MARKS ROBIN ANTHONY (GB)
GB2166602A | 1986-05-08 | |||
US4430022A | 1984-02-07 | |||
US5641246A | 1997-06-24 | |||
GB2353306A | 2001-02-21 | |||
JPH11332046A | 1999-11-30 |
Claims 1. A cable handling land vehicle for handling subsea cable, the cable handling land vehicle comprising a body, a cable hauler mounted on the vehicle to provide a means for moving the cable, an arm mounted on the body and moveable to control a entry or exit position of the cable to or from the vehicle, and at least one cable support to support and guide the cable along at least a portion of the arm.. 2. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein at least one hauler is mounted on the body of the vehicle. 3. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein at least one hauler is mounted on the arm of the vehicle. 4. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the vehicle comprises a cable handler mounted on the arm to control the orientation of the cable as it is guided onto or from the vehicle. 5. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the cable handler comprises a chute or a cylindrical guide. 6. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the cable handler comprises a cable coiling arm. 7. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the cable coiling arm is rotatably mounted on the arm. 8. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the cable coiling arm is configured to rotate passively as cable is fed onto or from the vehicle. 9. The cable handling land vehicle according to any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the cable coiling arm comprises a deployment guide moveable on the cable coiling arm to guide the cable onto or from the vehicle. 10. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the cable coiling arm further comprises a hydraulic ram operable to move the deployment guide. 1 1. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the deployment guide is configured to move passively on the cable coiling arm as cable is fed onto or from the vehicle. 12. The cable handling land vehicle according to any of claims 5 to 1 1 , wherein the cable handler is rotatably mounted on the arm. 13. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the vehicle further comprises a grapple or a hook. 14. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the vehicle further comprises one or more cable tensioners that provides a means for apply a tension to the cable. 15. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the at least one cable support comprises at least one set of rollers disposed along at least a portion of the vehicle. 16. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 15, wherein rollers are disposed on the arm of the vehicle 17. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 15 or claim 16, wherein rollers are disposed on the body of the vehicle. 18. The cable handling land vehicle according to any of claims 15 to 17, wherein at least one set of rollers is configured to protect the minimum bending radius of the cable. 19. The cable handling land vehicle according to any of claims 15 to 18, wherein at least one set of rollers is configured to support a catenary trajectory of the cable. 20. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the arm is shaped to support a catenary trajectory of the cable. 21. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein at least one cable hauler comprises a hydraulic friction drive cable engine. 22. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein at least one cable hauler comprises a cable transporter. 23. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the arm comprises a dipper arm and a boom, the dipper arm pivotally mounted on the boom and the boom pivotally mounted on the body of the vehicle. 24. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 23, wherein at least one cable support is mounted on the arm proximal a pivotable connection between the dipper arm and boom. 25. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 23 or claim 24, wherein at least one cable support is mounted on the boom. 26. The cable handling land vehicle according to any of claims 23 to 25, wherein the dipper arm is telescopic. 27. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, comprising a cable guide configured to guide the cable off of the vehicle and into a body of water. 28. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 27, wherein the cable guide is shaped to support a catenary trajectory of the cable. 29. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, comprising means for moving the vehicle across a surface. 30. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the vehicle comprises means for fixing the vehicle to a surface. 31. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, comprising an operator cab. 32. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 31 , wherein the operator cab is moveably mounted on the body of the vehicle. 33. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 31 or claim 32, wherein the operator cab is mounted on an articulated arm which allows the position of the cab to be changed. 34. The cable handling land vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the cable installation vehicle is configured to control the vertical height of the body of the vehicle. 35. A cable handling land vehicle for handling subsea cable, comprising a material handling machine, at least one cable hauler mounted on the material handling machine to provide a means of moving the cable, at least one cable support mounted on the material handling machine to support and guide the cable along at least a portion of an arm of the material handling machine, and a cable handler mounted the arm to control the orientation of the cable as it is guided onto or off of the vehicle. 36. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 35, comprising one or more cable tensioners mounted on the material handling machine that provides a means for apply a tension to the cable. 37. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 36 wherein the material handling machine provides power to the at least one cable hauler. 38. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 35 or 36 wherein the material handling machine provides power to the at least one cable tensioner. 39. The cable handling land vehicle according to any of claims 35 to 38, wherein the cable handler comprises a cable coiling arm. 40. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 39, wherein the cable coiling arm is rotatably mounted on the arm. 41. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 39 or claim 40, wherein the cable coiling arm is configured to rotate passively as cable is fed onto or from the vehicle. 42. The cable handling land vehicle according to any of claims 39 to 41 , wherein the cable coiling arm comprises a deployment guide moveable on the cable coiling arm to guide the cable onto or from the vehicle. 43. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 42, wherein the cable coiling arm further comprises a hydraulic ram operable to move the deployment guide. 44. The cable handling land vehicle according to claim 42, wherein the deployment guide is configured to move passively on the cable coiling arm as cable is fed onto or from the vehicle. 45. A method of assembling a cable handling land vehicle according to any of claims 1 to 44, comprising installing at least one cable hauler on a material handling machine to provide a means of moving the cable and installing at least one cable support on the material handling machine to support and guide the cable along at least a portion of the material handling machine. 46. The method according to claim 45, further comprising installing at least one cable handler on an arm of the material handling machine. 47. The method according to claim 45 or 46, further comprising installing at least one cable tensioner on the material handling machine to provide a means for applying a tension to the cable. 48. A kit of parts for constructing a cable handling land vehicle comprising at least one cable hauler adapted to be installed on a material handling machine, and at least one cable guide adapted to be installed on an arm of the material handling machine. 49. A kit of parts for constructing a cable handling land vehicle according to claim 48 wherein kit of parts further comprises at least one cable tensioner adapted to be installed on the material handling machine 50. A subsea cable installation system comprising a carousel or a static cable tank to store a cable and a cable handling land vehicle according to any of claims 1 to 44 arranged to receive the cable from or guide the cable onto the carousel or the static cable tank. 51. The system according to claim 50, further comprising one or more cable tensioners separate from the cable handling land vehicle. 52. The system according to claim 50 or claim 51 , comprising one or more cable supports separate from the cable handling land vehicle. 53. A subsea cable installation system comprising a carousel or a static cable tank to store a cable and a cable handling land vehicle according to claim 35 to 44 arranged to receive the cable from or guide the cable onto the carousel or the static cable tank. 54. The system according to claim 53, further comprising one or more motors arranged to rotate the carousel, wherein the one or more motors are powered by the material handling machine. 55. A subsea cable installation vessel comprising a subsea cable installation system according to any of claims 50 to 54. 56. The vessel of claim 55, further comprising dynamic positioning equipment. 57. A cable handling land vehicle, a modified material handling machine, a method of modifying a material handling machine, a kit of parts for modifying a material handling machine, a cable installation system, a cable installation vessel or a method of installing cable, substantially as herein described with reference to the appended drawings. |
wheeled, tracked, railed or skied. The cable handling land vehicle 100 can be seen to comprise a cable handler 106 mounted at a distal end of a dipper arm 107a. The cable handler 106 serves at least to guide the cable 103 to and/or from the distal end of the dipper arm 107a, and may be articulated or otherwise manipulated to achieve fine control of the orientation of the cable handler 106 as may be required as cable 103 is wound onto the rotatable carousel 105. The carousel 105, as in the prior art system described above with reference to Figure 1 , stores the cable 103; rotation of the carousel 105 permitting cable 103 to be wound onto or unwound from the carousel 105. The dipper arm 107a is linked to a boom 107b which extends from the main body 102. The boom 107b is pivotable at one end at the main body 102 of the cable handling land vehicle 100 and the dipper arm 107a pivotable at the opposite end of the boom 107b. The angular displacement between the dipper arm 107a and the boom 107b is controlled by a hydraulic cylinder 108. By manipulating the dipper arm 107a and the boom 107b, the position of the cable handler 106 can be controlled within a large range of movement - particularly when compared with the chute employed in conventional systems (see for example chute 7 in Figure 1). Note that the cable handler 106 in the described embodiment comprises a chute through which the cable 103 runs, although any other suitable guiding means may alternatively be employed. The chute is manoeuvrable to control the exit or entry trajectory of the cable. The cable handler 106 may be a bespoke attachment configured to guide the cable 103 onto or from the vehicle. As shown in Figure 2 the cable handling land vehicle 100 may further comprise an attachment hook or grapple 128 also located at the distal end of a dipper arm 107a that provides a means for the arm 107 of the vehicle 100 to move other components to be employed within a cable handling system, as described in further detail below.. Two sets of rollers 109a and 109b are attached to the boom 107b, in the vicinity of the connection between the dipper arm 107a and the boom 107b.. In most cases this is likely to be the highest vertical height that the cable 103 will be raised to within the system 101. The rollers 109a and 109b provide a smooth surface across which the cable 103 can run without risking interference with the connection between the dipper arm 107a and the boom 107b. Furthermore, the rollers 109a and 109b assist by protecting the minimum bending radius of the cable 103. The upper end of the boom 107b is shown as curved which also assists in maintaining the proper catenary trajectory of the cable 103 between the rollers 109b and a cable hauler 11 1 mounted on the deck of the main body 102 of the cable installation vehicle 100. Note that the rollers 109a and 109b may be provided in or with a roller track which further serves to guide the cable 103, including preventing lateral displacement that would cause the cable to fall off of the vehicle 100. Note that any suitable means for guiding the cable along at least part of the vehicle may be employed, and need not require rollers. As previously described, cable hauler 1 11 is required to provide movement of the cable 103 during spooling on or off the carousel and during laying on the seabed. In this particular embodiment, the cable hauler 1 11 comprises a hydraulic friction drive cable engine, and a further cable tensioner 113 of the same type is provided on the deck of the ship (i.e. not on the vehicle 100). The cable hauler 1 11 , in conjunction with the cable tensioner 113, controls the deployment of the cable 103 over the cable guide 115 and into the body of water. Note that the cable hauler could instead be mounted on the dipper arm 107a or the boom 107b. A further set of rollers 1 17 is provided over the edge of the main body 102 of the vehicle 100. As before, these rollers 117 assist in the movement of the cable 103 onto or from the deck of the main body 102 of the vehicle 100, and in maintaining the correct catenary trajectory between the vehicle 100 and the on-deck cable tensioner 113. The vehicle 100 is also provided with an operator cab 121 which is mounted on an articulated arm 122. The articulated arm 122 allows the position of the cab 121 to be changed to allow an operator a clearer view into the carousel 105 as may be required. The cab 121 may be sized so as to accommodate more than one operator, as may be required for the safe operation of the vehicle 100. It will also be noted that the vertical height of the main body 102 of the vehicle 100 can be controlled. Compare the heights of the main body 102 in the original configuration shown in Figure 2 and the elevated configuration shown in Figure 3. Furthermore, Figure 2 shows the cab 121 in a retracted position and Figure 3 shows the cab 121 in an extended position. To provide a means for moving the vehicle 100 on-deck, it is provided with caterpillar tracks 125, although wheels may be employed, or the vehicle 100 may be mounted on rails. In any case, the vehicle 100 is also provided with a fixing arrangement 127 which serves to hold the vehicle 100 in place once it is located in its preferred location. The fixing arrangement or sea-fastening requires to be sufficiently robust in order to prevent the vehicle 100 from being forcibly moved due to the stresses and strains, tensions and torsions that can be experienced during a cable installation operation offshore. The vehicle may further comprise a sensor 129 employed to monitor the tension of the cable between the hauler 1 11 and the tensioner 1 13. The sensor 129 then acts in a feedback loop for a dancer control arm (not shown) employed to maintain an appropriate catenary between the hauler 11 1 and the tensioner 1 13. An alternative embodiment of the cable handling land vehicle 200 is presented in Figure 4. 4. This embodiment is similar to that described above with reference to Figures 2 and 3 with the exception that a hauler 21 1 is now mounted on the boom 207b and a cable tensioner 213 is located on the deck of the main body 202. With this arrangement the on- deck cable tensioner 1 13 of Figure 3 can be removed as shown in the system presented in Figure 5. Likewise, the cable guide 115 could be mounted directly on the vehicle 200 or simply replaced by the rollers 217 provided over the edge of the main body 202 of the vehicle 200. It is therefore seen from Figure 5 that almost the entire cable installation system could be disposed on the vehicle 200 itself - in which case a ship or barge need only be fitted with a carousel and equipped with a vehicle 200 according to the invention to become a cable installation vessel. As noted in the summary of the invention above, the applicant has realised that the invention might be realised by modifying a material handling machine, such as a 360° material handling machine, to incorporate a number of the components of the invention. Examples of suitable material handling machines include Mantsinen 70 HybriLift® material handling machines, Hitachi ZX360W-3 excavators, TerexOFuchs MHL 345 material handlers, and the Litronic® range of Liebherr material handlers. A range of suitable material handling machines is available from these and other manufacturers. Accordingly, a cable handling vehicle in accordance with an aspect of the invention can be realised be mounting one or more components of the cable handling vehicle on or in a material handling machine. For example, a suitable cable handler (which might simply be a chute) can be mounted on the end of a dipper arm of such a machine, rollers disposed about a joint between the dipper arm and a boom (although machines with single arms may also be suitably modified), a cable hauler mounted on the machinery deck of the material handling machine (or on a boom or dipper arm), and a further set of rollers disposed proximal or over the end of the vehicle deck. It will also be realised that the lifting and handling capabilities of such machines makes them ideally suited to assist in the assembly of such a cable handling vehicle (i.e. by lifting heavy parts onto itself) and corresponding systems (i.e. by moving and lifting components of the system on deck). Furthermore, such machines are capable of providing power, for example hydraulic power, to external components and systems. Accordingly, the cable hauler and tensioner may draw power from the material handling machine. In addition, the rotation of the carousel can be either powered by the material handling machine by driving one or more hydraulic motors arranged for rotating the carousel, or indeed directly driven by hydraulic motors or, for example, track motors and sprockets comprised in the material handling machine. This removes the requirement for a number of independent hydraulic power packs, which would otherwise be needed to power the carousel and the cable tensioners. The invention therefore allows a subsea cable installation system to be realised without the significant expense associated with conventional systems. It is expected that cable handling vehicles according to the invention will permit more widespread use of subsea cabling and enable, for example, offshore renewable projects a cost effective way of connecting to the onshore distribution network. The employment of a boom and dipper arm assembly has the added advantage that it provides a means for the cable drop height of the vehicle to be quickly and easily varied. This provides the described cable installation systems with significantly increased flexibility when compared with those known in the art. An alternative embodiment of the invention shall now be described with reference to Figures 6 and 7. A cable handling land vehicle 300 is shown loading a subsea power cable 303 into a static cable tank 305 on a cable ship deck or cable storage yard (for example) in Figure 6, whereas in Figure 7 the cable handling vehicle is shown in a dock side loading berth loading a subsea power cable 303 into a static cable tank on a cargo vessel moored at the dock side. The cable handling land vehicle 300 can be seen to comprise a cable coiling arm 306 rotatably mounted at a distal end of dipper arm 307a by way of rotator 331 (which may be a slewing ring with an aperture to accommodate cable pass-through). The operation of the cable handling land vehicle 300 in this example differs from the above in that the cable tank 305 does not rotate, so the cable 303 is routed through the rotator 331 and onto the cable coiling arm 306 which is urged to rotate as the cable 303 is fed out and laid into the static tank 305. Coils of cable 303 are fleeted in position by operation of a hydraulic ram 333 which moves a deployment guide 335 up and down the cable coiling arm 306. As may be more clearly visible in Figure 6(b), which presents a top-down view, the cable is paid out through the deployment guide 335 in an anti-clockwise direction; however, once the leading end of the cable 303 is laid in the tank, further paying out of the cable 303 causes the cable coiling arm 306 to rotate in a clockwise direction. As described above, the deployment guide 335 is moved up and down the cable coiling arm 306 to wind the cable 303 into the tank 305 in a coiled arrangement. Of course, the cable handling land vehicle 300 may also, or alternatively, be used to retrieve cable 303 from the tank 305, in which case the cable coiling arm 306 will rotate in the opposite sense as cable 303 is pulled back through the deployment guide 335. During retrieval, the deployment guide 335 may be free to move up and down the cable coiling arm 306 in accordance with the location of the cable within the tank 305. The dipper arm 307a may also be telescopic to allow the cable coiling arm 306 to move up and down relative to the tank 305 dependent on the amount of cable stored in the tank. In this embodiment, the rotation of the coiling arm 306 is a passive action effected by the movement of the cable 303 into the tank. It is of course to be understood that the cable coiling arm may in another embodiment be actively rotated to provide more control over how the cable 303 is placed into the tank. Similarly to the previously described embodiments, two sets of rollers 309a and 309b are attached to the boom 307b in the vicinity of the connection with the dipper arm 307a. The rollers 309a and 309b provide a smooth surface across which the cable 303 can run without risking interference with the connection between the dipper arm 307a and the boom 307b. Furthermore, the rollers 309a and 309b assist by protecting the minimum bending radius of the cable 303. It can be seen that the cable 303 exits (or enters, depending on the mode of operation) the rollers 309b in a substantially vertical direction; this is a beneficial, but optional, feature. In this embodiment, the cable hauler 31 1 is mounted between the rollers 309a and 309b. The cable hauler 31 1 provides movement of the cable 303 during spooling into (or out of) the static cable tank 305. In this particular embodiment, the cable hauler 31 1 comprises a hydraulic twin-wheeled cable transporter. A further set of rollers 317 is provided at the edge of the main body 302 of the vehicle 300. Similarly to previously described embodiments, these rollers 317 assist in the movement of the cable 303 onto or from the vehicle 300. It can be seen that the rollers 317 are arranged such that the cable 303 extending between the rollers 317 and rollers 309b substantially linearly. This is also an optional feature of course. The vehicle 300 may incorporate other optional features corresponding to features of the previously described embodiments as desired, For example, the vehicle 300 is shown as including an operator cab 321 which in this case is mounted on the boom 307b.
Furthermore, the vertical height of the main body 302 of the vehicle 300 may be controlled. To provide a means for moving the vehicle 300 on-deck, it is provided with wheels 325, and a fixing arrangement 327 serves to hold the vehicle 300 in place once it is located in its preferred location. Note that while the cable handling vehicle 300 has been described above in the context of spooling a subsea power cable into a static cable tank, it will be readily apparent that any kind of cable may be so spooled into a static cable tank. Additionally, the cable handling vehicle 300 may be equally and be readily employed in a cable installation system such as previously described with reference to Figure 3 and Figure 5. Figure 7 illustrates how the cable handling vehicle 300 may be deployed dock-side for loading cable 303 onto and off of a cargo vessel 341 in a similar manner to that described with reference to Figure 6 above. In this case, the cargo vessel 341 is moored dock-side and the cable storage tank 305B is on-board the cargo vessel 341. Once loaded onto the vessel 341 , the coiled cable can be transported by sea to another location, for example to be laid (in accordance with any of the foregoing description) or to be spooled out of the storage tank 305B by another cable handling vehicle 300 at another dock. However, the portability of the cable handling vehicle 300 is such that the cable 303 could be spooled onto the static cable tank 305B on the vessel 341 , the vehicle 300 moved onto the vessel 341 , the vessel 341 transported to another location, and then the same vehicle 300 used, for example, in laying the cable 303 from the tank 305B or (having been moved onto the dock-side) spooling the cable 303 out of the storage tank 305B at the new location. Throughout the specification, unless the context demands otherwise, the terms 'comprise' or 'include', or variations such as 'comprises' or 'comprising', 'includes' or 'including' will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers, but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers. The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. The described embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilise the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Therefore, further modifications or improvements may be incorporated without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.