KW Designed Solutions has designed, developed and engineered pressure vessel systems specifically for conducting Instrumented Buoyancy Loss (IBL) testing of subsea syntactic foam buoyancy products in line with API 17L (ISO 13628-11).
The IBL pressure testing system consists of a pressure vessel (incorporating a test fixture to support the sample under test), a pressure-balanced load cell, pressure transducer and a pressure control system complete with HMI control panel; complete with an integrated PC based operator interface for logging data.
During a typical IBL test, the sample is subjected to hyperbaric pressure equivalent to the rated depth of the buoyancy module for over 96 hours. The amount of buoyancy (or uplift) is monitored throughout the duration of the test and the amount of buoyancy loss is plotted and extrapolated to End Of Life (EOL).
The test fixture that supports the sample is attached to the underside of the vessel cover. This lowers the sample into the vessel and the test fixture supports the dry weight of the sample and ballast plates, without overloading the precision load cell. Once loaded and the vessel is filled with water, the locking mechanism is released, so that the load cell is under tension for the duration of the test.
Data acquisition via a PC based operator interface, allows the operator to write test programs, monitor and log (pressure and force vs time), as well as log the temperature of the test media.
The user interface can be tailored to suit each customer’s requirements; ensuring that the required outputs are achieved via one system.
