Monitoring of undesirable fluid ingress into subsea control modules
First Claim
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1. A subsea control module for a subsea well installation, comprising:
- a casing defining a housing of the subsea control module having insulating oil disposed therein and containing one or more hydraulic components within an interior thereof, the housing configured to prevent ingress of seawater therein when the subsea control module is operably deployed;
a pair of electrodes contained within the interior of the housing, the pair of electrodes comprising an array in which each electrode of the pair has finger portions interleaved with finger portions of the other electrode of the pair; and
a subsea electronics module operably coupled to the pair of electrodes and configured to detect changes in an electrical characteristic between the pair of electrodes as a result of a change in characteristic of fluid to which the pair of electrodes are exposed, whereinthe subsea electronics module comprises seawater ingress detection circuitry and hydraulic fluid ingress detection circuitry switchably connected to the pair of electrodes.
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Abstract
A subsea control module has a casing inside which there is at least one pair of electrodes, there being electronic means connected with the electrodes of the or each pair for monitoring at least one electrical characteristic between the electrodes as a result of a fluid to which the electrodes are exposed. This can include, for example, a change due to an ingress of seawater and/or an ingress of hydraulic fluid into the interior of the casing. The or each pair of electrodes include an array in which each electrode of the pair has finger portions interleaved with finger portions of the other electrode.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A subsea control module for a subsea well installation, comprising:
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a casing defining a housing of the subsea control module having insulating oil disposed therein and containing one or more hydraulic components within an interior thereof, the housing configured to prevent ingress of seawater therein when the subsea control module is operably deployed; a pair of electrodes contained within the interior of the housing, the pair of electrodes comprising an array in which each electrode of the pair has finger portions interleaved with finger portions of the other electrode of the pair; and a subsea electronics module operably coupled to the pair of electrodes and configured to detect changes in an electrical characteristic between the pair of electrodes as a result of a change in characteristic of fluid to which the pair of electrodes are exposed, wherein the subsea electronics module comprises seawater ingress detection circuitry and hydraulic fluid ingress detection circuitry switchably connected to the pair of electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A subsea control module for a subsea well installation, comprising:
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a casing configured to prevent ingress of seawater within the casing when the subsea control module is operably deployed; a plurality of pairs of electrodes contained within an interior of the casing, each pair of electrodes comprising an array in which each electrode of the respective pair has finger portions interleaved with finger portions of the other electrode of the respective pair, each array disposed on an interior surface of a side wall of the casing and each covering a different zone of a plurality of zones each extending longitudinally along the sidewall of the casing at a distance from a base of the casing that is different than the distance from the base of each other of the plurality of zones; and seawater ingress detection circuitry and hydraulic fluid detection on circuitry switchably connected to each pair of electrodes of the plurality of pairs of electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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12. A subsea control module for a subsea well installation, comprising:
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a casing having a sidewall and a base, the casing configured to prevent ingress of seawater therein when the subsea control module operably deployed; a plurality of pairs of electrodes contained within an interior of the casing, each pair of electrodes comprising an array in which each electrode of the respective pair has finger portions interleaved with finger portions of the other electrode of the respective pair, each array disposed spaced apart from each other array on an interior surface of the base of the casing to provide early detection of ingress of relatively small quantities of undesirable fluid when the subsea control module is not oriented truly vertically, the undesirable fluid comprising seawater, hydraulic fluid, or both seawater and hydraulic fluid; and seawater ingress detection circuitry and hydraulic fluid ingress detection circuitry switchably connected to each pair of electrodes of the plurality of pairs of electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A subsea control module for a subsea well installation, comprising:
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a casing containing one or more hydraulic components within an interior thereof and configured to prevent ingress of seawater therein when the subsea control module is operably deployed; a pair of electrodes contained within the interior of the casing; electronic circuitry operably coupled to the pair of electrodes and configured to detect changes in an electrical characteristic between the pair of electrodes as a result of a change in characteristic of fluid to which the pair of electrodes are exposed, and responsive to the change in characteristic, to detect ingress of seawater into the interior of the casing when so occurring and to detect ingress of hydraulic fluid into the interior of the casing when so occurring;
whereinthe electronic circuitry comprises seawater ingress detection circuitry and hydraulic fluid ingress detection circuitry switchable connected to the pair of electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A method of monitoring ingress of undesirable fluid into a subsea control module for a subsea well installation, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a subsea control module having a casing configured to prevent ingress of seawater therein when operably deployed, the casing containing one or more hydraulic components within an interior thereof and a pair of electrodes for detecting ingress of undesirable fluid therein; and detecting ingress of an undesirable fluid responsive to exposure of the pair of electrodes to the undesirable fluid, the undesirable fluid comprising one or more of the following undesirable fluids;
seawater entering within the interior of the casing as a result of a leak in the casing and hydraulic fluid entering within the interior of the casing as a result of a leak in the one or more hydraulic components,wherein the step of detecting ingress of an undesirable fluid comprises; connecting seawater ingress detection circuitry to the pair of electrodes, and connecting hydraulic fluid ingress detection y to the pair of electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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Specification