I-AUV docking and panel intervention at sea

Palomeras, Narcís, Peñalver, Antonio, Massot-Campos, Miquel, Negre, Pep Lluís, Fernández, José Javier, Ridao, Pere, Sanz, Pedro J. and Oliver-Codina, Gabriel (2016) I-AUV docking and panel intervention at sea. Sensors (Switzerland), 16 (10). (doi:10.3390/s16101673).

Abstract

The use of commercially available autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) has increased during the last fifteen years. While they are mainly used for routine survey missions, there is a set of applications that nowadays can be only addressed by manned submersibles or work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) equipped with teleoperated arms: the intervention applications. To allow these heavy vehicles controlled by human operators to perform intervention tasks, underwater structures like observatory facilities, subsea panels or oil-well Christmas trees have been adapted, making them more robust and easier to operate. The TRITON Spanish founded project proposes the use of a light-weight intervention AUV (I-AUV) to carry out intervention applications simplifying the adaptation of these underwater structures and drastically reducing the operational cost. To prove this concept, the Girona 500 I-AUV is used to autonomously dock into an adapted subsea panel and once docked perform an intervention composed of turning a valve and plugging in/unplugging a connector. The techniques used for the autonomous docking and manipulation as well as the design of an adapted subsea panel with a funnel-based docking system are presented in this article together with the results achieved in a water tank and at sea.

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Contributors

Author: Miquel Massot-Campos

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