Jaime Kammerzell • Gulf of Mexico Editor
Membrane filters
Many sample analyzers require zero liquid entrainment and demand that the sample not be altered. To satisfy this requirement, United Filtration Systems', www.ufs-hf.com, Guardian membrane filters provide added filtration protection beyond the coalescing range. A porous PTFE membrane, supported by a sintered stainless steel disc is at the heart of this unit. As a wet sample enters, the membrane lets only gas and vapor molecules pass through, stopping all liquid and diverting it to the drain port, the company says. The Guardian has a feature that allows the user fast and easy access to the actual membrane disc. The housing's base component contains an integral mounting bracket along with all the line connections for inlet, outlet, drain, and bypass. The threaded cap is user friendly with knurls and flats for optimum infield serviceability. No connections are broken to service the membrane disc.
Point detector
The Groveley Detection, www.groveley.co.uk, infrared point gas detector is five times as sensitive as normal point detectors and comes with a 15-yr warrantee on its infrared sources, the company says. The GD-10PE has a measuring range of 0 – 20% LEL. The Simrad GD-10PE is designed for critical applications needing a fast response to low gas concentration within large volumes of air moving at high velocity, such as monitoring air intakes for HVAC systems in living quarters or generators. Other typical applications include monitoring for potential gas leakage in areas with high temperatures and/or high flow rates in gas turbine and compressor packages, point detector applications demanding high sensitivity, and short response time. Its detection concept is based on measurement of infrared radiation passing through a volume of gas. Features include a dual wavelength, dual path concept (which eliminates false gas alarms), and IR source.
Glow-in-the-dark safe cable handling
Cablesafe, www.cablesafe.com, has developed "S" shaped hooks for the offshore industry to improve safety on decks, stairs, scaffolding, and other structures. The hooks suspend all cables, extension cords, wires, and hoses away from the floor to prevent tripping accidents. The hooks are produced from strong and sophisticated non-conductive and non-flammable reinforced polyester and can be reused. The most recent development is glow-in-the-dark hooks that are helpful when working inside void spaces such as storage tanks, legs of drilling rigs, submarines, and underground tunnels. The hooks are non conductive, so there is less interruption of work due to short circuit and the danger of electrification is reduced significantly. To avoid confusion of ownership among different contractors, it is possible to obtain a different color and to have the owner's name engraved in the hook. The hooks are available in three sizes, and each hook is marked with its maximum allowed load. Plus, each end of the hook has a hole that enables the user to safeguard the hooks and cables by a tie-rap.
Drilling instrumentations
Autelec, www.autelec.com, has developed high performance drilling instrumentation capable of withstanding the toughest rig conditions, the company says. The drilling systems are made to control crucial drilling parameters when a well is being drilled. Autelec's drilling instrumentation consists of display modules (VNxx) connected to central processing units (NCxx) via a network cable. These control systems allow the client to set up all the desired functions to measure real-time drilling parameters, such as torque and speed, rate of penetration, drilled depth, total weight, mud pump strokes, mud flow return, and trip tank volume. Procedures for setting up all functions are quick, easy, and only necessary once, the company says. The drilling instrumentations address three different functions. The NC01/VN01 measures and displays torque and speed of the rotary table and top drive, as well as parameters such as drilled depth, rate of penetration, hook load, mud pressure, choke manifold, and tong torque. The NC02/VN02 performs the same operations for speed and stroke count for three mud pumps, while the NC03/VN03 measures and displays the levels of eight mud tanks and one trip tank, but also mud total and loss/gain on each tank.
Rotary steerable with integrated measurements
Schlumberger Oilfield Services, www.slb.com, has introduced its first rugged rotary steerable system (RSS) with integrated measurements to optimize drilling performance and wellbore placement. With a temperature rating of 302° F and providing azimuthal gamma ray measurements close to the bit for real-time detection of slip and fault boundaries, the PowerDrive X5 system operates in hot holes, increases time on bottom through downlink and efficient directional control, and features a tangent and inclination hold function, the company says. The system has been designed for hot, tough drilling environments, typically found offshore and for reservoirs in which geosteering is aided by near-bit gamma ray or where tighter total vertical depth control is required, Paul Wand, business development manager, Schlumberger Drilling Technologies, said.
Flange protectors
Advance Products & Systems' Kleerband flange protectors are made of UV- resistant clear PVC and designed to protect studs and gaskets on raised face and ring type joint flanges from atmospheric corrosion encountered in offshore platforms and underground pipelines. With the use of APS clear flange protectors and corrosion inhibitor grease, flanges remain safe from hazardous and unsightly corrosion that can cause leakage, failure, or even shutdown of equipment, the company says. Visit www.apsonline.com for more information.
Octopus acquisition systems
Using technology developed for the recently launched CodaOctopus Ltd. Octopus 760 geophysical acquisition system, www.codaoctopus.com, two new instruments have been introduced to the Octopus instruments range. The Octopus 360+ sub-bottom processor and the Octopus 460+ sonar acquisition system are the result of a radical overhaul of predecessors, the Octopus 360 and Octopus 460. Developed using embedded Windows XP, each incorporates a 15-in. TFT screen with high-resolution graphics, DVD RAM recorder, and built-in UPS. The compact, rugged, and easy to use package makes them ideal for all survey operations, the company says. The Octopus 360+ and 460+ are easily interfaced to almost any sidescan sonar or sub-bottom profiler and both integrate seamlessly with most post-processing solutions.
