Month: April 2018

April 26, 2018

CPI Subsea Sensors Can Detect Reservoir Tank Levels 2 Miles Under the Sea

As Oil and Gas companies seek to expand and extend their retrieval capabilities both on and especially offshore, concerns about safety and exploration costs are never far from mind. Things have come a long way since the tragedy of Deepwater Horizon, and technology has marched on to provide more robust safety systems for offshore drilling, while keeping costs of exploration manageable.

Blow out preventer, BOP, CPI Subsea Hydraulic LInear Position Sensors

Typical Blow Out preventer Stack

One area of particular innovation has been in the area of Blow Out Preventers (BOP) a critical safety system in deep water mining. Blowout preventers are critical to the safety of crew, the rig and environment, and to the monitoring and maintenance of well integrity. Blowout preventers are intended to provide fail-safe operation to the systems that include them by sealing the top of the wellbore in the event of an emergency. Indeed, many will recall that the in the Deepwater Horizon blowout, the pipe line going through the BOP was slightly bent and the BOP failed to cut the pipe, contributing to the accident.

One unavoidable fact is that exploitable reservoirs of oil and gas are getting more and more rare and remote, leading to increased deep sea well exploration and requiring BOPs to remain submerged for as long as a year in extreme conditions. As a result, BOP assemblies have grown larger, heavier and more complex. A key focus in the technological development of BOPs over the last two decades has been limiting their footprint and weight while simultaneously increasing their safe operating capacity.

Undersea BOP meets SubSea Rated Sensor

Subsea Hydraulic Piston Linear Position Sensor

The CPI SL2000 Subsea Rated Linear Position Sensor

Last year CPI introduced the SL-2000, a linear position sensor unique in the world for its capabilities at the extremes of machine requirements. The sensor has both intrinsic safety ratings and a subsea capability that make it a perfect match for the unique requirements of Oil and Gas exploration machinery, residing deep below the ocean surface.

One of the key functions of a BOP is to be able to deliver and remove fluid from a wellbore. This fluid is not sea water, it is typically drilling fluid or “mud” pumped from a reservoir somewhere. Critical to these systems is the knowledge of liquid levels in these enormous tanks sitting on the sea floor, miles below the surface.  It’s actually a perfect job for the CPI SL-2000 Subsea rated sensor.

In this BOP application, our sensor is deployed on the seawater side of a hydraulicSubsea Linear Position Sensor piston type cylinder that monitors the rise and fall of liquid in the tank. The sensor is entirely exposed to sea water sitting 2 miles below the surface,  running fully submerged at a pressure within 10 psi of the ambient pressure. Specifications call for for our sensor to operate in seawater at up to 6000m depth or over 8800 psi. Operation at these depths, fully immersed in sea water is actually no problem for our patented sensor technology which is uniquely designed with materials that are non-compressible, and withstand corrosive seawater and hydraulic fluids alike. Our sensor can be mounted and operate fully submerged in virtually any type of fluid medium while maintaining robust operation and an extremely long life.

In this undersea tank, a hydraulic piston extends and retracts with changing fluid levels in the tank. Our sensor is required to operate within 10 psi of the pressure outside the tank and supports a 5 meter cylinder stroke length. The ability to support these massive stroke lengths, at depth and pressure, submerged in sea water or hydraulic fluids are unique to the CPI design and we are the only manufacturer in the world with a technology designed to withstand all these conditions while also being both subsea and intrinsic safety rated.

SL-2000 Hydraulic Linear Position Sensor for Subsea

SL-2000 Internals

Long Stroke, Deep Sea Hydraulics Have Only One Real Solution to Linear Position Sensing

With the SL-2000, hydraulics destined for Oil and Gas exploration applications finally have the robust linear position sensing they need.

Call our sensor team today to discuss your unique application.

Original content posted on https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/subsea-sensors-detect-reservoir-tank-levels-2-miles-under-the-sea/

April 13, 2018

CPI Thermal Switches – Keeping Astronauts Safe on the ISS

ISS-CPI-Thermals2-1000x288

The International Space Station (ISS) may be one of the most underappreciated technological (and geopolitical) marvels on, or off the planet. While it has been under development since the 1990’s it is actually the joint effort of five different space agencies representing 15 countries, all of whom contributed technology and resources to the ISS, especially the United States and Russia. It is a shining example of what scientists across borders can do together when focused on a common technological challenge.

The space station is the largest structure ever assembled in space.  Orbiting at about 248 miles above the earth it is so large that it is often visible at night to the naked eye.  It is longer than a football field (including the end zones) and can sleep 7 astronauts. It has habitable space often compared to that on a 747 jumbo jet, or about the size of a 5 bedroom house.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson aboard ISS

The ISS has been populated by astronauts since November of 2000 and has been populated non-stop for the almost 18 years since.  Its useful accomplishments range over almost the entire spectrum of scientific discovery. For instance, scientists were able to grow proteins in space with a near-perfect crystalline structure. These proteins have unique properties that prove useful in the development of new drugs. Also the detection of “dark matter” long predicted by physicists, was accomplished using the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, deployed on the space station. This discovery sent shock waves through the scientific community, a moment as pivotal as Einstein’s E=MC2.  These achievements and many more were only possible over a long period in the pure gravity free environment afforded by the ISS.

Technology and Experiments Aboard the ISS

Needless to say, the ISS houses some of the most sophisticated technology and experiments that NASA and other space agencies can think of. Safety of the astronauts and “space tourists” that visit and reside there is of paramount importance. The stringent testing and documentation required by vendors and space agencies providing parts and subsystems to NASA, is well known to every subcontractor.

One of the experiments headed for the ISS from NASA is called the Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE), a joint effort between the Purdue University Boiling and Two-Phase Flow Laboratory (BTPFL) and the NASA Glenn Research Center. The experiment will fly aboard the International Space Station sometime in 2020 for two years or longer.  The purpose of the FBCE project is to develop an integrated two-phase flow boiling and condensation experiment for the ISS to serve as a primary platform for obtaining two-phase flow and heat transfer data in microgravity.

Technicians at work preparing the FBCE for launch in 2020.

One of the key safety concerns of the FBCE experiment involves preventing the formation of a highly dangerous gas during the boiling phase of the experiment. The system uses a special fluid called perfluorohexane as the primary boiling/condensation substance, however when this substance exceeds 200C it can degrade into a highly toxic gas called Perfluoroisobutene (PFIB).   PFIB when inhaled can cause pulmonary edema and other heart disorders. The goal is to have thermal switching in place at setpoints well below the 200C to prevent such an occurrence.

CPI’s Thermal Safety Solution for the FBCE.

CPI was approached by NASA to consider the use of a thermal switch solution based on our M1102 “PlugStat” series of thermal switches. The PlugStat Series of close tolerance, bimetal thermal switches act as a robust and accurate temperature control switch in a wide variety of thermal control systems at temperature ratings from 17C (0F) to 343C (650F).  This is a slow make and break, open-on-rise device that is hermetically sealed, with 1/2-20UNF-3A  thread mounting.

Despite NASA’s stringent material and electrical requirements, CPI’s off-the-shelf M1102 met their need for a reliable, space deployable, thermal safety switch solution.

Our switch uses:

  • Stainless Steel type 304
  • Stainless Steel type 321
  • Inconel Alloy 600
  • Stycast type 2651
  • Platinum Contacts

Our standard electrical rating of 2A at 28V was able to meet the electrical needs of NASA in the application. Additionally CPI provided all applicable CoC’s, Material Test Reports, and Chemical Analysis’ required to meet NASA’s stringent quality control.

CPI Thermal Switches – Good for the International Space Station…Good For You Too.

Sometimes a robust thermal switch is what you need, remote sensors and controls systems have their place, but in tough applications, they have their limits too.

The chances are that the team at CPI can fit our thermals into whatever application you have, without expensive customization.

Call the thermal switch engineering team today to discuss your application!

Original content posted on https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/cpi-thermal-switches-keeping-astronauts-safe-on-the-iss/