The role of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in industrial oil and gas condition monitoring

Wireless sensor networks have a vast amount of applications including environmental monitoring, military, ecology, agriculture, inventory control, robotics and health care. This paper focuses on the area of monitoring and protection of oil and gas operations using wireless sensor networks that are optimized to decrease installation, and maintenance cost, energy requirements, increase reliability and improve communication efficiency. In addition, simulation experiments using the proposed model are presented. Such models could provide new tools for research in predictive maintenance and condition-based monitoring of factory machinery in general and for “open architecture machining systems” in particular. Wireless sensing no longer needs to be relegated to locations where access is difficult or where cabling is not practical. Wireless condition monitoring systems can be cost effectively implemented in extensive applications that were historically handled by running routes with data collectors.The result would be a lower cost program with more frequent data collection, increased safety, and lower spare parts inventories. Facilities would be able to run leaner because they will have more confidence in their ability to avoid downtime

NASA SBIR abstracts of 1991 phase 1 projects

The objectives of 301 projects placed under contract by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are described. These projects were selected competitively from among proposals submitted to NASA in response to the 1991 SBIR Program Solicitation. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 301, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference of the 1991 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA Field Center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number are included

Embodied Energy Geographies: An Exploration of Fracked Landscapes in the Ohio River Valley

Methane gas production has boomed across the United States as a result of the development of fracking technology and its associated infrastructures, including pipelines. This production has provoked resistance over a litany of environmental and social concerns at both global and local scales. These concerns are compounded by a history of extractive economies and degradation in the Marcellus shale region of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley. To date, there has been limited research at the intersection of extractive industry and emotional geography, especially around pipelines. This research draws on feminist, emotional, and energy geographies and uses semi-structured interviews and body mapping focus groups to investigate the ways in which place-based identity, sense of place, and place attachment have been impacted by the oil and gas buildout, and how these impacts are emotionally embodied. Participants in this research spoke to the ways in which pipelines, compressor stations, gas wells, and other fracked gas infrastructures have significantly impacted their relationships to their homes, communities, and selves. They described the physical and psychological impacts from the industrial buildout, including health impacts and emotional upheaval, which could feel inescapable and uncontrollable. Participants invoked concepts of energy landscapes and energy terrains to discuss multiple scales and sites of impact from industry buildout, and understood the linked geographies of the home, landscape, and self through embodied emotions. These findings highlight that fracked gas infrastructures have the affectual, emotional capacity to disrupt place attachment and place identity for impacted residents, manifested through embodied emotions. This thesis addresses the conceptual gap at the intersection of energy and emotional geographies through a focus on the embodied experiences of the self, home, and landscape in relation to the oil and gas buildout in the Ohio River Valley. This thesis has broad implications for decision-making processes around extreme energy production through an illustration of the lived experiences of fenceline communities

An adaptive autopilot design for an uninhabited surface vehicle

An adaptive autopilot design for an uninhabited surface vehicle Andy SK Annamalai The work described herein concerns the development of an innovative approach to the design of autopilot for uninhabited surface vehicles. In order to fulfil the requirements of autonomous missions, uninhabited surface vehicles must be able to operate with a minimum of external intervention. Existing strategies are limited by their dependence on a fixed model of the vessel. Thus, any change in plant dynamics has a non-trivial, deleterious effect on performance. This thesis presents an approach based on an adaptive model predictive control that is capable of retaining full functionality even in the face of sudden changes in dynamics. In the first part of this work recent developments in the field of uninhabited surface vehicles and trends in marine control are discussed. Historical developments and different strategies for model predictive control as applicable to surface vehicles are also explored. This thesis also presents innovative work done to improve the hardware on existing Springer uninhabited surface vehicle to serve as an effective test and research platform. Advanced controllers such as a model predictive controller are reliant on the accuracy of the model to accomplish the missions successfully. Hence, different techniques to obtain the model of Springer are investigated. Data obtained from experiments at Roadford Reservoir, United Kingdom are utilised to derive a generalised model of Springer by employing an innovative hybrid modelling technique that incorporates the different forward speeds and variable payload on-board the vehicle. Waypoint line of sight guidance provides the reference trajectory essential to complete missions successfully. The performances of traditional autopilots such as proportional integral and derivative controllers when applied to Springer are analysed. Autopilots based on modern controllers such as linear quadratic Gaussian and its innovative variants are integrated with the navigation and guidance systems on-board Springer. The modified linear quadratic Gaussian is obtained by combining various state estimators based on the Interval Kalman filter and the weighted Interval Kalman filter. Change in system dynamics is a challenge faced by uninhabited surface vehicles that result in erroneous autopilot behaviour. To overcome this challenge different adaptive algorithms are analysed and an innovative, adaptive autopilot based on model predictive control is designed. The acronym ‘aMPC’ is coined to refer to adaptive model predictive control that is obtained by combining the advances made to weighted least squares during this research and is used in conjunction with model predictive control. Successful experimentation is undertaken to validate the performance and autonomous mission capabilities of the adaptive autopilot despite change in system dynamics.EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

NASA SBIR abstracts of 1990 phase 1 projects

The research objectives of the 280 projects placed under contract in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 1990 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 program are described. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses in response to NASA's 1990 SBIR Phase 1 Program Solicitation. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 280, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. The document also includes Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference in the 1990 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA field center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number

NASA technology applications team: Applications of aerospace technology

Two critical aspects of the Applications Engineering Program were especially successful: commercializing products of Application Projects; and leveraging NASA funds for projects by developing cofunding from industry and other agencies. Results are presented in the following areas: the excimer laser was commercialized for clearing plaque in the arteries of patients with coronary artery disease; the ultrasound burn depth analysis technology is to be licensed and commercialized; a phased commercialization plan was submitted to NASA for the intracranial pressure monitor; the Flexible Agricultural Robotics Manipulator System (FARMS) is making progress in the development of sensors and a customized end effector for a roboticized greenhouse operation; a dual robot are controller was improved; a multisensor urodynamic pressure catherer was successful in clinical tests; commercial applications were examined for diamond like carbon coatings; further work was done on the multichannel flow cytometer; progress on the liquid airpack for fire fighters; a wind energy conversion device was tested in a low speed wind tunnel; and the Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System was reviewed

A Literature Review on the Application of Acoustic Emission to Machine Condition Monitoring

Acoustic emission (AE) is a common physical phenomenon, in which the strain energy is released in the form of elastic wave when a material is deformed or cracked during the stress process. The condition monitoring based on AE is a relatively new method that aims to use noise/vibration anomalies to detect machine failures. However, some challenges lie ahead of its application. This thesis aims to analyze the literature in the field of AE applications to machine condition monitoring. The principles of AE technology, relevant instruments, machine monitoring and AE signal analysis, and practical examples of AE monitoring applications will be presented. More specifically, challenges, solutions and future direction in solving signal noise and attenuation challenges will be discussed. Through the example of rotating machinery, the characteristics of AE will be explained in detail. This thesis lays the foundation for the actual use of AE to monitor and analyze the state of machinery and provides guideline for future data collection and analysis of AE signals

Plant Information Modelling, Using Artificial Intelligence, for Process Hazard and Risk Analysis Study

In this research, the application of Artificial Intelligence and knowledge engineering, automation of equipment arrangement design, automation of piping and support design, using machine learning to automate the stress analysis, and finally, using information modelling to shift ‘field weld locating’ activity from the construction to the design phase were investigated. The results of integrating these methods on case studies, to increase the safety in the lifecycle of process plants were analysed and discussed