Wide's Industries are often specified as suppliers when ventilation grids are needed offshore, both in the North Sea and other more remote sea areas. We are naturally proud of this.
As an offshore supplier for more than 20 years, our ventilation grates have experienced the vast majority of what a ventilation grate can be exposed to. Wide ventilation louvers are often called Offshore grate, North Sea grate, Wide ME, Wide intake grate, Wide drop catcher, Wide louver, Wide air intake, Wide demister or just the Wide grille.
Here are the 5 main reasons why Wide is often the preferred choice for ventilation in the offshore industry:
1. Wide's ventilation louvers meet the requirements described by Equinor in its technical requirements specification TR1562. In this requirement specification, Equinor has collected all the requirements they have experienced for many years, that must be applied to products to be used offshore. Included in this is that the ventilation louver must withstand gust wind/gust wind velocity up to 64 m/s. Wide's ventilation louver is designed to withstand this. They have also set requirements for how efficient the ventilation louver should be to stop the rain. Equinor's requirements are "separation efficiency of a minimum of 95%". Wide ventilation louvers meet this requirement by a good margin.
2.The international standardization organization ISO has prepared air quality requirements for different applications. These requirements are described in ISO15138. ISO's requirements for the various applications are defined as "Performance requirements", Intake category I, II, and III. Wide ventilation solutions meet all the requirements of Category I, II, and III. The ventilation louver, without the use of a filter, meets the requirements of Category III. The ventilation louver in combination with the Wide Drop Safe Filter meets the requirements of Category I and II. Category I is set as requirements for residential platform/Living Quarter and includes, among other things, requirements for filtering salt/salt content 0.01 x 10-6.
3. Equipment used offshore is exposed to saltwater and saline air. To prevent corrosion, all materials must be resistant to corrosion if it’s intended to last for long periods. Wide ventilation louvers are produced in seawater-resistant aluminum. Seawater resistant aluminum AA6063 T6 is designed to have high resistance to corrosion. Wide's offshore ventilation louvers have been used for more than 20 years, including in the North Sea. Our louvers proved that the AA6063 T6 has the right properties and that this material is suitable for use in corrosion-prone environments.
4. In the case of snow and ice, the ventilation inlet may be frozen or snowbound. To ensure this does not happen, Wide has a solution where electrical heating cables are used in the slats and drips. This solution is approved for use in hazardous areas (ATEX). If ventilation louvers are required with heating cable, ATEX approved ventilation louvers , type Wide Wide SP E heat traced air intake demister, that are ATEX-certified DNV GL Nemko Presafe for use in zone II.
Because of our offshore delivery experience, we also get orders for offshore wind power projects. These deliveries do not have requirements for ATEX but there is a need for robust and proven design solutions.
In combination with the ventilation louver, we can also supply mounting frames in AISI 316 that also meet tr1562. These can be supplied as loose devices or assembled into chessboards, with frame/flange. The flange can be delivered in accordance with ISO15138. We also deliver filter housings in seawater-resistant aluminum and acid-resistant steel.
If the project or end customer requires ventilation louvers supplied in stainless steel, AISI316, Wide can deliver it. These louvers are named Wide MA and meet the same requirements as our ventilation louvers in seawater-resistant aluminum, but they do not come with heating cable.
5. To prevent corrosion/wet fine filters, rain must be hindered from penetrating the ventilation louver. Wide's ventilation louvers stop 100% of rain from penetrating the ventilation ducts. They have been tested by third parties in accordance with Norwegian Standard EN 13030.
