Autonomous, subsea resident, mobile Underwater Intervention Drone (UID) system

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

Inspection, maintenance and repair of subsea installations within areas such as offshore oil and gas industry, fish farming and offshore wind power are normally carried out by a diver or a ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) controlled from a surface vessel. These solutions are time consuming to initiate (hours, even days) and personnel is required at the vessel, the oil and gas platform or the fish farm. The need for a surface vessel to control a ROV makes subsea operations costly. Daily rental rates of 1 mill. NOK for a surface vessel with ROV is not uncommon. Use of autonomous, battery powered, underwater drones controlled from shore will change this picture and execution of subsea operations, totally! An underwater intervention drone is designed to "live" permanently on the seabed near the offshore oil and gas installation, the fish farm or the wind power installation without support from personnel on a surface vessel. By use of modern communication technology the drone can be launched and controlled within seconds from anywhere. Once launched, the drone operates on its own and executes its mission with minimal human interaction. For example, inspection of an oil and gas pipeline, valve operation or inspection of a fish farm. During this project and our Demo2000 project we will develop the Eelume Underwater Intervention Drone (UID) into a fully autonomous, mobile subsea robot. The UID will be installed and tested at the Åsgard oil and gas field. The drone will operate autonomously without any tether and perform pipeline inspections, near template inspections and valve control. The UID will be controlled from and data will be transferred to Equinor's offices at Stjørdal and Eelume's offices in Trondheim. The duration of this Skattefunn project is about 3,5 years. We will co-operate with our Demo2000 project partners, Equinor, Gassco, Kongsberg Maritime, Swire Seabed, Norbit, EIVA and DNV GL for the development and achieve the targets. www.eelume.com.