WorldWide Drilling Resource

Industrial Ethernet Connectivity for the Oil and Gas Industry Adapted from a News Release by Power PR To protect infrastructures against disasters, promote worker safety, and facilitate au- tomated functions ranging from drilling to wellhead operation and transport pipelines, oil and gas operators are increasingly turning to fiber optic cable suppliers for end-to-end com- munications and control solutions. Many solutions include cable and connectors to ensure survival of fiber-based DCS/PLC (distributed control system/programmable logic controller) automation/control architectures for onshore and offshore oil and gas operations, even in the harshest environments. As fiber optic cable emerges as the medium of choice in many industrial arenas, the DIN rail enclosure plays an increasingly important role. Mounted to a standard DIN rail - the metal rail used to mount various electrical components (e.g., terminal blocks, motor starters, circuit breakers) in a control cabinet - a DIN rail enclosure provides a central location where external and internal wiring can be connected quickly and efficiently. “This type of enclosure is ideal for production applications, the industrial automation side of businesses,” said Stephen Porach, PE, registered communications distribution designer, Sr. manager of business development, enterprise solutions for Optical Cable Corporation (OCC) in Roanoke, Virginia. “Today, the oil and gas industry is turning from highly proprietary communications systems to the more enterprise-wide prevalent Ethernet communications protocol via fiber optical cable. The appropriate DIN rail enclosure provides an optimal connection for fiber cable that can be terminated in a fixed position.” Porach explained, the Ethernet protocol allows products from various manufacturers to talk to one another, making the system less proprietary and costly. Also, fiber cable won’t cause an electrical spark, another advantage making it ideal for many oil and gas ap- plications, particularly in the field. According to Porach, OCC has developed a new, ruggedized line of DIN rail enclo- sures to provide highly secure terminations within a wide variety of industrial applications even in the most adverse environmental conditions. Available for both fiber optic and copper applications, this type of enclosure is very easy to install and provides very simple patching for the connection of all those automation components in a patch field for the industrial automation environment. This enclosure can also be ordered as a complete assembly, including connectors and fiber optic cables which are preterminated at the factory. These assemblies are built according specifications that will meet the environmental demands of any application - whether noise from electric motors, highly flammable conditions, or extreme temperatures - thereby providing a highly reliable, integrated DIN rail solution. Companies in the oil and gas industry are placing this enclo- sure into a cabinet located in the automated drill cabin on their rigs, where one person monitors drilling controls, automated pipe han- dling controls, computer hardware, and data processing systems in a single room on the rig. OCC’s solutions include ruggedized cable and con- nectors to ensure survival of the fiber-based DCS/PLC automation/control archi- tectures for onshore and offshore oil and gas oper- ations, even in the harshest environments. Centerline Manufacturing Co. 903-725-6978 903-725-3647 fax ~ Mud pumps for the 21st century ~ www.centerlinemanufacturing.com ~ Centerline mud pumps are getting the job done from Canada to Australia, China to Peru ~ ©WorldWide Drilling Resource, Inc. 2006 Centerline Manufacturing is proud to be your complete stocking source for American Manufacturing mud pump parts!! U.S. Patent #6,769,884 and others pending Monopump models rated: 180 gpm Duplex models rated: 300 gpm Triplex models rated: 450 gpm 500 or 800 psi models available aluminum or iron. ~ The Centerline 7 1/2” x 10” hydraulic drive mono mud pump ~ ~ compact ~ fits on top or under deck ~ pumps the rated flow of a 5” x 6” @ over twice the rated pressure ~ weighs 650 lbs, 1615 lbs less! 45 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® JANUARY 2016