Control System World

The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute announced today that Spirax Sarco, a leader in products and services for steam system solutions, has recently joined the ISA100 Wireless™ Compliance Institute.

Spirax Sarco provides expertise, service, products and turnkey solutions for the control and efficient use of steam, air, and other industrial fluids for industrial and commercial users worldwide. With an unparalleled understanding of the application of steam across a wide range of industries, Spirax Sarco will enable ISA100 Wireless users to:

• Design, install and commission new facilities
• Optimize existing steam systems
• Upgrade steam plants
• Maintain performance with scheduled maintenance

Simon Sprackling, Group Research and Development Manager at Spirax Sarco said, “We seek to leverage the robust, secure ISA100 Wireless protocol to complement our existing communication tools and provide our customers improved access to our products’ diagnostic capabilities.”

“Spirax Sarco is joining an industry-leading team of suppliers who are collaborating to promote a robust, reliable, and secure communication standard,” said Andre Ristaino, Managing Director, ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute. “We look forward to their unique perspective, and the positive impact Spirax Sarco will have on ISA100 Wireless’ list of features and capabilities.”

The EtherCAT Terminal system has proven successful over a period of many years in automation applications where a temperature range of 0…55 °C is sufficient. For requirements beyond that, the operating temperature range of selected EtherCAT Terminals and Couplers has been extended to -25…+60 °C. The storage temperature of these ET components (Extended Temperature Range) has also been adapted and is now -40…+85 °C. The exact definition of the operating conditions in temperature ranges outside 0…55 °C, any installation requirements that possibly deviate from the standard and, if applicable, deviating technical data can be found in the EtherCAT Terminal documentation.

The following EtherCAT Terminals represent a selection of the products that are suitable for the extended temperature range. The extension of the temperature range is marked accordingly on the data sheet and is also available for any variants with a pluggable wiring level (ESxxxx).

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In response to marketplace demand and input from automation professionals, the International Society of Automation (ISA) announces today it has developed a new Automation Engineering Survival Training course designed to meet the needs and requirements of system integrators.

ISA Automation Engineering Survival Training: Integrator Version (AESTIV)—which will debut 31 March 2014 through 4 April 2014 at ISA headquarters in North Carolina—includes a week of highly intensive, hands-on instruction geared specifically to:

• New automation, control system or process control engineers working for system integrators
• Seasoned system integration engineers looking to refresh their process automation skills
• Automation engineers in a position with a system integrator or end user
• Automation engineers wishing to move into a career as a system integrator

ISA’s AESTIV course is an excellent complement to ISA’s well-established Automation Engineering Survival Training (AEST) course. ISA’s AEST course is geared primarily for automation engineers working in plant environments, particularly those who want to sharpen and broaden their skills and those who are new to the automation profession. Both offerings comprise the ISA Automation Engineering Survival Training Series—two comprehensive, highly intensive training “boot camp” courses that feature expert-led lecture, hands-on exercises covering practical, real-world survival skills, and a local plant tour to see first-hand, real-world implementations of the concepts learned in class.

To learn more about, or register for, the AESTIV course, visit www.isa.org/PR14/AESTIV

(Reuters) Petrofac, the international oil and gas services provider, has been awarded a contract by BP, worth $1.2 billion, for the Khazzan gas project in Oman. The scope of work will include engineering, procurement and construction of the central processing facility (CPF) at the Khazzan field.  The CPF will include two process trains, each having a capacity of 525 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, Petrofac said in a statement.

The project also includes an associated condensate processing system, power generation plant, water treatment system and all associated utilities and infrastructure. The project is expected to be completed in 2017. The deal for the central processing facility has been awarded on a convertible lump sum basis and will convert to a full lump sum contract at a pre-determined point during execution, Petrofac added.

Subramanian Sarma, managing director of Petrofac's Onshore Engineering & Construction business, said: “Petrofac has executed a large number of projects for BP across many aspects of our business and we are delighted to be supporting them on this pioneering project at Khazzan, the largest new upstream project in Oman.

"We have a very strong record for project execution in Oman with this project representing Petrofac’s eighth EPC contract in the Sultanate and follows the recent award of the $2.1 billion Sohar refinery improvement project which was announced in November.”

In November, Petrofac said a joint venture with South Korea's Daelim Industrial Co had won a $2.1 billion contract for a refinery project from Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (ORPIC).  The three-year contract includes engineering, procurement, construction, start-up and commissioning services at a refinery in the Sohar Industrial Area, 230 kilometres northwest of Muscat.  The deal includes improvements at the existing facility and the addition of new refining units, it said.

Protecting and Controlling Critical Capital Equipment in the Production Environment : A complimentary Invensys seminar for turbomachinery applications.

Are you involved in the operation, safety, automation, control, maintenance or performance of turbomachinery equipment? Then don’t miss this event, it has been developed for you! You'll learn how to maximize turbomachinery performance to increase your production value and ultimately the profitability of your operations.

Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Time: 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (PST)

Location: Hilton Long Beach & Executive Meeting Center

During this half-day seminar, Hector Buchelly, Global Director of Turbo Machinery, Invensys and a team of experts will explain methods and technologies to help you achieve your operational and business objectives. They will examine TMC control platforms and compare and contrast configurations and installations. The focus will be on how you can significantly boost performance, safety, and productivity.

Seminar Work Sessions:

Session 1: The advantages and disadvantages of turbine valve control

Session 2: A tutorial on automatic voltage regulation control configurations

Session 3: The pros and cons of trip system upgrades, trip blocks, and monitoring devices

Session 4: How to boost compressor controls performance

Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that it will release an enhanced version of the FCN-RTU* low-power autonomous controller for the STARDOM™ network-based control system on February 26. This new version of the FCN-RTU has been developed to meet the requirements of our customers in the high-growth upstream oil & gas industries.

Development Background:

Until recently, gas wells were drilled at multiple sites spread out over a wide area, and each individual well head had its own controller for monitoring and control. With the advent of unconventional horizontal gas drilling techniques, multiple wells can now be drilled from a single well pad, enabling a reduction in the number of controllers needed to monitor and control the well heads. For such applications, the controllers need to be able to handle more input/output (I/O) signals. Also, as wells are often drilled in remote locations where temperatures can be extreme, these controllers must be ruggedly built to withstand those conditions.

Product Features:

• Increased number of I/O modules

The enhanced FCN-RTU can now accommodate eight (8) I/O modules, up from the previous three, and can thus handle up to 256 input/output signals. This is well within the requirements of the latest unconventional natural gas well monitoring and control applications.

• Improved environmental resistance

An additional 10 STARDOM FCN-RTU I/O modules are now rated for use in temperatures ranging from −20°C to +70°C. These enhanced components are thus well suited for use in the very cold or hot weather conditions that can be encountered at natural gas drilling sites.

• Support for 64-bit Windows

ASTMAC VDS, the STARDOM supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) package, as well as all related software, now supports the 64-bit version of Windows 7. All engineering, monitoring, and control functions can be performed on computers running 64-bit Windows 7.

HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL) is a joint venture between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Mittal Energy Investment Pte Ltd, a Lakshmi N Mittal company that is based in Singapore. HMEL has built and currently operates the Guru Gobind Singh refinery, which is located near Bathinda in India’s Punjab region. This new refinery has a production capacity of 9 million tons per annum (the equivalent of 180,000 bpd) and complies with the Euro IV emission norms. This is a zero bottom plant, with a very high Nelson Complexity Index. The refinery facilities include a polypropylene unit (PPU) that utilizes the Novolen® gas-phase polypropylene (PP) process and is capable of producing 440,000 tons per year of homo-polymer PP.

HMEL produces an entire range of PP homo-polymers. The refinery’s state-of-the art delayed coker unit (DCU) produces a high sulfur petroleum coke (pet coke) derivative. The sulfur recovery unit produces very high quality sulfur in powder and lump form. The other notable deliverable is a high yield of environmentally friendly liquid petroleum gas (LPG) for household and commercial customers in the northern region of the country.

For the monitoring and control of the entire Guru Gobind Singh refinery, HMEL selected an integrated solution from Yokogawa consisting of the CENTUM VP state-of-the-art distributed control system, the ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system, the Plant Resource Manager (PRM) asset management system, the Exasmoc, Exarqe, and fitOMS advanced process control (APC) packages, FOUNDATION™ fieldbus instruments, and an operator training simulator (OTS). Yokogawa India oversaw and implemented their engineering, installation, and commissioning, and the refinery has performed flawlessly since coming online in early 2012.

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Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that it has received the Frost & Sullivan 2014 Global Enabling Technology Leadership Award in the wireless solutions category. The Enabling Technology Leadership Award is presented to companies around the world that are best-in-class in a specific category.

Field wireless systems enable a plant’s field devices and host-level monitoring and control systems to communicate wirelessly with each other. This has numerous advantages such as allowing the placement of field instruments or analytical sensors in difficult to wire locations, which eliminates the need for cables to connect devices and reduces installation costs.

Yokogawa released the world’s first ISA100.11a*1 compliant wireless system devices and wireless pressure and temperature transmitters in July 2010, and the company continues to enhance its lineup of wireless solutions. In accordance with the Wireless Anywhere concept, which was announced in April 2013, Yokogawa is seeking to promote the plant-wide use of field wireless systems by developing new ISA100 Wireless™*2 devices. In December 2013, the company started providing a wireless communications module with a built-in antenna that can help field device manufacturers significantly shorten the time needed for developing wireless solutions. Later this year, the company also plans to release a multi-protocol wireless adaptor that will enable wired field instruments or analytical sensors to be used as ISA100 Wireless devices.

Frost & Sullivan selected Yokogawa for this award because of the company's efforts to develop ISA100 Wireless solutions that enable high-reliability, openness, and interoperability. In selecting the award recipient, Frost & Sullivan evaluated companies based on whether they enabled the creation of new products, enhanced current products, enabled new applications, had potential for market acceptance, and had a breadth of access to technology. Yokogawa was recognized for making a superior contribution in developing innovative field wireless solutions.