Flexlife has been granted a US Patent for Armadillo, and that this is in addition to the existing patents for UK, Australia and Norway, with others pending.
Flexlife is currently working to deliver an Armadillo solution for a SE Asian operator which has suffered anchor damage to a flexible flowline. According to flexlife, this solution will allow the pipeline outer sheath to be reinstated without the need to recover the flowline on deck. This project is a fast track delivery being scheduled to coincide with vessel schedule during Summer 2015.
The pipeline suffered localised damage in multiple locations and the Flexlife solution will provide two Armadillos of 5.5m and 4.5m length. They will be installed subsea using divers mobilising from a DSV.
Flexlife is also currently providing an Armadillo repair system for another SE Asian client as part of an integrated life extension project which combines riser scanning, riser repair and riser analysis. This project will use the scanning derived data to safely reduce conservatism and the Armadillo to repair a known riser outer sheath breach. The objective being to establish the safe remaining fatigue life of this riser.
Flexlife’s offshore engineering team have been carrying out multiple annulus testing projects for clients worldwide and scanning in the Gulf of Mexico and the UK North Sea. The team has also been assisting in pipeline leak detection using Flexlife’s annulus testing equipment and inspection cameras to obtain valuable integrity data.
The flexible pipe engineering team has been working on a number of life extension projects and also verification studies to allow legacy spare pipes to be utilised on new marginal fields.