Within the industrialisation program of Springs, an innovative, all electric, subsea seawater desulphation & injection technology, the requirement for using Barrier Fluidless subsea pump was identified.

In conventional subsea pumping technology, barrier fluid is used to lubricate, cool and provide an insulation barrier to the electric motor. There are two negative aspects of using barrier fluids:
1 – A continuous supply of barrier fluid must be ensured through the umbilical from topside: this substantially increases the cost of the umbilical
2 – Leakage of barrier fluid into the process water can be detrimental to the downstream process

Saipem and Curtiss Wright have qualified a subsea pumping system lubricated and cooled using only the pumped fluid, allowing to eliminate the need for barrier fluid. The system leverages on the seal-less canned motor pump technology, which has been successfully deployed for more than 70 years in various critical applications where reliability is paramount.

A full-scale, 3.0 MW prototype was designed, manufactured and wet-pit-tested to demonstrate a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 4 per API 17Q.

In addition to verification of basic pump performance across the entire operating speed range, numerous other system testing was performed. The testing campaign included operation at reduced, normal, and over-speed conditions, emergency shutdown, coast-down, and endurance runs at full-load.

Canned motor technology is significantly scalable and flexible, with demonstrated reliability in topside applications up to 5.5 MW in operation, multi-phase fluid pumping, fluids with highly abrasive solids, and design life measured in decades.