Input on: Seaeye Falcon upgrade

[Allan Nygård Bertelsen]

Dear ROV world Community,

My name is Allan Nygård Bertelsen – I am the managing director of the company Copenhagen Subsea A/S. We manufacture subsea thruster for the ROV industry. I would like to ask for your advice on a project we are working on:
We are in the process of revitalizing a client’s Seaeye Falcon ROV. Besides the improved reliability of our thruster, the upgrade will enable the vehicle to withstand stronger current. The ROV will have 3 x more thrust available after the upgrade than in the original configuration. As you can imagine this is a substantial upgrade and, to provide the new thruster with enough power, we are replacing the entire power part, including the power supply on the surface, the umbilical, and the motor controller in the ROV.

We are interested in getting your input on how relevant you think it is to have this extra thrust available on the Seaeye Falcon? Which we think, is already quite a maneuverable vehicle. Also: In how strong a current would a skilled ROV operator be able to control the vehicle with the extra power? Any other considerations you might have in relation to the above?

I hope that some of you could spare a moment on this – your input would be highly appreciated! Thank you for your help.

Best regards,
Allan

[liddelljohn]

will you upgrade the joystick and vertical controls sensitivity so that ROV is not overly reactive to increased power on control inputs for delicate manouvering.

will the standard umbilical handle the extra current loads ???

[Allan Nygård Bertelsen]

Hello liddelljohn,

Q1: Yes, you are right – the sensitivity of the joystick will be adjusted to match the power of the thrusters.

Q2: The old umbilical will be replace with the upgrade in order to provide the needed current to the thrusters.

Best regards,
Allan

[liddelljohn]

will any changes be made to the control interface , and video,data circuits or is it just AC/DC power ??

[liddelljohn]

what will be the life span of the upgraded thruster as extra heat and friction on the bearings and seals will be retrograde ,,,will they last as long as originals ,, will the expense be worth the advantages of being able to operate in marginal fast current 3-5 knots situations ?

[Allan Nygård Bertelsen]

Hello liddelljohn,

Q3: We will only update the power part of the ROV. The existing control HMI, video and communication will be reused.

Q4: Regarding the life span of the upgrade: In the upgrade we will replace the original thruster with our own Copenhagen Subsea rim-driven thruster. The thruster is designed to be long lasting: consisting of two solid molded parts, with sea water flowing freely between the rotating part and the stationary part – this means there is no shaft sealing, no air or fluid inside the thruster. What we know about the reliability of our thruster is based on the performance of our 1,000 hour test at full power. After a 1,000 hour test the thruster show no sign of degradation. Therefor the increased reliability was also a reason for the client to do the upgrade. Due to the large surface the rim-drive thruster it has excellent cooling and therefore it’s very powerful compared to its propeller size.

Our idea with the upgrade is that a small powerful vehicle is the best to encounter strong current. What we are trying to learn is: would a skilled ROV operator be able to handle the vehicle in 3-5 knots current even if the required thrust is available? or will this require aid from a navigation system (DVL based INS) to be able to keep the vehicle stationary?

Also examples of ceased strong current ROV operations would also be appreciated.

Best regards,
Allan

[Karim ghoname]

I need for help with seaeye falcon rov i faced an issue when i switched on the rov by the normal sequence ( ac switch on then dc switch on) if i did this sequence no dc power output but if i switched on the dc first then switched on the ac power i get a dc output ?!!!

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