Cementys launches offshore sensor collar for tendons, risers

PARIS -- Paris-based Cementys is introducing a patent-pending sensor collar that allows the offshore retrofit of sensors onto existing tendons and risers. The French company, which specializes in fiber-optic monitoring of complex structures, pipelines, and other unique applications, has opened its first overseas office in Houston, specifically for business development and technical support of oil, gas, and related industries.

Vincent Lamour started Cementys in 2008, after years of fiber-optic monitoring nuclear power plants for the French government. Lamour holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. The Cementys team has executed fiber-optic monitoring of pipelines and risers for Saipem, ENI, Total, and other European operators. Cementys, in partnership with Total, has conducted and completed testing at the University of Tulsa for monitoring multi-phase flow in pipelines. The company recently won a EUR 5,500,000 contract to monitor the Paris underground rail system.

For the offshore oil and gas industry, Cementys has developed a collar and methodology for retrofitting its fiber-optic monitoring gauges and skills and to provide monitoring of subsea structures, TLP tendons, tubulars, pipelines, and other subsea equipment. The proprietary collar design and its installation methodology was filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office and is patent pending. Cementys is developing the technology to allow retrofitting onto risers and can gather data to justify requests for service-life extensions submitted to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

The same skill set can be applied to tendons on tension-leg platforms and can be retrofitted onto those tendons for a fraction of the cost of using a derrick barge to replace industry-standard load cells. The fiber-optic monitoring collar is calibrated to monitor tension in the tendons and can be adapted to measure incurred fatigue-life damage and back-calculate incurred fatigue life over the life of the tendons or risers. Cementys has submitted the complete system to the American Bureau of Shipping, complying with ABS Guidance Notes on Review and Approval of Novel Concepts. The complete system is pending ABS “Approval in Principle,” with the goal of following ABS guidelines and achieving full Class Approval.