Newcastle University has teamed with local underwater equipment manufacturer SMD to develop new generation lithium battery equipment for deep-sea operations.
The collaboration has attracted $445,700 in funding from the Singapore Maritime Institute for R&D, which was set up by SMI as part of its strategy on green technologies.
A total research grant of $6million over three years has been allocated to promote research into the management of energy usage and efficiency in the maritime sector.
The Newcastle – SMD project is a sub-set of that overall programme.
The team plans to design and develop an intelligent, self-learning battery management system to increase battery life by 25% while delivering higher power capacity. The batteries will be able to function up to 3,000m below the surface, permitting subsea operations for longer and with more efficiency.
The applications the technology could be used for include; underwater robotic vehicles, offshore oil rig platform monitoring, deep ocean surveys in preparation for oil fields, subsea systems inspection, maritime energy storage systems and environmental surveying.
As such systems have become more reliable they are used more and more to inspect, report and monitor damage to offshore and underwater structures.
Demands on battery and power systems have also grown, greater endurance and power are needed, as well as the batteries being sufficiently robust to be used in these conditions.
The project will be led by Dr Cheng Siong Chin, Professor Ehsan Mesbahi, Dean in Singapore and Dr Junbo Jia from the Clean Energy Research Centre at Singapore’s Temasek Polytechnic.
SMD will aid the research by providing a real-life application for the system and conducting trials on its deepwater subsea vehicle systems.
Newcastle University and SMD have a successful history of working together; this has now been extended to both organisations’ operations in Singapore. This project is intended to drive academic knowledge as well as push the boundaries of subsea battery technology development.
Newcastle University has a flourishing School of Marine Science and Technology in Singapore offering degree courses in Marine Engineering, Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering.
SMD, based in Wallsend on Tyne, is a leading manufacturer of remote intervention equipment, working in hazardous environments worldwide. The firm has a regional office in Singapore providing sales, technical support, spare parts holding and training to a wide range of customers across Asia.