Grayloc® Clamp Connectors Provide Benefits Over Standard Flange Connections

Grayloc Clamp Connector technology enables customer to optimize testing and validation regime.

1 Overview

An Oceaneering client uses Grayloc® Clamp Connectors for its equipment and also for research and development (R&D) purposes.

This client provides connection solutions for the oil and gas industry, specifically for well intervention, subsea controls, and topside transfer activities. Due to the client’s extensive test regime that it subjects its equipment to, Grayloc Clamp Connectors enable the company to maximize these tests by reducing the time required for assembly prior to the test and for disconnection after the test. In addition, Grayloc Clamp Connectors have a small footprint, enabling our client to complete work in small test bays. All of these benefits help the company to reduce the costs associated with its testing and validation regime.

2 Issues

As part of the client’s internal test regime, connectors are subjected to different conditions, requiring each piece of equipment to be assembled and then stripped down continuously.

Standard flange connections, due to their larger amount of bolting and difficulties in correctly installing the joint, increase the time required for both assembly and strip-down procedures. Furthermore, the integrity of the joint has the potential be affected by several factors, such as misalignment between the mating flanges and incorrect gasket installation.

Additionally, the bigger footprints of these standard flange connections require larger testing bays. Testing costs are, therefore, higher with the use of standard flange connectors than with the use of Grayloc Clamp Connectors.

3 Our Solution

These stated issues related to standard flange connectors have been resolved through the use of Grayloc Clamp Connectors, which:

  • Improve health, safety, and environment (HSE) considerations during testing activities
  • Reduce the lead time required to prepare equipment prior to testing, along with the time required for disconnection procedures after testing
  • Decrease the final dimensions of the testing assembly
  • Remove misalignment issues
  • Increase the integrity of the connection
  • Reduce weight of assembly to enable vertical arrangements of equipment, thus further reducing space for testing bays
  • Decrease the CAPEX necessary for validation

4 Execution Plan

Generally, the required components for Grayloc Clamp Connectors are off the shelf from our Oceaneering Grayloc facilities in Scotland,  Texas, Canada, and Malaysia – thus greatly shortening lead times when compared to the use of standard flange connections.

7 Results

The use of Grayloc Clamp Connectors has enabled our client to improve HSE rates, reduce CAPEX, and decrease lead times associated with the company’s testing and validation activities.

Since side loads affect the functionality of the company’s equipment design, our client prefers Grayloc Clamp Connectors over standard flange connects because Grayloc Clamp Connectors transfer fewer loads to this organization’s equipment. Additionally, a smaller torque is required when installing Grayloc Clamp Connectors, and it is easier to machine the Grayloc profile onto our client’s equipment, compared to standard flange features.

In addition, the small footprint of Grayloc Clamp Connectors has enabled the organization to continue working within its existing testing bay capacity without having to incur costs to increase this space.

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Contact Us | Grayloc Clamp Connectors Provide Benefits Over Standard Flange Connections

Company page Since our founding in the early 1960s, Oceaneering has expanded and grown globally to service several industries such as the offshore energy industry, defense, entertainment, material handling, aerospace, science, and renewable energy industries. In 1964, Mike Hughes and Johnny Johnson formed a Gulf of Mexico diving company called World Wide Divers. The company grew in response to increasing demand for their services and in 1969 merged with two other diving companies to form Oceaneering International, Inc. To solve the toughest challenges, we do things differently, creatively, and smarter. As your trusted partner, our unmatched experience and truly innovative portfolio of technologies and solutions give us the flexibility to adapt and evolve, regardless of market conditions. Our mission is to solve the unsolvable. We thrive by creating industry-changing technically creative solutions for the most complex operational challenges under water, on land, and in space. Our five core values establish a common culture and demonstrate what is most important for us as a company. Since the beginning, the company has transformed from a small regional diving company into a global provider of engineered products and services. Today, we develop products and services for use throughout the lifecycle of an offshore oilfield, from drilling to decommissioning. We operate the world's premier fleet of work class ROVs. Additionally, we are a leader in offshore oilfield maintenance services, umbilicals, subsea hardware, and tooling. We also serve the aerospace, defense, and theme park industries. Underpinning everything we do, safety is not only the foundation of our core values, but it is vital to our unmatched performance record and company culture. The industries we serve are as diverse as they are complex. Whether we are engineering deepwater umbilicals or developing robotics for aerospace applications, the safety and health of our employees, vendors, and customers is an integral part of our day-to-day business. If we are working, then our responsibility is to be working safely. Since our inception in 1964, we have placed a high value on employee safety—from diving services and subsea inspection to vessel-based installation operations. We have and will continue to evolve not only our health, safety, and environmental (HSE) processes, but those of the industries in which we work. Although we have been fatality-free since 1999, our HSE journey goes beyond statistics. As our portfolio of services has grown, we have continued to prioritize and advance our approach to HSE.