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Sector
Power and Utilities
Location
Orkney, Scotland
Services
Load Monitoring
Our partnership with Orbital Marine Power (OMP)
Overview
British Engineering Services Asset Reliability Strainstall were selected to provide a subsea load monitoring solution for the O2 tidal turbine, which was recently constructed by Orbital Marine Power (OMP) and deployed off Orkney, Scotland.
The challenge
Weighing 680 tonnes and measuring 72m in length, the floating structure stands to be the most powerful of its kind in the world, with the ability to meet the electricity demands of 2,000 homes over the next 15 years.
Following construction, the tidal turbine has since been established in an environment that holds some of the strongest tidal currents in the world. The subsea load monitoring pins provided by us had to function within the turbine’s splash zone area, in addition to being capable of withstanding temporary immersion.
Due to the deployment arms of the turbines rotating around the axis of the load pins, we needed to ensure the pins could provide a wide, 90-degree range of angular movement.
The load pins had to monitor both pushing and pulling forces in order to match the current’s changing direction.
OMP required independent monitoring of the forces acting on each end of the load pins. This presented a particular challenge, in that the clevis joint they were designed to fit in had a total of five areas of contact, as opposed to the usual three.
The solution
The load pins we provided were both XY and bi-directional, meaning they could measure the forces acting on the pins in a positive and negative polarity, in two independent planes of direction.
Although the total length of a single load pin was just over 1.8m long, each was designed to effectively be two independent load pins, both sharing the same physical, high-tensile stainless-steel housing.
Both load pins we provided had a total of four independent, internal Wheatstone bridges, each of which was connected to an internal amplifier, providing a 4-20 mA analogue signal back to OMP’s control system.
The result
We supplied two subsea load monitoring pins capable of measuring forces up to 350 tonnes, which were positioned at the joint between the main structure and the turbine deployment arms.
Due to the load pins being bi-directional, OMP was able to calculate the resultant force acting on the structure alongside the changing tidal currents, while still allowing the turbine to remain in operation.
The O2 tidal turbine stands to provide homes with predictable, clean power by harnessing the tidal stream to help combat climate change.
Key outcomes
Two subsea load monitoring pins installed to measure forces up to 350 tonnes.
Bi-directional load pins allow OMP to calculate resultant force and keep turbine in operation.
O2 tidal turbine will provide predictable, clean power to homes.
Contact us to find out more about our Load Cells!
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