The basic elements of this corer are that it sucks itself into the seabed with a suction pump, pushes itself out with compressed air and floats to the surface for retrieval.
Svitzer's suction corer is simple to operate and handle and provides a means for retrieving large volumes of sediment from the sea floor without large winches or or A-frames. The target market is for nearshore soil strength testing and inshore pre-dredge work which maintains the mechanical continuity of the core samples, unlike a vibrating corer.
The suction corer can be operated from one of the small surface vessels that are in generally used for piston coring and are available at lower rates than DP vessels.
Version 3 of the suction corer is similar to a smaller survey AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) generally about 0.5 meter in diameter and around 3 meters in length.
The small size and weight allow the suction corer to be launched and operated from an inshore support vessel with little modification.
This is version 1 of the prototype - will it float?
This is version 2 of the prototype - with modified pump, housing and core barrel
This is version 3 of the prototype - with an aluminum forerunner, 4" sample barrel and twin 6" suction tubes
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