Unlike most conventional IR gas detectors, IRmax does not utilise heaters to prevent condensation on windows and mirrors. With 15 years experience developing IR products, Crowcon has worked through IRmax’s design and development to find an effective alternative to heated optics, whilst retaining long-term dependable operation with minimum maintenance.

As a result, STAY-CLIR is a highly durable hydrophobic coating that completely prevents signal faults due to condensation. As IRmax contains no components for artificially heating optical surfaces, power consumption is dramatically reduced to less than one watt whereas conventional IR gas detectors use 75-90% more!

The STAY-CLIR coating is also resistant to dirt and dust, thus rendering routine cleaning of the optical components unnecessary.

Specialised coatings are regularly used on a range of products such as clothing and mobile phones, but Crowcon is the first company to apply this technique to gas detection. Detailed research and development was undertaken by our scientists, with the coating being subjected to aggressive corrosion and resilience tests in extreme locations such as the Australian desert and the north coast of Scotland.

Testing included:

• Long-term immersion in salt-water
• Long-term immersion in vessels containing sulphur, hydrogen and sulphur dioxide
• Direct exposure to continuous sand-spray
• Continuous rubbing to simulate excessive cleaning
• Long-term site trials on offshore platforms, petrochemical plants and sulphur recovery plants

STAY-CLIR delivered high performance throughout these extreme conditions. For more information go to:
http://halmapr.com/news/crowcon/2011/10/24/irmax-stay-clir-dependable-gas-detection-without-heated-mirrors/

HART is a global standard for sending and receiving digital information across analog wires between smart devices and control or monitoring systems. It provides data access between intelligent field instruments such as gas detectors, level gauges and pressure transmitters. It hosts systems based on a variety of applications from a technician’s hand-held device or laptop to a plant’s process control, asset management, safety or other systems using any control platform.

Hand-held HART communicators can be connected to the IR Display for local diagnostics and calibration and the data is then super-imposed onto the 4-20mA signal for communicating with HART-enabled control systems.

In historical times exhibitions would be held in market squares and bazaars where tradesmen would travel to meet with the makers of cloth, dye and silverware. The first exhibition centre was believed to have been 2,500 years ago, when archaeologists excavated remains on the East Mediterranean coast. As time passed trade spread across to the west and into the north of Europe, new markets evolved and as interaction between different countries increased, there was a higher demand for new and interesting products and services. New distribution routes became essential, and this led to the industrial revolution which dramatically changed the way business was conducted.

In 1851 Queen Victoria decided to create an exhibition symbolising the industrial, military and economic superiority of Great Britain. Her husband, Prince Albert, conceived the idea of the ‘Great Exhibition’ as a celebration of modern industrial technology and design. Held in Hyde Park, London from 1^st May to 15^th October 1851, and constructed by Joseph Paxton, The Crystal Palace was built in ten days especially to house the exhibition. Over 6.2 million visitors attended and the organisers made £186,000 (£16.2 million as of 2011) which went on to fund venues such as The Albert Hall, The Science Museum, The Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Exhibitions are one of the most effective mediums for establishing and maintaining customer relations. In an increasingly digital age, they are one of the only opportunities for buyer and seller to physically come together.

Crowcon attend a number of exhibitions in the UK and internationally during 2011, to boost brand awareness and most importantly, to build new customer and distributor relationships.

Offshore Europe in Aberdeen, Scotland (6th-8th September) is Europe’s largest oil & gas event and the world’s largest outside North America. This year saw 32,025 visitors from 94 countries attend and more than 1,500 exhibiting companies. Crowcon previewed its new portables instrument, Gas-Pro, which is designed specifically for use in confined spaces.

A+A Show in Dusseldorf, Germany (18th-21st October) is the world’s largest specialist fair for all aspects of safety and security. The show saw 60,100 visitors and 1,600 exhibitors from 54 nations. Crowcon introduced IRmax HART communications at the show, an easy and reliable way of sending and receiving digital information from your gas detector to your PC.

In 2012, Crowcon will be attending the Safety and Health Expo in Birmingham, Adipec in Abu Dhabi and WWEM (Water, Wastewater and Environmental Monitoring) in Shropshire, as well as being represented by distributors at many more exhibitions in the UK and overseas. We hope to see you at some of next year’s events, and of course we’ll keep you updated in the next edition of Talking Gas News.

With a number of distributors from around the world in attendance, Crowcon’s experienced Product Managers guided delegates through each product, showcasing qualities and benefits as well as offering hands-on training with the products themselves.

Delegates included distributors from Malaysia, Switzerland, Ireland and Denmark as well as Crowcon staff from the UK.

Koh Mooi Seong, Product Manager for Wehaya Petroservices in Malaysia said after the event: “Just a quick message to give our thanks to you all for the hospitality shown to us – it was very much appreciated. It was a good training session with all the valuable technical information transferred to us. We were also most impressed by the friendliness of your colleagues towards us – it made us feel very welcome.”

As well as gaining valuable skills and knowledge of the Crowcon product range, it was also good for the delegates to meet the Crowcon team to engage and feel comfortable with the people the deal with on a regular basis.

Andy Avenell, Product Manager for Fixed Systems at Crowcon has been involved in many training courses and feels they are very beneficial for both parties: “I thought the training went very well. There was the usual mix of nationalities and cultures and everyone got to know each other during the week. We had a lot of fun. The course covers many products and contains in-depth marketing and technical detail. The delegates absorbed all the information extremely well and demonstrated that they had learnt a great deal during the week.”

Tim Wilkes, Marketing Manager concluded: “By using attendee feedback the team that delivers the Product Training Courses has continuously evolved the content to meet delegate needs. A lot of work has gone into this and I’m very pleased to say that the courses are getting excellent reviews, which is a credit to the Product Managers and others involved. In fact, interest for courses has increased and this year we have had to run additional sessions to cope with demand. This is great news for all concerned though – it helps us help our direct and partner sales teams make the most out of their time with customers, and ultimately increase sales.”

Studies into offshore LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) production have been conducted since the early 1970s, but it was only in the mid 1990s that significant research backed by experimental development began.

In 1997, Mobil developed a FLNG (Floating Liquified Natural Gas) production concept based on a large, square structure with a moon-pool, commonly known as “The Doughnut”. In 1999, a major study was commissioned as a joint project by Chevron Corporation and several other oil and gas companies. This was closely followed by the so-called ‘Azure’ research project, conducted by the European Union and several oil and gas companies.

Shell’s Prelude

A number of major gas and oil companies are still researching and considering FLNG developments, with several initiatives planned for the future. However, the world’s first development of FLNG will be Shell’s ‘Prelude’ FLNG project, 200 kilometres offshore Western Australia. Floating above an offshore natural gas field, the FLNG facility will theoretically produce, liquify, store and transfer LNG (and potentially LPG and condensate) at sea before carriers ship it directly to markets.

Moving LNG production to an offshore setting presents a demanding set of challenges. In terms of the design and construction of the FLNG facility, every element of a conventional LNG facility needs to fit into an area roughly one quarter the size, whilst maintaining the utmost levels of safety and giving increased flexibility to LNG production.

Once a facility is in operation, wave motion will present another major challenge. LNG containment systems need to be capable of withstanding the damage that can occur when the sea’s wave and current motions cause sloshing in the partly filled tanks. Product transfers also need to deal with the effects of winds, waves and currents in the open seas.

The Prelude FLNG facility will produce at least 5.3 million tonnes per annum of LNG, condensate and LPG and will chill the gas produced to -162^oC, shrinking its volume by 600 times so it can be shipped to customers in other parts of the world. (PIC 1) It will measure 488 metres long (higher than the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpar and the same height as Taipei 101 in Taipei!) and will displace around 600,000 tonnes of water, making it the largest offshore facility in the world.

The facility will be constructed in a nearby shipyard, one of a few in the world that is big enough to handle a facility of this size. It will then be towed to its location in Western Australia where it will be moored and hooked up to the undersea infrastructure and the whole production system commissioned. It will remain permanently moored here for around 25 years before needing to dock for inspection and overhaul.

The project will create around 350 permanent jobs, provide taxes and revenues to Australia, create opportunities for local businesses and result in Shell spending billions in capital and operating expenditure.

Developing the gas at this location will reduce the impact on sensitive coastal habitats as the facility avoids the need for shoreline pipe crossings, dredging and jetty works.

Measurement Challenges

Being offshore does however bring extra challenges in terms of safety and equipment specification. In the event of a potentially hazardous gas leak, crew need the maximum amount of time to react and thus gas detectors need to be fast response. However false alarms can result in facility shut down or even evacuation, so detectors must also be highly dependable even when faced with saltwater spray and the high levels of vibration or solar exposure typical of a marine installation.

Crowcon already has a strong track record in offering a number of solutions for FPSO’s (Floating Production Storage and Offloading). Working with oil rather than gas but otherwise sharing many things in common, applications such as inerting, product storage and confined space entry checks exist in both types of vessel.

A number of Crowcon’s portable products are used by workers on FPSO’s as they are easy-to-use, are a one-button operation and have pre-set alarm levels. Similarly Crowcon’s fixed detectors and sampling systems are easily managed and integrated into existing control systems.

It is essential that products sold for use on a vessel comply with the standards relevant to the country where the ship is registered. Many of Crowcon’s gas detectors are approved to the European Marine Equipment Directive which means they can be installed on vessels in Europe or other countries that recognise the MED Directive.