Oil mist detection at sea

At Assens Shipyard, the final touches on board two new-build vessels took place. While the hulls are manufactured in Poland, a tripartite agreement between WMO, Assens Shipyard, and CS Electric took responsibility for the completion of the two boats including painting work, equipment, and electrical installations.

The two high-speed, 32-meter aluminum trimarans are included in WMO’s fleet of wind and turbine support boats to transport crew and spare parts to offshore wind farms.

Increased safety focus

With great focus on preventing human harm and protection of the environment, the main focus of The Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) is to promote best practices in designing, constructing, and operating oil tankers, barges, and offshore support vessels. The mission of OCIMF is to be the foremost authority on safe and environmentally responsible operation by promoting continuous improvement in standards of design and operation. Broadly following the format of SIRE, OCIMF has developed The Offshore Vessel Inspection Database (OVID), a robust web-based inspection tool and database with a long-term aspiration to form a database that is central to the selection and assurance of safe offshore vessel operation.

While transportation of valuable assets and crew in itself commits the vessels to a certain degree of safety, complying with OVID’s benchmarks recommends even higher standards in safety optimization. Among the wide variety of safety-related initiatives rated by the OVID inspectors are fire safety measures. With this in mind, the main electrical contractor CS Electric has taken responsibility for the installation of Green Instruments’ oil mist monitoring system.

Early alarm – fast reaction – less damage

Early detection of oil mist or spray and fast reaction is of overriding importance and will reduce the level of damage and hazard caused by potential leaks. Green Instruments’ acclaimed opacity monitor continuously surveils atmospheric conditions to detect any formation of oil mist, and thus fulfilled the specifications required by the tripartite.

Each oil mist detector can cover a large area, but to make sure all rooms with fuel under pressure are constantly under surveillance, five oil mist detectors are installed onboard each of the two new trimarans. Under operation, the engine rooms are unmanned which in all probability delay any detection of visible leaks, and naturally, leaks that are not visible to the human eye. Green Instruments’ acclaimed opacity monitoring technology will detect any, even minor, formation of oil mist or smoke and provide early alarms, that allows the crew to take early action to mitigate and defuse any dangerous situation that could lead to potential catastrophes with material damage or human injury.

G26 Ambient Oil Mist Detector

The G26 Ambient Oil Mist Detector is an opacity meter designed to detect oil mist in open spaces. The system uses the latest green and solid laser technology with a double-pass measurement method and provides measurements in units of opacity.

The line-of-sight method does not require sampling devices, minimizing the system operation faults such as mechanical or contamination problems over time.