WirelessHART Ensures Smooth Exploration of New Oil and Gas Fields

Mobile equipment is used regularly in the exploration of new oil and gas fields and to open up new areas. State-of-the-art mobile technology enables searching for the valuable raw materials hidden beneath the earth's surface at depths of 500 to 5,000 meters.

Until now, the temperature and pressure measurements required during the exploration process were realized using a wired solution. Field devices transmit the process variables via a 4 mA … 20 mA signal. The sensors are located in a hazardous area, and the individual components are approximately 20 m apart from each other.

Due to the constant relocation of the system for development of new oil and gas fields, the time-consuming, wired solution needed to be replaced by a wireless solution. To be effective, the wireless solution should allow flexible and easy installation as well as a quick commissioning. In order to ensure safety and availability of the mobile system, the solution has to fulfill the requirements for use in hazardous areas. Existing pressure and temperature transmitters need to be easily upgraded, and they should transmit measurement and diagnostic data. The easy retrofitting of new sensors plays an important role.

WirelessHART technology from Pepperl+Fuchs offers the ideal solution for the described requirements and replaces the wired installation. Due to the short distances of up to 20 m between the individual field devices, signals can be transmitted easily to the process control system via a gateway.

For fast and easy retrofitting of existing field devices, the WirelessHART adapter from Pepperl+Fuchs is the perfect solution. It allows any conventional 4 mA … 20 mA or HART field device to be smoothly upgraded. The adapter reads the data from the field device via HART protocol or converts the 4 mA … 20 mA signal into a digital value and forwards this to the WirelessHART network. The connected field devices are powered by the adapter's battery.

If a new temperature measurement device is needed, users can deploy one single WirelessHART field device: the WirelessHART temperature converter. This field device is already equipped with a WirelessHART interface. As the battery voltage does not have to be converted, the WirelessHART temperature converter is more efficient than a combination of an adapter and a conventional field device. The WirelessHART temperature converters offer two connections for temperature sensors such as resistance thermometers and thermocouples.

Compared to a wired solution, users save additional wiring effort and installation costs by using WirelessHART technology. This enables the exploration system to be quickly assembled and dismantled, and provides the necessary flexibility and mobility. WirelessHART enables new mobile systems to be equipped and existing systems to be upgraded easily at any time. In addition to process data, WirelessHART provides valuable diagnostic information. This enables users to identify and counteract faults at an early stage, increasing the reliability and safety of the exploration system.

• WirelessHART technology enables a flexible and easy installation as well as a quick commissioning of exploration systems in the oil and gas industry
• The wireless solution ensures maximum safety and availability of plants in hazardous areas
• With the WirelessHART adapter, existing field devices are easily retrofitted
• The WirelessHART temperature converter is already equipped with a WirelessHART interface and ideally suited for use in new mobile systems