“Modern subsea operations need more cost-effective solutions for inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) for increased operational endurance, especially as the water depth of many modern oil fields increases,” explains Thomas J. J. Meyer, CEO of Machine Prognostics.
“At many subsea installations, permanently stationed underwater vehicles working as regular IMR drones will be in demand. Sudden breakdowns will lead to loss of vehicle and colossal recovery costs. Being able to avoid vehicle breakdown due to efficient autonomous condition monitoring, and plan future maintenance tasks months ahead, will be a critical requirement for subsea IMR”, says Meyer.
Nowadays, maintenance procedures are organized around a combination of time-based and usage-based strategies. To move forward, there is a dire need of condition-based maintenance to minimize costs.
The goal of this project is to prepare adoption of the autonomous monitoring system for subsea applications. The technology is currently under installation within several different applications including ships, helicopters and heavy industry. As condition monitoring technology is crucial for subsea applications there is currently a very strong interest from a wide range of companies to adapt the technology.
“Our condition monitoring system Foresight represents a new and significantly advanced monitoring technology than what is available on the market. Machine prognostics works closely with regional partners such as MHWirth and MacGregor and is positioning themselves as key supplier for many NODE companies. NODE companies are the first companies applying this new technology, that will give them a leading edge over their competitors,” says Meyer.
Machine Prognostics is a spin off company from the R&D institute Teknova (now NORCE), where the proposed technology has been under development over the last five years. With the researchers from NORCE directly involved in Machine Prognostics, the company has solid competency at hand for further developing their technology through this strong research collaboration.
“The outcome will be a fully working prototype that will be finalized through verification and validation through the main project,” says Meyer.
Funding from Innovation Norway is provided under the Innovation Frame Program to joint innovation projects between several companies. The scheme is available for SME’s through the cluster organization.
READ MORE: Innovation Frame (Innovasjonrammen) – Norwegian text
