Gaz de France Exploration GmbH in Lingen, Germany
RAD-Line IO wireless signal transmission system
47 wells extract a mixture of oil, natural gas, and salt water from depths of up to 900 m.
Application
The wet oil is pumped into three-phase separators. A large portion of the natural gas is separated and the liquid is led away to two 5000 m³ tanks on the site. There, salt water, oil and the remaining gas are separated into three layers. The oil is pumped into another tank for desalination with the addition of process water, and there, it is conducted into the pure oil tank via a heat exchanger and fine water extraction. The gas is used for the plant's own power supply.
The separated salt water is pressed back into the reservoir rock by means of 180-kW injection pumps via six injection bores. The injection pressure of 55 to 80 bar must be continuously monitored as an important process parameter. Before converting to wireless technology, the measuring stations for acquiring measured values at the wells were inspected once a day. The wells are hard to access in a 7.5 x 3.5 km large oil field, and sometimes are separated from each other by a train track. A cable solution would be inefficient.
Solution
the transmitter and receiver.
By using panel antennas, the distance of 600 m is no problem, despite harsh ambient conditions. The RAD-Line I/O modules use the rugged Trusted Wireless communication and are not even disturbed by rail operation or high voltage systems.
The second well is situated in difficult terrain on the southeast perimeter of the oil field, where there is virtually no infrastructure. Here radio modules and sensors are supplied via
a solar power supply unit, which was designed by Phoenix Contact for use in industrial wireless applications.
In addition to the solar cell, the solar module has a pre-configured control cabinet with charge controller, solar batteries, and surge protection. The system is designed so that even on short dark winter days, sufficient solar power is provided.
Summary
Master electrician Friedrich Schulte, Head of Measuring and Control Technology at Gaz de France Exploration Deutschland GmbH: "Trusted Wireless from Phoenix Contact is efficient, reliable, and, above all, easy to handle. For us, this technology is the way forward. The manual reading of measured values will soon be a thing of the past."