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The J+S Solution to Subsea Umbilical Splicing

Cable Splicing

The challenge:            

Maintaining functional and physical integrity when joining multi-core subsea umbilical assemblies.

  • The length of subsea riser and control umbilicals is dictated by the storage capacity of the manufacturing equipment, and the complexity and diameter of the umbilical.
  • These large multi-core hybrid assemblies typically comprising signal, power, hydraulic, fibre, and steel armour elements are often required in longer lengths than the capacity of a single production run.
  • Because consistent diameter is critical for deployment and installation of the umbilical; Strength is critical for deployment and through-life operations and watertight integrity is critical for long and reliable operations, manufacturers need to seamlessly and reliably splice umbilical sections.

Our solution:           

Development and qualification of two processes and associated equipment to reliably align, join and re-insulate umbilicals.

  • We manufactured a brazing rig, designed and developed by our engineering team to accurately and reliably align and join multi-core copper umbilicals.
  • Our materials specialists developed and manufactured an injection-moulding rig to re-instate the insulation.
  • Opting for a thermal injection moulding process means the same material is used in the mould as was used in the original cable insulation. The materials melt and bond together so there is no join once the process is complete, and there is therefore no leak path.
  • We developed capabilities to re-instate outer insulation layers, screen layers, and armouring.
  • These processes maintain the dimensions and performance of the original umbilical. Brazing gives a join that is as flexible as the original umbilical with 95% of the original strength.

The result:               

Our clients are no longer restricted by the capacity of their umbilical manufacturing process

With the ability to supply significantly longer reliable umbilicals to their customers, deeper water fields and longer distance step-outs are more practical and economical, so assets are fully exploited.