Silvercrest Submarines are the UK's premier submarine, submersibles and ROV sales and charter company with contracts performed worldwide.

SUBMARINES SUBMERSIBLES ROVS & SUB-SEA EQUIPMENT.
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The Silvercrest Group has excellent engineering facilities. We can manufacture and refurbish submarines, Rovs, diving systems, and subsea equipment.

Office and Administrative Facilities.

  • Office space, which comprises the administration, design office, and three open-plan project offices.
  • Fully integrated design, administration, sales and stores software system, tailored to meet our unique requirement for subsea work.
  • Computerised office system with workstations in the production facility, and in the administrative facility.
  • Logistic tracking system for management of clients assets, whether in the field or in the workshop.

 

Submarine Refits
Submarine Rebuilds.

 

Submarine Trials and Testing.


Design Office.
                      Design Office.

 

Submarine Manufacture.
Submarine Manufacture.

 

Tourist Submarine interior being refurbished.

 

10-Man Submarine test and diving trials.

 

Submarine Construction.

Submarine Construction.

 

T-SUB Refit Programmes.

 

 

Submarine Rebuilds.

Tourist Submarine entering the water.

 


Perry Submarine being Refitted.

 

 

 


Submarine diving trials in the Artic.


Large Tourist Submarine Maintenance.

Mini-sub Refurbishment.

Submarine Maintenance Programmes.

Preparing for the first Test dive in Europe.

Silvercrest provide a wide range of customer support services:-
  • Submarine inspections, surveys, and valuations.
  • Submarine repairs.
  • Submarine refit and maintenance programmes.
  • Submersible re-builds.
  • Rov inspections, surveys and valuations.
  • Diving equipment inspections, surveys and valuations.
  • Subsea equipment manufacture and refurbishment.
  • Liaison with classification societies (ABS, DNV, BV, Lloyds, GL and others).
  • Submarine Pilot Training Courses for submarine buyers.
  • Subsea Equipment Sourcing and Supply.
  • The provision of experienced Submarine crews and Rov personnel.
  • Subsea equipment design and engineering support.
  • Tourist submarine site surveys.

Contact us today to discuss your underwater project, we are always pleased to offer help and assistance.


SILVERCREST SUBMARINES.

Tel: (+44) 1285. 760620.

Email: sales@SilvercrestSubmarines.com

 

SUBSEA MOTORS.

Subsea Electric Motors & ROV Electric Motors.

SME design and manufacture a world leading range of Subsea Electric Motors, including motors for HPU’s on ROV‘s, Electric Thrusters for Manned Submarines, and Heavy Duty Jetting Pumps on Subsea Trenchers. SME motors are robust and reliable in the toughest of environments. Our ?exible design capabilities mean we can manufacture Subsea Motors to suit any application. Our range of motors allow Flexible External Dimensions to suit all requirements and provide the possibility of “Drop In‘’ replacement motors. SME have produced over l00 different types of Subsea motors and thousands of motors.

We offer a variety of Construction Materials from Anodised Aluminium to Exotic Stainless Steel Alloys to ensure long term reliability in varied environments whilst still offering the advantages of light weight design. To ensure the integrity of the motors SME does not use castings and all components are manufactured from solid metal or extrusions.

Motors can be offered with a variety of Interfaces for Driven Equipment — from Robust Shafts with Multiple Shaft Seals to Close Coupled Motors with Female Spline Hubs to allow direct ?tment of Hydraulic Pumps.

SME can design and manufacture from the “Lamination Up” to ensure the Motor is ideally suited for the application. This bespoke Manufacturing policy ensures we can meet any special design requirements. SME can build motors from Fractional Kilowatt Motors right through to large outputs in the Megawatts and above to ensure we meet all requirements.

SME Subsea Motors can be manufactured in all voltages from 240Vac through to 6600V at 50Hz or 60Hz, or for use with Variable Speed Drives. Due to SME’s proprietary Insulation System motors up to 4l60V can be built with a Random Winding to reduce size and weight whilst losing nothing in terms of reliability. This insulation system is speci?cally engineered to ensure suitability of operation in Hydraulic Oil or many of the Bio-Degradable Oils commonly used for Compensation circuits.

All motors are designed for external compensation allowing for operation at depths as much as 4000M. The Motors can also be offered with Cooling circuits to ensure high output motors maintain minimal operating temperatures at Full Load. SME Motors are ?tted with Water Detection Probes and Temperature Detectors and these can be terminated to a variety of different Subsea Connectors. Power can be supplied to the motors through Subsea Connectors or Highly reliable Oily Tube Connections.

SME’s extensive testing facilities ensure we can test these Subsea Motors at rated Voltage and Frequency. This testing can also involve Hydraulic Load testing on a HPU or Flow and Pressure Testing of Jetting Pumps in our Test tank. Full string testing involving the Drives, Control Gear, Motor and Driven equipment can also be organised.

Submersible Motor Engineering’s extensive Service Capability also ensures we are the best location for Service and Refurbishment of Subsea Motors of any manufacturer. Quite often SME can return motors to their clients in a better than new condition due to our ability to implement the latest Engineering Practices into the repair process.

 

Silvercrest / SME design and manufacture a world leading range of Subsea Electric Motors, including motors for HPU’s on ROV‘s, Electric Thrusters for Manned Submarines, and Heavy Duty Jetting Pumps on Subsea Trenchers. SME motors are robust and reliable in the toughest of environments. Our ?exible design capabilities mean we can manufacture Subsea Motors to suit any application. Our range of motors allow Flexible External Dimensions to suit all requirements and provide the possibility of “Drop In‘’ replacement motors. SME have produced over l00 different types of Subsea motors and thousands of motors.

We offer a variety of Construction Materials from Anodised Aluminium to Exotic Stainless Steel Alloys to ensure long term reliability in varied environments whilst still offering the advantages of light weight design. To ensure the integrity of the motors SME does not use castings and all components are manufactured from solid metal or extrusions.

Motors can be offered with a variety of Interfaces for Driven Equipment — from Robust Shafts with Multiple Shaft Seals to Close Coupled Motors with Female Spline Hubs to allow direct ?tment of Hydraulic Pumps.

SME can design and manufacture from the “Lamination Up” to ensure the Motor is ideally suited for the application. This bespoke Manufacturing policy ensures we can meet any special design requirements. SME can build motors from Fractional Kilowatt Motors right through to large outputs in the Megawatts and above to ensure we meet all requirements.

SME Subsea Motors can be manufactured in all voltages from 24V through to 6600V at 50Hz or 60Hz, or for use with Variable Speed Drives. Due to SME’s proprietary Insulation System motors up to 4l60V can be built with a Random Winding to reduce size and weight whilst losing nothing in terms of reliability. This insulation system is speci?cally engineered to ensure suitability of operation in Hydraulic Oil or many of the Bio-Degradable Oils commonly used for Compensation circuits.

All motors are designed for external compensation allowing for operation at depths as much as 4000M. The Motors can also be offered with Cooling circuits to ensure high output motors maintain minimal operating temperatures at Full Load. SME Motors are ?tted with Water Detection Probes and Temperature Detectors and these can be terminated to a variety of different Subsea Connectors. Power can be supplied to the motors through Subsea Connectors or Highly reliable Oily Tube Connections.

 

SME’s extensive testing facilities ensure we can test these Subsea Motors at rated Voltage and Frequency. This testing can also involve Hydraulic Load testing on a HPU or Flow and Pressure Testing of Jetting Pumps in our Test tank. Full string testing involving the Drives, Control Gear, Motor and Driven equipment can also be organised.

Submersible Motor Engineering’s extensive Service Capability also ensures we are the best location for Service and Refurbishment of Subsea Motors of any manufacturer. Quite often SME can return motors to their clients in a better than new condition due to our ability to implement the latest Engineering Practices into the repair process.

SUBMERSIBLE MOTORS.

SME design and manufacture a broad range of Submersible Electric Motors, including motors for variety of applications from Mine De-watering to Sea Water Lift Pumps. SME motors are robust and reliable in the toughest of environments. Our ?exible design capabilities mean we can manufacture Submersible Motors to suit most applications. Our range of motors include Flexible Interface Dimensions to suit all requirements and provide the possibility of “Drop In‘’ replacement motors.

We offer a variety of Construction Materials from Cast Iron, SS316 Grade Stainless Steels as Standard to Exotic Stainless Steel Alloys to ensure long term reliability in varied environments whilst still offering the advantages of excellent performance.

Motors can be offered with a variety of Interfaces for a broad range of Pump types — from Standard NEMA and IEC frames to unique Flange and shaft arrangements with Multiple Shaft Seals.

SME can design and manufacture from the “Lamination Up” to ensure the Motor is ideally suited for the application. This bespoke Manufacturing policy ensures we can meet any special design requirements. SME can build motors from small Kilowatt Motors right through to large outputs in the Megawatts and above to ensure we meet all requirements.

SME Submersible Motors can be manufactured in all voltages from 110V through to 6600V at 50Hz or 60Hz, or for use with Variable Speed Drives. Due to SME’s flexible manufacturing systems we can offer motors in water or oil filled constructions. Motors can be provided for internally balanced or header tank installations.

SME’s extensive testing facilities ensure we can test these Submersible Motors at rated Voltage and Frequency. This testing can also involve Hydraulic Performance testing on a customers pump in our Test tank. Full string testing involving the Drives, Control Gear, Motor and Driven equipment can also be organised.

Submersible Motor Engineering’s extensive Service Capability also ensures we are the best location for Service and Refurbishment of Submersible Motors of any manufacturer. Quite often SME can return motors to their clients in a better than new condition due to our ability to implement the latest Engineering Practices into the repair process.

SUBSEA PUMPS.

SME design and manufacture a world leading range of Electric and Hydraulically Driven Subsea Pumps. These are designed to operate as Heavy Duty Jetting Pumps on Subsea Trenchers and Ploughs, Subsea Dredging and Excavation Equipment. SME Pumps are robust and reliable in the toughest of environments. Our ?exible design capabilities mean we can manufacture Subsea Pumps to suit most applications. Our range of motors allow Flexible External Dimensions to suit all requirements and provide the possibility of “Drop In‘’ replacement units.

We offer a variety of Construction Materials from Anodised Aluminium to Exotic Stainless Steel Alloys to ensure long term reliability in varied environments whilst still o?ering the advantages of light weight design.

SME can design and manufacture from “raw material up” to ensure the Motor and Pump is ideally suited for the application. This bespoke Manufacturing policy ensures we can meet any special design requirements. SME can build motor and pumps from Fractional Kilowatt Motors right through to large outputs in the Megawatts and above to ensure we meet all requirements.

SME Electrically Driven Subsea Pumps can be manufactured in all voltages from 24V through to 6600V at 50Hz or 60Hz, or for use with Variable Speed Drives. Due to SME’s proprietary Insulation System motors up to 4160V can be built with a Random Winding to reduce size and weight whilst losing nothing in terms of reliability. This insulation system is speci?cally engineered to ensure suitability of operation in Hydraulic Oil or many of the Bio-Degradable Oils commonly used for Compensation circuits.

All pumps are designed for external compensation allowing for operation at depths as much as 4000M. The Motors can also be offered with Cooling circuits to ensure high output motors maintain minimal operating temperatures at Full Load. SME Motors are ?tted with Water Detection Probes and Temperature Detectors and these can be terminated to a variety of different Subsea Connectors. Power can be supplied to the motors through Subsea Connectors or Highly reliable Oily Tube Connections.

SME’s extensive testing facilities ensure we can test these Subsea Pumps at rated Voltage and Frequency. This testing includes involve Hydraulic Performance/Relibility testing on a HPU or Job Specific Electrical Supply at rated Voltage and Frequency in our Test tank. Full string testing involving the Drives, Control Gear, Motor and Driven equipment can also be organised.

Submersible Motor Engineering’s extensive Service Capability also ensures we are best location for Service and Refurbishment of Subsea Motors and Pumps of any manufacturer. Quite often SME can return motors and pumps to their clients in a better than new condition due to our ability to implement the latest Engineering Practices into the repair process.

 

 

 

Water Cooled Motors

 

SME design and manufacture a range of Water Cooled Electric Motors to provide a alternative to Standard Air Cooled Vertical Hollow and Solid Shaft Motors,these motors are for variety of line shaft turbine applications. The removal of the forced air cooling and replacement with a water jacket fed from the discharge of the pump ensures almost silent operation. This makes them uniquely suitable for pumping applications where noise is critical during operation. SME motors are robust and reliable in the toughest of environments. Our ?exible design capabilities mean we can manufacture Water Cooled Motors to suit most applications. Our range of motors include Flexible Interface Dimensions to suit all requirements and provide the possibility of “Drop In‘’ replacement motors.

We offer a variety of Construction Materials from Cast Iron, SS316 Grade Stainless Steels as Standard to Exotic Stainless Steel Alloys to ensure long term reliability in varied environments whilst still offering the advantages of excellent performance.

Motors can be offered with a variety of Interfaces for a broad range of Pump types — from Standard NEMA P Base and IEC frames to unique Flange and shaft arrangements.

SME can provide Water Cooled Motors with robustly engineered bearing arrangements to ensure pump thrust loads are absorbed adequately to guarantee long term operation.

SME can design and manufacture from the “Lamination Up” to ensure the Motor is ideally suited for the application. This bespoke Manufacturing policy ensures we can meet any special design requirements. SME can build motors from small Kilowatt Motors right through to large outputs in the Megawatts and above to ensure we meet all requirements.

SME Submersible Motors can be manufactured in all voltages from 110V through to 6600V at 50Hz or 60Hz, or for use with Variable Speed Drives. Due to SME’s flexible manufacturing systems we can offer motors in water or oil filled constructions. Motors can be provided for internally balanced or header tank installations.

SME’s extensive testing facilities ensure we can test these Water Cooled Motors at rated Voltage and Frequency. This testing can also involve Hydraulic Performance testing on a customers pump in our Test tank. Full string testing involving the Drives, Control Gear, Motor and Driven equipment can also be organised.

Submersible Motor Engineering’s extensive Service Capability also ensures we are the best location for Service and Refurbishment of Water Cooled Motors of any manufacturer. Quite often SME can return motors to their clients in a better than new condition due to our ability to implement the latest Engineering Practices into the repair process.

Service And Repair Of Submersible Electric Motors

SME has extensive service, repair, maintenance and testing capabilities, at our purpose built facilities in Australia, United Kingdom and the USA. SME can provide a solution for submersible electric motors – from design and speci?cation through to servicing, repair and/or replacement. Our experience and commitment to quality allows our clients complete con?dence that their requirements are in the best possible hands.

SME specialises in minimizing downtime for critical application submersible electric motors by providing an ef?cient and cost effective mechanical repair and rewinding service at our ISO 9001 accredited facilities. Our experienced technicians are proficient at working with all brands of submersible electric motors and can quickly return motors back to service. We also maintain detailed records of motor failures across all brands which assist with plant management. SME is well quali?ed to offer advice to prevent future faults.

Motor Modification

SME can modify and upgrade all brands of submersible electric motors during the repair and servicing process to meet the requirements of any application. These modifications can include changing materials, adding temperature sensors, re-design to suit different voltages and frequencies, applying protective coatings, offering extended cable lengths and splicing cables, replacing damaged, corroded, or worn parts and other application specific alterations. SME has the “in house” machining and fabrication capabilities to manufacture obsolete parts ensuring maximum life for motors are achieved.

In-Field Support

SME can provide a number of site support services to ensure the reliability and performance of our clients‘ submersible motors. Our experienced ?eld service engineers can provide installation, commissioning, fault finding supervision, and training.

Testing

SME‘s West Australian facility, located in Perth, provides for an extensive testing regime for repaired and overhauled motors. SME can full load test motors on our dynamometers and can also offer performance testing of complete pump/motor units in our purpose built test tank – at the speci?ed voltage and frequency up to 6600 volts.

SME can guarantee motors that have been serviced and repaired are ?t for purpose before dispatch, providing customers with complete confidence in the work prior to re-installation. All motors that are rewound by SME are subject to an immersion pressure test which is conducted in our pressure test vessel to ensure the integrity of the windings prior to assembly and load testing. Our commitment to a strict testing regime protects our clients from the risks of downtime caused by unexpected failure.

 

 

GENERAL INFORMATION ON SUBMERSIBLE ELECTRIC MOTORS.

 

 Submersible electric motors are generally long and thin and designed to operate in a borehole coupled to a submersible multistage pump. In recent years the motors have been used in a number of different applications. Typical applications are: · Submersible pumps for water supply – drinking water and industrial water. · Booster pumps for high rise buildings. · Mine dewatering. · Dewatering for Civil Engineering Projects. · Irrigation. · Fire fighting and sprinkler systems. · Air conditioning systems. · Offshore oil rigs – sea water lift pumps for re-injection and cooling, ballast pumps, and fire pumps. · Water treatment plants. · Fountains. These motors, with multistage pumps attached, are designed to be lowered into a small diameter borehole to pump ground water. Typical bore holes have 4”, 6”, 8”, 10”, 12” and 14” internal diameters usually this is a steel or plastic pipe which is pushed into a hole after it is drilled to form the well liner or well casing. The motors are actually smaller than their dimensional name implies. The Inch dimension actually refers to the ID of the hole not the motor diameter. The motors need to be smaller than the hole to allow water to pass between the motor and the well liner and into the pump.

 

There are three different types of submersible motor:- Canned Type Water filled Type Oil filled Type Comparison of Features Type of Motor Type of Winding Rewind-able Size Reliability Acceptable for pumping drinking water Temp Rating of the Winding Ambient Temp of Water being pumped Canned Or Encapsul-ated Normal Enamel Wire – PEI2 No 4” 6” 8” Good Yes 90ºc Max 35 deg.C. Water Filled PVC Covered or PE / nylon Yes 6” 8” 10” 12” 14” 16” 18” 22” 26” Good Yes 90ºc Max 35 deg.C. Oil Filled Normal Enamel wire Yes 4” to 16” Not so Good Probably not 120º Max 35 deg.C. These parameters will vary between different manufactures. Note: Oil filled motors can be filled with a Vegetable oil, which is safe for human consumption, however most water Authorities do not want to take the risk of consumers complaining of oil in their water, which could happen if and when the oil leaks from the motor.

Costs vs Reliability Canned type motors are slightly more expensive than oil filled or water filled motors. Oil filled motors in the smaller sizes are less expensive than water filled motors. Canned and water filled motors tend to be more reliable than the oil filled motors, because of the complexity of ensuring that the oil can expand and contract without escaping from the motor. Cooling and Good Water FlowThese motors rely on good water flow past the motor. Water flow velocity must be between 0.5 ft/sec. to 10 ft/sec. (15cm/sec to 300 cm/sec). If the flow is less than this the motors will probably overheat and burn out. Surprisingly if the flow is more than this, motors will also overheat because the high velocity does not allow efficient heat transfer from the motor to the water. These motors are designed for high power outputs in small sizes in comparison with normal air cooled motors. Because water is a very efficient cooling medium, compared with air, the current density in the stator winding is much higher than an air cooled motor. This is acceptable provided the external body of the motor is efficiently cooled be the external water. If there is no external water flow or if the external water ambient temperature is too high the motor will overheat. If the internal water reaches boiling point it will form steam which will force a way out of the motor past the seals. If enough steam escapes the top bearing will run dry and fail, or the winding wire will melt and cause a catastrophic failure in the winding. Oil also a reasonable conductor for heat compared to air but not as good as water.Oil cooled motors are more tolerant to overheating, but in general the oils used in these motors can only operate up to 90ºC before they start to carburize and degenerate – the oil turns black and has a burnt smell when the motor is opened. Oil cooled motors have to be designed to allow the oil to expand as it heats up. Typically the internal oil will expand by at least 10% and the bellows have to be able to expand to accommodate this as the motor heats up and contract again when the motor cools down. Water does not expand very much as it heats up so it is easier to design the bellows to allow for the expansion and contraction. Internal water will probably escape from the motor and / or external water will enter the motor eventually, however this should not be a problem for the water cooled motor unless sand or foreign matter manages to enter the motor, as this will probably lead to increased wear on the bearings and eventual mechanical failure.

 

SUBMERSIBLE ELECTRIC MOTORS - DESIGN, MANUFACTURE, SALES & SERVICE.

 

RECOMMENDED PROTECTION SETTINGS FOR SUBMERSIBLE MOTORS

Maximum Motor Winding Temperature for water filled motor – 80 deg.C. Maximum Current Unbalance – 5%. Maximum Overload current above nameplate current + 5%. (We recommend that the overload is set to 5% above the actual current measured when the motor is commissioned. If the current increases the motor will trip which will alert the operator to the fact that something has changed). Current Underload – 10% below current during commissioning. This may need to be increased depending on how the motor is operated. (We believe that the operator should be alerted when the load changes). Over Voltage – 10%. Under Voltage – 10%. Voltage Unbalance – 2%. SME recommend that ALL water filled motors should have at least one PT100 installed in the motor. From experience we know that the hottest spot in most water filled motors is in the end winding on the Drive End. If a PT100 is installed and connected to a display/protection unit the operator can monitor the actual temperature in the motor. There are a lot of variables that effect the winding temperature, such as current unbalance, load, ambient water temperature, etc. and it is impossible to predict exactly what the winding temperature will be in operation. Provided the winding temperature is below 80 deg. C. the operator can be confident that the motor will operate reliably even if there are problems with the site conditions.

Email: Sales@Silvercrestsubmarines.com

 

 

 

 
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