Page 18: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2019)

Insignts Electrification battery delivered ef? ciency gains in installation times in addi- requirement. Further, for SEAmagine, vehicle geometry mat- tion to vastly improved performance. ters…their innovative Aurora technology is a revolutionary

About four years later, SWE made available the next gen- approach to the design of personal submersibles, maximizing eration of the battery pack. The SeaSafe II, available since the ? eld of view of the spherical cabin and providing an un- 2017, incorporated lessons learned, reliability improvements, paralleled unobstructed vista. SWE SeaSafe II Battery mod- and American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Certi? cation. The ules enable this vista with battery geometry ¼ the size of some powerful, pressure tolerant SeaSafe II battery packs are easy competing batteries yet maintains or expands vehicle battery to install in a pressure balanced oil-? lled (PBOF) container, energy capacity. Reliability matters to SEAmagine. SWE which is smaller, lighter and lower cost than a pressure ves- SeaSafe II delivers on reliability with up to 8X the life cycle of sel. In response to industry demand to eliminate the PBOF competitive batteries. SEAmagine modularity and usability container, SWE developed the SeaSafe Direct, which has been needs are met via the con? gurable battery sizing and subsea available since 2017. SeaSafe Direct is convenient to use as pressure tolerant ease of use of SeaSafe II, which simpli? es it can be placed directly into the water without requiring the battery con? guration and eliminates the weight, size, and cost

PBOF container. of a battery pressure vessel. Finally, SEAmagine stands 100%

The SeaSafe II and SeaSafe Direct are powered by large behind all its submersibles and its professional services…as lithium-ion polymer cells that are specially engineered into does SWE stand 100% behind SeaSafe II to SEAmagine, de- modules managed by the BMS to provide 30V at 28Ah or livering them top service, quality, and reliability.

other size options. They are able to operate in water depths to 6,000 meters. Multiple SeaSafe batteries can easily be con-

The case for safety nected together to meet the voltage and power needs of vari- Some are leery of using lithium-ion batteries in a subsea ous applications. setting. The SeaSafe product line was designed for extreme

These autonomous battery packs are easy to use and are de- safety and autonomy. They are fully polyurethane potted in signed for use in subsea vehicles, oceanographic systems, and marine-yellow polymer molded cases and completely sealed deepwater oil and gas infrastructure. The batteries have been off from the elements.

used in short-duration, high-power demand applications and Each module includes SWE-patented Battery Management long-duration, low-power demand situations. Applications System (BMS) to safeguard the battery pack. The BMS assists include autonomous underwater vehicles for propulsion, con- with condition-based monitoring programs. The integrated trol, and instrumentation; in remotely located infrastructure BMS automatically manages and tracks the safety, reliabil- equipment for valve control and pipe shearing; and in ocean- ity, charge and discharge of the batteries and reports technical ography sensing set-ups such as those for monitoring the sa- information on demand. Having immediate feedback on the linity and temperature of ocean water over a period of time. status of the battery system enables one to con? dently respond

Compared to lead acid batteries, SeaSafe battery packs – to an emergency requiring battery power.

weigh one-quarter, deliver longer mission times, provide up The batteries function automatically and safely, and the op- to four times more energy, and can take thousands of charges. erator does not require experience to use the batteries. After

SeaSafe battery packs also function for up to eight times the completing a series of tests, ABS has certi? ed the SeaSafe cycle life of traditional sealed lead acid batteries, which may batteries available to con? gure in various voltage size con- provide many years of service, and eliminate classic and cost- ? gurations.

ly battery failure headaches. SeaSafe II battery packs are ? exible in sizing, as SWE can customize a battery pack solution to customer’s speci? c

Meeting customer needs product requirements. With several hundred industry-leading

An example user of SWE SeaSafe II is SEAmagine, dedi- customers worldwide, SWE has designed and delivered over cated to the personal submarines industry since 1995. This thousands of custom battery systems with top service, quality, private submersibles company has demonstrated the safety, and reliability. utility, and dependability of its submarines. To support this,

SWE SeaSafe employs its patented Battery Management Sys- tem within every SeaSafe II Battery Module to ensure safety About the Author and dependability unsurpassed in the industry. For vehicle as- Leon Adams is Vice President – Sales in Lithium and Lithium surance, SEAmagine personal submarines are classed A1+ by Ion battery solutions, product de