Patent · US Expired

Maritime apparatus for locating a buried submarine cable

US5764061A · kind A · utility

76Cited by
6References
5Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 28, 1996
Grant dateJun 9, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 28, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01V3/02
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A remotely operated submersible robot 10 is provided with two differential triaxial orthogonal dc magnetic sensing units, 1 and 2, each comprising two triaxial orthogonal dc magnetic sensors spaced at a predetermined distance apart and with their corresponding axes set in parallel; each triaxial orthogonal dc magnetic sensor incorporating three dc magnetic sensing elements sensitive only to a magnetic field in a specific axial direction and disposed such that the axial directions of respective dc magnetic sensing elements cross each other at right angles. Analog signals sent out from the differential triaxial orthogonal dc magnetic sensing units 1 and 2 are converted into digital signals by an analog-to-digital converter, and transmitted to a mother ship 20 via a tether cable 6. The output signals thus transmitted from the aforesaid sensing units are processed by a processing unit installed in the mother ship 20 to compute the distance to a submarine cable, a difference in elevation between the submarine cable and the submersible robot, and the direction of the submarine cable laid down, which are shown on a display.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.