The integrity of electrical power circuits is mission-critical to the production of oil and gas from subsea wells in fields around the globe.
The particular challenge that has concerned designers and operators of subsea electro-hydraulic control systems has been how to prevent the seawater from getting into contact with the copper conductors in umbilicals, flying leads, and connectors which could otherwise result in a risk to both production and personnel.
The risks associated with operating electrical equipment subsea make it imperative to continuously monitor the integrity of the insulation of these circuits throughout the operational life of the system and then to react quickly and effectively as soon as a fault is identified.
The measure of insulation integrity that is used in subsea systems is Insulation Resistance (IR) and the units are Ohms.
Due to the criticality of IR to our customers, and the huge number of low IR faults that are reported by subsea operators, Viper Innovations has invested heavily in the research and development of IR monitoring and recovery technologies and products.
Results of this investment include state-of- the-art line insulation monitoring hardware (V-LIMs) and a unique passivation technology that can recover the IR in failed circuits (V-LIFE) – installed by 30 operators in over 150 applications around the globe.