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SPOC Automation participated in the University of Alabama MIS Forum this past spring semester. The company sponsored two student groups completing system web-application projects for SPOC Automation. A portion of the funds the company donated went to scholarships for the students in the photo below at an awards banquet at the university.
Safety Features in the IronHorse Variable Frequency Drive for Beam Pumps
The IronHorse drive provides several safety features.
Termination point for local field safety shut downs. Most pumping unit installations include local field safety shut downs. These can include: environmental protection (‘enviro-pot’), vibration switches, flow line switches and tank battery shut downs. The IronHorse (IH) provides a termination point for the local field safety shut downs as a standard feature. If the end user has several safety kills they prefer to use at one time, all field safeties can be ran in series and provide VFD shut down.
Control (local or remote) lockout. The IH provides an HOA switch (Hand-Off-Auto). This feature lets the pumper prevent a switch from local to remote control (or vice versa), which can very important while working on a well. For example, if the pumper is on site doing a maintenance repair nobody should be able to startup the drive remotely. This is an important safety feature, for both the pumper and the pumping unit itself. It is also important that the pumper be able to switch to local while on site when the VFD unit is not near the pump itself. That way the pumper can adjust settings while directly observing the equipment, and it is important that nobody at this point be able to make changes directly to the drive.
Our company is different because it is comprised of dedicated professionals that are innovative thinkers who truly care about our customers’ best interest. People are obviously paying attention as our sales have doubled between 2009 and 2014. To date, we have more than 100 employees. We’re adding new facilities, including a new building dedicated to production. We’ve expanded our engineering department to give our designers room to think, room to be innovative. We’re adding new sales team members around the country, as well.
Jet pump systems are rising in popularity for use in horizontal wells, where other pumps can have difficulty. Control of the jet pump can seem to be simplicity itself – just turn the bypass valve to adjust downhole pressure as needed. Yet to fine tune your production performance and avoid unscheduled maintenance, precise control is needed. Control and cost are two categories of benefits delivered by drive systems for jet pumps.
We have worked with artificial lift for many years now and have learned some hard lessons along the way. Given that 95% of all wells need artificial lift, doing it right is really important. The cost of mistakes are high in the oilfield. So are the costs of oversight and routine maintenance. It doesn’t take long for a good drive to deliver real dollar value in an active field.
We had the opportunity to display one of our newest products at the 2015 Arkansas Water Works & Water Environment Association trade show. The “Water Regulator” is on display with a working demonstration test trailer.
Editorial by Bobby Mason and Ted Wilke
Integrated drive systems cut infrastructure costs substantially. They simplify operations and reduce infrastructure needs.
Check out these 5 infrastructure changes that put money back in your pocket:
Efficient Energy. Drives improve energy infrastructure in several ways. First, they reduce energy consumption by continuously changing pump speed to match what is needed. This can reduce the energy bill by 20%. Second, drives can be outfitted to ‘clean’ the electricity, removing harmful harmonics and improving power factor. Third, remote monitoring of drives in the field can identify voltage spikes and surges that can cause early equipment failure. Alarms can be set and reports generated for use in addressing electrical service issues. Beam pumps can last 8-10 years when connected to well-designed drive systems. Without such a system, burnout can happen in less than one year.
Simple is almost always better. It certainly is when it comes to injection pump control. Using a fully integrated drive system reduces total cost, speeds on-site installation and improves reliability.
The key components of an injection pump system are:
There are several ways to simplify installation, operation maintenance and total cost.
