Cougar is the Best Light Work ROV, Say ACSM

14 January 2011

The Spanish-based subsea services company ACSM, has boosted the top end of its ROV fleet with a Saab Seaeye Cougar.

This comes as ACSM builds an ROV fleet that can offer a full range of ROV services to the subsea market, alongside their core business of providing ROV personnel and services to customers with their own ROV resources.

David Cedron, ACSM’s ROV Supervisor, explains why they chose the Cougar over other vehicles in its class.

‘We already own a Perry TXL simulator that we use for training purposes, and a sub-Atlantic inspection ROV. When we decided to go for a heavier and more capable vehicle our choice was the Cougar.’

He goes on to highlight the main reasons that led them to the Cougar:

• ‘It has a reputation as a reliable machine within the industry. It is widely used and we have many good reports from customers and other companies that have used it.’
• ‘The Cougar is very versatile: it can carry out light work-class jobs but also survey tasks and it is possible to adapt a wide variety of sensors and ancillary equipment and tooling.’
• ‘It is not too big and it has a smaller footprint on deck, so we save cost, but more importantly we save on weight and bulk when mobilizing the equipment.’
• ‘With the Cougar we can remove the manipulator skid to have a very light configuration for inspection in high currents.’

David Cedron says they did not have a specific task in mind when purchasing the Cougar but rather a range of tasks.

‘We have several options for jobs in the upcoming year but the most requested will be oil rig inspection and NDTs (CP&UT), but also we are being offered seafloor survey and other research options. We are confident that the vehicle is capable of all these and some light work-class operations.’

ACSM’s Cougar comes with a dual five function heavy duty manipulator, HD grabber jaw kit, a cleaning brush assembly and tooling skid.

Its cameras include a 2000m rated low light colour camera and low light mono camera, along with a colour zoom camera with a pan and tilt unit.

A 2000m rated mini B&W camera is fitted to the Tether Management System, also from Saab Seaeye.

The sonar installation is a Tritech Super SeaKing with dual frequency sonar head.

For pilots, a key feature of the Cougar is its unrivalled manoeuvrability. This comes from its six thrusters: four vectored horizontal thrusters and two vertical thrusters, each having velocity feedback for precise control in all directions. Each thruster is interfaced to a fast-acting control system and solid-state gyro for enhanced azimuth stability that gives greater control and response than any other ROV on the market.

Important for ACSM, is that the Cougar has the flexibility in its design for the addition of a range of tooling and systems that will meet most subsea tasks.

In addition to the provision of ROV services, ACSM supplies Crew Management, Technical Fleet Service, and Legal Services, including highly qualified and specialized crews for Cable Ships, Offshore, Supply, and other DP vessels.

Saab Seaeye is the world’s largest manufacturer of electric ROVs, and now includes Saab’s underwater vehicle capability which provides tethered, autonomous and hybrid underwater vehicle systems for the defence industry.