Page 530 - The ROV Manual - A User Guide for Remotely Operated Vehicles 2nd edition
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19.7 Subsea interface standards 527
FIGURE 19.25
VideoRay with grabber used for object retrieval.
19.7 Subsea interface standards
(Courtesy VideoRay.)
Current subsea vehicles are trickle-down technology from earlier military applications. Military standards, as they apply to undersea vehicles and other systems, are usually concerned with shock, vibration, and other issues that would cause the system to become inoperable due to environmental damage or wear. Until the advent of the subsea construction programs brought on by the mineral mining industry, few industry standards existed. By far, the largest current user of ROV equipment for deepwater construction applications is the offshore oil and gas industry—and thus the primary beneficiary of any standards for common interface.
As oilfield exploration and production equipment became standardized, two primary organiza- tions took the lead on promulgating these standards—the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Standards arose for common wellhead and oilfield structures so that all manufacturers could build within a framework of common interface. But as the wellheads went from human-accessible locations to the deepwater seafloor, the need for an ROV-friendly common interface designed into the beginning of the project engineering of the structure became readily apparent.
Both the API and ISO answered this call separately and then merged the standards into a mir- rored international standard. As of this writing, the current standard for subsea production systems is API 17 and ISO 13628. Other standards have arisen over time. These have been adapted by vari- ous organizations including DNV, NORSOK, and IMCA as well as company-specific guidelines. As the API 17H/ISO 13628-8 standards are identical and the most commonly used (and adapted by many governmental regulatory organizations), ISO 13628 will be the controlling standard (as described herein).
