ROVs Go Deep for Government and Industry
Many government agencies and marine service companies are acquiring remote operated vehicles (ROVs) to assist in their underwater operations. These highly manoeuvrable ROVs perform a variety of tasks at depths of 1,000 feet or more. Deploying an ROV instead of a diver can reduce the cost and increase the safety of any search or inspection operation.
One of the agencies using this technology is the Travis County Sheriffs Department in Texas, USA. When a teenager went missing while swimming in local lake, dive teams searched for four days without success. Officers from Travis Sheriffs Department were then called in. Using their JW Fishers SeaOtter-2 ROV the officers located the victim in less than 4 hours. Lieutenant Joe Escribano said the ROV has saved hundreds of hours of diving in their searches for weapons and drowning victims. The SeaOtter is equipped with a scanning sonar allowing to see things much further away than the video camera is capable of. The department also acquired the RMD-1, which is a metal detector that attaches to the front of the vehicle, allowing them to locate weapons and other metal objects buried in the bottom.
Another agency employing the ROV is the US Army Corps of Engineers. One of the facilities under their jurisdiction is the Ice Harbor Lock and Dam in Washington state. This congressionally authorised project consists of the dam, a powerhouse, navigation lock, fish ladders, a removable spillway, and a juvenile fish bypass. The dam is more than 2,800 feet long and 100 feet high and provides hydroelectric generation, recreation, and irrigation for the area’s residents and businesses. One of the tools helping the Corps in its inspection and maintenance operations is Fishers SeaLion ROV. The engineers have been using this system for more than 20 years and recently upgraded to the new smaller, lighter, and faster SeaLion-2 with high resolution color cameras in both front and rear.
VEIT is one of the Midwest’s leading specialty contractors and waste management companies. They perform a variety of commercial diving work including underwater cutting and welding, video inspections, marine construction and salvage, as well as bridge and dam inspection and repair. To assist in these operations the firm recently acquired Fishers SeaLion-2 ROV. Operations supervisor Aaron Faken reports the vehicle augments the work of their commercial divers by allowing pre-inspection of sites before putting the diver down, saving time and money.
Based in Florida, USA, Morris and Riley Development Management are involved in all phases of residential and commercial property development from design and permitting through construction and management. One of the jobs routinely called for is the inspection of drainage pipes in developments. Instead of using a diver for the operations, the team decided an ROV was a better way to go, and the unit they selected was the SeaLion-2. One of the jobs HT Marine is using a SeaLion2 for is to search for parts of US Airforce planes if they are missing in the Gulf of Mexico (image).
Marine coating company Jotun in Norway also offers technical advice and assistance in addition to supplying coatings. The company’s 600 coating advisors are in locations around the globe, aiding clients in the selection and application of the best product for their environment. There are times when an advisor may be require to examine the underwater portion of a ship’s hull, either before or after it’s coated. To more quickly facilitate these inspections Jotun acquired a SeaLion-2.
