BMT Scientific Marine Services is now in the process of patenting its ROV-serviceable Subsea Strain Sensor Assembly (SSSA).
The company submitted application number 61416711 (currently pending with the United States Patent and Trademark Office) to patent its special ROV tool and alignment cage which allows for individual sensors in an assembly to be serviced or replaced without using a diver.
BMT’s SSSA is used to monitor the structural integrity of subsea structures such as steel catenary risers, production risers, tendons, platform legs and braces. Previously, these sensors were limited to diver serviceability due to the finesse needed to handle them and the inability of an ROV to manipulate the standard nuts and bolts that hold the sensors to the pipe. With the ROV-serviceable technology, Integrity Managers and Platform Operators can avoid the costs and risks involved with diver operations to change out a failed sensor and will no longer have to rely on highly redundant systems.
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Source: BMT,June 7, 2011.