The test turbine facility is operated by The Offshore Renewable (ORE) Catapult.

Oil & Gas UK 2016 Award Finalists from Oil & Gas UK on Vimeo.

We promised we would keep you updated on our progress at the annual Offshore Safety Awards, in which we were one of three finalists in the Innovation in Safety category, with Baker Hughes and Total E&P UK Ltd being the other two.  Sadly, we were not the chosen winners on the day, with Baker Hughes scooping the award, but we were extremely delighted to have been shortlisted alongside two such major international oil and gas players.

The Awards, which were organised by Oil and Gas UK and were held at the AECC, had a new format this year.  Each of the finalists had to submit a short 90-second video explaining what they and their product were all about.  These were played to the audience, who then had the opportunity to visit and chat to each of the finalists at their category stand before casting their vote for the winner.  

This approach gave us an exciting opportunity to showcase our LIGHTPATH™ concept to a largely new audience, away from our current focus on saturation diving within the North Sea.  In recent years, we have been targeting primarily the subsea sector, using our LIGHTPATH™ technology to illuminate saturation diver umbilicals, enhancing safety and productivity for all parties, including the individual diver, colleagues in the water, the bell-man and giving confidence to the ROV pilot as to the location of diver umbilicals.

At the Awards, we met with a wide range of people from different aspects of the oil and gas industry and discussed opportunities to trial LIGHTPATH™ in a variety of service and maintenance situations that would benefit in terms of safety, improved efficiency and cost reduction.  These included operating in confined space and fuel tank inspection in both vessel and subsea maintenance. 

The new approach recently adopted by PSL to rent kit was also seen as an opportunity to address project specific requirements for which PSL can tailor LIGHTPATH™ to perform the task.

The Awards event confirmed that safety is still recognised as the overriding priority for organisations, more so when operating in time of efficiency demands and pressure on costs. This is reassuring as PSL is confident that the appropriate adoption of LIGHTPATH™ will significantly contribute supporting both safety and cost efficiencies. As such, PSL will continue to develop and produce innovative, cost effective technology in line with industry requirements to help improve safety across the sector.    

Don Walker, Director

Winner of the Subsea UK Innovation for Safety Award 2014

Photosynergy Ltd (PSL) received some fantastic news earlier this week as it was shortlisted for the Award for Innovation in Safety in the annual Offshore Safety Awards, organised by Oil and Gas UK.   What makes our success even more exciting is the fact that the other finalists in our category are international oil giants Baker Hughes and Total E&P UK Ltd.

Our LIGHTPATH™ technology is essentially a side-emitting flexible fibre that projects a continuous line of light that carries no electrical power, making it very safe to use. It combines second-generation, high-performance light emitting diodes (LED) with a life expectancy of 50,000 hours/five years’ continuous operation.

It is incredibly simple, yet highly effective, and can be used for a wide range of applications, from guide path illumination through to the extremes of challenging, hazardous and submerged environments.

In recent years, we at PSL have been targeting primarily the subsea sector, using the LIGHTPATH™ technology to illuminate saturation diver umbilicals, enhancing safety and productivity for all parties, including the individual diver, colleagues in the water, the bell-man and giving confidence to the ROV pilot as to the location of diver umbilicals. This awareness for ROV pilots of the route of the umbilical minimises the risk of collision and can significantly reduce the incidence of umbilical snagging.

LIGHTPATH really is one of a kind and it has the potential to make a significant global impact.  It has been shown to significantly contribute to the safety of divers and those operating around them in the challenging subsea environment, as shown in the feedback, endorsements and support received to-date from operators and service companies, a number of whom have supported PSL’s concept in development, operating from both Saturation and Wet Bell systems. Some have also expressed the view that it will become de-facto standard.

The support we have received from industry, both locally and internationally, has been invaluable to us. At the start of this year, LIGHTPATH™ was included for the first time in Shell’s Diving Operations and Management Guidance document, which aims to ensure compliance with latest legislation and industry best practice.

Shell’s recognition of our product followed a series of successful trials of LIGHTPATH™ over the last three years in the North Sea, with the support of major operators including Bibby Offshore, Boskalis Subsea, Helix Well Ops, and The Underwater Centre in Fort William. Without their feedback – and that of the companies with which we work in the Australias, Thailand and South Africa - we would not have been able to refine and improve the design of our suite of products.

We are all excited to have been shortlisted for the award, and we will keep you updated on our progress at the Awards Ceremony, which takes place at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre on Wednesday, 17 August.

In the meantime, we remain committed to developing and producing innovative, cost effective technology in line with industry requirements to improve safety across the sector.     

Don Walker, Director

Winner of the Subsea UK Innovation for Safety Award 2014

We are enjoying a hat trick of successes as a major operator and two subsea service companies push the envelope to further the safety of their diving personnel and increase efficiency in the subsea sector.

The North Sea Operator has, for the first time, included PSL’s LIGHTPATH technology in its diving operations and management guidance document, which aims to ensure compliance with latest legislation and industry best practice.

Meanwhile, leading international inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) companies Harkand and Bibby Offshore have also announced their continuing support for PSL’s LIGHTPATH range of products, which offer an innovative technical solution to sectors, including the challenging and hazardous subsea environment, where safety of life is paramount.

Winner of the Subsea UK Innovation for Safety Award 2014, LIGHTPATH is a side-emitting flexible fibre that projects a continuous and flexible line of light that carries no electrical power and has a life expectancy of five years. 

We launched SLS2000

PSL has also this week launched the latest in its portfolio of subsea products – the SLS2000 – which was developed following feedback from divers and their teams, providing the option to illuminate the dive umbilical from the diver end.

It was produced following requests from industry for a minimal-sized light source which would not impede the diver during his work. A small, compact unit at just 30mm in diameter and 70mm long, it was designed to provide a light source to saturation divers using an LED attached to the umbilical at the diver’s end. 

Operational sea trials of the unit – which can be used in both saturation and air diving – are planned with existing clients following successful competition of final in-house tests and third party pressure testing.

PSL Director Don Walker said that the recognition of the increased safety afforded to divers utilising the LIGHTPATH umbilical lighting concept by these companies marked a significant step for PSL, and that the level of support shown by Harkand and Bibby Offshore had been invaluable in helping to develop LIGHTPATH for more specific markets.

PSL has been operating LIGHTPATH in the North Sea for the past three years, and the general consensus among the dive community is that divers feel safer using the technology to illuminate saturation diver umbilicals, which enhances safety and productivity for all parties, including the individual diver, colleagues in the water and the bell-man.  It also gives confidence to the ROV pilot as to the location of diver umbilicals, thus minimising the risk of collision and can significantly reduce the incidence of umbilical snagging, both for saturation and surface air divers.

Harkand & Bibby Offshore Endorsement  

Harkand, which has been using another of PSL products – the SLS5000 - on two of its North Sea vessels for the past few years, has also recognised the importance of the SLS2000 and is currently in talks with PSL about trialling it. Jerry Starling, Harkand’s group diving manager, and a member of the IMCA diving division management committee, said that as a company, Harkand recognised that although not a mandatory or industry specific requirement, LIGHTPATH enhanced the diver’s ability to manage their umbilical, improving their safety and simultaneously delivering more efficient operations.  

Umbilical management is a key component of diver activity for both safety and time saving reasons, and Harkand’s divers found that LIGHTPATH helped reduce recovery time as the diver can track and identify their route back to the bell, as well as identify any snags and entanglement of the umbilical due to the variations in colour offered by the equipment. It also ensured that divers and ROV pilots could constantly monitor that the umbilical was clear during equipment deployment and recovery.

Bibby Offshore, who have worked with PSL from the outset to help with the development of LIGHTPATH, is about to start trials of the SLS2000 within the next few weeks.  Diving Manager Ian Mitchell, said that Bibby Offshore regarded LIGHTPATH as a significant safety enhancement and used it as standard on all its DSVs.

Research & Innovation

PSL, which has its origins in scientific research undertaken at the University of St Andrews’ Photonics Innovation Centre, aims to turn the LIGHTPATH concept into a global commercial product allowing it to become part of the broad and growing domestic upstream oil and gas supply chain.

Its suite of products can be used for a wide range of applications from guide path illumination through to the extremes of challenging, hazardous and submerged environments. They include: 

• SLS2000 – PSL’s most recent product, developed following feedback from divers and their teams, providing the option to illuminate the dive umbilical from the diver end
• SLS5000 - designed primarily to illuminate saturation excursion dive umbilicals, and has been in operation in the North Sea for more than two years. It has a range of applications for subsea and salvage divers, ROV pilots and marine archaeologists.
• SLS7000 - can operate in depths of up to 3,000m and was developed to address a variety of deep water applications brought to PSL’s attention by subsea industry operators, including supporting work-class ROVs

A significant advance in safety from PhotoSynergy Ltd

The concept: To see the entire route of a dive umbilical has been identified as a significant contribution to safety. PSL have achieved this with a unique side emitting 5mm diameter fibre that carries no electrical power, only light up to 150m in length. The fibre is spirally wound into the umbilical thereby creating a flexible continuous line of light from a low power LED light source which can be either steady state or flashing.

Testing: The initial testing and evaluation took place at The Underwater Centre in Scotland, their Open Days contributed significantly in raising the profile of the illuminated umbilical concept Operational experience with LIGHTPATH has been gained in the North Sea through collaboration, support and advice from Bibby Offshore, Helix Well Ops UK Ltd and Boskalis Offshore Subsea Services operating in both Saturation and Wet Bell systems.

Feedback: The positive feed-back provided and photographic evidence of performance supports LIGHTPATH as an innovation that helps de-risk diving operations; a major industry concern. LIGHTPATH enhances safety for all parties operating in the subsea environment. This has been proven for the individual diver, his colleagues in the water and the bell-man. ROV pilots are aware of the route of the umbilical which minimises the risk of collision and helps detect cases of dive umbilicals snagging on structures. LIGHTPATH can be used to identify the individual diver through choice of light output colour: Green/Blue/White.