Joseph Coleman

Unmanned vehicles for maritime spill response case study: Exercise Cathach.

This paper deals with two aspects, namely a historical analysis of the use of unmanned vehicles (UAVs ROVs, AUVs) in maritime spill incidents and a detailed description of a multi-agency oil and HNS incident response exercise involving the integration and analysis of unmanned vehicles environmental sensing equipment. The exercise was a first in terms of the level of robotic systems deployed to assist in survey, surveillance and inspection roles for oil spills and harmful and noxious substances.

Non-Reversing Generators in a Novel Design for Pumping Mode AirborneWind Energy Farm

The design of a pumping mode airborne wind energy (AWE) farm is presented in this chapter. This design centres on the use synchronous generators on a local frequency wild bus, with full scale power converter located at the point of grid connection. The design is well suited to a remotely located or offshore farm. The focus of the chapter is on the modelling of a ground based electromechanical system which provides a continuous electrical power output from multiple AWE devices whose individual operation delivers periodic mechanical power. The generators are not reversed during operation as the system presented separates the power and recovery tasks of the winch. Furthermore the use of permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSG) enables the direct interconnection of multiple devices to a local bus. The AWE farm design philosophy is detailed and encouraging simulation results are discussed.

Collision Detection for Underwater ROV Manipulator Systems

Work-class ROVs equipped with robotic manipulators are extensively used for subsea intervention operations. Manipulators are teleoperated by human pilots relying on visual feedback from the worksite. Operating in a remote environment, with limited pilot perception and poor visibility, manipulator collisions which may cause significant damage are likely to happen. This paper presents a real-time collision detection algorithm for marine robotic manipulation. The proposed collision detection mechanism is developed, integrated into a commercial ROV manipulator control system, and successfully evaluated in simulations and experimental setup using a real industry standard underwater manipulator. The presented collision sensing solution has a potential to be a useful pilot assisting tool that can reduce the task load, operational time, and costs of subsea inspection, repair, and maintenance operations.

Airborne Wind Energy—A Review

Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) is a new approach to harvest stronger wind streams at higher altitudes for renewable energy. This paper reviews recent developments in this field. Conventional wind energy and current constrains for its development are discussed and airborne wind energy as an appropriate solution in the literature is reviewed. Different AWE technologies are reviewed and appraised and other related issues such as transmission and curtailment are discussed.

Closing the gap between industrial robots and underwater manipulators

Underwater robot manipulators mounted on work class ROVs are extensively used in a wide range of subsea intervention applications. Unlike the automated stationary robot arms used in factories, commercial underwater manipulators are tele-operated by human pilot in the loop. In this paper we describe investigations, development and adaptation of robot manipulator servo control approaches common for light assembly tasks in industry and the transfer of these techniques to marine robotics.

Smart inspection ROV for use in challenging conditions

This paper presents the design concept of developing a smart, inspection remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is to be used in challenging conditions. The cost of installation and maintenance of marine renewable energy (MRE) devices must be reduced in order for the technologies to have further financial viability. Current inspection ROV technologies are unable to operate in the challenging conditions where these MRE devices are situated. To aid in the reduction of MRE installation and maintenance costs a ROV is being developed which will allow for remote inspection of these structures. The design process of the ROV is detailed. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis has been conducted to aid in making decisions on shape of ROV. The acquisition of equipment and testing of systems, such as the inertial navigation system (INS), is described. Results of initial tests are provided and the future work and testing is explained.

Airborne wind energy: Simulation of directly interconnected synchronous generators for a novel wind energy technology

This paper presents the design and simulation of a simple wind farm consisting of three identical airborne wind energy systems. The novel concept of airborne wind energy (AWE) is briefly introduced. The focus of the paper is on the modelling of an operational method that provides a continuous power supply from a cluster of AWE systems whose individual operation delivers a non-continuous, periodic supply. The devices are directly interconnected on a local bus with an operation schedule to provide a continuous power output. A synchronisation routine is described, which enables an offline machine to join the bus. This setup is simulated under typical operating scenarios with results presented and discussed within.

Smart ROV LATIS in Action: Sea Trials

Abstract ROV LATIS is a next generation smart ROV with multiple modes of operation: Surface-Tow Mode, Surface-Thrusted Mode, ROV Operation Mode & ROV Submerged Tow in Strong Currents Mode. It is designed as a prototype platform to demonstrate system validity & operability and to prove new technologies developed in the Mobile and Marine Robotics Research Centre. Research outcomes are applicable to the growing international off-shore oil and gas sector, and also for future deployment, monitoring, and maintenance of ocean energy devices (in particular - wave energy converters and tidal turbines). System validation and technology demonstration was performed through a series of test trials with different support vessels off the west coast of Ireland. Selected results of the most recent field trials are presented in this paper.

Towards Inspection of Marine Energy Devices Using ROVs: Floating Wind Turbine Motion Replication

Inspection, repair, and maintenance operations are of crucial importance for the safety and survival of marine renewable energy devices. Current ROV manipulator technology used for subsea operations in offshore oil and gas industry is not adequate for offshore renewables. Target devices for inspection and monitoring operations in oil and gas are close to static, unlike their marine energy counterparts which are in motion due to a highly dynamic environment in which they operate. In this paper we describe motion analysis methods for marine energy devices implemented on the OC3-Hywind floating wind turbine in order to understand the conditions in which inspection and intervention operations are to be performed. Additionally, we present experiments carried out on a laboratory rig which is able to replicate the motion of the OC3-Hywind floating platform, and which will be used in future research on control systems for automated visual inspection and intervention using ROV manipulators.

Development and Testing of a Control System for the Automatic Flight of Tethered Parafoils

This paper presents the design and testing of a control system for the robotic flight of tethered kites. The use of tethered kites as a prime mover in airborne wind energy is undergoing active research in several quarters. There also exist several additional applications for the remote or autonomous control of tethered kites, such as aerial sensor and communications platforms. The system presented is a distributed control system consisting of three primary components: an instrumented tethered kite, a kite control pod, and a ground control and power takeoff station. A detailed description of these constituent parts is provided, with design considerations and constraints outlined. Flight tests of the system have been carried out, and a range of results and system performance data from these are presented and discussed.