SAAB SEAEYE Limited

Seaeye Marine is a private limited company located in Fareham, Hampshire on the South Coast of England between the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth. Both of London's international airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, are just over an hour away by road. The company was formed in 1986 by Ian and Janet Blamire to specialise in the manufacture of electrically powered Remotely Operated Vehicles, ROVs for the offshore oil and gas industry. At that time there were several manufacturers of small electric vehicles all capable of working in shallow water and for inshore applications, but none of these had proved a commercial success in the more demanding 'offshore' market. Electric vehicles were known to suffer from a lack of power and long term reliability problems particularly affecting their thrusters. Seaeye's challenge was to develop electric ROVs that could operate reliably in the offshore oil and gas industry and particularly in areas with strong currents such as the Southern North Sea. Their ROVs would be expected to work for extended periods between maintenance. Seaeye's first ROV was the eyeball class Seaeye 600 which was to set new standards for power, performance and reliability. Light weight composite materials were extensively used in the construction of the vehicle and a new thruster was developed with greater power and response than had been seen before. The Seaeye 600 is still manufactured today with new digital control electronics but is now just one of a range of Seaeye systems from which to choose. Seaeye was the first manufacturer to take brushless DC motor technology and develop this for reliable use in ROV thrusters. As part of this development, Seaeye were the pioneers who integrated motor drive circuitry within the thruster body. For this work they won the prestigious Triad Innovation Design award in 1990. Another industry first was the extensive use of polypropylene for the construction of ROV frames. This material is self-supporting in water, resistant to corrosion and extremely durable. The innovative use of this material together with composites and creative designs has produced a range of ROVs with the highest power to weight ratio in their class. Seaeye ROVs have become the benchmark by which all electric powered ROVs are compared today.