Athens Group’s system for drilling rig testing gets patented

Athens Group, a provider of independent, 3rd-party technology assurance services for oil and gas drilling and production systems, has announced receipt of U.S. Patent No.: 8793114, entitled Method and System for Drilling Rig Testing Using Virtualized Components from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

This patented technology will help improve the quality and performance of delivered offshore assets by addressing the additional test requirements caused by the complex signal and sensor arrays that are necessary to support modern rig automation systems. While these automation systems can enhance safety by minimizing staff requirements on the drill floor, they result in additional components and interfaces that are potential sources of failure.

“This patent defines a method and system for dynamically generating virtualized configurations of sensors and signals used in drilling systems equipment,” said Mike Haney, CEO.

“These scenarios and virtual configurations will help guide our automatic generation of acceptance, commissioning, verification and validation checklists used worldwide by our consultants and engineers,” he concluded.

When implemented correctly by the original equipment manufacturer, and verified by a qualified independent third party, HIL testing can help improve the quality of the delivered control systems and provide the asset owner increased confidence that upon acceptance, the system will perform safely and reliably.

The patent was filed October 21, 2011 and was issued July 29, 2014, to Athens Group Holdings, LLC. The inventors include Nestor Fesas, President and COO, Bill O’Grady, Chief Technology Officer and Don Shafer, Co-Founder and Technical Fellow.