Baro DefCon™ - Deflector Control System
For optimizing marine seismic operations, steerable deflectors are a gamechanger. The Barovane™ seismic deflectors equipped with our patented DefCon™ System is the gateway to more effective and sustainable operations. Wireless remote control of Barovanes™ makes it possible for clients to pursue marine seismic acquisition over a larger area in less time, allowing for a significant reduction of fuel consumption.
The first benefit will be experience already during deployment. Launching deflectors at a high AoA (Angle of Attack) ensures fast and easy deployment. Once having the deflector in the water, the AoA can be reduced while deploying the rest of the gear. Not only will this reduce the energy consumption during the deployment face, but it will also reduce the strain on equipment during this stage.
The second benefit will be experienced while positioning all the gear according to the layout. The ability to fine-tune the exact lift force will optimize the towing layout and the energy consumption during the operation, particularly during large streamer operations.
The third benefit is the ability to compensate for sideway currents. During operations there can be “rivers” in the ocean – (for instance caused by weather, by mixing of fresh and salty water near estuaries or by simple local currents in the ocean). The ability to increase the lift on one side of the vessel and reduce lift on the other side makes it much easier to keep the line and will reduce the need of infill (re-taking the line).
The fourth and major attraction is the effect on turning radius. A problem during turning is that the outermost deflector gets too much load, running the risk of equipment fatigue, while the innermost deflector could experience such low angle of attack that it loses its grip. By controlling the angle of attack for the Barovanes, the user can reduce the load on the outer deflector so that it is able to maintain a high speed through the turn without exceeding the design load while the inner one can increase its angle of attack to ensure that grip is maintained. Looking at a large multistreamer tow with 12-18 streamers in the wide, a typical line change (turning) can take as much as 3-4 hours. With the contribution of the DefCon™ system, the time for line change might be reduced with as much as one hour – and with 2 or 3 line changes per day the active production time can be increased by as much as 2 hours per day. This represents significant fuel savings!
For 4D operations in particular, the system significantly increases the repeatability of an operation as the entire tow can be shifted sideways. This allows positioning relative to the requested base line.
Other features of the Baro DefCon™ System include a generator set mounted on the Barovane to make the system self-sufficient with power. It has low weight and is fail-safe. This means that any potential system failure will still leave the Barovane fully operational by mechanically returning to peak spreading – in other words, the same way a Barovane works today.
System is now available in fully electric version.
