Applications
-
NEPSYS
NEPSYS successfully been used to perform permanent underwater repairs in a variety of industries including the oil & gas, shipping & defence and marine infrastructure sectors.
Oil & Gas
Underwater welding is a necessary part of the maintenance of any metal structure that exists below the water. The Neptune System has enormous advantages over conventional repair methods used, chiefly in its ability to affect high quality dry welds without the need to design and construct expensive and delaying hyperbaric chambers. For oil and gas operators, this means potentially significant cost and time savings. As the demand for related underwater inspection, maintenance, and repair services increases with aging platforms and infrastructure, so too the demand for NEPSYS welding repairs is also increasing.
The NEPSYS system has specific applications for subsea pipelines, oil rigs, platforms and sub-sea structures. The customized habitats can be configured to virtually any welding repair situation and have already been fabricated and used to repair a range of structures such as pipelines, spud cans and chords, and even complex shapes such as K-nodes etc.
Shipping & Defence
NEPSYS has the potential to deliver to ship owners and operators enormous cost savings in repairs through avoiding conventional practices such as having to prematurely dry dock vessels. Due to its ability to produce high quality dry welds that are approved by the major class societies and at a comparative cost and convenience to that of a wet weld, the Neptune System offers significant advantages over conventional repair methods used in the shipping industry.
Previously, repairs to vessels have been in two drastically different categories - temporary repairs and/or dry docking.
- Temporary repairs such as wet welds and the use of concrete boxes are expedient, and while being quick fixes, they are also very costly as continual rework is required. They often require more frequent class inspection, they ultimately have to be removed and repaired correctly during dry docking, and they don’t maintain the structural integrity and strength of the original hull structure.
- Permanent repairs achieved by prematurely dry docking a vessel are enormously expensive in terms of both direct and consequential costs. Dry docking also typically imposes considerable operational delays.
The NEPSYS technology has been applied to a number of underwater ship maintenance tasks such as repair of cracks, corrosion, pitting and mechanical damage including holes and hull tears. NEPSYS has proven itself in both minor and major repairs. Complete insert plates have been welded into hulls with full penetration, double-sided welds used to provide maximum strength and continuity of hull forms. NEPSYS repairs have been performed on rudders, rudder stocks, bilge keels, ‘A’ brackets, and various other irregular hull fittings as well as of course to the more straight forward repair of hull plating.
The portability and rapid deployment capabilities and continual refinement of the technology also make it ideal for use in military theatre environments where in-situ permanent repairs are critical.
Marine Infrastructure
NEPSYS dramatically improves upon conventional underwater welding repair and maintenance practices used in sub sea industries. It also has particular application on in-shore maritime structures such as ports, piers and jetties, where standard welding is impeded by water. Similarly it can be used for the repair of inland structures employed in dams and rivers such as water feed lines, tanks, locks, and other underwater infrastructure.