Page 69: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2014)

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EPIC underwater trenching

For this purpose, two chassis confgurations were designed, a 25-tonne (in air) unit, with jet swords only, and a second, weighing 50-tonne, with both jetting and mechanical cutting options.

IHC Merwede also sees the potential for

Hi-Traq to be used in offshore oil and gas, so a third design weighing 65-tonne in air was created. The larger system has been designed to handle larger product diameters, such as oil and gas fowlines and fexible pipelines, of up to 400mm in outer diameter. This vehicle’s functionality compares with a previous IHC

Merwede trenching vehicle i-Trencher but the

Hi-Traq system is 30 tonnes lighter.

The Hi-Traq demonstration vehicle during land-based trials.

EB designed and built the i-Trencher system, including a 1.25MW trenching vehicle, its launch and recovery system, and heave com- pensation system for trenching and backflling up to 2m deep in hard soil and deep waters.

Hi-Traq has an operator control system with surveillance and locating technology, which enables operations to be viewed remotely using a universal fber optic multiplexer system. A launch and recovery spread has been designed to be suitable for deployment in high sea states, with a snubber system designed to manage dynamic loads caused by wave action. The offshore renewables-focused

Hi-Traq vehicles can be deployed using a lift umbilical.

IHC Merwede is planning to extend

Hi-Traq’s tooling range to address the inspec- tion, repair, and maintenance, segments, as well as decommissioning. Hi-Traq could also carry other subsea tooling, such as an eductor dredging system, coupled to a long-reach exca-

Track pivoting on the Hi-Traq demonstrator vehicle.

vation linkage, to carry out subsea dredging.

Chris Jones is responsible for product development of subsea excavation and trenching equipment at

IHC Engineering Business.

He primarily works with product focused research and design whilst developing close contact with the market place to defne product development requirements.

He was previously at Caterpillar Building

Construction Products, aiding in the develop- ment of market hydraulic excavators. He studied at the University of Central Lancashire. IHC Engineering Business is part of IHC

Merwede, which supplies vessels, equipment and services to the dredging, mining, offshore

Hi-Traq’s steering capabilities improves the minimum trenching radius.

and marine markets.

oedigital.com May 2014 | OE 71 070_OE0514_Epic1_hiTraq.indd 71 4/18/14 9:29 PM