Subsea Electric Actuator is Ready for Market

Electrical control of subsea valves is of growing importance in subsea production systems and especially in advanced boosting or separation systems. The electrical actuator is used to operate subsea valves to control process fluid in both process systems and in production systems. For example, the Åsgard subsea compression station is already all electric and electric actuation will be an important technology in our effort to provide cost-effective modular solutions going forward.

Two Electric Actuator Types

Aker Solutions in 2013 established the development program El-drive. The key objective was to increase Aker Solutions’ competence and develop products and technology within electric actuation for future system deliveries. The program had two main goals:

• Develop a framework of modular building blocks (platform) that can be utilized to build specific products to electrically actuate subsea valves
• Showcase the platform by building subsea electric actuator technology that could be utilized in subsea production systems (SPS) and process systems solutions

The first stage of the El-drive program is now completed with the release of two electric actuator types. The 400VAC direct drive is a high-duty actuator that can do continuous control valve operations, while the 24VDC battery-driven system is dedicated to operate non-continuous valves, like isolation valves.

Aker Solutions' permanently installable rotary electrical actuator can be installed and used to operate subsea valves with an ISO13628-8 ROV class 4 interfaces in both process systems and in subsea production systems.

Cost Savings

The electric actuator design opens up for applications beyond the standard electric actuator. The all-electric system will enable cost savings on topside and for umbilicals. It will also give opportunities for further cost reduction and a more flexible SPS in comparison with conventional electrohydraulic systems.

Utilizing the possibilities in the El-drive platform in conjunction with the flexible Vectus 6.0 platform will further provide new opportunities for our control system offering.

We are entering 2016 with a unique range of new subsea controls products, Vectus 6.0 and El-drive, which enables Aker Solutions in collaboration with its customers to explore the technology’s savings potential.