PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Woodside has helped to design a one-of-a-kind offshore caisson cleaning and inspection tool (CCAIT) that allows safe and cost-effective remote inspection of critical equipment on its offshore platforms.

The system was designed, developed and deployed in less than 12 months via a collaboration led by Woodside and incorporating Perth-based expertise from Nexxis, Monadelphous, WOMA and Fugro.

The CCAIT system incorporates a human-sized robot, designed to inspect the inside of caissons - vertical carbon steel pipes up to 70 m long and up to 1.2 m wide. These structures are used on offshore platforms to house critical equipment such as firewater and seawater lift pumps.

Woodside said on Tuesday that 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 centralise 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 mobilising 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 VP for 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 said.

Nexxis Technology CEO Jason de Silveira said Woodside’s decision to partner with a local company demonstrated the strong sovereign capability of Australia’s advanced manufacturing sector to develop and deploy cutting-edge robotic technology.

“This collaboration highlights local capability and supports small to medium enterprises, creating jobs in the advanced manufacturing sector and pushing the frontier of robotics globally,” he said.