To introduce the SWIM (Shallow Water Immersion) range, Vincent Mansour, Marine Product Manager at SOURIAU explains: “The saying that if you can do more, you can also do less is not always true, just because a connector is watertight at great depth does not mean that it will be equally so in shallow water. The watertight design has to take into account the pressure exerted on the seams, and therefore the immersion depth.”
With SWIM connectors, the plug is screwed into the receptacle to lock both parts together and two O-rings at the mating interface ensure the connection stays watertight even at low pressure. Manufactured in thermoplastic material, SWIM connectors are lightweight and watertight. They are resistant to corrosion, cathodic delamination and UV exposure, which makes them particularly suitable for prolonged immersion in a marine environment. The screw mating and the coding pins make it easy to mate the plug with the receptacle, regardless of the number of pins.
SOURIAU harnesses, a real benefit for manufacturers
Manufacturers of shallow water immersible equipment have to confront problems of sealing, contact corrosion and connector installation. With its SWIM half-harnesses and harnesses, SOURIAU provides reliable solutions at a very competitive cost. In the catalogue, the half-harnesses are available on the 2 housing sizes and 13 contact arrangements, in lengths from 1 to 10 metres with cable connector overmouldings that can be straight or 90° angled.
SOURIAU also supplies specific harnesses on request: according to Vincent Mansour, “some customers, for the direct connection of two pieces of equipment without intermediate splices, ask us to produce complete harnesses with a connector at each end. In this case, the customer chooses his cable and connectors as well as the length and type of straight or angled overmoulding on each connector.”
The design and manufacturing quality of SOURIAU ‘s SWIM harnesses ensure secure connections in applications up to 300 m deep. They perfectly match the requirements of surface drone applications. These drones are used for marine mammal research missions, oil exploration or military-type applications such as maritime surveillance. SWIM harnesses also meet the needs of meteo-oceanographic buoys, OCROVs (Remotely Operated Underwater Observation Robots) and a wide variety of marine equipment integrating sensors (hydrophones, temperature, salinity, etc.) and electronic devices.
SWIM harnesses contribute to the reliability of immersible systems while facilitating their maintenance and increasing the modularity of their architecture. SOURIAU does all its manufacturing, assembly and testing of SWIM connectors in-house. This vertical integration gives us the flexibility and reactivity we need to satisfy our customers present in all parts of the world.
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