Schneider Electric Application Examples
Off-shore oil platform communication using Data-Linc wireless serial modems interfaced with Modicon PLCs
Background
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Remote Data-Linc serial radio modem with Modicon Momentum PLC on platform (in the distance) communicates 2 miles to the HMI Master Control using only omni directional antennas
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In order to more effectively utilize their resources, two competing oil companies wanted to share an oil pipeline between their two offshore platforms two miles apart off the coast of California. The companies placed the highest priority on monitoring the flow, pressure and other variables at both ends of the pipe. When compared to a set tolerance, the data could ensure pipe integrity or a quick response to any problem before a significant spill could occur if this data could be shared. They were considering a system that could get this critical data from one platform through a microwave system to shore, create a secure transfer between companies onshore, and then transfer the data through the second company's microwave system from shore back out to sea to the second platform. Implementation was so problematic, however, that no progress was being made.
The Challenge
Because the shared pipe traversed the ocean floor six hundred feet below the surface, it was crucial to monitor this pipe and its contents very closely. They would need to comply with regulations and establish reliable, real-time data monitoring to establish and ensure pipe integrity thus minimizing any risk of a crude oil leak becoming an oil spill. While the companies could easily monitor their own ends of the pipe, if they were to transfer crude oil via a shared pipe, each needed a viable way to not only monitor the data and its compliance to the set criteria but also to communicate that data to the other platform.
One of the companies hired Graybar Automation, a solution provider for electrical, automation, communications and networking products and services, to help to design a solution. In addition to the geographic and environmental problems presented by the offshore location, a number of other challenges faced Graybar. First, the competing oil companies used different instruments to monitor their end of the pipeline. Next, one of the companies physically could not run communication cable, nor would it have been cost effective even if they had the ability because the two platforms were at sea and two miles apart. Both companies wanted a solution that retained the existing network, minimized downtime and was cost-effective. To add to the challenge, the second company stipulated that the solution must take only one day to install, test and complete.
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