Seaeye Panther Plus
 

Seaeye Panther Plus Features:

• Max operating depth: 1000 metres
• 220 kg forward thrust (bollard pull)
• 170 kg lateral thrust
• Weighing only 500 kg in air
• 105 kg payload
• 10 brushless DC thrusters with velocity feedback for superior control
• Thruster power supplies split into 2 separate channels for redundancy
• Auto heading and depth with auto altitude option
• Two hydraulic manipulator interfaces
• 12 function hydraulic solenoid valve pack
• Seaeye high torque pan and tilt unit
• Dual channel variable intensity, individually fused, 600 watts of lighting
• Interface for survey sensors
• 4 simultaneous video channels
• Integral video overlay system

Seaeye Panther Plus is a development of the Seaeye Panther in response to an original operational requirement developed with Aberdeen based ROV company, Rovtech, who operate one of the largest fleets of Seaeye ROVs.

The principal requirement was for greater power, payload, more interfaces and a work class ROV capability excluding heavy construction work.

Forward thrust has been doubled to an impressive 220 kg with lateral thrust increased from 85 kg to 170 kg with a relatively small increase of the vehicle's in air weight to 500 kg. Payload has been increased to 105 kg. These improved performance figures translate into handling characteristics that pilots report as being 'simply spectacular.'

Visually, the distinguishing feature of the Seaeye Panther Plus is the additional 4 vectored SM5 brushless DC thrusters making a total of 8 vectored thrusters in pairs. The ROV frame has been slightly enlarged to accommodate these thrusters, improve through frame water flow and provide space for a 12 function hydraulic valve pack for tooling and manipulator applications.

A particular benefit of the 'Plus' configuration of pairs of vectored thrusters and two vertical thrusters is the level of redundancy available. The power for the thrusters is split into two channels with each channel providing DC to one vertical thruster and 4 of the 8 horizontal thrusters. If a fault should develop on one channel it can be isolated allowing operations to continue at half power. If there is a failure in only one horizontal thruster the effect on vehicle performance and control will be barely noticeable.

Panther Plus with 6 function hydraulic manipulator & 5 function grabber		Stern view showing improved through frame water flow to the 8 vectored thrusters

Typical Panther applications include:

• Pre and post lay pipeline surveys
• Touch down monitoring
• Cable installation
• Drill support
• IRM
• NDT inspections
• Salvage operations including torpedo recover and support of distressed submarines with emergency life support pods
  

A basic ROV system comprises the Vehicle, a Surface Control Unit, a Hand Controller and a Power Supply Unit. The surface control unit and PSU can be supplied free standing or containerised. The Control Container can be Zone II rated or rated for safe area operations and can be air conditioned.

Although free swimming operations are possible with up to 600 metres of tether this ROV is normally deployed using a Seaeye Tether Management System (TMS) to minimise the effect of current on the vehicle's performance. The standard TMS is a garage with a bale arm, level wind and 150 metre capacity of tether.

A skid mounted 'A' frame and lifting winch with 1000 metres of armoured lift umbilical is offered as a compact combined unit to launch and recover a TMS garaged Seaeye Panther Plus. This can be offered rated for hazardous area Zone II operations or to for 'safe area' operations and is known as a 'LARS' or Launch and Recovery System. Alternatively you may have your own crane available and may only require the lifting winch and armoured umbilical with an umbilical sheave, a lock-latch release mechanism and vehicle bullet for launch and recovery.

Propulsion
All Seaeye ROVs feature brushless DC thrusters which, apart from having the greatest power density, have integrated drive electronics with velocity feedback for precise and rapid thrust control. The thrusters are interfaced to a fast PID control system and a solid-state rate gyro for enhanced azimuth stability. These essential building blocks enable Saab Seaeye to provide superior control and response from their powerful ROVs and set them apart from the competition

The Panther Plus thruster configuration is eight vectored Seaeye SM5 brushless DC thrusters in pairs for horizontal control and two vertical units for vertical control. The power supply to the thrusters is split into two channels with one vertical and 4 horizontal thrusters allocated to each channel.

Chassis
The modular, polypropylene chassis is extremely rugged, totally maintenance free, non corroding and self supporting in seawater. Additional equipment can be bolted directly to chassis members.

Aluminium Pressure Housings
Machined from 6082 marine grade aluminium and hard anodised in black.

Connectors
Seaeye's range of metal shell connectors are generally used throughout.

Buoyancy
The two electronics pods are fabricated with high grade carbon fibre composite materials. All vehicle electronics are mounted within these two pods that also provide most of the vehicle's buoyancy. Water ingress and vacuum alarms are fitted to these pods. Additional buoyancy is provided by shaped syntactic foam blocks.

Control System
16 bit digital system providing easy interfacing to ancillary equipment by the operator. The SEAEYE comprehensive video overlay is fitted as standard providing digital and analogue compass rose, tilt icon, date time group, depth (metric or imperial), CP value, pre-titled and free text pages. Vehicle data may be exported to client's survey or navigation computer systems via the Seaeye telemetry monitor unit, which is supplied as part of the standard spares kit.

Typical control container layout - Custom layouts available		Surface Control Unit installed in 19 inch rack with monitor

Navigation
Sensitive flux-gate compass unit with solid state rate sensor for enhanced azimuth stability.

Depth Sensor
Electronic unit in its own separate housing. Accuracy ± 0.1% of full scale deflection.

Auto-pilot
Full automatic pilot is provided for depth and heading.

Pan & Tilt System
A Seaeye Pan & Tilt unit, with positional feedback displayed on the video overlay is fitted as standard.

Lighting
Two separately controlled lighting channels. Each channel has two separately fused Seaeye 150W lamp units. Lamp units can be distributed individually to suit local operating conditions.

Video System
Four simultaneous video channels. Transmission to the surface is via two dual fibre-optic transmitters and two fibre optic cores. Two dual fibre-optic de-multiplexers are situated in the Surface Junction Box (supplied) in the ROV control cabin. Two 15 inch colour monitors are provided as standard.

Surface Control Unit
Contains all the vehicle surface control electronics, TMS control and surface outlets for ancillary equipment. This unit is 19" rack mountable and is supplied in its own case.

	Specifications Dimensions   Height 265 mm Width 484 mm Depth 500 mm Weight 19.55 kg
Hand Controller and Surface Control Unit

Surface Power Supply Unit
Supplies all power requirements for the vehicle system. Line Insulation Monitors (LIMS) are fitted to both AC and DC power components for system safety and monitoring purposes. Requires 3 phase AC input of between 380vac and 480vac at 20kva.

	Specifications Dimensions Height 1300 mm Width 600 mm Depth 470 mm Weight 229.5 kg Electrical Input Three phase 50 / 60 Hz 380 - 480 VAC at 20 kVA
Power Supply Unit

Tether Management System
The economical Type 3 TMS is a rugged all steel, side entry system using a tether cable bailing arm technique to eliminate underwater slip rings. The vehicle is secured within the T.M.S. by a hydrostatic device for launch and recovery. The vehicle can be easily manoeuvred into the T.M.S. either forwards or backwards. Tether cable capacity is 150 metres.

Panther Plus and a Seaeye Type 3 bale arm TMS	PTSC's Panther Plus on drill support in Vietnam

Options

• Specialist configurations to suit client requirements.
• Technical training programme.
• Focus/Zoom TV camera interface
• SIT and colour cameras.
• 2.5kw 3 phase AC outlet
• Survey Suites.
• CP probe. (Contact or proximity.)
• Sonar systems.
• Dual Manipulator system.
• Tracking systems.
• Pipe & Cable tracking equipment.
• Inspection suites.
• TMS Camera & Light
• Launch & deployment system. (Zoned & un-zoned.)
• ROV Control cabin. (Zoned & un-zoned.)

Pipeline Survey is a common task performed by Panther Plus. Where the pipeline is exposed on the seabed, many operators like to fit wheels under their vehicle that allow the ROV to land onto the pipe and be driven along the pipeline. Seaeye has produced a number of custom pipe survey skids for this purpose with the most recent edition being able to accommodate seven standard pipe sizes from 18 to 54 inches. The wheeled skid or bogey has 4 bulkheads to which caster wheels are fitted in fixed positions appropriate to the pipe size.

Panther Plus & wheeled Pipeline Survey Skid	Panther Plus with Survey Skid attached

SPECIFICATIONS MAY CHANGE WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE