Wirescan delivers products and services globally for use in the oil and gas industry. Its unique LIRA technology is used for cable fault location and cable condition monitoring services on critical cables, for both onshore and offshore applications.

This helps clients worldwide save big money on reduced unplanned power outages, costly cable repairs and potentially damaging effects to their company due to negative publicity.

Wirescan’s patented LIRA Technology has been successfully used for fault location and condition monitoring of electrical power cables in all corners of the world since 2005.

Since its infancy in the nuclear power plant domain, it has been developed and successfully applied by other industries such as offshore wind farms, cable manufacturers, transmission and distribution and oil and gas production.

Offshore oil platforms are increasingly receiving their power from shore via subsea power cables to supply cleaner energy and reduce CO2 emissions.
Subsea structures with pumps and valves needs power to operate.
Future offshore operations will include a subsea power grid.
Umbilicals with power cores are costly long lead items to manufacture.
Current generation LIRA Portable test equipment from Wirescan.

Wirescan is also developing market oriented solutions for electrical power transmission that will allow for on-line monitoring and monitoring of energized cables, thus lowering the cost of implementing state-of-the-art cable condition monitoring.

LIRA (line resonance analysis) technology is based on transmission line theory, through analysis of the complex line impedance (amplitude and phase) as a function of the applied signal frequency. It enables detection of degradations in the cable insulation.

Services offered

Power cable assessment and power cable fault location

Wirescan offers the most accurate cable fault location technology on the market, with proven accuracy of the test equipment ensuring fault location within 0.3% of the cable length. The equipment is capable of measuring all kinds of electrical cables, ranging from fewer than 50 meters to several hundred kilometers, without any danger of damaging the cable. The LIRA test method is non-destructive and sensitive to even small cable degradations and defects.

Cable condition monitoring

Wirescan offers cable condition monitoring services to enable clients to avoid time consuming and costly cable breakdowns and repair operations. Through the first measurement on a cable in operating condition, customers establish a cable ‘finger print’ that subsequent measurement values can be compared to, in order to assess development of cable degradations and/or damages over time.

Thus, the client can get an ‘early warning signal’ to help guide the maintenance plan and the budget. This also significantly reduces the overall risks impacting on the clients operations. Offshore power cables are costly assets and should be protected and monitored using the best possible technology available. Wirescan’s LIRA Technology is the obvious choice.

Products offered for non-commercial use by clients

LIRA Portable

LIRA Portable is the proven test equipment used by Wirescan in service missions in the harshest environments. Its features are:

  • Sensitive to small degradations and cable defects
  • Accurate location of cable degradations / defects
  • Applicable to a wide range of cables and wires
  • Applicable on multisegment systems with different cable types
  • Non-destructive and non-intrusive
  • Only one access point needed for measuring
  • Fast and easy connection to test object
  • Recording and playback for post analysis
  • Detection of multiple faults / damages / failures, and their severity
  • Pre-study / simulation of cable data and defects

Product development

The product portfolio is growing with different products for different markets, customers and applications.

Future developments may include integrated instruments as elements of a complete Wirescan Service Program, enabling the client to collect measurements and transfer the cable data to Wirescan for a comprehensive and professional expert analysis, thus reducing total costs by avoiding travel expenses and waiting times for a Wirescan Service representative to get on site.

Partnerships

Wirescan works with partners in all regions, and except for data analysis services, customer support, user training and product delivery will normally be carried out by a local Wirescan Partner. If you wish to know more, please contact us for a demonstration or a web meeting.