| dc.description.abstract | In the last years, Oceaneering has had an idea they want to further explore. The idea revolves around a new approach to subsea power and communication transfer. It is intended to give a cost-reducing alternative to the current products in the marked, which will be beneficial in the company future venture of semi resident auxiliary tooling.
The purpose of the thesis is to develop the idea fronted by Oceaneering AS by following the initial stages of the Systems Engineering V-model. The project ends at a detailed conceptual design stage to provide a basis for further development. The main goal of the thesis is to come up with a detailed conceptual design that is cost-efficient and to evaluate the concept feasibility.
A thorough mapping of stakeholder needs and requirements through establishment of a ConOps and by generating a Needs & Requirements matrix is conducted. Concepts are generated based on the defined requirements and the most promising is selected for further development. Design iterations are performed to end up at a detailed conceptual design level. Analysis on critical aspects is conducted to evaluate the concept feasibility together with production cost estimates.
Analysis results related to structural strength of the system indicates that the design is suspectible to low stresses and deformations. It can be classified as robust for the specified loadings. An analysis was conducted to observe the effect of varying contact resistance across the pin and socket contact areas. The results shows the relation between voltage drop and maximum generated temperature in defined environments that will be useful in further testing of the system. Production cost estimates indicates that the solution could end up below 30 000 NOK by a quantity-based production of 20 units, which is halved compared to current industry solutions with similar specifications. A point-by-point summary of the main conclusions of the reported work is given:
• The new type of electrical wet mate stab system can give Oceaneering a competitive advantage by a lowered cost compared to current industry solutions.
• The efficiency of subsea operations could be improved by reducing the need of deployment and retrieval for tool swaps by having tooling semi resident at seabed.
• Analysis indicates that the system will become robust and sets a foundation for testing of the electric connector.
• The reported work shows that the conceptual design provides a strong basis for further development.
Furthermore, it is recommended to make a prototype of the custom connector to conduct testing to verify performance and concept feasibility. Some measures must also be made to cover the remaining requirements in detailed engineering work. Testing of the complete system should be conducted according to ISO 13628-6. | |