Mobile machining of FMC pressure chamber

The SOV Service Team has performed a modification of FMC Kongsberg Subsea’s pressure chamber for testing of subsea components. The pressure chamber is approx. 2 meters in diameter.

The modification consisted of the machining of radii inside the pressure chamber. The SOV Mobile Turning & Milling Machine was used for the job. The main body of the machine is a hydraulically driven boom mounted on a pedestal. Swivels trough the pedestal enables the boom to turn unlimited in both directions.

Specially designed adapter plates were used to mount the machine inside the tank. The adapter plates were constructed by our engineering department, and welded and machined in our workshop. The engineering department did also develop programs for running the machine.

Using exchangeable boom heads, the machine can be utilized for both milling and turning. It was necessary to keep the surface temperature low during machining, to avoid the creation of micro-cracks. A cooling system with recycling of the cooling fluid was developed for the job.

SOV has strong internal resources on machining, welding and engineering, and can therefore handle the total project of an on-site machining task. SOV was also responsible for the development of a work procedure and a Safe-Job-Analysis for the assignment.