Offshore staff
MORGES, Switzerland – Omnisens is checking the temperature of the trace-heated pipe that joins Islay field to the Total-operated Forvie subsea hub in the North Sea.
Total opted fortrace heating for the 6-km (3.7-mi) Islay flowline to ensure that hydrates do not form during extended shutdowns or other operations, blocking the flowline.
Omnisens provided assistance for design and integration of the fiber optic cable to monitor the electrical heating element inside the pipe-in-pipe structure.
The Omnisens system provides the information required to validate the heating function and also to control it. First, it identifies that the required temperature has been reached all along the pipeline; second, since the temperature along the pipeline is known, it can be controlled to keep energy use to a minimum.
The equipment can detect temperature changes of 0.10°C with meter spatial resolution along the entire length of the pipeline in real time. It uses optical fibers as sensing elements, and is claimed to be immune to electrical interference.
9/24/2012
