Oil equipment manufacturing firm National Oilwell Varco's Elmar product group has announced the launch of the NOV Elmar Smart Inject System (SIS), a patented technology which is set to revolutionise wireline operations.
A wireline operation involves the injection of wireline grease into a grease injection head to ensure a dynamic seal on a braided wireline is maintained. Until now the control of this injection pressure has been conducted manually and has been easily affected by factors such as well kicks and line speed. If a mistake is made when controlling pressure the worst case scenario could be a loss of well control.
Carl Wood, NOV Elmar's technical director, said: "By implementing the NOV Elmar Smart Inject System the pumps on a standard Elmar Grease Injection Skid are controlled electronically. The system uses a computer chipset, proprietary software and sensors allowing it to automatically and continuously monitor the variables and adjust as necessary; significantly reducing HSE risks.
"These automatic adjustments result in the core aspects of performing a wireline job being drastically improved. A state change is never missed, grease is always injected at the optimum level reducing the negative effects on the environment and both grease costs and post job cleanup costs are significantly reduced. An important benefit is that the grease injection unit no longer needs to be continuously manned, thus reducing manpower costs."
Additionally the use of a computer controlled system allows the introduction of other functionality:
The system monitors grease pump drive air pressure, grease tank levels, mains power supply and excessive grease pressure. An alarm is sounded should any of these fall outside the values set by the user.
- A back up battery is supplied ensuring the system remains in control should the main power fail.
- An internal memory card and data logging system records all the measurements made by the system during a job and can be reviewed later if required for job analysis.
- Real time data can be streamed to a safe area PC or laptop and from there across the internet to anywhere in the world.
The current system has been designed to be retro-fitted to existing control modules but can easily be incorporated into new designs too. NOV Elmar consider that the SIS represents a step change in wireline pressure control.
NOV Elmar is a leading designer and manufacturer of wellhead pressure control equipment with offices and manufacturing sites in Dubai, Singapore, Houston, Minsk, Edmonton, Alberta and Perth, Australia. The company's headquarters and UK division is based in Aberdeen.
Issued on behalf of NOV Elmar by ThinkPR. For further information please contact Christine Kershaw on 01224 623961 or email Christine@thinkpr.co.uk
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Christine Kershaw
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© Press Release 2009
