Page 58: of Marine Technology Magazine (November 2015)

Products maxon’s MT-30 thruster

Thunderstorm Detector for the Offshore Sector

Thunderstorms often play a signi? cant part in disrupting offshore operations, especially when conducting person- nel transportation by helicopter. And it is not just the threat of lightning, but also the dangerous wind-shear and icing events which can take place in a cumulonimbus cloud that can present added danger offshore.

Helping to ensure the safety of operating personnel and minimize downtime, a new thunderstorm detector from Bi- ral aims to provide early warning of nearby thunderstorms.

The company’s new BTD-300 uses a quasi-electrostatic operating principle which gives early warnings of overhead lightning risk and detects strikes as far as 83 kilometers away. According to Biral, its experience from the aviation and industrial sectors where the dangers of lightning activity have been understood for many years, has allowed the com- pany to develop its new BTD-300 Thunderstorm Detector for the oil, gas and wind energy sectors.

An additional advantage of the BTD-300 thunderstorm detector is the operational time gained after the lightning has stopped. Usually technical crew wait about one hour after the last lightning strike has been reported by remote, third party lightning location networks. With live on-site monitoring using the Biral BTD-300, an immediate restart of activities can be made once it is safe to do so.

As well as lightning detection, the BTD-300 has the abil-

Photo: maxon motor ity to detect the presence of electrically charged precipita- tion and strong electric ? eld. Both of these features indicate

New Compact Underwater DC Drives the presence of a cumulonimbus cloud overhead, providing

Modern technology must be equipped to withstand ex- early warning of potential nearby lightning activity.

tremely harsh conditions found deep in the ocean, includ-

The Biral BTD-300 is virtually immune to all forms of ing high pressure and high oxidation levels. Drive systems manmade radio frequency interference so minimizing false developer maxon motor has worked closely with research alarms. With the ability to detect over twice as many ? ash- institutes and universities to provide solutions that meet the es as conventional lightning detectors, the high sensitivity many demanding challenges for electrical and mechanical combined with low false alarm rates make it suited for thun- components required for underwater systems.

derstorm detection.

Electrical actuated underwater vehicles like remote oper- www.biral.com ated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous unmanned vehicles (AUVs) require drives which are lightweight, ef? cient and compact. Maxon said its program of aquatic solutions offer these features and much more. The thrusters and actuators are oil ? lled and range in size from 16- to 42-mm diam- eter. The core element is a motor-gear combination based on a brushless DC-motor and a planetary gearhead. These underwater drives are designed with a high quality polymer housing to ensure protection against the harsh underwater elements.

maxon’s MT-30 thruster is pressure tolerant up to 6,000 m with oil compensation. The propeller is modi? ed for low noise operation. Other features include: output power of 180W, voltage of 48 and weighs slightly under 2 lbs. www.maxonmotorusa.com

File photo: Jan Berghuis

November/December 2015 58

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