General – Robotics System
Woodside has teamed up with Nexxis, Monadelphous, WOMA, and Fugro to develop a new offshore caisson cleaning and inspection tool system.
The CCAIT system allows safe and cost-effective remote inspection of critical equipment on its offshore platforms.
The one-of-a-kind system was designed, developed, and deployed in less than 12 months. The CCAIT system incorporates a human-sized robot, designed to inspect the inside of caissons – vertical carbon steel pipes up to 230 feet long and up to 4 feet wide. These structures are used on offshore platforms to house critical equipment such as firewater and seawater lift pumps.
In response to possible COVID-related supply chain risks, a local solution was sought, inspiring the collaboration.
The CCAIT system is remotely controlled from a safe location on an offshore platform by skilled technicians. The tool is lowered inside the caisson via a tether and winch arrangement. Wheels are then extended to centralize the tool within the caisson, and probe arms extend to enable ultrasound inspection. A series of high-definition cameras stream video back to the technicians, with the data used by the asset team to define the forward plan.
“The CCAIT system removes the costs of mobilizing tools from international locations, including the cost of delay in fractured supply chains. These can represent up to 50% of the total cost of an inspection campaign,” Woodside Executive Vice President Technical Services Daniel Kalms said.
“It was incredible to see the team, including Woodside graduate robotics engineers, write software to dramatically improve the performance and usability of the tool. The project team was made up of people from local companies who came together and designed, procured, fabricated, tested, and validated a robotic solution during the height of a pandemic in under a year,” he added.