SeaView Systems’ Smart Grapple Tool built for the Catskill and Delaware Ultraviolet Light Disinfection Facility
The SeaView Smart Grapple tool was developed as part of a $1.4 billion joint venture project to construct an ultraviolet water filtration plant on the Catskill and Delaware aqueduct systems feeding New York City. Our specific task was to remove a quantity of debris in the bottom of a 400ft deep water shaft. The tool had to be developed to work in potable water and be capable of lifting some components weighing several hundred pounds (including bronze gratings) while still having the ability to pick up small wood chips and other loose items.
To perform this task, SeaView designed and developed a “flying grapple” that is suspended from the surface and powered with thrusters. The grapple jaws are opened and closed using an electrical linear actuator and the system is equipped with dimmable LED lights, PTZ camera and a small tooling camera imbedded in the jaws themselves. A total of five different jaw sets were built to accommodate tasks from removing gross debris, fine debris, plywood sheet, bronze grating and to deploy a PTZ camera on a 10ft telescopic pole to inspect a sump in the bottom of the shaft.
The tool was successfully deployed and a total of 1400lb of debris were removed.