Supporting Ocean Sustainability
Today is World Oceans Day, an environment that we are passionate about. The sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem drives a global economy which can benefit us all.
Our work, designing and manufacturing cable harness systems for this most challenging environment supports businesses across ocean science, aquaculture, marine energy, transport & tourism, oil and gas, ocean mining and defence. Our fit and forget product reliability keeps critical systems operational and reduces through life costs. The properties that make plastic pollution in the oceans a long term challenge are the same ones that see us championing the use of polyethylene for life long reliability to reduce the needless consumption of other plastics that need regular replacement.
SMI design and manufacture underwater cable systems for the most hostile applications on the planet, including naval defence, wave and tidal power and marine science. Our cable harnesses that can carry data, controls and up to 33.6kV of power. Ensuring that these systems remained sealed and with optimal performance over the life of the system draws on a technology which has established the company as world leaders in polythene cabling connectivity.
Using high temperature and high pressure processes, thermoplastic polyethylene (PE) is used to bond cable jackets with connectors and glands forming chemical binds that can survive over 25 years underwater.
Invented in 1933, PE is a thermoplastic that has a unique combination of excellent dielectric characteristics, high electrical resistance, low moisture permeation, and low water absorption. Cable-grade polyethylene is essentially inert in the ocean. Processes such as oxidation, hydrolysis (chemical breakdown in water) and mineralization are extremely slow with polyethylene jacketed cables having now survived for more than 40 years immersion in sea water.
Polyethylene has been the first choice of the British Navy for cabling systems for decades where its durability foregoes the need for regular replacement unlike the polyurethane systems favoured by other nations. Cable systems which fail and have to be replaced are discarded and have a substantial environmental impact. A system delivering more than twenty years reliable service not only offers economic advantage over system life but is a responsible environmental choice too.
SMI have being producing PE cable systems for 30 years and have supplied over 10,000 installations with zero leaks and are able to offer 10 year warranties on moulding products which utilise our PE technology.