Subsea Noise mitigation European patent EP 2 898 351 B1

Big efforts must be made in order to reduce the underwater noise. Effective noise mitigation strategies and tools, at a cost of around 40million Euros per wind farm (according to data published in Germany recently), must be employed. The high costs cause an interest to driving down the cost of the noise mitigation measures when installing offshore wind farms.

Superb noise mitigation combined with a predictable and reliable installation process based on proven offshore technology will keep your project on schedule and reduce overall risk & cost

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This patent is released under GPLv3 General Public License (GPL) with respect to patents.

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MBCS = Mega bubble curtain system

• Transportation
  
  The Mega bubble curtain system is towed behind the supply boat. Compared to conventional transport on drums, the capacity is much larger, leading to lower costs.

• Cost

  The Mega bubble curtain system operated independent of the installation vessel and uses no deck space, crane capacity or load carrying capacity of the installation vessel – this improves the overall performance of the installation vessel and reduces cost and saves time in the installation process. The system can be prelayed up to 6 mono pile potions or more, avoiding delays in the installation process and increasing available weather installation window.

• Oil-free air
  
  The Mega bubble curtain system is powered by turbine compressors delivering oil-free compressed air, ensuring the stability of the marine environment.

  The compressors are oil free according to ISO Class 0 as certified by TUV.

• Airflow
  
  The Mega bubble curtain system operates with air volumes up to 2000 m3 per minute or more if more turbines is added, enough to guarantee effective bubble curtain down to 50 meter depth and lengths up to 2000 meter. Due to the large diameter, this is archived without pressure drop in the pipeline and the result is even air distribution in any position of the pipeline giving even and superb noise mitigation all along the circumference of the construction site.
  

• Storage
  
  The Mega bubble curtain system is easily stored on the seabed. This saves storage costs on land. Storage deeper than 20 meters ensures minimum fouling.

• Preparedness
  
  Since many systems can be deployed in advance, the chance of bottlenecks in production is minimized should the weather be bad for long periods.
  

• Reliability
  
  The Mega bubble curtain system is based on proven components and technology that has been in use for over 50 years, and approved by classification societies such as DNV.
  

• Dimensions
  
  The Mega bubble tubes may be up to 2.5 m in diameter, length has no limit, which guarantees that the minimum distance from the bubble curtain to the sound source can be maintained even with conditions of more than 1ms ocean currents, down to 50 meter ocean depth or more.

• Mega bubble curtain - Not double bubble curtain or Big bubble curtain BBC

  Due to the unique technology with large dimensions, the Mega bubble curtain system is capable of maximize the harmonic interference between air and seawater and also fine tune this in real time during operation by individually regulate the pressure and air volume flow in the different pipelines.

  The system is designed to leave other existing systems obsolete in all aspects related to performance, reliability and cost savings.

• Low pressure

  Due to the large diameter of the pipeline, the system is capable of operating with low air pressure. Within the natural laws limitations, the bubbles produced by the Mega bubble curtain system have a minimal vertical expansion when rising from the sea bottom to the sea surface compared or old style technology used by other system. This ensures optimal noise mitigation both vertically when the bubbles rise to the surface and horizontally all along the circumference of the bubble curtain.

• Bubble curtain, design
  
  The Mega bubble curtain system has minimal pressure drop, providing an even bubble curtain. Hole pattern is arranged to form a double down-facing row, with an asymmetric emission of air, to provide optimum noise mitigation.

• Components
  
  The Mega bubble curtain system is constructed of robust and proven standard components that provide high security for optimal offshore operation

• Materials
  
  The Mega bubble curtain system uses polyethylene tubing that can withstand tougher mechanical stress than any other known tube material.