Virtual Reality

GE creates virtual tour of the seabed factories of tomorrow

GE creates virtual tour of the seabed factories of tomorrow
GE is using virtual reality to explain the technology behind its vision for subsea robotic factories
GE is using virtual reality to explain the technology behind its vision for subsea robotic factories
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A subsea 'Christmas tree" installation
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A subsea 'Christmas tree" installation
A subsea factory installation
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A subsea factory installation
Subsea "Christmas trees" and support ship
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Subsea "Christmas trees" and support ship
GE is using virtual reality to explain the technology behind its vision for subsea robotic factories
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GE is using virtual reality to explain the technology behind its vision for subsea robotic factories
The virtual tour opened in Rio de Janerio
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The virtual tour opened in Rio de Janerio
The virtual tour uses an Oculus Rift headset
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The virtual tour uses an Oculus Rift headset
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In the 1960s, engineers predicted that manned outposts would be built on the bottom of the sea housing hundreds of workers to handle complex tasks like exploiting deep sea oil and natural gas fields. In the 21st century, those outposts are becoming a reality, but as unmanned robotic platforms that are rarely visited by humans. To show how these will be built and operated, GE has created a 3D virtual exhibit for its new research center in Rio de Janeiro.

Developed by GE and Oculus Rift, the tour uses the Oculus Rift headset to provide an immersive 3D trip to an oil factory on seabed one mile down off the coast of Brazil, as seen from the pilot's seat of the virtual Nautilus 1 submersible. As the tour proceeds, the visitor sees the layout of the factory, a robotic rover connecting to a deepwater "Christmas tree" gas and oil control valve assembly.

What isn't there is people. There are no divers or habitats because everything is either robotic or remotely controlled from the surface. This installation is designed to operate and maintain itself without human intervention for years on end as it pumps oil and gas from deposits four miles beneath the ocean's surface in freezing, highly corrosive conditions and hundreds of atmosphere of pressure.

A subsea 'Christmas tree" installation
A subsea 'Christmas tree" installation

The purpose of such an installation is to overcome the problems associated with working oil fields in deeper and deeper waters. In the early days of offshore oil exploration and exploitation, working from a rig or drilling ship was relatively simple, but as exploration moved to deeper fields, working them from surface platforms became extremely difficult, expensive and even dangerous as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrates.

GE's idea is to move the works from the surface platforms to the seabed using automated installations. This would include subsea separation, which is taking the crude petroleum coming out of the ground and dividing the oil, gas, and water. Once this was done, the installation would boost it up the collection pipes to awaiting tankers or shore stations. These installations are so far out that they need to use a DC power system rather than the conventional AC systems because of the large amount of power that needs to be transmitted over long distances.

"You could imagine doing all the operations you previously would have done topside on the seafloor," says Alisdair McDonald, business leader of subsea power and processing at GE Oil & Gas. "This would essentially do away with having a floating platform, the capital and operating costs of running it and the risks of having a manned platform out at sea."

A subsea factory installation
A subsea factory installation

Such installations have already been built in the North Sea, where GE developed components that can operate for decades on end while experiencing temperatures from freezing to 350º F (177º C), yet maintaining tolerances within two microns. For the new installations off the coast of Brazil, the technology must operate even deeper and with more autonomy to work the pre-salt layers on the ocean floor, which are sedimentary rocks that formed as South America and Africa split off from one another millions of years ago and have been found to hold major deposits of light oil.

"The Oculus Rift experience provided an opportunity for us to take viewers into otherworldly territory that we wouldn't normally be able to visit," says Katrina Craigwell, GE’s head of global digital programming. "Traveling a mile down to the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Brazil, the experience highlights the extreme environment that subsea technology must withstand, and a vision for how a subsea factory will work in the future."

The video below shows the virtual tour.

Source: GE

View gallery - 6 images
5 comments
5 comments
Robert Walther
I am curious, and uninformed. I thought AC electrical was used instead of DC partly because of cheaper transmission costs over distances.?
mphase
@ Robert
My understanding is that it is more efficient to transport electricity at higher voltages. But we want to use electricity at low voltage. So when large scale electrical systems were first starting to get used (late 1800 early 1900s) it was easier and more reliable to step the voltage up and down with AC power based on the technology at the time. This plus some other factors resulted in AC power winning the utility scale distribution network wars.
That all being said with modern technology my understanding is that reliable voltage conversion is possible with both AC and DC power now. And as there are some advantages to transporting DC power at high voltage compared to AC that newer long distance power distribution is starting to be DC as opposed to AC.
Joseph Mertens
Peak Oil look it up.
c4jjm
Wikipedia has an interesting article on this, I too thought AC was superior, but it turns out that is only true for less that 19ish miles. Since modern tech has come a long way, we can easily make use of HVDC (not the lower voltage that ultimately lost to AC back in the old days) for long distance power transmission (longer than 19-62 miles).
StWils
This is also a great start to learning how to do day-to-day stuff off planet Eventually we are going to send people to Mars and it will be essential to be able to operate systems remotely to handle a wide array of tasks.