ExxonMobil Research Qatar (EMRQ) has filed five new patent applications in 2014 registering new technology advancements. The research has focussed on Augmented Reality training applications and hydrocarbon leak detection to enhance safety and environmental performance associated with liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and transport.
Founded in 2009 to conduct research in areas of common interest to Qatar and ExxonMobil, EMRQ’s recent patent applications are evidence of its dedication to conducting research that enhances technology while ensuring safety is of paramount importance.
“Safety is the main driver for everything we do,” said Jennifer Dupont, research director at ExxonMobil Research Qatar.
She added, “With this commitment at the forefront, we devote our research dollars and efforts to explore ways to enhance and improve safety training in the oil and gas sector in general and specifically with practical applications to the LNG business in Qatar. The five patent applications represent several years of dedicated research towards our collective goals.”
The Augmented Reality Work Aid method provides workers with an enhanced view of a work environment by placing an augmented reality marker close to a component in the work environment.
Data relevant to the component is downloaded onto a mobile device allowing the work environment to locate the component based on prompts provided by the mobile device and the marker is scanned to access interactive procedures relevant to the component. The interactive procedures are performed with the aid of the Augmented Reality device.
The IntelliRed remote gas detection system improves process safety and environmental performance at oil refineries, chemical plants, LNG facilities and other gas processing facilities.
The newer embodiment of the system employs two infrared imagers with a common optical path. One imager operates at a wavelength that is slightly offset from the other allowing for one imager to detect both a hydrocarbon signature and a background signature while the other imager only detects the background signature.
Using image subtraction techniques, background interferences could be eliminated allowing for an increase in hydrocarbon plume detection accuracy, simplification of the autonomous computer vision algorithm, and continuous scanning of a given landscape.
The new system, in addition to the single imager version that was commercialised in 2013, provides an early alert of hydrocarbon leaks with minimal false alarms. A total of four patent applications were filed based on the variety of methods involved in the IntelliRed system.
ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company awarded the first commercial licence for its IntelliRed remote gas detection system to co-developer Providence Photonics LLC, an affiliate of Providence Engineering.
ExxonMobil and Providence scientists co-developed the IntelliRed system over a four-year period culminating in field tests of the system that began in 2013 at an LNG liquefaction plant in Qatar.
“The IntelliRed system is the latest example of ExxonMobil’s continuous focus on safety and environmental protection,” said Bart Cahir, president and general manager of ExxonMobil Qatar.
“EMRQ’s collaboration has resulted in a remote gas detection system that is very accurate and, with its robust design, is capable of operating in the harsh environments of many different oil and gas processing facilities around the world, especially for our joint venture partners here in Qatar,” Cahir said.
