FPSO swivel load monitoring

Strainstall’s FPSO swivel load monitoring system monitors the levels of force or resistance to movement in the swivel, providing early warning of any issues or potential failure, as well as enabling preventative maintenance to be scheduled.

Undertaking monitoring of the swivel stack is critical to help eliminate the risk of failures or loss of production, especially as there is usually no redundancy in the system itself. As failure of FPSO swivels is typically progressive - monitoring the forces, particularly in the driving arms, can provide an increasing load trend that will prompt maintenance intervention before critical deterioration occurs.

Strainstall’s swivel load monitoring system is suitable for all types of weathervaning FPSOs and can be easily retrofitted to provide advanced warning of any decline in the swivel function. The system uses load pins installed in the joint between the swivel body and driving arms, with the signals routed to either dedicated instrumentation or integrated into the FPSO's control system. Our load pins and amplifiers are intrinsically safe, so installation and maintenance does not require hot-work.