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says engineering and program manag- Aker Solutions worked with another ers from outside the oil and gas industry non-oil and gas core ? rm Devotek to have been recruited into the program to develop a subsea electric actuator, as part use a systems engineering approach to of its work on the Åsgard and Ormen

Subsea collaborate directly with other businesses Lange subsea compression projects.

Innovation – to solve the oil industry’s challenges. Devotek, which is traditionally more

Ferland herself comes from outside the involved in the automotive sector, has industry. A gas turbine engineer in the made a solution smaller and lighter than navy, she’s also been a saturation diver any other on the market, Valla says. It is in all its forms and, most recently, worked at AUV ? rm now fully tested and quali? ed and being

Hydroid, developing the Remus AUV. offered in tenders.

Standardization has been high on the agenda at the Underwater “We are bringing a perspective from The 83cm high (smaller than a Dyson

Technology Conference (UTC) in Bergen for the past two years. aerospace and other industries to see vacuum cleaner), 85kg in the water, sub-

This year, the focus was “innovating for the next wave.” Elaine and understand what other technologies sea electric actuator, quali? ed for 4000m can be brought in to the industry and water depth and -5 to 55°C operating tem-

Maslin reports on innovations discussed and on show.

what minor changes need to be made to peratures, has been designed for a 25-year make it meet the needs in the industry,” running, with a dual motor and gear oil she says. Interestingly, the group’s ? rst system, for barrier protection and lubrica- innovation was around how they found Solutions’ latest subsea control module, Innovation can tion, has a metal pressure compensator information from within Shell in order Vector 6, was developed with expertise take many forms, with condition monitoring. Maximum to carry out their ? rst step, which was to from a telecommunications business and said Simon Davies, torque output is 2700nm with 50,000 delve into the business to create a sys- its new electronic actuator was devel- manager, technology cycle lifetime at 1800nm nominal torque.

management, Statoil, oped with the help of an automotive tems model and to de? ne what speci? c

Jupiter while introducing industry-focused ? rm. goals were in order to de? ne them to the market. Shell is using non-oil and business the ? rst panel session UK-based Zetechnics has also drawn on

For Hervé Valla, expertise a different way. It has launched during this year’s wider industry technology to help offer chief technical of? - a new program – Shell TechWorks – to UTC. a new solution. Tim Over? eld, the ? rm’s cer, Aker Solutions, bring in innovation from outside the One such form is learning from and managing director, said a conversation looking at the bigger exploration business, its head of program leveraging expertise from other indus- with an ROV operator about monitoring picture – problems on management, Julie Ferland told UTC. She tries and both were evident at UTC. Aker hydraulic ? uid condition and another a systems level – is with a hydraulic ? uid monitoring technol- a key to innovation, ogy ? rm, led to their Jupiter trademarked

Aker Solutions’ instead of operating in subsea in line contamination monitor electronic actuator.

Hervé Valla Photo silos, which the indus- (ICM). Units sold fast after it was shown at

Photo from Aker Solutions. from Aker Solutions. try has a tendency to Subsea Expo in Aberdeen earlier this year do. and the sales continued at UTC.

Aker Solutions is doing this with its The 4000m deepwater-rated ICM is a subsea alliance with Baker Hughes, he permanent hydraulic ? uid (mineral oil says, removing the “false barrier” separat- or synthetic oil-based with a water glycol ing the well and subsea. One of their version available) monitoring tool, which ? rst innovations, PowerJump (OE: NCE enables operators to identify early when

Subsea supplement 2015) is a system hydraulic ? uid has any contamination innovation using existing components, in it so that maintenance can be carried he says. In less than a year, components out before it causes a problem and at a have already been quali? ed and a proto- time that suits. The ICM unit measures type is being built. hydraulic ? uid for particulate and water

But, he also suggests technology contamination. The 120mm-diameter, development around creating families of 200mm-long, titanium encased 2.3kg in products, which can be adapted, rather water ICM, which can run periodically or than reinvented, for different situations, continually, needs just 24v and stores up but built from the same core components, to 4000 sample tests to its memory. such as the ? rm’s new subsea control Zetechtics also had its latest subsea module, Vector 6, which has a standard control unit, Jupiter 2, on show at UTC. chassis, but its software means it can be Launched earlier this year, it is the latest modi? ed to meet deployment require- version of the ? rm’s ? rst control unit, ments. What is interesting about Vector deployed ? rst in 1998. Jupiter 2 has been 6, is that it was developed by a team that launched as a family of units, which can had been brought into Aker Solutions be adapted according to client require- through the acquisition of the telecom- ments. Its innovation is bringing what munications business in 2012. “They in the past has been two separate units came with a completely different mindset in to one, enabling control of small but and challenged us a lot,” Valla says. also very powerful functions, from 12l/

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