JPS5962785A - Pipeline dropping head - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a pipeline lowering head used when laying a pipeline on the seabed, and in particular, the lowering head connected to the pipeline can be quickly controlled by remote automatic control or manual control. You can easily free yourself from the pipeline,
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new pipeline lowering head that is reliable in operation, simple and economical in construction, and easy to connect to a pipeline.

A pipeline lowering head is used to lower a pipeline to be laid to the seabed, and includes:
Constructed of a generally cylindrical, sturdy steel structure, the pipe-laying vessel leaves its lowered pipeline on the ocean floor whenever it ceases work and vacates the work area.

Therefore, after the pipeline is laid on the seabed, this pipeline descending head must be recovered.

For this purpose, the structure constituting the pipeline lowering head is provided at one end with a receiving hole for connecting the ring on which the cable of the winch installed on the pipe-laying vessel is latched, and at the other end. will be connected to a pipeline that will descend to the ocean floor.

Thus, according to the prior art, the pipeline lowering head is generally connected by means of pinning to the nodal line that is to be laid on the seabed.

More specifically, a pipe section is welded to the free end of the pipeline having a pair of opposed holes along the pipe diameter and also having a pair of opposite holes along the head diameter. A descending head is inserted into this pipe section, and a pin is then inserted into the matching holes in the knob sections and the head to connect the two members together.

However, such a conventional method has the drawback that the work of attaching and removing the pin is troublesome, and in particular, when recovering the ζ Eve line descending head, the work is very troublesome without manually removing the pin. be.

The object of the present invention is therefore to obviate these conventional drawbacks, to be simple and economical in construction, and to enable a rapid connection with a pipe section welded to the free end of the pipeline. In addition, the connection can be easily and quickly released automatically or manually. The head can be easily and quickly connected to a pipe section welded to the pipeline to be laid, and the removal or release of the head from this pipe section can be carried out automatically or automatically.

The present invention is for lowering the free end of a pipeline from a pipe-laying ship to the seabed, and is composed of a strong cylindrical steel structure, which has the above-mentioned structure at one end. It is equipped with a ring connecting hole where the cable of the winch installed on the pipe laying vessel is hung, and
A pipeline lowering head, the other end of which is provided with a connecting device for connecting a pipe section butt-welded to the free end of the pipeline, wherein the connecting devices are respectively arranged radially to form a circular body; a number of interlocking rams formed on the inner wall of said other end of said structure; held in place by a central sphere integrally connected to the piston of a hydraulic control cylinder mounted horizontally within said structure; each toothed piece has locking teeth projecting from said other end outside said structure, said locking teeth being engaged with said free end of said pipe section by actuation of said hydraulic control cylinder. The rear chamber of the seventh hydraulic pressure control cylinder is directly connected to the middle hydraulic energy accumulator, and the hydraulic control cylinder is installed inside the structure. It is characterized by the fact that it can be controlled manually and is equipped with a pressure circuit device for controlling sound pulses.

Therefore, according to the invention, the pipeline lowering head can be easily and quickly attached to and detached from the pipe section by simply moving the piston of the hydraulic control cylinder. That is, by moving the piston of the hydraulic cylinder, the central sphere, which is integrally connected to the piston, moves outwardly and pushes the one toothed piece into the rank. The locking teeth of the toothed portion move to close and engage with the inner surface of the annular projection of the pipe portion.

Therefore, when the sphere is moved outward,
The head is connected to the pipe section and, conversely, when the sphere is moved towards the interior of the structure, the locking teeth are opened and released and the head is removed from the pipe section.

When the rear chamber of the hydraulic control cylinder is brought into direct communication with the intermediate hydraulic accumulator V-1, the piston and the central bulb integrally connected to the piston continue to be biased outward; This maintains the locking tooth of the head in its locking position. Therefore, in order to release this connected head, it is only necessary to send a pressure greater than the pressure exerted in the rear chamber of the hydraulic control cylinder to the front chamber of the hydraulic control cylinder. be done.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the coupling device is formed by twelve toothed pieces, each of which is arranged radially and forms a circular body, and which are separated from each other by a spacer. compose

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the hydraulic circuit arrangement also includes an automatic solenoid valve of the three-way, two-position type, which in its normal position is connected to the four-way through the first unidirectional valve. a manual valve of the four-position type is connected to the discharge hydraulic accumulator V-2, which manual valve in its normal position is connected to the front chamber of the hydraulic control cylinder via a second unidirectional valve;
The solenoid valve is actuated by a sensor of a sonar device driven by a control sound pulse to temporarily switch to its second position via the manual valve and the first unidirectional valve. and connects a high hydraulic energy storage L/-tor to the front chamber of the hydraulic control cylinder, which front chamber is also connected to the second
The unidirectional valve is connected to the passage at the other position of the manual valve by bi-nosing the unidirectional valve.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the second manual valve of the 4-way 4-position type or the first manual valve of the 4-way 4-position type is connected in parallel with the first manual valve. Manual valve valves are arranged at diametrically opposed positions on the cylindrical structure.

The advantage of having these two manual valves is that no matter what position the head is lying on the seabed, one of these two manual valves can always be easily approached and operated. You can get double control to guarantee the operation.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In Figures 1 to 5, reference numeral 1 designates a sturdy cylindrical steel structure forming the main body of the pipeline lowering head. This structure 1 is connected to the free end of a pipe section 2 which is butt-welded to a pipeline (not shown). The structure 1 is provided with a hole 3 at one end 1' thereof. This hole 3 is for connecting a ring on which a cable of a winch installed on the illustrated city high line laying ship is attached. The structure 1 is also provided at its other end 1'' with a device 4 for connecting it to the pipe section 2.

Each of the pieces 5 and 5, which are arranged radially to form a circular body, is separated from each other by a spacer 6 (see especially FIG. 3). These teeth 5 then engage racks 7 formed on the inner wall of the other end 1'' of the structure 1 and are kept in place by a central sphere 8. A horizontal hydraulic control cylinder 11 is integrally connected to the rod 9 of the hydraulic control cylinder JU.

All of the above-mentioned carrying pieces 5 have lock teeth 12, which lock teeth 12 are located on the inclined inner side of an annular projection 13 formed by the other end 1 of the structure 1 and the free end of the ribbed portion 2. It is arranged so that it can engage with the direction.

The rear chamber 14 of the hydraulic pressure control cylinder 11 described above, the conduit 1
5, it is directly connected to a medium hydraulic energy accumulator 16. This accumulator 16 is installed inside the structure 1 and also includes a conduit 15' and a momentary connector 17.
It is adapted to communicate with an external source of hydraulic energy via. The connector 17 is provided so as not to protrude from the outer surface of the structure 1 (see especially FIG. 1).

In the configuration described above, the piston 1o is usually located at the right end of its stroke, and the sphere 8 is also located on the right side. Therefore, when the sphere 8 is moved to this right-hand position, i.e. outwardly, each toothed part 5 is rotated in the opposite direction by the action of the rack 7, and its locking teeth 12 are brought into contact with the inner surface of the annular projection 13. moved into engagement.

In other words, the pipeline lowering head is normally connected to the pipe section 2 as shown in FIG.

Furthermore, two accumulators, a high hydraulic energy accumulator 18 and a discharge accumulator 19, are installed inside the structure 1. The hydraulic circuit device 2 is connected via a conduit 20 to an external instantaneous connector 21 provided so as to protrude from the structure, and is housed in a housing 23 installed inside the structure.
2 through a conduit 20' (see FIG. 5).

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, conduit 20' connects accumulator 18 to passage 1 of an automatic solenoid valve 24 of the three-way, two-position type. In its normal position, this solenoid valve 24 has its passage (2) connected to the passage (2), whereby the four-way, four-position type manual valve 25 is also connected by a conduit 27 to an external instantaneous connector 28.

The electromagnetic valve 24 described above is controlled by an electric motor 29.

This electric ta 29 is connected to the spindle 30 of the solenoid valve 24 and is connected to three sensors 31, 31' and 31 of the sonar device, which are arranged at a distance of 120 u from each other and can be activated by control sound pulses. (See Figure 1).

When the control sound pulse is transmitted, the electric motor 29 operates for a predetermined period of time (
During this operation, the spindle 3o of the solenoid valve 24 makes one complete revolution. Therefore, the solenoid valve 24 starts from its normal position 11-1 shown in FIG. In the second device U-1 of the solenoid valve 24, the solenoid valve 24 connects the high-pressure accumulator 18 to the passage (2) of the manual valve 25.

The manual valve 250, which can be operated from the outside of the body structure 1, is in its normal position, as shown in FIG. That is, the passage (2) of the manual valve 25 is connected to the passage (V). This passage V is connected via a second unidirectional valve 33 and a conduit 32 to the front chamber 34 of the hydraulic control cylinder 11 .

The other two passages of the manual valve 25, namely the passage ■, are the conduit 3.
High hydraulic energy accumulator 18 via 5 and 20
The passage (1) is also connected to the front chamber 34 of the hydraulic control cylinder 11 via a conduit 36 bypassing the second single-directional valve 33 and the aforementioned conduit 32.

Finally, FIG. 5 shows a second four-way, four-position manual valve 25.
' is connected in parallel to the first four-way, four-position manual valve 25 described above, as shown by dotted lines.

As particularly shown in FIG. 2, the second manual valve 25' is provided inside the body 1 at a position diametrically opposite to the first manual valve 25 of the body 1. This allows one of these two manual valves 25 and 25' to be easily accessible and manually operated at any time, no matter what attitude the pipeline lowering head is in lying on its side on the seabed. be able to.

Next, the operation of the pipeline descending head configured as described above will be explained.

Hydraulic pressure control 7 cylinder 1 with horizontal pressure of accumulator 16
The L10 rod 9 acting in the rear chamber 14 of the L10 and pushing the rod 9 outwards mechanically connects the pipeline lowering head 1 to the pipe section 2 butt-welded to the pipeline to be laid on the seabed. It is necessary to maintain the locking mechanism in the mechanically engaged position and then open the locking tooth 12. For this purpose, one of the two manual valves 25 and 25' is manually operated and switched from the position ■-v to the position W-W, to which the
The high pressure energy in 8 is sent to the front chamber 34 of the cylinder 11, retracting the piston 1o toward the rear chamber 14, thus opening the lock teeth 12 as shown in FIG.

In this state, the end 1" of the head 1 is
It is possible to move the two pieces together by sliding them to the end of the pipe section 2. After that, move the manual valve 25 or 25' operated from position llll-■ to position IV.
−■t, thereby causing the front chamber 34 of the cylinder 11 to
is directly connected to the discharge accumulator 19, and as a result, the volume of the rear chamber 14 is expanded. Accordingly, the piston 10 again moves to the right, so that the locking tooth] 2 is closed into engagement with the internal force surface 1 of the annular projection 13 formed in the pipe section 2, as shown in FIG. The two pieces of the 1-kichi pipe section are connected.

Also, the previously operated manual valve 25〆 is switched to position IV by switching 25'.
When returned to -V (see FIG. 5), the head 1 is automatically placed in a state where it can be quickly released by the sonar device.

To explain this, after the Nokuibline is lowered to the sea floor by a cable hooked to hole 3 of head 1, sound pulses are used to detect sensors 31, 31' and 3 of sonar equipment.
1", whereby these sensors are connected to the electric motor 29.
The electric circuit of the electric motor 29 is closed and the electric motor 29 is
seconds) during which the spindle 30 of the automatic valve 24 makes one complete revolution.

Therefore, the valve 24 is moved from its normal position U-■ to position M
Pass through U-1 and return to position ll-11 [but at position 11
- in summer conditions, the front chamber 34 of the hydraulic cylinder 11 is connected to the high-pressure accumulator 18; As a result, the anterior chamber 3
When the pressure in accumulator 4 increases, this pressure increases
The pressure in the rear chamber 1.1 exerted by
(as shown in Figure 4).

The valve 24 automatically switches again from the above-mentioned position it II -1 to its initial position, ie the normal position -.
, the front chamber 34 of the cylinder 11 is again connected to the accumulator V-ta J9.
However, the pressure in the front chamber 34 is not likely to drop since the unidirectional valve 33 is provided, so the lock tooth 12 continues to open.

In order to close this lock tooth 12, two manual valves 2 are required.
5 and 25' must be switched from its position I'l1-V to position ■-■ to bypass the unidirectional valve 33.

Finally, if the automatic device including the automatic valve 24 and electric motor 29 does not operate, the lock teeth 12 can be manually opened and released by operating one of the two manual valves 25 and 25'. can do. Zunawaji, manual valve 2
5 or 25' from its normal position y-v to position ■-■
Alternatively, the automatic solenoid valve 24 may be bypassed by switching to vr7v, thereby directly supplying high pressure energy to the front chamber 34 of the hydraulic cylinder 11.

Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is by no means limited to this specific embodiment, and various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Of course, modifications are possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a pipeline descent-\rad constructed according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a connection of the pipeline descent head of FIG. 1 to a pipe section welded to the pipeline to be laid. Figure 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in Figure 2, and Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the main part showing the state in which the pipeline descending head in Figure 2 is released from the pipe section. Direction 1 analysis diagram, FIG. 5, is a diagram illustrating an example of a manual and automatic hydraulic control circuit for a pipeline drop head in accordance with the present invention. 1... Steel structure (pipeline descending head), 1'. 1. End, 2. Pipe section, 3. Cable lifting ring connection hole, 4. Connecting device, 5. Gear gap piece, 6. Spacer, 7. Rack, 8.・Sphere, 9...
Rod, 10...Bissline, 11...Hydraulic antibacterial cylinder, J2...Lock tooth, 13...Annular protrusion, 14...
Rear chamber, 15, 15'... Conduit, 16... Medium liquid pressure energy accumulator, 17... Connector, 18... High liquid pressure energy accumulator V-ta, 19... Discharge accumulator, 20.20'.・Conduit, 21... Connector, 22
...Conduit, 23...Using, 24...Automatic solenoid valve, 25.25'...Manual valve, 26...Unidirectional valve, 27
・・Conduit, 28・・Connector, 29・・Electric motor, 3o・
-Spindle, 3], 31', 31"...Sensor of sonar device, 32...Conduit, 33...Unidirectional valve, 34...
Anterior chamber, 35.36... Conduit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. The free end of the pipeline is lowered from a pipe-laying ship to the seabed, and is composed of a strong cylindrical steel structure, with a structure attached to one end of the pipe-laying ship to the seabed. It is provided with a hole for connecting the ring on which the cable of the installed winch is hung, and at the other end is provided with a connecting device for connecting with the knob welded to the free end of the pipeline. In the pipeline lowering head, the coupling devices are arranged radially to form a circular body, engage with a ram formed on the inner wall of the other end of the structure, and installed horizontally inside the structure. It consists of a number of toothed pieces held in place by a central sphere integrally connected to the piston of the hydraulic control cylinder, each toothed piece having a locking tooth projecting from said other end of said structure. These locking teeth can be freely engaged with the inner surface of an annular projection formed at the free end of the pipe section by the operation of the hydraulic pressure control cylinder, and the rear chamber of the hydraulic pressure control cylinder 7 is under medium wave pressure. Directly connected to the energy storage system, the hydraulic control cylinder inside the structure can be manually controlled and automatically and quickly released from the pipe section of the structure by remote control using sound pulses. A pipeline lowering head characterized in that it is equipped with a hydraulic circuit device that can 28. Claims characterized in that the coupling device consists of 12 toothed pieces, each radially arranged to form a circular body and separated reciprocally by spacers. Pipeline lowering head according to paragraph 1. 3. The hydraulic circuit device includes an automatic solenoid valve of the 3-way 2-position type, which in its normal position discharges the 4-way 4-position manual valve via the first unidirectional valve to the hydraulic accumulator. , the manual valve is connected in its normal position to the front chamber of the hydraulic control cylinder via a second unidirectional valve, and the solenoid valve is actuated by a control sound pulse;
By temporarily switching to its second position actuated by a sensor of a driven sonar device, a high hydraulic energy accumulation V is introduced through said manual valve and said first unidirectional valve.
- the front chamber is connected to the front chamber of the hydraulic control/ring, which front chamber is also connected to a passage at another position of the manual valve by bypassing the second unidirectional valve; A pipeline descending head according to claim 1, characterized in that: 4. A 4-way 4-position type second manual valve is connected in parallel to the 4-way 4-position type first manual valve, and
this? 4. The pipeline lowering head according to claim 3, wherein the AI manual valves are arranged at diametrically opposed positions in the cylindrical structure.