Valeport Launches New Sensors for Subsea Survey and ROV/AUV Operations
Valeport, a leading manufacturer of oceanographic and hydrographic instrumentation, has further expanded its portfolio’s capability with the launch of two new sensors for ROVs/AUVs and subsea surveys.
Valeport has launched the new miniIPS2 and new uvSVX, which both offer operationally specific interchangeable pressure transducers that deliver enhanced accuracy for specific depth ranges. These field-swappable sensor heads make it easy for users to select the correct pressure range for their work and offer increased accuracy at any depth, alongside streamlining benefits to users who previously required different instruments for shallow and deep water.
Interchangeable Pressure Module
The smart miniIPS2 underwater pressure sensor, with accuracy to 0.01%, offers a cost-effective solution to vehicle pilots who require highly accurate depth information in real time. Key to the design is an interchangeable pressure module that allows users to change pressure transducers for maximizing operational specific depth requirements. This innovative pressure module, with integral calibration, can be easily changed in a couple of minutes without opening the instrument and is available in 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 600bar variants.
The pressure sensor module fitted to the miniIPS is a temperature-compensated piezoresistive sensor, which delivers the performance previously only available from resonant quartz sensors but at a more cost-effective price. It also brings the added advantages of long-term stability, allowing longer intervals between calibration, and a smaller and more robust construction. Complex and vulnerable arrangements of diaphragms and oil filled capillaries and reservoirs are therefore no longer necessary. The miniIPS2 is compatible with Valeport’s MIDAS BathyPack and BathyLog software, allowing the depth data to be continually updated for density variations in the water column.
Precision Accuracy
Designed for underwater vehicles where space is at a premium, the compact uvSVX features Valeport’s Time of Flight technology and delivers salinity, conductivity and density data, along with SVP as standard. High accuracy data is assured with the addition of Valeport’s unique interchangeable pressure module that allows users to maximize operational specific depth requirements. This advanced pressure module, with integral calibration, is quickly and easily changed in the field, with no tools required and without opening the instrument. Delivering 0.01% accuracy, the interchangeable pressure transducer is available in 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 600bar variants.
Using the latest developments in digital sensor technology, the new uvSVX is lightweight and housed in titanium with a depth rating of 6,000m and delivers a reliably accurate performance under all conditions.
For more than 50 years, Valeport has been committed to pushing the boundaries of marine instrumentation to deliver ultimate accuracy, as Guy Frankland, head of marketing, commented: “The new interchangeable pressure modules on both these instruments are a unique combination of exceptional reliability and precision accuracy with an enhanced and efficient user experience and makes them ideally suited to innovative underwater vehicles.”
