Key information

Title
Device for Tethering Equipment to the Floor of a Body of Water and Systems comprising the Device
Application number
20240060
Case type
National
Status
07.04.2026 Patent meddelt (B1)
Filed
23.01.2024
Effective date
23.01.2024
Publicly available
24.07.2025
Next annual fee due
31.01.2027
Applicant
OneSubsea AS (NO)
Owner
OneSubsea AS (NO)
Inventor
Christopher Knudtzon (NO) et al.
Agent
ZACCO NORWAY AS (NO)
Granted
07.04.2026
Patent number
349700
Expiry date
23.01.2044

Abstract and drawing

Disclaimer: This text has been machine-scanned and may contain errors – please refer to "Publications" for legally binding content.
A device suitable for securing to the floor of a body of water, the anchor device comprising a buoyant support structure which is configured to house or support subsea equipment, a stiff elongate tethering element which has a first end on which the support structure is mounted and a second end which is provided with a connector for securing the anchor device to the floor of the body of water.

Publications

B1A1
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Documents

 Expand Download files (27)
Date
 Date Doc. No. Process Case number In/Out Journal description To/from
 07.04.2026 12-01 Saksbehandling 20240060(349700) UT PT Registreringsbrev nasjonal patent (15) (PT20240060)
02.02.2026 11-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 UT Intention to grant ZACCO NORWAY AS
 02.12.2025 10-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 UT PT Varsel om betaling av første årsavgift (3317) (PT20240060) ZACCO NORWAY AS
 08.09.2025 09-03 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Response to Office Action ZACCO NORWAY AS
 08.09.2025 09-02 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Norwegian claims ZACCO NORWAY AS
 08.09.2025 09-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Korrespondanse (Hovedbrev inn) ZACCO NORWAY AS
 19.06.2025 08-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 UT Substantive examination ZACCO NORWAY AS
 27.01.2025 07-06 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Response to Examination Report ZACCO NORWAY AS
 27.01.2025 07-05 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Amended specification (marked) ZACCO NORWAY AS
 27.01.2025 07-04 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Amended specification (clean) ZACCO NORWAY AS
 27.01.2025 07-03 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Amended claims (marked) ZACCO NORWAY AS
 27.01.2025 07-02 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Amended claims (clean) ZACCO NORWAY AS
 27.01.2025 07-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Korrespondanse (Hovedbrev inn) ZACCO NORWAY AS
 23.01.2025 06-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Korrespondanse (Hovedbrev inn) ZACCO NORWAY AS
 30.08.2024 02-01 Endring av søker/innehaver 2024/09023 UT GH Forespørsel OneSubsea AS
 31.07.2024 05-02 Saksbehandling 20240060 UT PT report 11:41:01
31.07.2024 05-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 UT Substantive Examination ZACCO NORWAY AS
 10.06.2024 01-02 Endring av søker/innehaver 2024/09023 INN Firmaattest OneSubsea AS
 10.06.2024 01-01 Endring av søker/innehaver 2024/09023 INN Generell henvendelse OneSubsea AS
 08.03.2024 04-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 UT Infobrev til oppfinner ZACCO NORWAY AS
 07.03.2024 03-02 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Response to Formal Office Action ZACCO NORWAY AS
 07.03.2024 03-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Korrespondanse (Hovedbrev inn) ZACCO NORWAY AS
 24.01.2024 02-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 UT Formal Examination 1 ZACCO NORWAY AS
 23.01.2024 01-04 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN P468306NO00 figures ZACCO NORWAY AS
 23.01.2024 01-03 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN P468306NO00 Application ZACCO NORWAY AS
 23.01.2024 01-02 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN NO General Power of Attorney ZACCO NORWAY AS
 23.01.2024 01-01 Saksbehandling 20240060 INN Søknadsskjema Patent ZACCO NORWAY AS

Description, claims and drawings

Disclaimer: This text has been machine-scanned and may contain errors – please refer to "Publications" for legally binding content. Description
3497001Device for Tethering Equipment to the Floor of a Body of Water and Systems comprising the DeviceThe present invention relates to a device for tethering equipment to the floor of a body of water, particularly, but not exclusively, for supporting subsea equipment at a particular off-shore location as part of an offshore energy production system.BACKGROUNDOff-shore energy production systems such as off-shore oil & gas production systems may include devices or equipment which are spaced from the main subsea installations, but which, nevertheless, are needed to be retained in a specific subsea location relative to the main subsea installations. Such devices could include wireless communications devices. Such devices are, however, vulnerable to damage from other marine vessels, or the gear suspended from such vessels. They are particularly vulnerable to damage from fishing gear being dragged through the water by a trawler or other fishing vessel.As such, it is known to mount such devices inside or underneath a protective structure which is installed on the seabed and designed to withstand the forces from fishing gear without deflecting or sustaining any significant damage.Publications which may be useful to understand the background include GB2355034, WO98/04805, GB2426266, and WO 2021/173000. The latter discloses a structure for permitting over trawling of subsea equipment in which a protective body is mounted on a support arrangement installed on the sea bed, the structure being configured such that limited movement of the protective body relative to the support arrangement is permitted to occur when the protective body is subjected to lateral forces from fishing gear.SUMMARYAccording to a first aspect of the disclosed technology we provide a device suitable for tethering equipment to the floor of a body of water, the anchor device comprising a support structure which is configured to house or support subsea equipment, a stiff elongate tethering element which has a first end on which the support structure is mounted and a second end which is provided with a connector for securing the anchor device to the floor of the body of water, wherein a first end of the device, 3497002comprising the support structure and the first end of the tethering element, is more buoyant than the second end of the device.In one embodiment, the support structure is buoyant.In one embodiment, the tethering element comprises a rod. The rod may be generally cylindrical.In one embodiment, the connector is flexible such that when the device is secured to the floor of the body of water via the connector angular movement of the tethering element relative to the floor of the body of water is permitted.In one embodiment, the connector comprises two chain links.In one embodiment, the support structure has a smooth outer surface.In one embodiment, the support structure comprises a hollow or at least partially hollow shell. In this case, the support structure may be configured to support equipment inside the shell.In one embodiment, the support structure is generally spherical.According to a second aspect of the disclosed technology we provide a subsea anchor system including a device according to the first aspect and a weight resting on the floor of the body of water, the second end of the tethering element being secured to the weight by means of the connector.According to a third aspect of the disclosed technology we provide a subsea hydrocarbon production system comprising a device according to the first aspect, and a piece of subsea equipment mounted on or in the support structure.The second end of the tethering element may be secured to sea bed via a weight. Alternatively, the system may comprise a subsea installation which is located on the sea bed, and the second end of the tethering element secured to the sea bed via the subsea installation. 3497003BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and other characteristics will become clear from the following description of illustrative embodiments, given as non-restrictive examples, with reference to the attached drawings, in whichFIGURE 1 is a schematic illustration of a subsea anchor system according to the invention,FIGURE 2 is a schematic illustration of the subsea anchor system shown in Figure 1, the support structure having been displaced by a generally vertical force, FIGURE 3 is a detailed illustration of the connector of the subsea anchor system shown in Figure 1,FIGURE 4 is a schematic illustration of a subsea hydrocarbon production system comprising the anchor device illustrated in Figure 1, andFIGURE 5 is a schematic illustration of an alternative embodiment of subsea hydrocarbon production system comprising the anchor device illustrated in Figure 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTIONThe following description may use terms such as “horizontal”, “vertical”, “lateral”, “back and forth”, “up and down”, ”upper”, “lower”, “inner”, “outer”, “forward”, “rear”, etc. These terms generally refer to the views and orientations as shown in the drawings and that are associated with a normal use of the invention. The terms are used for the reader’s convenience only and shall not be limiting.Figure 1 shows an anchor device 10 suitable for securing to the floor 12 of a body of water, the anchor device 10 comprising a support structure 14 which is configured to house or support subsea equipment 16, a stiff elongate tethering element 18 which has a first end 18a on which the support structure 14 is mounted and a second end18b which is provided with a connector 20 for securing the anchor device 10 to the floor 12 of the body of water. In this embodiment, the body of water is the ocean, and the floor 12, the sea bed.A first end of the device 10, comprising the support structure 14 and the first end of the tethering element 18, is more buoyant than the second end of the device 10, so that when the second end 18b of the tethering element 18 is secured to the floor of 3497004the body of water, the support structure 14 is elevated above the second end of the tethering element 18b. This may be achieved by fabricating the tethering element such that its first end has a lower specific gravity than its second end 18b. For example, the first end 18a of the tethering element could have a specific gravity of less than 1, whilst the second end 18b of the tethering element has a specific gravity of more than 1. It could equally be achieved by securing a buoyant floatation device to the support structure 14 or the first end 18a of the tethering element 18. In this example, however, the buoyancy of the first end of the device 10 is achieved by using a buoyant support structure 14, whilst the tethering element 18 has a generally uniform specific gravity of greater than 1. In this embodiment, the tethering element 18 comprises a generally cylindrical rod. The tethering element 18 may be made from fibre-glass, or a polymeric material.The connector 20 is flexible such that when the anchor device 10 is secured to the sea bed 12 via the connector 12, angular movement of the tethering element 18 relative to the sea bed 12 is permitted, as illustrated in Figure 2.In this example, the connector 20 comprises two chain links 20a, 20b. The connector 20 could equally, however, comprise a cable or rope.Advantageously, the support structure 14 has a smooth outer surface, with no vertices, edges or other sharp discontinuities in the surface topography. In this embodiment, the support structure is generally spherical, but it could equally form an ellipsoid or torus.Also, in this embodiment, the support structure 14 is buoyant, and comprises a hollow shell, and is configured to support equipment 16 inside the shell. The equipment 16 could, equally be mounted on the exterior of the support structure 14. The support structure 14 could equally be only partially hollow, and partially filled with a buoyant material such as a polymeric or ceramic foam. The support structure 14 could equally be entirely filled with such a buoyant material, and the equipment 16 mounted on the exterior of the support structure 14.The anchor device 10 is, in this embodiment secured to the sea bed 12 by means of a clump weight 22 which is resting on the sea bed 12, the second end 18b of the tethering element 18 being secured to the weight 22 by means of the connector 20. To facilitate this, the weight 22 is provided with a connection loop 22a. The first 3497005chain link 20a of the connector 20 is secured to the second end of the tethering element 18, whilst the second chain link 20b passes through the first chain link 20a and the connection loop 22a.The anchor device 10 may be used in a subsea hydrocarbon production system 24, and the piece of equipment 16 mounted on or in the support structure 14 be subsea equipment which is required for operation of the subsea production system, but which needs to be separated from the main subsea installations 26 of the production system such as the Christmas tree, well template, production manifold etc., and, perhaps held at a higher point above the sea bed 12. Such a production system is illustrated schematically in Figure 4. The subsea equipment may, for example, comprise a wireless communications device, a sensor such as a trip sensor, a subsea marking, or an elevated attachment point.The anchor device 10 could equally be secured to the sea bed 12 by securing the connector 20 to an anchor which is embedded in the sea bed, such as a pile or suction anchor. Where the device 10 is used in a subsea hydrocarbon production system, the connector could equally be secured to one of the subsea installations in the production system, such a Christmas tree, manifold, template, pipeline end termination, pipeline end manifold, or subsea distribution manifold.An alternative embodiment of subsea hydrocarbon production system is illustrated schematically in Figure 5. In this case, rather than being secured to the sea bed using a clump weight, the connector 20 is connected to a subsea production manifold 28.By virtue of the use of a flexible connector, when fishing gear is dragged over the anchor device and exerts a generally horizontal force on the support structure 14, the tethering element 18 pivots relative to the sea bed 12 as illustrated in Figure 2, thus deflecting the support element 18 and associated equipment 16.By virtue of providing a stiff or rigid tethering element 18 (as opposed to connecting the support structure 14 to the weight 22 with an entirely flexible element such as a rope, chain or cable, the risk of the tethering element 18 becoming entangled in the fishing gear may be reduced. The connector 20 could be longer than that illustrated, but is ideally significantly shorter than the tethering element 18 to minimize the risk of entanglement. The use of a chain as the connector 20 may assist in returning the support structure 14 to the desired heading, after it has been deflected. 3497006Configuring the support structure with a generally smooth exterior surface (i.e. having no vertices, edges or sharp discontinuities in the surface topography) may assist in minimizing the risk of the support structure becoming snagged on the fishing gear.The invention is not limited by the embodiments described above; reference should be had to the appended claims.
Claims
3497007CLAIMS1. A device (10) suitable for tethering equipment to the floor (12) of a body of water, the device (10) comprising a support structure (14) which is configured to house or support subsea equipment (16), a stiff elongate tethering element (18) which has a first end (18a) on which the support structure (14) is mounted and a second end (18b) which is provided with a connector (20) for securing the device (10) to the floor (12) of the body of water, wherein a first end of the device (10), comprising the support structure (14) and the first end of the tethering element (18) is more buoyant than the second end of the device (10), characterized in that the support structure (14) comprises a hollow or at least partially hollow shell and the support structure (14) is configured to support equipment (16) inside the shell.2. The device (10) according to claim 1 wherein the support structure (14) is buoyant.3. The device (10) according to claim 2 wherein the tethering element (18) comprises a rod.4. The device (10) according to claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the connector (20) is flexible such that when the device (10) is secured to the floor (12) of the body of water via the connector (20), angular movement of the tethering element (18) relative to the floor (12) of the body of water is permitted.5. The device (10) according to claim 4 wherein the connector (20) comprises two chain links (20a, 20b).6. The device (10) according to any preceding claim wherein the support structure (20) has a smooth outer surface with no vertices, edges or sharp discontinuities in the surface topography.7. A subsea anchor system including the device (10) according to any preceding claim and a weight (22) resting on the seabed (12), the second end (18b) of the tethering element (18) being secured to the weight (22) by means of the connector (20).8. A subsea hydrocarbon production system (24) comprising the device (10) according to any preceding claim, and a piece of subsea equipment (16) mounted on or in the support structure (14).3497008Patentkrav1. Anordning (10) egnet til å forankre utstyr til bunnen (12) av et vannlegeme, der anordningen (10) omfatter en bærestruktur (14) som er konfigurert til å huse eller bære undersjøisk utstyr (16), et stivt, avlangt forankringselement (18) som har en første ende (18a) som bærestrukturen (14) er montert på, og en andre ende (18b) som er tilveiebrakt med et forbindelsesstykke (20) for å feste anordningen (10) til bunnen (12) av vannlegemet, der en første ende av anordningen (10), som omfatter bærestrukturen (14) og den første enden av forankringselementet (18), har større oppdrift enn den andre enden av anordningen (10), karakterisert ved at bærestrukturen (14) omfatter et hult eller i det minste delvis hult hylster, og bærestrukturen (14) er konfigurert til å bære utstyr (16) inne i hylsteret.2. Anordning (10) ifølge krav 1, der bærestrukturen (14) er med oppdrift.3. Anordning (10) ifølge krav 2, der forankringselementet (18) omfatter en stang.4. Anordning (10) ifølge krav 1, 2 eller 3, der forbindelsesstykket (20) er fleksibelt, slik at når anordningen (10) er festet til bunnen (12) av vannlegemet via forbindelsesstykket (20), tillates vinkelbevegelse av forankringselementet (18) i forhold til bunnen (12) av vannlegemet.5. Anordning (10) ifølge krav 4, der forbindelsesstykket (20) omfatter to endeløkker (20a, 20b).6. Anordning (10) ifølge et foregående krav, der bærestrukturen (20) har en jevn ytre overflate uten spisser, kanter eller skarpe diskontinuiteter i overflatetopografien.7. Undersjøisk ankersystem som omfatter anordning (10) ifølge et foregående krav og en vekt (22) som hviler på havbunnen (12), der den andre enden (18b) av forankringselementet (18) er festet til vekten (22) ved hjelp av forbindelsesstykket (20).8. Undersjøisk hydrokarbonproduksjonssystem (24) som omfatter anordning (10) ifølge et foregående krav og et stykke undersjøisk utstyr (16) montert på eller i bærestrukturen (14).
Drawings

Priority

No priority

Patent classes

IPC classesE21B 33/037E21B 43/017E21B 41/08E21B 17/01B63B 21/04CPC classesE21B 33/037E21B 43/017E21B 41/08E21B 17/012B63B 21/04

Citations

KR 101676650 B1 (B1)WO 2022/129624 A1 ( A1)US 4813815 A (A )GB 2467520 A (A)

Applicants, owners and inventors

Owners
OneSubsea AS
Strandveien 4 1366 LYSAKER NO (BÆRUM Municipality, Akershus county)Org. number: 929765001Inventors
Christopher Knudtzon
Tyribakken 5 0282 OSLO NO (OSLO Municipality, Oslo county)
Snorre Balkøy
Hans Nielsen Hauges vei 71 1463 FJELLHAMAR NO (LØRENSKOG Municipality, Akershus county)

Agent

ZACCO NORWAY AS
ZACCO NORWAY AS

Org. number: 982702887

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Open in The Brønnøysund Register Centre
Postboks 488 0213 OSLO NO (OSLO Municipality, Oslo county)
Org. number: 982702887
Reference: P468306NO00

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