Floatation Housing Accessories & Services
For protection, storage, and ease of handling, LDPE (low-density polyethylene) protective shells are available as well as a mounting framework with swiveling sphere fixings, rope, thimbles, and shackles (EDDYGRIP system).
Please check out the individual parts below for more details.
Overview
Please see below for the accessories and services for VITROVEX floatation housings.
| Accessories | Overview | |
|---|---|---|
| Vacuum Pump |  |
Deck Purge Box (vacuum pump) that fits vacuum ports for evacuating glass housings and eliminating internal moisture. Download Datasheet: VITROVEX Deck Purge Box |
| Vacuum Port (Self-Sealing) |  |
Titanium vacuum port with 5mm or 7/16“ threaded bolt. Used with purge box to simplify sealing.
Download Datasheet: self-sealing vacuum ports |
| Vacuum Port (Standard) |
 |
Titanium with single and double face seal, and a 5mm threaded bolt. Download Drawing: General arrangement Download Technical Notes: Installation Guidelines |
| Sealing & Protective Tape |  |
Scotchrap protects the TEROSTAT sealing tape from seawater/mechanical damage. Scotchrap Tapes have a 5-year shelf life (from the date of the manufacturer) when stored under the following recommended storage conditions: Store in a clean, dry place at a temperature of approximately. 21°C (70°F) and 40 to 50% relative humidity. Good stock rotation is recommended.
Shelf life becomes virtually unlimited when stored cool and dry (15°C / 40% rel humidity). |
| Manometer |  |
Monitors the vacuum inside the housing. Can be bonded internally; shells can be modified with a viewing window. This feature can be especially useful if a last check of the vacuum is required right before deployment, and time-consuming disassembling efforts of the protective shells are not an option. |
| Hose Adapter |  |
Adapter for connecting vacuum hoses to ports. |
| Heatsink |  |
Copper filler plug for use with bulkhead connector ports. Rated approx. heat flow in W @deltaT (40@20°, 60@30°, 80@40°, 100@50°). |
| Pressure Feedthrough |  |
VITROVEX stainless steel AISI316 pressure feedthrough (high pressure 1/4″ NPT to 1/16″ NPT). Download Drawing: Pressure Feedthrough |
| Pressure Switch |  |
Activates at ~3 bar to support pressure-triggered instrumentation. |
| Flanges |  |
Flanges provide an alternative solution to open and close spheres. They are often made of Titanium due to similar thermal expansion coefficients. Stainless steel or plastic flanges could also be feasible for short-term deployments or shallow water applications. Leak tightness is achieved, similar to any other non-glass housing, by means of O-rings between two flanges. Nautilus Marine Service provides a default flange design and can also manufacture according to customers’ needs.
The glass housing is bonded to the flanges using a commercially available adhesive. For customers who like to apply their own flanges to glass housings, Nautilus Marine Service has bonding instructions available as well as corresponding tools and adhesives. Please note: In general, glass housings are very strong against pressure, but do not have the same qualities against tension or shear, or torsion. So, do not install glass housings at platforms where they are subjected to such forces. This is particularly important for housings that have been furnished with metal flanges. Do not use those flanges as mounting support on flexible surfaces. Downloads: |
| Filler Plugs |  |
Blanking plugs for additional outputs, even if there is no need for all holes at the time of production. |
| Bulkhead Mounting Sets |  |
Accommodates circular or low-profile connectors. Bulkhead adaptors offer an additional approach to realize through-wall connections and provide greater flexibility as additional interfaces could be attached proactively and sealed with blanking plugs.
Download Datasheet: VITROVEX Connector Adapter |
| Lubricant |  |
Molykote Lubricant grease for O-rings and connectors before mating. |
| Mounting Ring |  |
With or without threaded inserts, bonded approximately 25mm below the rim of a corresponding hemisphere. Download Drawing: MR-PVC -7.5 MR-PVC-10 MR-PVC -13 MR-PVC -17 |
| Bonding Set |  |
Bonding Set to attach items to the glass wall. |
| Adaptor Plates |  |
Distributes the load around drill hole edges to avoid stress concentrations. Download: technical workshop |
| Protective Shells |  Download Technical note: VITROVEX protective shells |
Protective shells for VITROVEX® spherical glass housings are available for impact protection, stowing, and ease of handling. They are made of LDPE (low-density polyethylene) in bright orange color and are neutrally buoyant. Protective shells are offered in a smooth or ribbed design. Each protective shell consists of two flanged halves secured by stainless steel bolts with washers and self-locking nuts. Synthetic fiber pads between the glass sphere and the shell absorb shock and retain the sphere in its position. The number of synthetic fiber pads varies with the sphere model.
Additional mounting hardware, such as Eddygrip/Eddyrope swiveling sphere attachment sets, is available to support field installations. Protective shells of ribbed design are often used in moorings or application with a large likelihood for impact whereas smooth protective shells are usually used when spheres are mounted directly on underwater equipment such as landers or when the protective shell needs to be modified in order to accommodate (oversized) connectors, transducers, etc. or to provide view holes for cameras, lights, etc. respectively. There is no difference in terms of hydrodynamics or net buoyancy between ribbed and smooth protective shells. Technical drawings for protective shells are available in different formats. Please check our download section. Download: |
| Mooring System |  |
Set of up to five 17” floatation spheres on braided fiber rope (Eddyrope) with swiveling mounting brackets (Eddygrip). |
| Transportation Aid |  |
Provides lifting support for heavy glass hemispheres during handling. |
| Service | Overview | |
|---|---|---|
| Pressure Test |  |
Test performed to user-specified values, within the limits of the glass housing and any third-party components. |
| Polyurethane Coating |  |
0.5mm semi-transparent white coating for surface protection. Leaves a 10mm uncoated band around the equator. |
| Paint Coating |  |
Durable color coatings, optionally leaving serial number or vacuum monitor visible. |
| Shell Modification |  |
Modification of protective shells |
| Engineering |  |
Assistance and consulting services to turn customer-specific requirements into high-quality pressure vessels. |
