Power Frank van Mierlo

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PowerFrank van Mierlo
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90 of the undiscovered hydrocarbon reserves are
projected to be found in the deep ocean.
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Gulf of MexicoDeepwater Production of total
Source US Mineral Management Service
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Conclusion

• Technology can revolutionize the subsea
  industry.
• Underwater docking and recharging is feasible
• Deep-sea battery technology has improved. A 60
  KWh deep-sea battery system is 20 x 23 x 35

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Subsea infra structure
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Cabled Ocean Observatory
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(No Transcript)
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• Docking
• Demonstrated on MISO cabled
• observatory in Monterey Bay
• Autonomous homing and docking
• Batteries recharge
• Data download
• Mission upload
• Vehicle sleep/wakeup
• Code modification compile

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• Docking
• Recharges batteries and provides high-bandwidth
  coms and parking.
• Dock low cost complexity on vehicle.
• Homing successfully demonstrated at sea (2km
  range).

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Why Use Pressure Tolerant Batteries?

• Deep rated pressure vessels are expensive, large
  and heavy.
• Charging batteries in pressure vessels can be
  hazardous and opening the pressure vessel for
  each charge is a maintenance and operational
  liability.
• Rapid vehicle turnaround requires a removable /
  replaceable battery system.

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Brief History

• In 1998, Bluefin proposed the idea of pressure
  compensated packs to the Navy.
• The Navy responded with an SBIR to explore the
  use of the Li-Poly technology which Bluefin won
  in 1999.
• The results of initial pressure tests were
  encouraging and a decision was taken to pursue
  the pressure tolerant technology.
• The first generation of Fully encapsulated
  battery packs were designed and used successfully
  in a number of vehicles.

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In Water Trials

• The prototype packs were prone to imbalance.
• The electronics boards were inaccurate.
• Batteries did not turn on reliably and fuses blew
  continuously.
• The packs leaked oil.
• The connectors and cables were un-reliable.
• Sometimes even the switches stuck and required
  intervention!

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Improved Mechanical Design
Mechanical Design received many improvements.

• O-ring seals.
• Elimination of leak paths
• Added stiffening plates.
• Softer encapsulant.
• Standard quanta design
• Improved electronics.
• Higher energy density.

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Different Problems Appear!
Production and Cells had many problems.

• Cells would become puffy on the shelf.
• Cells occasionally leaked.
• Bricks rapidly became out of balance.
• Cells poorly matched.
• Cells lost capacity or dramatically changed
  capacity after cycling.

• Hard to select cells.
• Cells damaged in handling.
• No incoming specification or acceptance criteria.
• Encapsulation problems.
• Shorts, poor soldering, material inconsistency.

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Solved Cell Problems

• New vendor selected for higher quality cells.
• Change to Cobalt chemistry for higher energy
  density.
• New cell specification written and agreed with
  vendor.
• Bar-Coding and tracking.

Complete Overhaul of Cells, Design and
Production.

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Solved Inspection Problems

• Incoming inspection and measurement for tracking.
• Investment in cell testing equipment
• Higher tolerances, quality checks at all phases.
• All cells pressure tested before second stage
  mold.
• Better welding processes and jigs constructed.
• New molding materials selected.

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Solved Tracking Problems

Asset Tracking
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Design Problems Solved?

• Batteries stay in balance.
• Robust design.
• High quality cells.
• Water leak paths eliminated.
• Electronics boards more reliable and accurate.
• Firmware bugs identified
• Handling/maintenance , storage issues resolved.
• Batteries integrated in to shallow and deep water
  vehicles.
• Switches fixed.

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Not a chance!

• The batteries did not fit in the new 9 Sealion
  vehicle!

• Two batteries would not fit in the new 12
  vehicle and we needed 3!

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A New Approach-The Hybrid Battery
Aluminum lid
Blind mate connectors

Oil filled plastic case
Fill ports and zinc
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Hybrid Battery

• Flat, single electronics board.
• Larger lid area better heat-sinking for cell
  balancing.
• Internal compensation unit.
• Highest energy density /reliability cells.
• 14.1 kgs, 78Wh/neutral kg _at_ 3000m
• 95Wh/neutral kg _at_ 200m

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Vehicle Installation

• Single junction box with no cables to snag or
  crush.
• Easy to remove and replace.
• Usable in 9 / 12 / 21? vehicles.
• Foam defines depth rating.

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Top-Side Charging

• Complete automated GUI based charger / monitor
  and battery management system.
• Multiple safety cut-outs.
• Displays and logs all battery parameters.
• Rack mount or pelican case.
• Uses Standard COTS power supplies.

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Testing

• Field Testing
• Hundreds of dives.
• Thousands of mission miles on multiple vehicles.

• Pressure Testing Program
• Over 20,000 cells pressure tested to 9000psi.
• Pressure test program completed.

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Current Projects

• 12V /96Ah variant designed, built and tested.
• Currently in service in deep rated ROV.

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Current Projects

• High voltage (200V), High current (90A), High
  capacity (gt10kWh) battery module in prototype
  stage.
• Massive (300kWh) battery in design.

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AUV Development Stages
Increasing Task Complexity
Technical needs
State of the Art
Well Workover
Power
Structural Inspection
Tool Integration
Adaptive Navigation
Pipeline Inspection
Sensor Integration
Seabed survey