Recently, we developed and deployed a system for a global company that creates and produces flow and pressure control technologies for the worldwide oil and gas industry. It sought to upgrade its hardware and use real-time rugged electronics to test oil well valves and better understand how they would withstand extreme environments – in particular, in the event that a wellhead caught on fire.
The company needed to update an oil valve test system to streamline procedures from test to test and provide accurate, effective data when certifying new valves or changes to existing valves. They chose Erdos Miller for the job because of our LabVIEW programming expertise, history of success maximizing the CompactRIO platform, and previous work specifically with down-hole electronics for the oil and gas industry.It is critical that before a valve goes to market, is shipped to customers, or installed for use, the company knows how it will react in extreme environments and can test and modify the valve if needed. The client sought to understand the following four key factors:
- Would the valve remain sealed?
- At what temperature would the valve’s performance be altered?
- If/how could oil leak through the valve?
- How much oil could potentially leak?
Testing these factors would give the client the ability to certify that the valve would maintain its integrity through worst-case scenarios for customers.
In just a few weeks, the Erdos Miller team had worked with the client’s R&D department to create a test system that assessed a valve while it was in the development phase. End users now can make changes and adjustments to the test without returning to the original source code, saving time and reducing the possibility of error. Using the new system. R&D teams can certify new valves and any changes made to existing valves. The shift to CompactRIO greatly reduces the risk of test failure and increases data integrity and data acquisition speed.
