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The 8mm hose and MKII fitting system is designed for fiber optic and electric wiring applications where limited space and bend radiuses are major constraints. The clear Polyurethane hose allows easy verification of filling and the arrangement of fiber and electrical wires inside. The hose is designed for extreme kink resistance for reliable routing of fiber optic cables. The hose is self compensating and has the same pressure rating as the 13mm and 20mm MKII hoses.

Fitting and sealing system is identical to the industry standard 13mm and 20mm MKII sizes, but scaled down for compactness. Various interface fittings and splitter boxes allows using the 8, 13 and 20mm components in the same system.

The key features include:

• Temperature and pressure compensated
• Design Life: >25 years in operation subsea
• Pressure/Temperature: Self compensating to
• 3,000m WD
• Single or double o-ring sealing
• Metal to metal sealing
• Swivel Nut. Serrated for easy handling
• Titanium GR2 or AISI316 as an option
• Anti-rotation crimp sleeve system
• MKII compatible through out
• Crimp sleeve electrically connected

For more information the datasheet for this (PSAS-DS-0007 8mm PBOF Hose) can be found on the PRODUCT DATASHEETS page of SEA CON®’s website under the PRECISION SUBSEA AS heading.

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To ensure that these underwater connection technologies are ready for the market much focus is placed on their development.  Typical underwater connector development programs include; design and feasibility studies, prototyping, concept reviews, critical design reviews (CDR’s), failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA’s), final design reviews (FDR’s), test readiness reviews (TRR’s), detailed qualification programs, and pilot project deployments.  This paper reviews the processes and considerations in the specification of reliable subsea connectors for use in a PRM type system.

A typical underwater connector development project from concept phase to deployment will typically consist of:

1. A Funding Source
2. Industry Partnership
3. Development of Operating Specification
4. Design Modelling
5. Prototype Manufacturing
6. Qualification Testing
7. Manufacturing Tooling
8. Manufacturing Procedures, Laboratory Configuration for Mass Production
9. Process Repeatability – Build units many times over in a production environment
10. Development of a successful field history over multiple deployments (typ. 3yr+)

There are no known current industry standard specifications for underwater connectors. However, there are a variety of organization specific requirements documents created by oil and gas operators and associated major equipment providers.  These specifications are the main documents used in the initial development and qualifications of underwater interconnect equipment.  Additionally, there are industry working groups such as Subsea Fiber Optic Monitoring systems (SEAFOM), that are creating subsea industry recommended practices for subsea interconnect systems.  Recommendations through SEAFOM are currently being developed and should become available to the industry over the next few years.  As more requirements for underwater connectors are established greater focus will be put on their specifications and qualifications.  This is now seen in some of the major offshore developments that are using fiber optic underwater connectors.

Typical offshore developments where larger quantities of fiber optic wet-mate underwater connectors are used include the Ormen Lange Field in the North Sea at 800m-1,200m, Pazflor off Angola at 1,000m-1,200m and a variety of fields in the North Sea in the 200m to 500m depth range including Troll, Tordis and Tyrihans.

Most all underwater wet-mate fiber optic connectors in current offshore deployments are for use with umbilical termination assemblies (UTA’s) and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operated optical flying lead jumper assemblies (OFLs) connecting to optical routers in the subsea control modules (SCM’s).

These offshore projects that widely use the fiber optic underwater connectors have differing architectures than that of PRM systems. Below are some illustrations of envisioned PRM systems using underwater fiber optic connectors for connection of cable arrays.  These architectures or configurations will vary based on the sensing technologies utilized in the PRM system.

The illustration below (Figure 1) is a typical optical PRM system architecture utilizing optical wet mate connectors for installation of the seismic sensor arrays.  In deepwater applications the complexity of installation is minimized with the use of underwater optic wet-mate connectors.

Figure 1: Deepwater array utilizing underwater fiber optic wet-mate connectors

The illustration below (Figure 2) is a typical optical PRM system architecture utilizing optical dry-mate connectors for installation of the seismic sensor arrays.  In shallow water applications deployment and retrieval of arrays is less complex and installation is minimized with the use of underwater optic dry-mate connectors.

Figure 2: Shallow water array utilizing underwater fiber optic dry-mate connectors

Considering the differing architectures for PRM systems there will also be considerations for varying operating parameters.  An underwater connector used in an offshore umbilical typically will be used for data communications.  The operating performance for the underwater connectors will be evaluated for insertion loss (IL) typically less than .5dB per contact.  Other parameters for these communication systems will be less important such as contact back reflection (BR) and optical power handling.  Advanced sensing or surveillance systems used in offshore installations use the fiber component itself as a sensor.  These sensing systems such as distributive temperature sensing systems (DTS) in down hole type applications, in addition to IL, the BR is potentially another cause for concern affecting the system performance and measurement accuracy.  PRM systems, depending on their configuration will have unique requirements for underwater connectors that must be considered in the initial phases of system definition.  Evaluating these requirements early on will help identify and gaps in technology that may be filled through development and qualification.  Below (Table 1) illustrates some of the performance requirements that may be identified in an operating performance specification.  Some of these parameters may be unique for a given PRM architecture and new performance characteristics may be required to be included.

Table 1: Typical operating Parameters for underwater connectors in a PRM system

While underwater fiber optic connectors are widely used in the subsea industry, much work is still needed for their specification in applications such as PRM systems.  Organizations such as SEAFOM are working to create recommended practices for equipment, however industry input is still desired as the latest PRM systems are developed and pilot projects are launched.

Underwater fiber optic connectors will continue to be a critical part of the PRM system functionality and correctly identifying their requirements are essential to long term reliability when deployed subsea.

http://seaconworldwide.com/downloads/high-power-wall-chart/

For more information please go to the datasheet section of SEA CON®’s website and look under the SEA CON Global Production heading.

SGP-DS-0001 Commercial Subsea FO Rev 2

HYDRALIGHT

The first derivative of the HYDRASTAR was the smaller HYDRALIGHT.  Direct customer advice was the catalyst that led to the development.  The HYDRALIGHT is basically a downsized optical only HYDRASTAR connector that incorporated the following additions:

• Smaller size
• Optical only (up to 8 channels)
• Addition of plug cover sleeve
• Enhanced change of compensation oil and elastomers
• Stronger springs and enclosure of main springs
• Seawater compatible interior

SEA CON® currently have two versions of the HYDRALIGHT;

1.  Military stab-plate version

2.  Oil & Gas ROV version

The military version being part of host sub-system for underwater Defense applications and the Oil & Gas ROV version being the direct optical-only HYDRASTAR replacement for long-term applications as expected within the underwater oil and gas industry.

The military version being part of host sub-system for underwater Defense applications and the Oil & Gas ROV version being the direct optical-only HYDRASTAR replacement for long-term applications as expected within the underwater oil and gas industry.

Technical Changes

Removal of the electrics led to an immediate size reduction and the addition of a cover sleeve around the plug was easily incorporated. Enclosure of the receptacle spring was more of a challenge but was achieved efficiently in the ROV version.

The change of compensation oil proved to be more of a challenge.

The reason for initiating the change is that there appears to be a trend within the Defense industries away from the use of silicone as a compensation fluid.

The primary reason they have for this concerns collateral silicone contamination on other molding processes within the factory or particularly during field installations.

We have not seen evidence of such contamination as successful procedures have
been generated to deal with the use and containment of silicone within the factory.

However the selection of alternatives was carried out and a synthetic oil was selected as a possible replacement and with due consideration we re-qualified the connector to confirm the new fluid’s performance.

The final findings in assessing the advantages of the potential change were positive and it was decided to change and re-qualify the connector with synthetic compensation oil.The advantages are:

• Improved lubrication
• Improved dielectric strength with a 50% higher dielectric withstand voltage
• Improved water absorption properties

Another very positive knock-on effect in using alternatives to silicone oil was the ability to select an alternative elastomer for use within the HYDRALIGHT.

A particular compound of fluorosilicone was selected and has proved to be a robust alternative with a greater degree of compatibility with the types of chemicals used in the oil & gas industry.

These have been very positive changes, now successfully concluded by two independent requalification test exercises on the military stab-plate HYDRALIGHT, one by SEA CON®  and the other by a third party.

The extensive re-qualification included compatibility testing, pressure testing, temperature and sand/silt testing and durability, which all successfully confirmed the design changes and now these qualified Military HYDRALIGHT products are operating successfully in the field.

An additional change was also incorporated on the ROV version for a seawater compatible interior.

This was driven by a specific customer with a requirement to ensure in the unlikely event that the HydraLight became flooded, it would remain functional for a long period of time.

Whilst this change was incorporated it necessitated the use of significantly more expensive internal piece parts and thus had an impact on price.

Testing

The qualification testing of the HydraLight has been extensive and onerous. Covered by two separate test programs, one for the stab-plate version for military use and the other for use within the oil and gas industry.

Stab-plate Version.

The testing was conducted by third party personnel at Southwest Research Laboratories in San Antonio, Texas and included:

• Optical testing
• Over 440 mate/demate cycles in total
• Mate/demate cycles in clean seawater
• Mate/demate cycles in clean seawater to 9,800 feet (2,987m)
• Mate/demate cycles in sandy/silty seawater (to a pre-determined mix)
• Mechanical testing as part of host system

In all cases the testing showed good connector optical and mechanical performance within specifications throughout.

Oil & Gas Version.

The testing was conducted by SEACON personnel at Southwest Research Laboratories in San Antonio, Texas and included:

• Optical testing – Insertion loss and back reflection
• Mechanical – Helium leak testing, misalignment, locking device and mating forces
• Hyperbaric to 10,000psi (23,000 feet, 7,000m) – Pressure cycling and mate/de-mate
• under pressure.
• Turbid tank – Wet mating test, partial mating test, testing horizontal, vertical and at
• 45°
• Environmental stress tests – Thermal shock, mechanical shock and vibration

Further to this additional testing was conducted to qualify the hose, hose termination and jumper assemblies as being suitable for use with optical fiber and an external Fiber Management System (FMS).

These were completed by Bennex Omnitec in Norway and included:

• Hose and hose termination
• Environmental stress tests – Hose absorption/compensation, ozone resistance, ultraviolet resistance and thermal shock
• Destructive testing – Tensile failure, burst pressure, crush resistance, outer sheath abrasion and hose kink testing
• Jumper assembly
• Oscillating jumper test, jumper pull test, drop test, jumper handling simulation test
• Simulated deployment test

Track Record

Over 2,000 units sold already, 30 million  accumulated operating hours & MTBF of better than 7 million hours with a 99% confidence level (latest figures available upon request).

Gary Brown and Matt Christiansen take us through an overview of the lessons learned in design, development and testing, plus a summary of the track record, of a full range of underwater-mateable fiber-optic connectors.

This has enabled underwater-mateable fiber-optic connectors to join the subsea industry’s selection of proven components for deepwater and ultra-deepwater applications.

Subsea Optical Communication Systems

Underwater optical fiber and communication systems have been in use in the offshore and subsea oil and gas environs for many years now. The main advantages of such systems are now well known, for example:

• Significant increase in communication bandwidth
• Significant increase in speed of data transfer
• Significant increase in communication distances
• Immunity to electrical noise
• Potential cost reduction in subsea umbilical construction and installation by enabling the
• manufacture of smaller diameter umbilicals
• Well-known temperature dependent properties of optical fiber

It is however the use of wet-mate optical connectors that has enabled modular underwater installation and this combined with the advantages above have allowed a significant growth in the following:

• Increasing quantity, speed and sophistication of remote, distant underwater monitoring and control
• Significantly faster underwater seismic streamer array processing
• Next generation subsea Christmas tree and manifold systems
• Subsea separation, subsea processing and subsea production boosting systems
• Significantly longer step-out distances for remote well locations or subsea satellites
• Real-time assessment of reservoir performance and optimization
• Real-time health and status monitoring of subsea equipment for safety and to better understand equipment maintenance regimes
• Greater opportunity to access large quantities of raw subsea data
• The use of high power transmission systems which rule out conventional electrical data communications due to Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI)
• The opening up of long distance (200km) shore to field opportunitie

It is the advent of these newer technologies moving into the subsea environs and in deeper waters that have created not only the need for optical wet-mateable connector products but also the number and increasing diversity of them as well.

The Challenge of Wet-Mate Fiber Optic Connectors

As a very brief introduction to fiber optical communications, the principle of operation exploits the ability of light to travel efficiently within a very fine glass fiber. The glass fiber is essentially an optical wave-guide in which light stays trapped within the core by near total internal reflection between the core and it’s outer cladding. The core consists of a 9µm diameter high refractive index glass material covered by a 125µm diameter lower refractive index cladding.

For comparison of size a human hair is 90µm diameter. The 125µm cladding may also be covered in a protective coating to a diameter of 250µm that subsequently may also be covered by a secondary coating to 900µm.

The main challenges of wet-mate fiber optic connector design and manufacture are:

• The alignment and coupling of these very fine 9µm diameter glass fibers underwater without any contamination across the optical faces
• The alignment and coupling of these very fine 9µm diameter glass fibers underwater without high optical losses
• The ability to operate underwater for long periods of time underwater without discernable degradation

Specifications for Optical Wet-Mate Connectors

The demand for optical applications is increasing and not only are the quantity of optical system products increasing but so too is the variety and complexity of the many and varied applications required. These in turn affect the customer’s requirement for optical wet-mateable connectors. These varied technical and commercial requirements include but are not limited to those extremes identified below.

These points all have an impact on product design, development, cost, qualification and availability:

• Lifetime
  • Long term (25 years plus)
  • Short term (months only)
• Optical Losses
  • As low as possible (≤ 0.5dB)
  • ≤ 2dB
• Size
  • As small as possible
  • Don’t care
• Cost
  • Must be inexpensive
  • Don’t care but not exorbitant
• Configuration
  • ROV, AUV, Diver, Stab-plate
• Material
  • Non-corrosive metal body materials
  • Non-metallic body material
• ROV Handle
  • T-bar, H-handle, Fishtail-handle
  • ISO 13628-8 Design & Operation of ROV Interfaces on subsea production systems
• Temperature
  • Low or high temperature only
  • Wide operational temperature
• Channels
  • Single channel only
  • Between 4 and 8 channels
  • As many as possible
• Termination
  • Cable termination
  • Hose termination
  • Strength member termination
• Testing
  • Fit for purpose
  • Extensive test program to meet operational requirements
  • Test to extremes

In each case these requirements are assessed for compatibility with current products in an attempt to standardize product elements.

In many cases there are technical, physical or commercial constraints that require alternative solutions, especially when the quantities are significant and the costs can be justified.

Over the last few years this increasing trend from customers has led to the development of a family of several different wet-mateable optical products that are proving very successful.

This has resulted in the availability of this range of products, thus allowing more technical and commercial choice of field proven products for the end-user.

These requirements are increasing in both numbers and variety and with it wet-mate optical connectors are already being used on the following systems, which we know of:

Oil & Gas

• Qualification & evaluation programs
• Subsea control systems
  • Norsk Hydro Troll pilot project
  • Burullus Scarab/Saffron project
  • Norsk Hydro Fram Vest project
  • Phillips Little Dotty project
  • Petrobras SBMS multiphase pump project
  • Downhole instrumentation – Shell ETAP project
  • Seabed seismic system – BP East Foinhaven project
  • Deepwater drilling systems

Oceanographic Research

• ANTARES Project – subsea optical telescope, in the Mediterranean, designed for the detection of Neutrinos

Military

• Qualification & evaluation programs
• Classified Defense projects

In the next post we go on to look at the development process in more depth with the HYDRALIGHT wet-mate optical connector.

Hybrid fiber optic cables present a number of challenges to the connector supplier.  The complexity and range of cables in addition to customer requirements is immense.  The numbers of cores, both electrical and optic vary depending on the system requirements, the depth required, operating conditions and Kevlar or steel armour termination all play a part in connector choice.

The SEA CON® group has the advantage of being at the forefront of this ‘new’ technology with a range of COTS (Commercially Of The Shelf) connectors, such as the OPTI-CON, or our MINI-CON and MSS series which are all available to suit a range of hybrid fiber optic cables.  In addition, our in-house design and engineering capability means our connectors can either be adapted to suit or a bespoke solution achieved, with short lead times and exceptional quality.

Please visit the Optical Hybrid Dry-Mate page of SEA CON®’s website for more information on SEA CON®’s optical hybrid range of products.

The external size is identical to the current standard field proven 8-channel HYDRALIGHT family of connectors with an increased fiber interface utilizing high density optic ferrules. The design is being driven initially through the need to optimize optical data transfer between the surface platform and a vast array of optical sensors that are deployed subsea.

KEY FEATURES

• 3rd Generation optical wet mate connector
• APC contacts configurable up to a maximum of 48 channels per connector
• Synthetic mineral oil compensation fluid
• Highly compatible elastomers
• Field proven sealing mechanisms
• Oil filled and pressure balanced design
• Optical coupling within “joined chamber”
• Seawater compatible internal components
• ROV operable interface
• Linear latch and de-latch mechanism
• SEA CON® Precision MKII PBOF 13mm Hose interface

DESIGN RATINGS

• Depth Rating: 7,000m (23,000 feet)
• Design Life: 25 years
• Operating Temperature: -5ºC to +45ºC (23ºF to +113ºF)
• Storage Temperature: -25ºC to +60ºC (-13ºF to +140ºF)
• Maximum optical insertion loss of 0.5dB per channel
• Average optical insertion loss of 0.2dB per channel, with a standard deviation of 0.1dB
• Maximum optical back reflection of -45dB per channel
• Average optical back reflection of -50dB per channel, with a standard deviation of 4dB

OPERATION

• Typical mate stroke length: 122 mm (4.8″)
• Max rotational misalignment: 10º
• Max angular misalignment: 5º
• Max radial misalignment: 6.4 mm (0.25″)
• Max handling load: 2,500 N (560 lbs)
• Max ROV load: 5,000 N (1,120 lbs)
• Mating force: 64 kg force (140 lbs)
• De-mating force: 18 kg force (40 lbs)
• Compliant ROV handle
• Linear latch & de-latch mechanism
• Stab indication confirmed when visible orange color on bulkhead half is fully covered by the flying lead half
• Maximum mate/de-mate speed: 0.3m/sec (12″/sec)

MATERIALS

• Main seawater wetted parts: Titanium
• Wave spring, retaining ring: Hastelloy
• Front Elastomeric seals: Fluorosilicone compound
• O-Rings: Fluorosilicone or Nitrile
• Scraper ring: Rulon
• Compensation fluid: Synthetic mineral oil
• Internal components: All seawater compatible