Developing an Advanced Oil Well Monitoring System

Related Vendors

TURCK GmbH

EagleBurgmann Germany GmbH & Co. KG

Elementar Analysensysteme GmbH

National Instruments Corporation (UK) Ltd.

National Instruments Corp

The Basics of Oil Well Monitoring Systems

The oil well monitoring system is designed to monitor the performance of vital pump components during operation. The preliminary product is focused on monitoring high-pressure fracturing pumps in well stimulation applications. Each fracturing unit has a high horsepower diesel engine and transmission mated to a triplex or quintaplex pump. Both the engine and the transmission come equipped with an electronic interface that monitors critical functions and provides diagnostic information as the unit is running.

The engine and transmission output the data they monitor via an SAE J1939 communication protocol. Currently, pumps in this industry do not contain more than a couple of discrete sensors that monitor their critical operating parameters. Typically, discharge pressure, RPM, lube oil pressure, and lube oil temperature are monitored. Each of these parameters is measured with an individual sensor and signal cable that goes back to the main control console.

LabVIEW has made the software development side much quicker. What most C programmers take two years to do we can accomplish in a couple of months.“ - CEO, Lime Instruments, LLC, Robert Stewart

Control, Transmit, React

The goal of the product by Lime Instruments is to monitor these functions as well as several others and transmit that data back to the main control console via the same SAE J1939 controller area network (CAN) protocol. This system needs to look for data characteristics outside the normal operating envelope and failure conditions.

With this real-time information, operators can determine if they should discontinue operation or continue based on real performance indications from the pump. Ultimately, this system should reduce the number of pump failures as well as overall pump maintenance costs.

Rugged Deployment with Compact RIO and Labview

The company believes that for the work it does there is not a more capable hardware package than Compact RIO. Furthermore, the company with Labview development of software is faster than most other programming environments. Labview has made the software development side much quicker compared with past experiences in C-based programming. What most C programmers take two years to do, the company now accomplishes in a couple of months. The time saved here thus allows for a quicker time to market and also an opportunity to take advantage of its competitors’ lag time.

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