As technology advances, the ability to add capabilities in valve actuator continues to grow. In oil & gas production, Emerson’s Scott Losing and Shawn Fagen share how advancements in the Fisher easy-Drive can be applied in gas lift, plunger lift, separator, and heater treater applications.
Shawn open with a discussion of the separation process in oil & gas production. It basically separates the oil, gas and water in the produced fluid from the well. Getting proper retention time is key to separate the gas from the oil. Passing this gas through the meter skews the reading and must be removed before final sale to the pipeline.
The traditional approach has been a pneumatic on/off control to control the valve on the oil leg output of the separator. To perform local level control, a DP level transmitter on the separator oil leg high and low level pressure taps feeds the easy-Drive actuator on the output valve. By throttling the valve position between the high and low levels in the oil leg, one oil & gas producer reduced gas pass through by 80% and improved flow accuracy by 5%.
The easy-Drive actuator has reference and override inputs and in position, close, open and Modbus outputs for auxiliary terminals.
Since the easy-Drive is an electric actuator it is low emissions and seen as a favorable move away from pneumatic actuators from a fugitive emissions perspective.
What applications might you have with the I/O capabilities built into the easy-Drive actuator?