Posted to News on 15th Aug 2014, 00:00
Protecting power for subsea remotely operated vehicle
Liquid tight conduit from Flexicon is protecting the power supply to subsea ROVs used by Total Marine Technology. The 63mm LTP conduit and special engineered fittings are protecting the slipring connections inside the winch. This provides 3.3KV feeds to the 3km power transmission system, which connects the subsea ROV to the surface.
>In addition to the power cables fibre optic, elements are included in the single cable connection system called an umbilical.
>The tail from the slip ring is a loose bundle of copper and fibre optic cables,
>which terminates in a junction box on the winch. This bundle needs protecting from sea spray and harsh offshore environments to maximize its service life and provide trouble free operation.
>Total Marine Technology is using the custom winches on SapuraKencana pipe lay ships, which will work on a number of oil and gas projects in Brazil, China and Australia.
>Says Slobodan Stankovic, Electrical Project Manager for Total Marine Technology: "It is absolutely essential that we don't lose power and data to the ROV, because when the ROV is not working the whole rig is down and not drilling. Providing ongoing protection for the slip ring from the environment is therefore vital.
>"We specified Flexicon because the liquid tight LTP conduit provided has an exceptional bend radius compared to the competition, which was necessary for it to fit inside the winch. It is also a proven system that can withstand an incredibly harsh environment and their engineers were able to provide special connectors to ensure an IP68 rating with different input and output sizes."
