GDS deploys cloud-based solution to monitor top drives on Marcellus rigs
Global Drilling Support International (GDS) has implemented GE‘s Equipment Insight solution on drilling rigs with Orion Drilling Company in the Marcellus region of Pennsylvania to improve data collection, analytics and management capabilities. Powered by Predix, the software-as-a-service offering enables GDS to better monitor the health of its top drives, helping to optimize operations and maintain rig uptime.
GDS is utilizing the solution for a six-month pilot program that includes the installation of two field agents on the company’s top drives on rigs operating in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. With the cloud-based solution, GDS is able to monitor data points, including load, rotations per minute, flow, pressures, temperatures and torque. This critical data provides valuable insight into the operating performance of the drill.
“GE’s robust Equipment Insight solution enables us to receive a continuous flow of data from our top drives and other automated oilfield equipment,” GDS President Keith Holliday said. “With this technology, we will be able to get a better look at valuable operating statistics and performance management data, helping us to improve functionality for our customers and increasing the amount of time between planned service intervals. GE’s solution offered us the easy-to-install, subscription-based service model that we were looking for. In addition, GE’s continuous investments in the Industrial Internet demonstrate that it is committed to changing and improving how data is used to provide both short-term results and to better position us for the future of big data.”
With the cloud-based Equipment Insight solution, GDS is able to provide advanced remote monitoring and diagnostics to its customers without having to make a large upfront investment in expensive software or data centers to manage the data and without replacing existing hardware technology. The solution can be installed and running in two days and comes with training support from GE’s experts. This training teaches customers how to install and program additional units if they choose to expand the number of installations on their network of rigs.
“Harnessing the power of the Industrial Internet, our Equipment Insight technology enables GDS to better serve their customers by utilizing field data from distributed assets to optimize the performance of their machines,” said Steve Pavlosky, General Manager of Equipment Insight for GE’s Automation & Controls solutions. “Our goal is to use our advanced data management technologies and expertise in industries such as oil and gas to make the Industrial Internet real for our customers.”
Equipment Insight can be layered on top of almost any intelligent industrial device, making it a universal solution for data management. This capability enables companies like GDS to easily expand its monitoring capabilities to other oilfield equipment, such as drawworks, mud pumps, catwalks and generators.
