Umbilical cable
Encyclopedia
An umbilical cable or umbilical is a cable which supplies required consumables to an apparatus. It is named by analogy with an umbilical cord
. An umbilical can supply power to a remote electrical device, or air and power to a pressure suit
, for example.
s used umbilicals, but modern designs carry their own temperature/humidity control, air supply and electric batteries.
umbilicals are deployed on the seabeds (ocean floors) to supply necessary control and chemicals to subsea
oil and gas wells, subsea manifolds and any subsea system requiring a remote control, such as a remotely operated vehicle
.
For shallow water surface supply air diving, the diver umbilical is typically a 3-part umbilical comprising a gas hose, "pneumo" hose, and diver comms/lifeline cable.
The "pneumo" hose is open at the diver's end all the way to a pressure gauge on the surface dive control panel, where the supervisor can see the diver's depth in the water at all times.
A 4-part diver umbilical will also have a hot water supply hose.
A 5-part diver umbilical will also include a Mini Video cable to allow the surface controller to see the video picture transmitted to the surface from the divers hat camera.
For saturation diving from a bell, a typical diver excursion umbilical may be an 8-part umbilical with a gas supply hose, gas reclaim hose, hot water hose, pneumo hose, tracking hose, comms/lifeline cable, Mini Video cable and Hat Light cable.
When there is risk of the umbilical cable being damaged by scratching on rock or coral, the umbilical bundle may be over-braided with a polypropylene braid cover.
Early diver umbilicals were simply the individual components bundled together and taped every metre or so with duct tape. These bundles tend to distort and produce kinks in the components caused by bending (particularly dangerous if the kink is in the divers gas supply hose), and require frequent maintenance.
More recent umbilicals comprise all the components cabled together so that there is no chance of a kink, no separate lifeline component is required, and no tape is required to hold the umbilical together. An additional component such as a video cable for a divers camera, or a hat light cable, can be added by manually cabling this into the existing cabled umbilical.
Umbilical cord
In placental mammals, the umbilical cord is the connecting cord from the developing embryo or fetus to the placenta...
. An umbilical can supply power to a remote electrical device, or air and power to a pressure suit
Pressure suit
A pressure suit is a protective suit worn by high-altitude pilots who may fly at altitudes where the air pressure is too low for an unprotected person to survive, even breathing pure oxygen at positive pressure. Such suits may be either full-pressure or partial-pressure...
, for example.
Space suits
Early space suitSpace suit
A space suit is a garment worn to keep an astronaut alive in the harsh environment of outer space. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extra-vehicular activity , work done outside spacecraft...
s used umbilicals, but modern designs carry their own temperature/humidity control, air supply and electric batteries.
Subsea
SubseaSubsea
Subsea is a general term frequently used to refer to equipment, technology, and methods employed in marine biology, undersea geology, offshore oil and gas developments, underwater mining, and offshore wind power industries.- Oil and gas :...
umbilicals are deployed on the seabeds (ocean floors) to supply necessary control and chemicals to subsea
Subsea
Subsea is a general term frequently used to refer to equipment, technology, and methods employed in marine biology, undersea geology, offshore oil and gas developments, underwater mining, and offshore wind power industries.- Oil and gas :...
oil and gas wells, subsea manifolds and any subsea system requiring a remote control, such as a remotely operated vehicle
Remotely operated vehicle
A remotely operated vehicle is a tethered underwater vehicle. They are common in deepwater industries such as offshore hydrocarbon extraction. An ROV may sometimes be called a remotely operated underwater vehicle to distinguish it from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the air. ROVs...
.
Diver
A Diver umbilical cable is a cable which supplies breathing gas and other services from a surface supply to a diver.For shallow water surface supply air diving, the diver umbilical is typically a 3-part umbilical comprising a gas hose, "pneumo" hose, and diver comms/lifeline cable.
The "pneumo" hose is open at the diver's end all the way to a pressure gauge on the surface dive control panel, where the supervisor can see the diver's depth in the water at all times.
A 4-part diver umbilical will also have a hot water supply hose.
A 5-part diver umbilical will also include a Mini Video cable to allow the surface controller to see the video picture transmitted to the surface from the divers hat camera.
For saturation diving from a bell, a typical diver excursion umbilical may be an 8-part umbilical with a gas supply hose, gas reclaim hose, hot water hose, pneumo hose, tracking hose, comms/lifeline cable, Mini Video cable and Hat Light cable.
When there is risk of the umbilical cable being damaged by scratching on rock or coral, the umbilical bundle may be over-braided with a polypropylene braid cover.
Early diver umbilicals were simply the individual components bundled together and taped every metre or so with duct tape. These bundles tend to distort and produce kinks in the components caused by bending (particularly dangerous if the kink is in the divers gas supply hose), and require frequent maintenance.
More recent umbilicals comprise all the components cabled together so that there is no chance of a kink, no separate lifeline component is required, and no tape is required to hold the umbilical together. An additional component such as a video cable for a divers camera, or a hat light cable, can be added by manually cabling this into the existing cabled umbilical.