New Device Makes Older-Model Gas Detectors Connected, Simplifying Maintenance and Reducing Downtime

New Optima Excel Local Display upgrades capabilities of Honeywell’s Optima gas detectors used throughout oil and gas, petrochemical and energy industry. Allows mission-critical maintenance to be performed wirelessly in risky environments faster, cheaper and with reduced downtime.

Honeywell (NYSE:HON) announced today a new Bluetooth-enabled device that brings connectivity to fixed gas detectors used in the oil and gas, petrochemical and energy industries, enabling workers to use a smart phone to perform mission-critical maintenance and avoid costly downtime in potentially explosive environments.

Honeywell’s new OELD (Optima Excel Local Display) attaches to Searchpoint Optima Plus, a staple safety device for more than 20 years on offshore drilling platforms and in operation at more than 250,000 points of detection throughout the oil and gas industry; in addition, the OELD will soon be available as an accessory for the company’s flagship open-path infrared detectdor, Searchline Excel. With the attached display, workers can view gas information from the detector on the display screen or wirelessly from up to 10 meters on an intrinsically safe smart phone. Workers can wirelessly perform a host of diagnostic work on the detector, including calibration, configuring alarm set points, specifying target gases and checking gas concentration levels and sensor performance.

“Honeywell has brought familiar smart phone technology to a mission-critical maintenance task for the energy industry, which can now be accomplished more easily, quickly, and cost effectively than ever,” said Carl Ritzberger, marketing director for fixed gas detection at Honeywell Industrial Safety, a global leader in gas detection. “Best of all, because the maintenance work is non-intrusive, operators do not have to apply for a ‘hot work’ permit that temporarily shuts down or declassifies a process area, resulting in expensive downtime. With the wireless connection, there’s no need for the worker to go back and forth to the control room, to open up the detector to do the work, to climb ladders or crawl into ducts to access hard-to-reach installation points.”

The Optima Excel Local Display features an LCD screen for gas information that clearly displays real-time information on the detector’s status, supplementing the Optima or Excel’s standard communication bridge to the control room. In addition, the display has bright indicator lights in a familiar ‘traffic-light’ pattern that are visible from a distance: green for normal; yellow for a fault condition; and red for an alarm.

Available in aluminum or stainless steel housing, the local display is approved and rated for a wide range of hazardous environments such as oil and gas, petrochemicals, power generation, heavy manufacturing and lithographic printing.

Honeywell Industrial Safety, part of Honeywell’s Safety and Productivity Solutions group, is a global leader in gas detection, with the industry’s broadest portfolio of portable, fixed, single and multi-gas detectors. It is also a global leader in personal protective equipment (PPE), head-to-toe turnout gear and self-contained breathing apparatus for first responders. Honeywell’s software offerings connect workers and employers with data-driven, real-time intelligence to increase jobsite safety, productivity, efficiency and bottom-line performance.