THE STORY OF
HELL SEA
Find out how penetration Hell Sea came about, from our company's objective to the development of the system
Mission
We care about the safety of your vessel.
Our mission is to improve the safety of the boats, according to the classifications societies, without compromising the comfort or the original design.
Vision
We envision a world with fewer accidents, we will work constantly to make environments watertight and fireproof
The first design
Hell Sea was born from the brilliant intuition of engineer Luciano Lombardi, who was faced with a challenge back in 2014.
In the vicinity of the launch of a mega-yacht, a registry authority decreed that the vessel was not up to standard due to exhaust pipes that, at the time, passed through the hull without any insulation. Luciano and his team had to devise a system in a hurry. He decided to take inspiration from the axle lines and devised the first prototype of what would now be known as Hell Sea. The first prototype consisted of a collar, which compressed a special graphite packing capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures.
The project was a success and at a very low cost they managed to certify this system and launch the boat as suitable for the registry authorities.
Case-by-case
The Hell Sea team's aim was to meet the customer's request by adapting, on a case-by-case basis, the penetrations on the pre-existing line. This was a necessary step, as at that time not all yards were aware of the new regulations imposed by the various ship registers.
Our team made every effort to meet the safety requirements in order to be able to launch the boats under construction. This method was fine at such an early stage because there was a need to get approval from the registers in optimal time.
There were further studies to try to optimise this process, which necessarily required an initial on-board inspection and a case-specific design phase.
What we realised was that this process, besides being very time-consuming, was very expensive for the customer. It was then that the idea was born to create a kit that could be adapted to all situations. We then decided to design a single, all-inclusive kit that would greatly reduce the time needed for fabrication and installation on board. The last remaining step was to certify the new system according to SOLAS MED A60 regulations.
Certification MEDA60
On 2015 we started to study a better solution, also being ready to face the MED A60 test.
The tests consist in exposing different dimension's penetration directly to the flames, for a total of 60 minutes in order to test its effective fire resistance.
Hell-Sea has been tested and has successfully passed fireproof standards, obtaining the A60 certificate in accordance with the fire protection requirements imposed by the MED 2014/90 / EU marine equipment directives and according to FTP directives (IMO Res. MSC307 (88) - (2010 FTP Code) - IMO MSC.1 / Circ. 1488) and the SOLAS standards, including the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2018/773.​
The watertight capacities of Hell-Sea were tested by flooding and pressurizing the entire water room at 2 bar.The product has proved to be a pond up to 20 meters of immersion.
The birth of the kits
Initially, the penetrations were installed on a case-by-case basis, taking measurements on site, carrying out a line study and making custom designs to try and meet the demands of the construction sites. The problem was related to the cost of such studies, which gradually increased as the number of requests increased. To cope with this problem, the Hell Sea team studied a solution that would be attractive to the public and that would overcome the problems of limited space. Thus the first standard kit was born, which completely revolutionised the way lines were designed in Italy. The advantage of the kits, in addition to their greatly reduced cost, was that they made the installation of penetrations easy. In fact, the process requires a simple weld on the outside of the kit, a process that takes a maximum of a couple of hours of labour.
With the birth of the standard kit, further studies followed to try to make the Hell Sea kit more and more ergonomic.
Thus the Slim, Curve and Multipipe kits were devised.
Research for improvement
The Hell Sea team is constantly researching and studying new technologies to increase the efficiency of the system. Over the years, various tests have been carried out in our test laboratory to try to achieve an ever more optimal solution. The first prototypes used a packing composed mainly of graphite, a material that is excellent for thermal insulation but less efficient from a structural point of view. Over time, it required some form of replacement maintenance, as the constant heat from the pipes tended to stiffen the packing, creating sealing problems. After a number of modifications and research, we were able to develop a new type of ceramic fibre packing that would provide the same mechanical, thermal and watertight resistance. The new packing immediately proved to be much more malleable, which increased the possibility of movement of the insulated pipe. However, it was necessary to further modify the number of clamping pins and the pitch of the holes to allow for a compression that could meet the mechanical requirements we were looking for.
Our goal is to create a system that will last over time, requiring no maintenance or overhaul for at least 10 years.
Contact Us
Address
19037 Via A. Casale s.n.c.
Santo Stefano di Magra (SP) Italy
Contact
+39 0187 696182
Opening Hours
Mon - Fri
9:00 am – 5:00 pm