Control Systems - New generation of control system provides ease of integration
ABB Automation Technologies has made the first sales of Industrial IT, its latest generation of control and safety systems, to North Sea offshore operators. In the UK sector, the system has been acquired by EnCana's Buzzard development, while in Norway the first delivery to a new platform has been made to Norsk Hydro's Grane platform. The Grane installation, which was supplied through the main contractor, Aker Kvaerner, has been in operation since last year.
Building on ABB's experience in developing control products, Industrial IT offers a perfect platform for integrating existing systems, whether its own or other vendors', according to Ingemar Lidhamn, information specialist for ABB's control platform products. Although integration is also possible with Advant, ABB's previous generation of control systems, Industrial IT takes the process a step further. ABB recently gave the automation side of its Industrial IT technology initiative the name System 800xA, in which "xA" stands for "extended automation."
One function that distinguishes System 800xA is the aspect object technology, which through a right-hand click of the mouse enables the operator to call up detailed information on individual components – all mechanical and maintenance data relating to a particular valve, for example.
Operating the system is made easy by the operator interface, known as Process Portal. Process Portal is part of the Operate IT family of operating environments that also contains such units as Process Panel and Pocket Portal. Connection to the process is via the new AC 800M controller or other available controllers from ABB and ABB's S800 I/O (input/output) system. This is a distributed I/O system that communicates with the controllers over industry standard field-buses.
System 800xA is also the platform for running a suite of enabler technologies developed by ABB. These cover a wide range of fields, including asset monitoring, asset optimization technology, information management, thin client, remote technology, safety technology and field-bus technology.
System upgrades
ABB is well equipped to meet the customers' desire to keep systems upgraded with the latest advances. A lot of control system installations from the 1980s are still running satisfactorily, and changing out all the I/O systems would involve an unacceptable cost for the clients. Instead ABB supplies, for example, new I/O boards and controllers designed to incorporate the use of more modern components. "Our target is not a migration but an evolution," says Lidhamn.
Among orders for a number of prestigious projects, the system has been chosen for the process and electrification project at Statoil's Snøhvit LNG plant in northern Norway. This is the largest industrial project in northern Scandinavia, in which one of the main challenges will be controlling the complex of subsea facilities located 170 km from the plant. Altogether 13 Process Portals and 25 CMC 70 controllers will be supplied, with operations due to start in 2005.
Industrial IT, ABB's new generation of control system, has been installed at Norsk Hydro's Sture oil terminal as part of recent expansion projects.
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The Snøhvit delivery thus includes the Melody controller that ABB acquired when it took over Hartmann and Brown in 1999. The reasoning behind this decision, according to Lidhamn, is that Statoil already has a lot of experience of CMC 70 in similar applications. The AC 800M controller will however be used in the power management system.
The company has a good track record with Statoil, Lidhamn says. It is also providing an Industrial IT system for the modernization and expansion projects at Statoil's Kårstø gas terminal, where the original installed system is Melody. Here again, the supplier's ability to upgrade and expand the system in step with the operator's plans to expand capacity and tie new fields back to the terminal has been an important factor in its favor. Another recent delivery to Statoil was a new control system for the emergency and air compressors on the Gullfaks A platform.
Meanwhile, Lidhamn does not expect sales of the company's control systems to suffer following the divestment of ABB's offshore activities to an investor group led by Candover of the UK. More important for the reception given to its products is the company's standing in the marketplace, he says. According to the rankings issued by the independent Automation Research Corporation of the US, ABB Automa-tion Technologies ranks at number one or two in the upstream oil and gas sector.
For more information, contact Ingemar Lidhamn, ABB Automation Technologies. Tel +46 21 342429, fax +46 21 342501. [email protected], www.abb.com
Recent offshore reference list
Among other deliveries of Industrial IT to offshore projects are the following.
- For Buzzard ABB is supplying total control and safety systems for production operations. The equipment includes 10 redundant Process Portals, eight AC 800M controllers, eight Safeguard 400 safety controllers, together with a training system. Installation of the equipment was due to start around mid-year
- The company also supplied the equipment for a project to extend the existing ABB control system on BP's Harding platform, including three Process Portals, one engineering workstation and two AC 450 controllers. The equipment is connected to existing MP 260, MP 280 and Safeguard 400 controllers
- Industrial IT systems are being supplied to Caspian Sea projects, including the seven platforms in AIOC's ACG development, phases 1 to 3, and the SDU platform and gas terminal. They will also be used for supervision and control of the 1,760-km Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline and the 690-km SCP gas pipeline
- Through its office in India, ABB won an order for power management systems as part of an upgrade of the living quarters and power block projects of Qatar Petroleum's PS 2 and PS 3 platforms. For each installation it has delivered an Industrial IT system based on two Process portals and four AC 800M controllers.
