Apparatus, systems and methods for thermal management of subsea pipeline

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9863571-B2
Application number	US-201514975948-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2015
Priority date	Dec 21, 2015
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed are apparatus, systems and methods for maintaining desired thermal properties of a flowing hydrocarbon fluid in a subsea pipeline. An insulating layer including a plurality of elongated hollow elements containing an insulation material can surround the pipeline. The apparatus can be located on a seabed and connected to a source of hydrocarbon fluid at one end and to a facility for processing hydrocarbon fluid at another end. One method includes spirally winding an elongated hollow element containing an insulation material around the subsea pipeline. One method includes wrapping the subsea pipeline with a connecting layer which includes surface protrusions protruding radially outwards. An insulating layer having surface features reversibly engageable with the surface protrusions of the connecting layer can be reversibly attached to the connecting layer by engaging the surface features of the at least one elongated hollow element with the surface protrusions of the connecting layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for maintaining desired thermal properties of a flowing hydrocarbon fluid in a subsea pipeline, comprising:
a. a pipeline for conveying fluids, the pipeline having a length; and
b. at least one insulating layer surrounding the pipeline such that there is an innermost insulating layer, wherein each insulating layer comprises:
i. a plurality of elongated hollow elements arranged side-by-side in a single layer in parallel with respect to one another wherein each of the plurality of elongated hollow elements has a length extending along at least a portion of the length of the pipeline and two ends wherein each of the two ends is sealed; and
ii. an insulation material within each of the plurality of elongated hollow elements.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one insulating layer has an overall heat transfer coefficient U of less than 2 W/m 2 -K.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a protective layer surrounding the at least one insulating layer for contacting a subsea environment.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one insulating layer comprises at least two insulating layers.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a corrosion protection layer surrounding the pipeline located between the pipeline and the innermost insulating layer.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a connecting layer surrounding the pipeline located between the pipeline and the innermost insulating layer wherein the connecting layer comprises surface protrusions engageable with surface features of the innermost insulating layer for reversibly attaching the innermost insulating layer to the pipeline.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a connecting layer surrounding the pipeline located between the pipeline and the innermost insulating layer wherein the connecting layer comprises compartments to contain insulation material and surface features sized and shaped to engage with surface features of the innermost insulating layer such that the connecting layer and the innermost insulating layer can be reversibly attached to one another.

8. An apparatus for thermally insulating a subsea pipeline, comprising:
an insulating sheet comprising at least one insulation layer, wherein each insulating layer comprises:
a. a plurality of elongated hollow elements wherein each of the plurality of elongated hollow elements has a length and two ends wherein each of the two ends is sealed and wherein the plurality of elongated hollow elements are arranged side-by-side in a single layer in parallel with respect to one another and connected to one another such that the insulating layer is a unitary article; and
b. an insulation material within each of the plurality of elongated hollow elements;

wherein the insulating sheet is flexible about an axis parallel to the plurality of elongated hollow elements thereby allowing the insulating sheet to be wrapped around a pipeline having a length such that the length of the plurality of elongated hollow elements extend along at least a portion of the length of the pipeline.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the at least one insulating layer comprises at least two insulating layers wherein the two insulating layers are attached to one another by mechanical bonding, mechanical attachment, chemical bonding, adhesive bonding, or a combination thereof.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising:
a protective layer adjacent and attached to the insulating sheet for contacting a subsea environment and protecting the insulating sheet.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of elongated hollow elements are connected to one another by web material between adjacent elongated hollow elements.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 8 , wherein the plurality of elongated hollow elements comprise a material selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic material, carbon fiber composite material, glass fiber composite material, and combinations thereof.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 8 , wherein the insulation material is selected from the group consisting of foam, powder, solid, gel, phase-change material, aerogel and combinations thereof.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 8 , wherein at least one of the at least one insulating layer further comprises an elongated heating element extending along at least a portion of the length of the pipeline for providing active heating to the pipeline and wherein the elongated heating element is included in the single layer of the plurality of elongated hollow elements.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 8 , wherein at least one of the at least one insulating layer further comprises a cable selected from a communications cable, an electrical cable and combinations thereof extending along at least a portion of the length of the pipeline.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 8 , wherein at least one of the at least one insulating layer further comprises a cable selected from a communications cable, an electrical cable and combinations thereof extending along at least a portion of the length of the pipeline, wherein the cable passes through one of the plurality of elongated hollow elements for connecting a monitoring system with a monitoring device for monitoring a condition associated with the pipeline.

17. A method for thermally insulating a subsea pipeline, comprising:
wrapping a pipeline having a length with the apparatus of claim 8 such that the length of the plurality of elongated hollow elements extend along the length of the pipeline; and
surrounding the apparatus of claim 8 with a protective wrap layer for contacting a subsea environment.

18. A method for thermally insulating a subsea pipeline having an axis and a length, comprising:
spirally winding an elongated hollow element around the subsea pipeline at a laydown angle of greater than 0° with respect to a line perpendicular to the axis of the subsea pipeline such that the elongated hollow element is laid down side-by-side and parallel with respect to previously laid down elongated hollow element to form a single layer of spirally wound elongated hollow element;
wherein the elongated hollow element contains an insulation material therein.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising covering the single layer of spirally wound elongated hollow element with a protective layer for contacting a subsea environment.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the protective layer is extruded.

21. The method of claim 19 , wherein the protective layer comprises at least two rigid shell elements attachable to one another.

22. The method of claim 19 , wherein the protective layer comprises a planar flexible tape able to be wound to form the protective layer.

23. The method of claim 18 , further comprising wrapping the subsea pipeline with a corrosion protection layer prior to spirally winding the elongated hollow element.

24. A method for thermally insulating a subsea pipeline having an axis and a length, comprising:
wrapping the subsea pipeline with a connecting layer comprising surface protrusions protruding radially outwards;
providing at least one elongated hollow element having surface features reversibly engageable with the surface protrusions and containing insulation material therein; and
engaging the surface features of the at least one elongated hollow element with the surface protrusions of the co

Assignees

• Chevron Usa Inc

Inventors

• Critsinelis Antonio
• Mebarkia Sid
• Myres Marliee R
• Johnson Steven Louis
• Kirchof Brady Lee

Classifications

• F17D3/01

  for controlling, signalling, or supervising the conveyance of a product · CPC title

• B29L2023/225

  Insulated · CPC title

• B29C63/105

  continuously · CPC title

• F16L59/029

  layered · CPC title

• F16L53/008

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic