Pipeline inspection and dispatch
Intrinsically safe devices for pipeline inspection and dispatch: positioning, cameras, battery and communication for route work.
Route work has two halves
Pipeline inspection is route work: walking or driving a line, checking markers and assets, photographing findings and recording readings at each stop. Dispatch is the other half: keeping the route team in contact with the control room, reassigning stops and escalating findings. Devices for this work must therefore do two things at once — record accurately and communicate reliably — and the selection question is which device class does each half best.
Tablets for the record, phones for the contact
Tablets suit the record half: a large screen for maps and checklists, cameras for site photos, and positioning for tying readings to locations. The Ex Tablet08 listing names a 10.36 inch screen, dual cameras with flash and four-system positioning; the XPad_08 listing names positioning, altitude and compass functions on an 8.0 inch screen. Phones suit the contact half: voice and messaging in a pocket device, with four-system positioning on the Unicorn10 PRO and Versatile_5G listings. Handheld terminals suit the identification half where assets carry tags: barcode, RFID, UHF and NFC reading on the Ex PDA 7100/7200 listing.
Battery across a route
Routes are long and charging points are few, so battery figures deserve more weight here than in depot work. The tablet listings publish 7000 mAh, 9000 mAh and 20000 mAh figures for different models, and the phone listings publish standby and talk figures for one model. Compare only within one model's own listing, and confirm expected shift life for your route length and workload in the quote request. Charging discipline also matters: the Aloha_5G PRO use notes published in its listing record exclude cable use, charging and battery replacement in hazardous areas.
What to put in the quote request
Confirm MOQ and lead time in your quote request. Confirm certification scope and marking for your target market before ordering. Confirm the model availability for your site before ordering. Certificates available upon request. Related: oil and gas applications, phone, tablet and PDA comparison.