PACT - Piloting Electric Fail-Safe Actuator Technology

PACT er en helelektrisk ventiltreaktuator for forbedret brønnkontroll og feilsikker håndtering av nødssituasjoner. PACT er designet for å være en integrert del av automatiserte systemer og fjernkontrollsystemer. Primær applikasjon er for brønnhoder topside; øvre og nedre hovedventil, vingeventil, "killwing" og ringrørsstyring. Aktuatoren har en patentert feilsikker mekanisme med verdens raskeste lukketid for sikker lukking under kritiske situasjoner og ESD. Åpningstid på 30 til 60 sekunder (avhengig av ventilstørrelse) og justerbar lukketid på 1 til 8 sekunder er demonstrert. PACT har en innebygd OPC-UA-kontroller og sensorer som muliggjør datadrevet, faktabasert tilnærming til tilstandsbasert og prediktivt vedlikehold. Tilstandsmonitorering som gjær det mulig beregne forventet levetid, vedlikeholdsplaner og til og med å gi innspill til produksjonsmål som baner vei for ekstern drift med høyere grad av automatisering.

In the Oil&Gas industry, there are in the order of 100 or more gate valves on a typical well installation project that needs control and actuation. Safety is critical and the actuators must be able to close the valves securely and rapidly in case of a blowout or other high-risk scenario. Today, almost all these actuators are operated by hydraulic-, or semi-hydraulic systems. The associated hydraulic pump stations are large, expensive, and pose an environmental risk with possible hydraulic oil leakages. Electric drive is a much more compact and environmental-friendly technology to use for driving actuators. However, safety-critical actuation in the O&G industry has been seen as problematic to be handled by electric motors and controllers due to their potential fail rate in harsh environments. During the last decade, there has been a debate concerning fail-safe strategies to fulfill the needed safety requirements. To remove any uncertainties regarding the use of electrical actuators and minimize risk, the electrical actuators performance and reliability must be proven to be as good or better than a hydraulic actuator. A new electric actuator with state-of-the-art performance and a novel fail-safe mechanics has been designed that is a drop-in replacement for most common hydraulic actuators on the market today. This project sets out to validate and qualify this novel electric actuation technology in two sizes, through a rigorous testing scheme including full flow gas testing and a subsequent pilot installation for a full demonstration of its capabilities on an operational well.