The Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC) is soliciting proposals for infrared driving safety technology to be used in the oil and gas industry.
PTAC notes that road mishaps account for one-third of all industrial accidents and are the single largest source of accident fatalities, injuries and financial loss to the Canadian upstream oil and gas industry.
Wildlife-related incidents comprise approximately one-third of these accidents, with deer-related mishaps the No. 1 wildlife-related cause of human death in North America.
PTAC has identified infrared technology as a potential tool to reduce these accidents. It is currently available on a few types of vehicles, but at a relatively high cost.
The technology also has the potential to reduce other types of road accidents by improving hazard identification under night-time or poor visibility conditions such as dust.
PTAC’s objective is to enable widespread commercialization of infrared technology in the oil and gas and other industries to cost-effectively reduce road mishaps and related fatalities, injuries and financial losses.
PTAC is calling for prototype infrared technology devices that have been tested under controlled conditions and can be field-piloted by a variety of users. Among the requirements:
* The cost per vehicle needs to be reasonable (suggested $500 - $1,500 Cdn per unit price once commercial).
* The infrared image must not be distracting.
* The technology needs to be portable to be easily transferable from vehicle to vehicle.
* The technology needs to be rugged and impervious to dust, moisture and temperature (-40°C).
* The technology needs to be compact, automatic and user friendly.
* The technology needs to have a distance range of at least 150 metres, with an appropriate peripheral field of view (45° on each side).
Web watch: www.ptac.org
