntactic foam.

12. A buoyancy module for a subsea conduit comprising a flotation unit comprising the foam composition of claim 10 , and a fastening mechanism for coupling the flotation unit to the subsea conduit.

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Co

Inventors

• Wu Yong K
• Papp Siegmund
• Peterson Andrew J

Classifications

• E21B17/012

  with buoyancy elements (E21B17/015 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B29C70/66 Primary

  the filler comprising hollow constituents, e.g. syntactic foam · CPC title

• B29K2063/00

  Use of {EP, i.e.} epoxy resins {or derivatives thereof}, as moulding material · CPC title

• B29K2105/251

  Particles, powder or granules (expandable particles B29K2105/046) · CPC title

• B29L2031/706

  Buoys · CPC title