Marine riser management system including subsea acoustic monitoring platform and an associated method

• US 10,168,253 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2014
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hydril USA Distribution LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Liu, Shaopeng, Guzzo, Judith Ann, Carbone, John William, Dell'Anno, Michael Joseph, Zhang, Li
• Primary Examiner(s): Barbee, Manuel L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nimox, Raymond L
• Application Number:
  US14/571,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20150346064A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,477 Days
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 17/01 Risers
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 99/005 Testing of complete machines, e.g. washing-machines or mobile phones testing of machine parts G01M13/00; testing of electric apparatus or components G01R31/50

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring a condition of a marine riser including at least one subsea sensing and acoustic platform mechanically coupled to a riser joint of the marine riser. The at least one platform includes one or more sensors mechanically coupled to the riser joint and including plug-and-play sensor interface technology. The platform further includes a microprocessor configured to receive and analyze sensor data from the one or more sensors and provide pre-processed data representative of a determination of a condition of the riser joint. A memory module is provided including one or more software modules executable by the microprocessor and configured to provide data storage. The platform further includes an acoustic modem configured to receive the pre-processed data, communicate the condition to a topside acoustic transceiver in real-time and provide remote command configuration in response to the condition. An included power module provides power to the platform components.

Claims

1. A marine riser management system comprising:

a marine riser comprising a plurality of riser joints coupled one to another;

an on-vessel monitor to receive communications via a topside acoustic transceiver of a condition of at least one of the plurality of riser joints of the marine riser; and

a plurality of subsea sensing and acoustic platforms, wherein each of the plurality of subsea sending and acoustic platforms is mechanically coupled to a respective riser joint of the marine riser, wherein each of the subsea sensing and acoustic platforms monitors and manages at least one of a condition and sensor data of the respective riser joint to which it is coupled, each of the at least one subsea sensing and acoustic platforms comprising;

one or more sensors mechanically coupled to the respective riser joint;

a microprocessor operably coupled to the one or more sensors to receive and analyze sensor data from the one or more sensors;

a memory module operably coupled to the microprocessor and including one or more software modules executable by the microprocessor and configured to provide data storage, the one or more software modules including instructions that when executed by the microprocessor provide data representative of a determination of a condition of the respective riser joint;

an acoustic modem operably coupled to the microprocessor to receive the data representative of a determination of a condition of the respective riser joint and communicate the condition of the respective riser joint to the on-vessel monitor via the topside acoustic transceiver in real-time; and

a power module configured to provide power to the one or more sensors, the microprocessor, the memory module and the acoustic modem,

the on-vessel monitor operable to determine a physical responsive action based on the communicated condition of the respective riser joint and communicate in real-time to the acoustic modem, via the topside acoustic transceiver, the determined physical responsive action via one or more remote command configurations and operational parameters, wherein the determined physical responsive action includes at least one of (i) adjusting the tension of the marine riser;

(ii) replacing the marine riser;

or (iii) lengthening an inspection interval for one or more of the plurality of riser joints.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors includes at least one of strain gauge, an angular rate sensor, a curvature sensor, and an inclinometer.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more sensors include one or more motion sensors configured to detect motion of riser string over set time interval.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor includes a software platform/operating system (OS) configured to provide interfacing with one or more components of the system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor is configured to calculate basic statistics from raw sensor data received from the one or more sensors.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the power module comprises a battery.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more software modules comprise:

a communication module stored in the memory module and executable by the microprocessor, the communication module configured to receive sensor data from the one or more sensors mechanically coupled to the respective riser joint;

an analysis module stored in the memory module and executable by the microprocessor, the analysis module communicatively coupled with the communication module;

a decision module stored in the memory module and executable by the microprocessor, the decision module communicatively coupled with the analysis module and configured to determine whether the condition satisfies a transmission criterion; and

a notification module stored in the memory module and executable by the microprocessor, the notification module communicatively coupled with the decision module and configured to send a notification including the condition via the acoustic modem to the topside acoustic transceiver in real-time.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the analysis module further receives at least one of displacement data, velocity data and acceleration data from the one or more sensors and calculates at least one of bending and motion of the respective riser joint based on the at least one of displacement data, velocity data and acceleration data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the analysis module further calculates a vibrational characteristic of the respective riser joint based on the displacement data, velocity data and acceleration data.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the analysis module further receives additional data from one or more sensors coupled to additional riser joints of the marine riser and determines the condition based on the additional data.

11. A marine riser management system comprising:

a marine riser comprising a plurality of riser joints coupled one to another;

an on-vessel monitor to receive communications via a topside acoustic transceiver of a condition of at least one of the plurality of riser joints of the marine riser; and

a plurality of subsea sensing and acoustic platforms, wherein each of the plurality of subsea sensing and acoustic platforms is mechanically coupled to a respective riser joint of the plurality of riser joints of the marine riser to monitor and manage at least one of a condition and sensor data of the respective riser joint to which it is coupled, each of the plurality of subsea sensing and acoustic platforms comprising;

one or more sensors mechanically coupled to the respective riser joint;

a microprocessor operably coupled to the one or more sensors to receive and analyze sensor data from the one or more sensors and provide data representative of a determination of a condition of the respective riser joint and whether the condition satisfies transmission criterion, the microprocessor comprising a software platform/operating system (OS) configured to provide interfacing with one or more components of the system;

a memory module operably coupled to the microprocessor and including one or more software modules executable by the microprocessor and including data storage, the one or more software modules including instructions that when executed by the microprocessor provide data representative of a determination of a condition of the respective riser joint;

an acoustic modem operably coupled to the microprocessor to receive the data representative of a determination of a condition of the respective riser joint, and communicate the condition of the respective riser joint to the on-vessel monitor via the topside acoustic transceiver in real-time; and

a power module configured to provide power to the one or more sensors, the microprocessor, the memory module and the acoustic modem;

a topside acoustic transceiver configured to receive the communicated condition of the respective riser joint from the acoustic modem and transmit the one or more remote command configurations and operational parameters to the respective subsea sensing and acoustic platform; and

the on-vessel monitor operable to process the communicated condition of the respective riser joint, determine a physical responsive action and communicate in real-time to the acoustic modem, via the topside acoustic transceiver, the determined physical responsive action via one or more remote command configurations and operational parameters, wherein the determined physical responsive action includes at least one of (i) adjusting the tension of the marine riser;

(ii) replacing the marine riser;

or (iii) lengthening an inspection interval for one or more of the plurality of riser joints.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the power module comprises a battery.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more software modules comprise:

a communication module stored in the memory module and executable by the microprocessor, the communication module configured to receive sensor data from the one or more sensors mechanically coupled to the respective riser joint;

an analysis module stored in the memory module and executable by the microprocessor, the analysis module communicatively coupled with the communication module;

a decision module stored in the memory module and executable by the microprocessor, the decision module communicatively coupled with the analysis module and configured to determine whether the condition of the respective riser joint satisfies a transmission criterion; and

a notification module stored in the memory module and executable by the microprocessor, the notification module communicatively coupled with the decision module and configured to send a notification including the condition via the acoustic modem to the topside acoustic transceiver in real-time.

14. A method comprising:

receiving sensor data from one or more sensors disposed on a plurality of subsea sensing and acoustic platform, each mechanically coupled to a respective riser joint of a plurality of riser joints of a marine riser;

analyzing the sensor data to determine a condition of the respective riser joint of the plurality of riser joints;

determining whether the condition of the respective riser joint satisfies a transmission criterion;

sending a notification including the condition of the respective riser joint via an acoustic modem disposed on each of the plurality of subsea sensing and acoustic platforms to a topside acoustic transceiver in real-time and an on-vessel monitor in response to determining that the condition of the respective riser joint satisfies the transmission criterion;

processing of the communicated condition by the on-vessel monitor to determine a physical responsive action;

sending a determined physical responsive action via one or more remote command configurations via a respective one of the acoustic modems to at least one of a power module, a sensor interface, a memory module and a microprocessor disposed on each of the plurality of subsea sensing and acoustic platforms, and

receiving the one or more remote command configurations and operational parameters via the topside acoustic transceiver in response to the condition,

wherein the determined physical responsive action includes at least one of (i) adjusting the tension of the marine riser;

(ii) replacing the marine riser;

or (iii) lengthening an inspection interval for one or more of the plurality of riser joints.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the sensor data includes at least one of a strain data, displacement data, velocity data, acceleration data, roll angle data and pitch angle data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the condition further comprises calculating at least one of bending and motion of the riser joint based on the displacement data.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the microprocessor includes a software platform/operating system (OS) configured to provide interfacing with one or more components of the system.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the memory module allows for storage of sensor data.