Project Team, left to right; Kent Meaux – Lab Manager, Charles Sawyer – Offshore Project Manager, and Jarrot Spurlock – Offshore Project Manager. All are employees of Cochrane Technologies Inc.

Cochrane Technologies Inc. located here in Lafayette, builds exhibit to be displayed at the Lafayette Children’s Museum this coming fall 2009.

The Cochrane Team built a model of an actual offshore sonar project. SONAR - Meaning "Sound Navigation And Ranging" is a tool used to take pictures under the water. Many types of Sonar's are used in many different ways. It can be used to measure how deep the water is, help locate objects on the sea floor, detect schools of fish, or to create maps the sea floor, just to name a few.

The Bottom Scanning sonar pictured here is commonly used in the Oil and Gas industry to create an image of the seafloor, much like a Radar system on a ship indicates where other ships, land, or other hazards exist around the vessel. Sound is sent out from the Sonar transducer (commonly called the Sonar Head) into the water. As the sound reflects or bounces off of objects along the way, it is received back by the Sonar head, which sends that signal back to a processing computer on the ship. The Sonar head then turns a little and sends out another sound pulse. As these bits of information are received by the computer, they can be put together to create an image of the sea floor and other objects that may also be present. The image seen is not like a typical camera picture. It is a color representation of the distance and signal strength of the returning sonar sound pulse. Dark areas indicate an absence of sound reflections such as shadows, and bright areas show where objects are located.

Often in the Oil and Gas industry, Bottom Scanning Sonar's are used to help direct divers to places they need to work, but would be difficult for them to see while underwater. The Sonar can "see" even in the dark, and much farther than a diver could otherwise. Bottom Scanning Sonar's are also used to help move drilling rigs onto location, helping to avoid damaging the oil rig or any other natural resource such as coral reefs. Sonar's are also used once an oil company has finished gathering the oil or gas from an oil well and want to leave the location. The Sonar is brought in to scan for any man-made debris that might have been blown overboard into the water. If anything is found, it is then picked up, leaving the bottom of the ocean as clean as it was before it was touched by man.

Different types of Sonar's are used in the Oil and Gas industry for a number of different things. In addition to Bottom Scanning Sonar's, there are Side Scan Sonar's, which maps a much larger area but must be towed behind a moving ship; Sub-bottom Profiler's that aim downwards and penetrate the bottom with sound to reveal what is beneath the sea floor; Fathometer's that measure how deep the water is; Obstacle Avoidance Sonar's that are used to prevent running into things beneath the water; Tracking Sonar's which are used to position Remote Operated Vehicles or help determine where a pipeline may be clogged or damaged; And Sonar's are even used at times to help keep a ship floating directly over a work area.

The use of Sonar technology has enabled us to do more than we could before, and save money by allowing us to do things faster and safer.

This project will be on display at the Lafayette Children’s museum for 6 months and then the plans are to take the project on an international tour.