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Aerospace & Geophysics User Supplier Club
Aerospace/Avionics
Downloadable files for members of this USC
It is self understood that MST play a very important role in these segments. They offer an unique possibility for the miniaturisation, reduction of power consumption, improvement of reliability and cost reduction. The most important application area have been identified in the TRM.
Some of them have a generic character:
IR imaging - can also find application in micro-spectrometry for pollution monitoring
RF communications - spin-off of Power generation - extremely important for distributed stand-alone MST
However, the intrinsic dynamics of the MST developments should be considered as an important guideline element for future industrial applications.
Common problems due to harsh environment operation conditions are related to the actual reliability; starting from the qualification plan, the feedback of users and experience, it should be possible to:
Geophysics
Approximately 40% of the world's estimated recoverable reserves has been consumed. The extraction of the next third of the reserve will depend upon the increased knowledge of the reservoirs and the capability of a very tight control / management of oil well production parameters. The oilfield output efficiency will rely on the extensive seismic experiments / interpretations and the continuous real time control of the production. This will require largely spread measurements resulting from marine and land seismic experiences and in-situ monitoring of the oil wells, respectively. The collection of a huge information volume will need the use of distributed sensors and sensor arrays capable to transmit data to the operation centres. It is thus self-understood that Microsystems Technologies (MST)/MEMS are already and will be employed to carry out these tasks which combine extremely precise measurements with very sophisticated electronic and communication skills.
MST implementation
About 60% of the tool price comes from sensors and electronics. Since the oil price exhibits a very oscillating behaviour, the pressure on the sensor cost becomes a strong push towards reliable and cost effective MST solutions.
The most important sensor for oil field services is a high pressure, high temperature sensors produced using micromachining techniques. A trend is to replace other materials for pressure sensors by silicon.
A large potential of microsystems (MST) and their possible combination with other technologies such as, e.g., optics (MOEMS), which brings insensitivity to electromagnetic environments and can also work at high temperature, is also considered.
The fabrication of microsystems using batch processes offers the possibility of building arrays of sensors and thus reinforcing the reliability of a whole system. This solution appears to be a great force of MST: instead of one expensive and extremely accurate sensor, a network of cheap and accurate sensors located all along the well may substantially lower the risk associated with fragile components. Permanent oil well monitoring mentioned in the rationale will rely on the MST products.
Technical solutions
On the shelf products are mostly used for the reason of a low volume market. If not available, dedicated development and subsequent in house production is carried out.
Minutes of Meetings
Minutes of previous meetings can be found here
Contact
Dr Jan Suski, USC5
co-ordinator
E-mail: jsuski@memsfield.com