Smart hose alerts operators when it begins to develop faults
Hydraulic hose with inbuilt sensors may provide up to 50% more service life
- Published in Technology.
Oil and gas company Eaton have developed a smart hydraulic hose that has an inbuilt sensor to determine when the device is reaching the end of its lifespan.
Unreliable hydraulic hoses can lead to costly downtime on oil and gas rigs. Failure of the hose may also cause leakage of hot and high pressure hydraulic fuel, which presents safety and environmental issues.
To help stop a failure from occurring, hoses are usually replaced after a specific length of time regardless of whether a fault is thought to be developing. With this new technology, operators can get more use out of installed hoses and only change them when necessary. Tests suggest that using the smart hose can give up to 50% more service life than hoses without the technology.
The device has been developed in conjunction with researchers from Purdue University, USA. The group worked out the mechanical and electrical signatures that appear as a hydraulic hose begins to develop faults.
Armed with this information, the team have embedded a wire through the braiding of the hose, which passes a very low level electrical impulse through the device. Signals from the wire are then monitored by a sensor, which flags any changes and alerts operators to any faults that may be developing.
Neal Benedict, global director of oil and gas hydraulics group at Eaton said: “The hose really helps the platform be more reliable, because the operator gets direct insight into the situation rather than guessing at it.”