Tether management

ROV Tether sometimes referred as umbilical is one of the most vital elements of an ROV providing communications with on shore station. Damaging your tether is a single point of failure that will result in mission failure and in worst case scenario, loss of an ROV.

We all know very well that the BlueRobotics tether has exceptional quality and tensile strength and durability. But everything has its limits and last thing we want is to find it the hard way.

Let’s dive in to what can be addressed, and how FiedWerx improves tethering system of an ROV to give us extra confidence in our adventures.

First of all we address the issue of side turning tendency caused by asymmetrical tether stress relief joint placement. In practice this results in difficulty maintaining steady trajectory of static point of view under high current conditions or when tether length introduces extra drag.

In order to remedy this behavior we created a soft shackle joint in between back side of structural frame the tether thimble. This allows the tension point to move from side to side depending on the ROVs movement direction.

Instead of using zip-ties to secure the tether around the thimble we went the way of an ancient chinese finger catching contraption. This helps to spread out the tensile force application to a much longer section of the tether reducing risk of conductor damage due to pinching. Or compromising cable watertightness with a zip-tie sharp edge. Stress relief is made out of Dynimo saltwater rated braided cord capable of sustaining 2000 pounds of sheer force.

Probably the most important upgrade to the tether system is introduction of an Aquamate quick disconnect bulkhead penetrator. One of very few solutions on the market that allows operating the connector in wet environment. This means that this connector can be mated and uncoupled while being fully submerged.

Being able to detach your tether from your ROV greatly increases portability and serviceability of your rig. ROV can be transported in it’s own case with tether and accessories staying in another.