V-SLIM Subsea Deployed Line Integrity Monitor.

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Monitor and Improve the Insulation Resistance of Subsea Electrical Cables and Distribution Equipment.

The V-SLIM is subsea deployable electronics with unique technologies to monitor and improve the integrity of subsea electrical cables and distribution equipment.

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Water ingress to subsea electrical cables is the dominant cause of electrical faults. This results in an increase in leakage current and a low insulation resistance (Low IR) alarm. Continual insulation degradation eventually leads to failure of the circuit.

Existing topside located line insulation monitors only display a single IR result for the complete subsea system. When the IR drops, the topsides monitor provides no information on the number of faults or their location. A costly subsea fault finding campaign and possibly a production disruption is required which also carries the risk of introducing new faults in previously good connections. Even if a fault can be found and fixed, the entire process must be repeated each time a new fault occurs providing no long term added value.

Distribution systems that include subsea deployed transformer modules pose an additional integrity management challenge. In these systems a topside located line insulation monitor can typically only monitor up to the primary winding of the transformer, effectively monitoring the main umbilical only. Integrity monitoring of the electrical distribution equipment attached to the secondary side of the transformer, as is now commonly specified by field operators, must be addressed by other means.

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In addition to being unable to monitor the integrity of anything on the secondary side of a transformer, it is also not possible to utilise V-LIFE to recover low IR faults on the secondary side from a topside located V-LIM.

When deployed as part of the V-IR® system, the V-SLIM’s unique capability to measure the total system insulation resistance and the insulation resistance downstream of the unit enables a complete picture of the electrical integrity of the subsea distribution system to be presented to the field operator. The V-SLIM electronics can be installed at strategic subsea locations, either through retrofit or embedded within OEM equipment, and any associated degradation of the subsea electrical distribution network can be measured and located with analytics.

When deployed as a standalone subsea integrity monitor on the secondary side of a subsea transformer the V-SLIM fills the gap in the integrity monitoring information of the complete subsea electrical system required by many field operator specifications which cannot be provided by a topsides line insulation monitor. The V-SLIM can also be V-LIFE enabled which allows low insulation faults to be rejuvenated even on systems with subsea transformers. This is particularly advantageous on systems with infield umbilicals on the secondary side of transformers which are difficult to fault find and costly to replace.

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Product Features.

  • Measure the total system insulation resistance and insulation resistance downstream of the unit
  • Additional measurement parameters include voltage, current, frequency and insulation capacitance
  • Compatible with single phase AC or DC
  • Patented measurement technology allows wires to be routed directly through the V-SLIM with no in-line electronics or switches in-line
  • Compatible with existing topside IR verification testing activities (use of Megger)
  • V-LIFE ready
  • Available as a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) or in 1atm canister variant to suit customer requirements

  • Provides information to locate electrical faults without the need for an intervention
  • Compatible with existing subsea control systems
  • Minimises subsea intervention costs
  • Mitigates unplanned production loss

  • Electro-Hydraulic Subsea Production Control Systems
  • Monitoring IR downstream of subsea transformers
  • Monitoring and IR recovery of wet-parked umbilicals during FPSO refurbishment