All blog posts pertaining to the Line Control Systems side of Measurement Tech should be put into this category.
When you are 1,200 feet down in the ocean working on delicate operations, where ocean pressures are equal to 74,900lbs per square foot, you don’t want to be in anything but an OceanWorks Hardsuit™.
There is growing demand for lighter than air, near space systems that can carry aloft wide-area communications, broadband, and sensing devices to meet the requirements of military and commercial customers for network connectivity and ready access to mission critical information. Aerostats, which are commonly referred to as blimps, play an important role in our nation’s rapid response communications infrastructure - from supporting climate research and natural disaster response to combating terrorism and providing deploy-able “eyes in the sky” for our military personnel in the field.
One of our leading partners, DynaWinch, out of Calgary, Alberta, has been working with the MTNW LCI-90i display for years to bring decimal point accuracy to their arsenal of down-hole tools and applications. Recently, DynaWinch has incorporated our displays (both the LCI-90i and the LCI-80) into their new product line of slickline skid units. They now manufacture electrically, hydraulically, and diesel driven skid based units for all types of environments and needs.
In a previous posting we discussed the technique of calibrating the payout line parameter for winch applications.
It is also important to understand the technical challenges of calibrating the tension line parameter of your winch monitoring system.
The calibration of a tension measurement system can be achieved through several methods.
Through one of our partners, Dillon Quality Plus, the Coast Guard purchased and used our HRT-3mm Running Line Tensiometer (or line rider) to measure the cable tension loads during some qualification testing on an improved rescue hoist for the Coast Guard H-65 Dolphin Helicopter.
We often get asked questions about the difference between tension meters, tensiometers, and dynamometers.
We just spoke with Michael Kasten, President of Coordinated Wire Rope, and during the conversation he mentioned that last Friday the CD Lyon team was working with the LCI-90 and HRT-3MM tensiometer/dynamometer system (described in our last blog post) when they hit “a snag”…literally. The CD Lyon team was pigging the pipe, which means that they were dragging a device through the existing pipe looking for obstacles, when tension readings on their LCI-90 display suddenly jumped from 3,000 lbs to 13,000 lbs.
Based in Ventura, CA, Coordinated Wire Rope (http://www.coordinatedcompanies.com) approached us for a project that required highly accurate measurement of line tension and payout on an underground cable pulling application for their customer, CD Lyon. CD Lyon had been tasked with pigging (looking for obstacles) and slip-lining (inserting a new pipe into an old pipe) an old 8 mile natural gas pipe, and they were looking for solutions that would make the project run smoothly and efficiently.
Our lead systems engineer, Matthew Lee, has just come back this month from installing, calibrating, and commissioning a mooring system for the Frontier Duchess, a drill-ship which is currently off the coast of Nigeria.
Running Line Tensiometer measuring tension on mooring lines for the Frontier Duchess
Rugged Controls is an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer of rugged programmable controllers, sensors, instrumentation, controls and automation equipment used in industries ranging from oil & gas, industrial, oceanographic to mining to construction. Our brand of multivariable controllers is continually selected in mission-critical applications where rugged durability, viewability, accuracy and data acquisition is required.
