ROV SERVICES
FEATURE SPONSOR
ROV INNOVATION IN THE OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY
The first subsea Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) made an appearance in the 1960s within the US Military sector for deep sea rescue and recoveries, and then later by the Royal Navy specifically to locate and recover torpedoes from practice firings. This rapidly evolved in the commercial sector of oil & gas for the deep developments beyond the reach of divers. Now, ROVs vary from the excavation or trenching spreads to easily recognisable big and powerful Work Class ROVs, capable of large scale subsea engineering, to the small micro and eyeball ROVs that are perfectly suited to monitoring and observation.
Apart from a dormant period of development during the 1980s, when oil prices were low and a recession gripped the world, the ROV sector has been leading the way with subsea technological developments. Controlled via an umbilical from the surface by a pilot, ROVs now have systems that allow accurate positioning or tracking and are capable of keeping station even in relatively significant tidal currents.
HEALTH, SAFETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
The driving force behind all modern day engineering projects is safety. This, obviously needs to be tied to efficiency and profitability but the ‘safety first’ culture quite rightly takes precedence, with ROVs more and more reducing the need for divers and some offshore sectors now actively and aggressively discouraging the use of divers. The ROV now holds counsel over subsea engineering projects (after all it is preferable to risk a repair to an ROV than it is to risk a human life.) Additionally an ROV will operate in environments that exclude divers. Modern day ROV systems also carefully examine environmental impact, including utilising biodegradable oil in their hydraulic system, should the worst happen! Additionally the more efficient the system the less vessel time and fuel consumption, reducing carbon outputs.
FOCUS AND CHALLENGES
As well as safety, the motivation for developing current systems and looking at alternatives is the drive for cost reduction (often associated with reduced vessel time). These efficiencies can be traced through reduced time in the water…So, leaving Automated Underwater Vehicles aside (which are a whole different story!) how is this achieved? Well, with a raft of new technology in the form of control and sensor software advances, the ability to withstand increased pressure and higher temperature ranges, as well as protection from radiation (for the Nuclear energy ROVs) the advances are wide-ranging and extensive. In particular the hardware, and the way an ROV is utilised….ROVs are becoming modular!
MDS3
Offshore Marine Management Limited (OMM) are known for their ability to look at a problem, think outside the box and develop a bespoke solution. They are therefore taken the ROV concept and turned it into a multiple mattress deployment system. With the constant requirement of a large number of mattresses to be installed on the seabed, the laborious methodology of installation has now been given some ROV treatment. OMM’s MDS3 (Mattress Deployment System 3) is capable of not only lifting and installing 3 mattresses rather than 1 per deployment, it can position them with pinpoint accuracy using the ROV technology of control thrusters and sensors. In essence an ROV that delivers mattresses safely and at speed, reducing the vessel time that the normal Mattress Installation Frame demands.
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www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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