Related Posts

• Hydraulics Engineer at Work - Typical Problems to Solve at Subsea

  Subsea hydraulics is a very niche area in the world of hydraulics engineering. It’s an area that is mostly focused in the oil and gas industry (90%), 9% in military and 1% in other. It encompasses seafloor systems, surface control equipment and the control of oil wells amongst other tasks such as cable maintenance and seabed exploration.

   

  The Role of the Subsea Hydraulics Engineer

  
  

  Subsea hydraulics engineers have some seriously interesting challenges to solve. Not only are they faced with the day to day hydraulic challenges that most of us deal with, but they also have to handle the sea, its power and pressure. The pressure found on the seafloor is extreme. What’s even more extreme is the pressure found inside the wellbores for underwater energy extraction.

   

  One of the biggest challenges for these engineers is the development of Blowout Preventers (BOPs) that are used to contain oil. It’s what prevents oil from emerging into the ocean and creating a giant spill that results in a wildlife emergency. This can prove to be very costly for oil companies.  

  BOPs have to be designed, tested and operated in addition to having procedures written and processes established. Subsea hydraulic engineers also handle other equipment such as the subsea robots that are also known as Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs). ROVs need to be winched into and out of the water using hydraulic power at the winch. In fact, you may find some of our hydraulic power units in use at winches.

   

  Developing a deep water oil field requires an astonishing amount of equipment. Although there are some electric systems used, the controls are typically managed with hydraulics.  The field could be giant and cover miles from one side to the other.

   

  Oil Fields can be miles across...

  
  

  ...and involve large amounts of subsea equipment. The job of the subsea hydraulics engineer is to ensure that all equipment is working the way it should be. There are calculations to do, designs to create in addition to plenty of operating procedure and process writing and revising. There’s also a requirement to develop a schematic of how each piece of equipment sourced from different vendors is going to operate and interface on the sea floor. This takes a lot of PowerPoint and Excel use to map this out for the other employees and management!

  
  

  The Subsea Hydraulics Engineer Prevents Disasters

  
  

  A major part of the role is to do the small day to day things that go a long way in preventing anything exciting from happening. We don’t want to have to get involved in issues such as needing to perform an oil spill recovery. In this industry, even the smallest mistakes can cause disasters that poison marine wildlife, sink expensive equipment or even kill people. It’s something that we take very seriously.

   

  Some hydraulic engineers in other companies do tasks such as design remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and launch and rescue systems (LARS) for use by the oil and gas industry, movie makers, the navy, explorers, scientists and even treasure hunters.

   

  Hydraproducts has customers in a broad range of industries, including in the subsea fields. We supply hydraulic power units from micro size to bespoke size to suit whatever is required in all industries, including marine related.

  
  

• The Use of Subsea Hydraulics Overview

  Subsea hydraulic components have long been used for marine and deep sea applications. Even in the 1970’s large machines had started to use the first hydraulic components to help with underwater activities for industries such as oil and gas.

   

  Tasks such as trenching, digging, drilling and other heavy machinery activities could be carried out at depths of up to 200 meters below the surface of the water. Hydraulic valves, machines and cylinders were used to drive manipulator arms, drilling tools and track drives.

   

  In these early days it was relatively rare to see these types of machines in operation, so the components were usually costly. However, this evolved over the following years and deep sea hydraulics became an area that was marginally less costly to operate in.

   

  In this century, focus is on deep sea hydraulics and its ability to assist with the sourcing and extraction of fossil fuels and minerals. Greater depths can be reached through the use of ROVs – remote operated vehicles / subsea crawlers. Depths of up to 6000m can now be reached and materials can be harvested using this new generation of subsea machinery.

   

  It’s no longer necessary to position the harvesting and processing equipment on either a ship or a platform. It has to go down onto the seabed to carry out the necessary activities. Hydraulic machinery is ideal for operations such as this due to their power, precision and flexibility.

   

  The type of applications that you’ll see subsea hydraulics used for include the handling of heavy loads and installation of heavy machinery. Tools used to build marine based structures on the seabed such as hydraulic hammers that drive piles are just one of the applications that are used. Others include civil engineering structures such as harbours, marinas and bridges that need to have foundations or objects anchored into the seabed.

   

  ROVs also make it possible to carry out seabed test drillings for oil and gas industry operatives. They can also install heavy equipment that can protect pipelines and cables used for transporting oil and gas, from dangers such as shipwrecks, earthquakes and naturally strong sea currents. They can bury the pipelines into the ocean floor to keep them secure and safe from risks. The ROVs are highly sophisticated in their manoeuvrability and handling.

   

   

  Another way that subsea hydraulics are used in marine related industries is for deep sea mining of the sea floor. A lot of deposits of high grade rare earth minerals including gold, silver and copper have recently been discovered in the Pacific Ocean. Subsea hydraulics make it possible to harvest them. For example heavy duty ROVs can be operated hydraulically in order to establish the construction required to harvest these minerals.

  When it comes to subsea machinery, hydraulics can help with the launch and recovery of highly valuable and expensive subsea equipment in addition to the control of machines such as the ROVs.

   

  There are many challenges and engineering obstacles that need to be overcome in order for hydraulic components to work in the deep sea. Not only must the materials be able to resist the high pressure of being underwater, and so very deep underwater, it’s essential that they can handle the pressure and the salt present in the water. One of seawater’s unfavourable powers is its ability to rapidly corrode materials. Therefore, protection against this corrosion is essential. This might be addressed by engineers with special coatings or by using materials that are corrosion resistant.

   

  To prevent a short circuit, all hydraulic valves that are solenoid operated also have to be protected against contact with water. It’s not easy to hoist a machine up if it needs to be fixed. It’s important to provide subsea machinery with a lifespan that is both lengthy and maintenance free.

  If you’re looking for reliable and durable subsea hydraulic power units, contact us today.

• The Evolution of Hydraulic Power

  Hydraulics has been around for a very long time. But are you aware of how far it has actually come? You wouldn’t be alone if you responded with no. It is a very technical subject that can be quite difficult to understand, but in this article we want to tell you the story of hydraulics! We want to share with you who discovered hydraulics, what it was originally used for and how hydraulic power got to where it is today. 
  
  So why don’t we start at the beginning! Where does the word hydraulic come from? 
  
  The word hydraulic originates from the Greek word ‘Hydros’ which means water. Why water? Well, this is because water was the first liquid to be used in the hydraulic system. Today, hydraulics includes the physical behaviour of all liquids, not just water. 
  
  

  What Exactly are Hydraulics? 

  
  The evolution of hydraulics would be pointless unless you are actually aware of what hydraulics and hydraulic power is. In a nutshell, hydraulics is an incredible scientific method of providing power and force to make peoples work more efficient and easier. 
  
  That sounds like a nice theory, but how does it actually work? Well, it works by compressing fluids that are locked inside a confined compartment. This compression produces a force that can be applied to power machines or systems to help workmen and women across the globe, in a variety of industries with their workloads. Therefore, the power of hydraulics quite simply makes our workloads easier. Today it is used in so many machines that we would see every day, these machines are fundamental in helping our society run a lot more smoothly and efficiently. 
  
  

  Who Came up with the Theory of Hydraulics?

  
  With any theory or method, there is a lot of debate about who the genius is behind it. But today we are going to talk to you about Blaise Pascal. Pascal can be credited as the brains behind hydraulics as he came up with a famous theory that is now the principle of hydraulics. Pascal’s law as it is commonly known, states that a change in pressure at any point in an enclosed fluid at rest is transmitted undiminished to all points in the fluid. This means if you apply a little pressure to fluid in a confined structure it is capable of releasing a force much greater than the pressure that was originally used. 
  
  The first person to then take Pascal’s law and use it was a man called Joseph Bramah in the seventeenth century. Bramah, an Englishman built an apparatus based on Pascal’s law, known as Bramah’s press. One of the common uses of the Bramah press back then was to use the apparatus and hydraulic power to pump beer from the cellars into the taps at public houses. 
  
  After Bramah’s breakthrough, hydraulic power was used to supply power to operate cranes and other machinery that were found across ports in Britain and Europe. 
  
  However, even though hydraulic power was used in the seventeenth century, it was not until early in the twentieth century that we started to see hydraulic power replacing traditional electrical systems. Replacing electrical systems was a huge milestone for hydraulic power and some see it as the rebirth of the hydraulics system. 
  
  It is important to note that since Pascal and Bramah’s discovery, several other inventors and engineers have contributed to the theory of hydraulics and have helped improve hydraulics to get it to where it is today. 
  
  Hydraulic power took off in a massive way in 1945, when the Second World War was over. This is when we could really start to see machines taking full use of the power hydraulics could offer. 
  
  

  So How do we use Hydraulic Power now?

  
  Hydraulic power is used in many applications that we see every day. We’re sure you would be hugely surprised if we wrote a list. However, hydraulic power is commonly used in the automotive, construction, manufacturing and entertainment industries. 4 incredibly different industries but their common trait is that they all rely on hydraulics. 
  
  Thanks to hydraulic power construction workers can now move huge amounts of ground that would previously not have been possible. For example if we take a look at an excavator, it has the ability to easily move and manoeuvre mud weighing around two tonnes. Pretty impressive considering it used to pump beer?
  
  But as we mentioned above, it is not just in the construction industry that make use of this impressive science, we can give you an example of how hydraulic power helps us manage waste in our homes. On a weekly or biweekly basis people around the nation will be taking out their rubbish for bin men to collect. The bin trucks that they then deposit our rubbish into make good use of hydraulic power. 
  
  By this point you may be thinking that only huge machines use hydraulic power, but do not be fooled. It’s not only great big machines like bulldozers that use hydraulic power, but mobility scooters and our braking systems in our cars use hydraulics too. Taking a closer look at the mobility scooter, how do you think it moves? Yes you guessed it, hydraulic power is the reason a mobility scooter will move forward. 
  
  ,h3>So what do we seen in the future when it comes to hydraulic power?
  Unfortunately, we don’t have the answer to that question at the moment. Technology has already improved the control, techniques and design of hydraulic power systems and we are sure that new technologies will only advance hydraulics even further.
  
  We are excited to wait and see what happens and hopefully you are too now.

• What are Hydraulic Powerpacks?

  Hydraulic Powerpacks 

  In this article we want to explain the ins and outs of hydraulic powerpacks. A vital piece of equipment that is used with so many machines we see every day. 
  
  In a nutshell, hydraulic powerpacks are self contained units that are used instead of a built in power supply for hydraulic machinery. Hydraulic power uses fluid to transmit power from one location to another in order to run a machine. It really is as simple as that.
  
  So what do they look like? 
  In order to recognise and better understand hydraulic powerpacks, it is a good idea to get to know the key components. Hydraulic powerpacks come in many different shapes and sizes, some are very large and stationary whereas others are much smaller and more compact. In fact, some hydraulic powerpacks are so compact that they can easily be transported in a small van or even an estate car. 
  
  The only real way to identify hydraulic powerpacks is through its main components. No matter the size of the unit, all power packs will have the following; a hydraulic reservoir, regulators, a pump, motor, pressure supply lines and relief lines.
  
  What do these components do?
  It may be obvious to some but in this post we wanted to explain every component as simply as possible. So here goes. 
  
  First up is the hydraulic reservoir which quite simply holds the fluid. Reservoirs will come in different sizes. 
  
  Then we have the regulators. Regulators are vital as they control and maintain the amount of pressure that the hydraulic powerpack delivers. 
  
  Thirdly we have the pressure supply lines and relief lines. The supply line simply supplies fluid under pressure to the pump and the relief lines relieve pressure between the pump and the valves. The relief lines also control the direction of flow through the system. 
  
  Finally we have the pump and a motor. We will begin with the simpler component of the two, the motor. The motor is simply there to power the pump. Easy as that. Now the pump generally performs two actions. Firstly, it operates as a vacuum at the pump inlet and through atmospheric pressure forces fluid from the reservoir into the inlet line and then to the pump. It then delivers the fluid to the pump outlet and pumps it into the hydraulic system. We did warn you that the second part would be slightly more confusing. 
  
  So what is the function of hydraulic powerpacks? 
  Hydraulic powerpacks deliver power through a control valve which in turn runs the machine it is connected to. Hydraulic powerpacks come with a variety of valve connections. This means that you can power a variety of machines by using the appropriate valves. 
  
  Hydraulic powerpacks are relied upon by a range of different machines that use hydraulic power to do its work. If a machine is required to carry out heavy or systematic lifting then its likely it would need help from a hydraulic powerpack. 
  
  To make it easier for you to understand, we have included a list of trades that regularly rely on our powerpacks. On a building site you will see machines like bulldozers and excavators, which both need hydraulic powerpacks. But, it is not just on building sites that you will find these types of machines. Fishermen and mechanics both need hydraulic powerpacks too. If we did not have them then how would fishermen lift their nets or how would mechanics lift our cars? 
  
  When picking a hydraulic powerpack there are a variety of pumps and options to pick from and it is important to pick the right pack to meet your machines needs. It is also important to consider a pack that will help maximise productivity and minimise cost. 
  
  Many people will overlook the necessity of hydraulic powerpacks, but they really are vital to ensuring our society runs efficiently. 
  
  Do you need to maintain hydraulic powerpacks? 
  Yes you do and this is hugely important! Hydraulic powerpacks require regular maintenance to ensure they are working properly and safely and to help extend their life. Maintaining hydraulic powerpacks is relatively simple and includes checking the tubing, this can be for any noticeable problems such as dents or cracks. It is also vital to regularly change the hydraulic fluid and look at the reservoir to check for any corrosion or rust. 
  
  What hydraulic powerpacks do we provide? 
  Generally we provide four different types of hydraulic powerpacks. You can pick from a standard powerpack, a mini powerpack, a micro powerpack or a bespoke powerpack. 
  
  The standard hydraulic powerpack uses a standard range of modular components and is ideal for the most demanding industrial applications. The mini powerpack is ideal for applications requiring up to 5.5kW. The micro hydraulic powerpacks were originally produced for mobility applications, so are great for when space is limited. Finally, if none of these seem to fit your needs then we offer bespoke hydraulic powerpacks ensuring your application gets the hydraulic powerpack it requires. 
  
  Finally, who is the genius behind hydraulic powerpacks? 
  The man behind hydraulics was Laissez Pascal. A French mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher who lived in the mid seventeenth century. Pascal made observations about fluid and pressure which led to Pascal’s law. Pascal's law states that when there is an increase in pressure at any point in a confined fluid, there is an equal increase at every other point in the container. Hydraulic powerpacks have been designed based on Pascal's law of physics, drawing their power from ratios of area and pressure.

  So, interested in our Power Packs? Come on over to the main website and see what we can do for your Hydraulic Power Pack Needs .

• What You Need to Know About Subsea Hydraulic Design

  There are many factors involved in how much subsea hydraulic related applications are able to grow and increase in usefulness in the marine related industries. For example, key considerations are how long they can be kept in use without there needing to be maintenance performed or costly repairs and engineering undertaken. How safe are they for both the ocean and for people? How can the harsh environment be overcome for industries to achieve their goals?

   

  Some maintenance for subsea work is of course something that cannot be avoided. For example, the high external water pressure, corrosion, powerful currents and operating machinery by remote control all come at a price. With clever design and careful planning, it’s possible to keep costs to a minimum.

   

  Pressure compensation and seals

  Something that can affect performance of any system is external pressure. Pressure compensation can be used to enable better underwater operation. Used as a means to keep pressure constant between the reservoir and the seawater, it helps to ensure that seals can still operate as they are usually designed to operate for flow travelling in just one direction, and to handle pressure drop for just one way.

   

  The majority of components that are designed for hydraulic systems are land or surface based. They will have been built to cater for the environment without any specific issues such as high pressure. These components therefore cannot withstand the pressure found in deep water or even pressure drops that are severe.

   

  One of the solutions to handling and supporting pressure-sensitive components in their operation is to seal them inside a protective chamber. However this can be difficult and costly to implement. The chamber would need to be of rigid construction with heavy-duty rugged seals installed that could handle the high external pressure. Pressure compensation is another method that is often seen as being more effective. It’s used by applying a pressure that is equal and opposite to that of the pressure found outside the component.

   

  Piston rods and reservoirs

  Plasma arc welding is used to apply high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) gun and cobalt-alloy  coatings to piston rods that will be used in subsea deep water conditions as part of a hydraulic cylinder.

   

  When it comes to reservoirs, they will often be replaced by sealed reservoirs. They will contain a flexible medium separator to ensure that the pressure of the external environment will also be in the reservoir, just as can be found in normal surface systems. However, the difference being that the oil and the seawater do not mix as they are prevented from doing so.

   

  This ingenious system then makes it possible to use any component that is used on the land, underwater, as long as any areas are filled with fluid as opposed to the air that would normally be in them if they were operating on the surface. They will then need to be connected to the reservoir to maintain the balance of pressure.

   

  Corrosion is a subsea challenge

  Another area of challenge is that of corrosion. The study of keeping seals and seawater working together is known as tribology. It’s essential for subsea hydraulic system designers to be familiar with the concepts involved – keeping seawater out and hydraulic fluid inside a system. For large hydraulic cylinders, keeping the integrity of the piston rod in full operation, even after being exposed to extreme environmental conditions is critical for securing a long-term operation of the system.

   

  Another area of concern is ensuring that all subsea application machinery is designed to a level that does not hurt the ocean environment or people.

  Overall, the challenges of designing subsea equipment are multiple due to the harsh environment of the ocean, the reliability required for operators in addition to safety. As industries opt to travel deeper into the ocean, we can only see the challenges increasing. 

• Subsea Hydraulic Power Units

  When it comes to reliable power sources for subsea production systems, our hydraulic power units have been recognised as some of the best. We design, manufacture and test all of our systems in house and on site to deliver a collection of products that make it possible to meet all standards for a variety of subsea pressure systems and control systems.

   

  About our product:

   

  Our hydraulic power units (HPUs) are carefully designed in alignment with your project specifications. We also meet international standards with our durable, complete units that are comprised of pumps, instruments, filters, valves, accumulators, motors. Our machines are made to operate in the harsh environments of deep sea settings.

   

  Our systems are the best with regards to health and safety, durability, reliability and operational ease. They meet what you would hope for in terms of both your operational needs and expectations. Developed according to your specifications to keep plot space and weight low.

   

  With a broad range of HPUs built for subsea, from large hydraulic systems to the smallest, compact and portable hydraulic systems. We can also provide you with highly complex, advanced and state of the art installations that will operate in either arctic or tropical environments.

   

  Our Approach

  
  

  Our engineers have decades of combine experience in the design, manufacturing and testing of hydraulic systems for a variety of industries. Our systems and solutions are innovative and state of the art and can provide you with what you need to meet your challenges.

  We have been providing bespoke solutions for years. All of our systems have safety in mind in addition to productivity. Wherever you are located in the world, we can provide safe control of processes whether you are operating an oil and gas plant or a small application for which you need one of our micro hydraulic power units.

   

  Focused on providing solutions, we have a good understanding of machinery that uses hydraulic power as a solution. Our network of leading vendors means we can source the best components to meet what needs.

   

  Our Added Value

  
  

  • Where we add value is with our knowledge and experience.
  • Our products are designed to meet your needs and operating conditions
  • Our engineering teams have extensive experience and know  how to create the best hydraulic packages for your operations
  • We also offer after-sales support