Fugro has developed a crawler tracked chassis or skid, that will enable powerful work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to work comfortably on the seabed in the often difficult near-shore tidal streams and conditions encountered in marine renewable projects.
The system, developed and built in-house in Aberdeen by the group’s Subsea Intervention and Engineering unit, will enable powerful work-class ROVs to operate even more efficiently during the construction of offshore wind farms and tidal projects and, longer term, during operations and maintenance activities.
Fugro already operates a dedicated tracked Inspection ROV system which is used mainly for cable inspection. The Rocsi system was developed in Germany a few years ago and was the group’s first entry into this market.
Rocsi has notched up a number of successes as an inspection-tracked ROV. It is this experience, plus our
recent clients’ desire for more in-water time, that persuaded Fugro to develop a tracked skid tailored to a much more powerful work-class machine that is capable of carrying a comprehensive range of intervention tooling on a 24 hours per day basis. In essence, the ROV can be flown independently but can also dock to the crawler skid, which it also powers.
ROVs are inherently highly manoeuvrable with hydraulic power from the tooling manifold used to power the four-track units. The ROV’s thrusters are also available for adjusting buoyancy or driving through very soft soil conditions, making it possible for the ROV to carry out useful work on the seabed in the difficult tidal currents that can so often be encountered in and around offshore wind farms.
The ROV can continue to work as normal with the complete array of sensors, sonar and cameras, but also a variety of work packs including standard manipulators and tools.
Project leader, Fugro Subsea’s Jacco Huipen, said: “The team has come up with a novel design which is simple to use and one which will add to the company’s capability.
“We also used our Fugro physics-based simulator to model the operation of the crawler skid and we believe that it will be able to stem seven-knot currents from this simulation.”
By taking this approach, Fugro believes the ROV with tracked skid offers the best of both worlds.
Moreover, this is mainly already proven technology and is a direct response to market demand for a system which can operate in high tidal areas 24/7, coupled with early experience working on a large variety of offshore wind projects.
The beauty of the package is that, where conditions are suitable, the work-class vehicle can be used normally in flying mode, but can be quickly docked to the tracked skid sub-sea for operating in high currents.
This will substantially add to the useful time an ROV can operate during any given tidal cycle.
Full trials and wet trials in tidal streams of over four knots are imminent, though the system could go straight to work.
Fugro is considering projects around the UK coast and overseas, and is already planning another skid, with still further developments in the track-vehicle line coming up.
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