Microprocessor switching and control of electrical equipment on a submersible compression chamber

This paper reports the use of microprocessor multiplexing techniques to reduce the size of the umbilical between the surface (ship) and a submersible compression chamber (SCC. Two Intel 8085 microprocessors have been used in a master/slave arrangement. The master microcomputer (on the surface) monitors all the control panel switches and transmits this information via two separate cables to the slave microcomputer (in the SCC. The slave carries out the switching electronically, checks that all the devices in the SCC are working correctly and then transmits back diagnostic information to the master for analysis and display. A laboratory demonstration model has been constructed to illustrate the remote control and monitoring of four important devices: namely, heater, motor, transducer and camera. The necessary engineering and safety features have been outlined.