Apparatus and method for low-tension retrieval of instrumented marine cables

摘要

Apparatus and method for retrieving instrumented marine cables. The cable-handling apparatus comprises carriers that capture and pull on rigid elements in or on a marine cable to retrieve the cable hand-over-hand onto a deployment vessel. The carriers are spaced apart along an endless path on spacings matching the spacings of the rigid elements in the cable. A take-up mechanism allows manual adjustment of the relative spacings of the carriers to account for tolerances in the spacings of the rigid elements on the cable.

主权项

1. An instrumented-marine-cable-handling system comprising:
a first plurality of monolithic carriers disposed at spaced apart positions around an endless path, each of the monolithic carriers having a contact face; a first drive system advancing the plurality of carriers around the endless path; a nonlinear retrieval path segment along which an instrumented marine cable having spaced apart rigid elements attached along the length of the marine cable travels when being retrieved, wherein the rigid elements have aft ends and wherein the contact faces are shaped to mate with the shape of the aft ends; wherein the monolithic carriers have fixed-width slots extending radially into the monolithic carriers and through the contact faces to admit the instrumented marine cable radially into the monolithic carriers; wherein the contact faces of the advancing carriers engage and drive against the aft ends to pull the rigid elements of the instrumented marine cable to draw the instrumented marine cable along the nonlinear retrieval path segment.