Sea-water battery for subsea control systems

This paper describes a power source for the autonomous control system of a subsea well (SWACS) in the Ionian Sea. The unit was deployed in Jan. 1996 at a depth of 180 m. The 650 kWh sea-water battery uses anodes made from commercial magnesium alloys, sea-water as the electrolyte and oxygen dissolved in the sea-water as oxidant. The inert cathodes are made from carbon fibers. The system is composed of six, two-metre high sea-water cells integrated in a steel structure, a d.c./d.c. converter and a valve regulated lead-acid accumulator enclosed in a titanium container together with a monitoring unit which transfers data to the surface via an acoustic link.