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CA-3167055-C - MOORING BUOY COMPRISING A DATA TRANSFER SYSTEM

CA3167055CCA 3167055 CCA3167055 CCA 3167055CCA-3167055-C

Abstract

Mooring buoy for mooring a hydrocarbon storage vessel comprising: a base part arranged to be anchored to the seabed and which is arranged to be coupled to a first fluid transfer line; a movable turntable which is rotatable with respect to the base part and which is arranged to be coupled to a second fluid transfer line; a fluid swivel between the base part and the turntable for coupling the first and second fluid transfer lines; at least one sensor for sensing at least one parameter, such as environmental parameters, fluid transfer line flow parameters and/or operating parameters; a processing unit coupled to the at least one sensor arranged for processing the at least one parameter, and; a telecommunication unit arranged for transmitting the at least one parameter to a web server.

Inventors

  • KILLIAN HURE
  • SEBASTIEN JEAN-BERNARD DE TESSIERES
  • CEDRIC FONTANIEU

Assignees

  • SINGLE BUOY MOORINGS INC.

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20210205
Priority Date
20200207

Claims (20)

  1. 21 WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. Mooring buoy for mooring a hydrocarbon storage vessel comprising: - a base part arranged to be anchored to the seabed and which is arranged to be coupled to a first fluid 5 transfer line; - a movable turntable which is rotatable with respect to the base part and which is arranged to be coupled to a second fluid transfer line; - a fluid swivel between the base part and the turntable for coupling the first and second fluid transfer lines; 10 - at least one sensor for sensing at least one of environmental parameters, fluid transfer line flow parameters and operating parameters; - a processing unit coupled to the at least one sensor arranged for processing the at least one parameter, and; - a telecommunication unit arranged for transmitting the at least one parameter to a web 15 server.
  2. 2. Mooring buoy according to claim 1, wherein the telecommunication unit comprises at least one of a cellular network transmitter and a non-terrestrial communication transmitter. 20
  3. 3. Mooring buoy according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the processing unit further comprises a storage unit for at least temporary storing the at least one parameter.
  4. 4. Mooring buoy according to claim 3, wherein the processing unit is arranged to process the at least one parameter obtained from the sensor for generating time series data, wherein the 25 telecommunication unit is arranged to transfer the time series data of the least one parameter.
  5. 5. Mooring buoy according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the telecommunication unit comprising a UHF radio transmitter, wherein the telecommunication unit is arranged to transmit live data of the least one parameter.
  6. 6. Mooring buoy according to claim 4, wherein the processing unit is arranged to operate in a storing mode for generating the time series data and in a streaming mode for transmitting the parameter using the telecommunication unit. 35
  7. 7. Mooring buoy according to claim 6, wherein the processing unit is arranged to initiate the streaming mode upon connection of a vessel to the telecommunication unit. 22
  8. 8. Mooring buoy according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the processing unit comprises a microcontroller-based processing unit.
  9. 9. Mooring buoy according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising an electro-optical swivel with a stator part connected to the base part and an electro-optical 5 cable and a rotor part connected to the turntable, for transfer of optical and electrical signals between seabed based equipment and the turntable.
  10. 10. Mooring buoy system comprising at least one buoy according to any one of claims 1 to 9 10 and a remote server, wherein the system comprises an analytical server configured to provide an operating parameter being indicative of the operation of the buoy, wherein the analytical server is arranged to:  obtain sensor data from the at least one sensor;  obtain a trained predictive model arranged for predicting or classifying the operating 15 parameter value; and  provide, on the basis of the trained predictive model and the sensor data, the operating parameter.
  11. 11. Mooring buoy system according to claim 10, wherein the web server comprises the 20 analytical server.
  12. 12. Mooring buoy system according to claim 10 or 11, the analytical server is configured to obtain the trained predictive model by:  providing a predictive model; and 25  training the predictive model using the sensor data for obtaining the trained predictive model.
  13. 13. Mooring buoy system according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the analytical server is arranged to receive sensor data from the buoy and to train the predictive model using the received sensor 30 data.
  14. 14. Mooring buoy system according to any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein the processing unit is arranged receive sensor data from the remote server. 35
  15. 15. Mooring buoy system according to any one of claims 10 to 14, comprising a plurality of buoys, wherein the analytical server is arranged to: 23 - obtain sensor data from a plurality of mooring buoys; - provide a predictive model; and - train the predictive model using the sensor data for obtaining a trained predictive model.
  16. 16. Mooring buoy system according to claim 14, wherein the analytical server 5 is arranged to provide the operating parameter for a buoy on the basis of the trained predictive model and the sensor data from said buoy.
  17. 17. Mooring buoy system according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the analytical server is arranged 10 to receive sensor data from a first mooring buoy and to transfer said sensor data to a second mooring buoy.
  18. 18. Mooring buoy system according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein the web server is arranged to receive a predictive model from a first buoy and to transfer said predictive model 15 to a second buoy.
  19. 19. Mooring buoy system according to any one of claims 15 to 18, comprising a plurality of groups of mooring buoys, wherein a group of mooring buoys is characterized by at least one of location and type, wherein the analytical server is arranged to provide a general predictive 20 model and to train a plurality of group predictive models based on the general predictive model, wherein each group predictive model is trained using sensor data obtained from the buoys in said group.
  20. 20. The mooring buoy of any one of claims 1 to 9 or the mooring buoy system according to any 25 one of claims 10 to 19, wherein the processing unit and the telecommunication unit are combined into a combined processing and telecommunication unit.

Description

1 MOORING BUOY COMPRISING A DATA TRANSFER SYSTEM The present invention relates to a mooring buoy for mooring a vessel, in particular a hydrocarbon storage vessel, wherein the huoy comprises a huoyant hase part arranged to he anchored to the 5 seabed and which is coupled to a first fluid transfer line and a mooring part or turntable which is rotatable with respect to the base part and which is coupled to a second fluid transfer line, wherein the mooring buoy comprises a fluid swivel between the base part and the turntable for coupling the first and second fluid transfer lines, wherein the buoy further comprises a plurality of sensors for sensing at least one of environmental parameters, fluid transfer line flow parameters and operating 10 parameters. The invention furthermore relates to a system comprising such a mooring buoy. These mooring buoys are as such known from the prior art and are typically used to transfer fluids such as hydrocarbon fluids, between a processing site, for instance a hydrocarbon process plant or process platform, and a tanker as a loading buoy or for a reverse flow between a tanker a shore 15 base as an offloading buoy. A base part of the buoy is typically provided with a least one, preferably a plurality of anchor points to which anchor lines are connected which at their other end are connecled lo lhe seabed via anchors and lherefore fix lhe base parl lo lhe seabed. The base part is arranged to be coupled to least one fluid transfer line (hard pipes or flexible hoses) 20 such as a riser which is connected to a seahed hased pipeline for transfer of hydrocarbons to or from the huoy. At the connection of the suhsea pipeline and transfer line there could he a submerged valve station (PLEM) which can regulate the hydrocarbon fluid flow via valves that are activated by hydraulics and/or electricity. The valves of the submerged station are activated via an umbilical cable connecting the submerged station and the buoy and which can comprise electrical, 25 signal and/or hydraulic lines for measuring, activation and control purposes of the submerged station. On top of the stationary buoyant base part a rotatable mooring part, or so called turntable, is connected via preferably a load carrying bearing arrangement. The turntable is provided with one 30 or more mooring points for connecting a mooring line (hawser) to a tanker vessel. The bearing between the base part and the turntable allows a tanker vessel that is moored via the hawser to the turntable, to weathervane together with the turntable around the stationary seabed moored base part due to environmental forces and conditions like currents and/or wind. 35 The turntable of the buoy is further preferably comprises piping, preferably hard piping, that can be coupled to a second fluid transfer line, which is normally a floating hose assembly, which can be CA 03167055 2022-8-4 2 connected at its other end to the tanker vessel for transfer of hydrocarbon fluids to or from the tanker vessel. Coupled to the substantially stationary base part is a movable mooring part or turntable, wherein 5 the mooring part is rotatably coupled to the base part. The buoy is further preferably provided with a fluid swivel and sometimes with an additional electro-optical or signal swivel. The swivel is preferably placed at the vertical centreline of the buoy and the load carrying bearing. The stator part of the swivel is fixed to the base part of the buoy and the rotor part, which is connected via a small bearing to the stator part of the swivel, is connected to the turntable of the buoy. The stator 10 part of the fluid transfer swivel is coupled to the first fluid transfer line and the rotor part of the fluid swivel is coupled to the turntable of the buoy. Hydrocarbon fluids can be transferred from a shore station via the seabed based pipeline, the first transfer line, the fluid swivel and the second transfer line to the tanker vessel for loading the tanker 15 vessel or for unloading purposes a reverse fluid stream can be established from the tanker vessel to a shore station. In case a submerged station (PLEM) is placed between the subsca pipeline and the transfer line, the umbilical activating the submerged station is connected to the electro-optical swivel, which 20 trnnsfers signals, electricity and sometimes hydrnulics between the turntable and seabed based equipment. The electro-optical swivel normally placed on the turntable of the buoy. The umbilical is normally provided with an electrical cable, a signal transfer cable and a hydraulic transfer conduits for data and/or power transfer from the seabed based submerged station to/from the buoy. 25 Such a mooring buoy is typically provided with a so-called remote telemetry unit (RTU) which is arranged to collect and transfer a plurality of parameters such as environmental parameters, fluid transfer line flow parameters and operating parameters. The buoy is thereto provided with a plurality of sensors for measu