The hydrophone deployment system for the Hutton tension leg platform uses four-metre-long cylindrical housings in Hiduron® 191 (UNS C72420, NES 835, DEF STAN 02-835), chosen for high strength, excellent resistance to seawater corrosion and good resistance to biofouling.
Accurately positioning a floating oil production platform is critical to keeping the drilling station correctly located. The location of the Hutton tension leg platform in the North Sea is continuously monitored, and corrected, by a computer-controlled guidance system fed by hydrophones at the four corners of the platform, inside the ballast tanks that form part of the hull.
The system, designed by the Keymat Products Department of Fenner Fluid Power for the Hutton platform, holds the hydrophones in retractable housings that can be lowered up to two metres below the hull. Hiduron® 191 was used for most of the principal components, including the weld-constructed flanged cylinders, seal housing assemblies and fasteners.
