Electrical Subsea Node

• US 20130242514A1
• Filed: 02/07/2011
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Energy AS (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Volent, Kjetil Zsolt, Eriksen, Mikael Kristian, Karstein, Kristiansen
• Granted Patent: US 9,019,712 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 361/752
• CPC Class Codes: H02G 3/088 Dustproof, splashproof, drip-proof, waterproof, or flameproof casings or inlets
• CPC Class Codes: H02G 9/02 laid directly in or on the ground, river-bed or sea-bottom; Coverings therefor, e.g. tile
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/368 parallel to each other H05K3/361 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 5/067 containing a dielectric fluid
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1427 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1434 for electronics exposed to high gravitational force; Cylindrical housings
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49126 Assembling bases

Abstract

An electrical subsea node for communicating data between at least one sensor at a sea bottom and a topside unit above the sea surface may include: a water tight container; a first electronic module extending in a first area of a first area size in a plane of a maximal spatial extent of the first electronic module; and at least one second electronic module extending in a second area of a second area size in a plane of a maximal spatial extent of the second electronic module, wherein the first and second electronic modules are coupled for data communication and arranged inside the container to form a module arrangement extending in an arrangement area of an arrangement area size in a plane of a maximal spatial extent of the module arrangement, wherein the arrangement area size is smaller than a sum of the first and second area sizes.

Claims

1-15. -15. (canceled)

16. Electrical subsea node for communicating data between at least one sensor at a bottom of a sea and a topside unit above a surface of the sea, the electrical subsea node comprising:

a water tight container;

a first electronic module extending in a first area of a first area size in a plane of a maximal spatial extent of the first electronic module; and

at least one second electronic module extending in a second area of a second area size in a plane of a maximal spatial extent of the second electronic module, wherein the second electronic module is coupled to the first electronic module for data communication,

wherein the first electronic module and the second electronic module are arranged inside the container to form a module arrangement extending in an arrangement area of an arrangement area size in a plane of a maximal spatial extent of the module arrangement,

wherein the arrangement area size is smaller than a sum of the first area size and the second area size,

wherein the first electronic module is implemented on a first printed circuit board having a rectangular shape, and the second electronic module is implemented on a second printed circuit board having a rectangular shape,

wherein the first printed circuit board has a same length as the second printed circuit board but a different width than the second printed circuit board,

wherein the container has a cylindrical shape having an inside cylinder height and an inside cylinder diameter, wherein a length direction of the first printed circuit board runs parallel to a cylinder height direction and wherein a length direction of the second printed circuit board runs parallel to the cylinder height direction.

17. Electrical subsea node of claim 16, wherein module arrangement is formed such that the first area and the second area at least partly overlap when viewed along a first direction perpendicular to the first area or along a second direction perpendicular to the second area.

18. Electrical subsea node of claim 17, wherein the first area is aligned with respect to the second area such that an area size of an overlap between the first area and the second area amounts to between 0.5 and 1.0, in particular between 0.8 and 1.0, of the first area size or the second area size.

19. Electrical subsea node of claim 16, wherein the first area is parallel to the second area.

20. Electrical subsea node of claim 19, wherein the first area is spaced apart by a distance from the second area in a directions perpendicular to the first area.

21. Electrical subsea node of claim 16, wherein the inside cylinder height is between 1.0 and 1.5 of a length in the length direction of the first printed circuit board.

22. Electrical subsea node of claim 21, wherein the inside cylinder height is between 1.0 and 1.5 of a length in the length direction of the second printed circuit board.

23. Electrical subsea node of claim 16, wherein the inside cylinder diameter is between 1.0 and 1.5 of a width of the first printed circuit board in a width direction perpendicular to the length direction of the first printed circuit board.

24. Electrical subsea node of claim 23, wherein the inside cylinder diameter is between 1.0 and 1.5 of a width of the second printed circuit board in a width direction perpendicular to the length direction of the second printed circuit board.

25. Electrical subsea node of claim 16, further comprising an internal data bus coupling the first electronic module and the second electronic module, wherein the internal data bus enables data communication between the first electronic module and the second electronic module.

26. Electrical subsea node of claim 16, wherein the first electronic module comprises a topside communication unit for communicating data between the electrical subsea node and the topside unit.

27. Electrical subsea node of claim 26, wherein the second electronic module comprises a sensor communication unit for communicating data between the electrical subsea node and the at least one sensor.

28. Electrical subsea node of claim 16, further comprising a frame supporting at least one of the first electronic module and the second electronic module.

29. Electrical subsea node of claim 28, wherein the frame fixes at least one of the first electronic module and the second electronic module at an inside of the container.

30. Method for manufacturing an electrical subsea node for communicating data between at least one sensor at a sea bottom and a topside unit above a surface of the sea, the method comprising:

providing a water tight container;

providing a first electronic module extending in a first area of a first area size in a plane of a maximal extent of the first electronic module;

providing at least one second electronic module extending in a second area of a second area size in a plane of a maximal extent of the second electronic module,

electrically connecting the second electronic module to the first electronic module; and

arranging the first electronic module and the second electronic module inside the container such as to form a module arrangement extending in an arrangement area of an arrangement area size in a plane of a maximal extent of the module arrangement,

wherein the arrangement area size is smaller than a sum of the first area size and the second area size,

wherein the first electronic module is implemented on a first printed circuit board having a rectangular shape, and the second electronic module is implemented on a second printed circuit board having a rectangular shape,

wherein the first printed circuit board has a same length as the second printed circuit board but a different width than the second printed circuit board,

wherein the container has a cylindrical shape having an inside cylinder height and an inside cylinder diameter, wherein a length direction of the first printed circuit board runs parallel to a cylinder height direction and wherein a length direction of the second printed circuit board runs parallel to the cylinder height direction.