Rounding up the plant

'We wanted to maintain and increase our already high level of equipment reliability in a cost-conscious environment,' says Ian Stokes, in charge of maintenance at BP Chemicals' Hull site. To meet the plant's requirements - which must echo those of most processing operations in today's straitened times - a Honeywell 'equipment health management' (EHM) system has been recently installed.

According to Stokes, 'the EHM's ability to create and automatically access an on-line knowledge database, plus Honeywell's comprehensive asset management technologies, are helping us plan our maintenance better and move further towards reliability-centred maintenance.'

Early results show that the system is already proving its worth, with several hidden faults that were identified during the system's implementation being included in the next planned shutdown maintenance programme.

Honeywell had done its homework on this project with a reliability study in 2000 that showed a high potential return on the initial investment. The system essentially manages a total of 75 pumps, heat exchangers, fans, valves and compressors, along with more than 600 control valves and loops.

Operating data on all this equipment is gathered into the EHM system via a series of diagnostic interfaces, such as Honeywell's IntelliScout, Loop Scout and Valve Scout applications. These 'scouts' are OPC-based applications that monitor field devices and compare their diagnostic data with that stored in databases prepopulated with current system and equipment configurations. Alerts on actual or impending fault conditions are then automatically outputted to a range of users around the plant.

The EHM system is a part of Honeywell's established @sset.MAX family of asset management products, now being complemented by similar products in the company's recently introduced new Experion PKS (Process Knowledge System) system platform.

Asset Manager PKS, for example, is embedded within Experion PKS, continuously monitoring the status, events and operating conditions of all PKS assets and field-connected devices. According to Greg Irving, v-p of technology for Honeywell Industry Solutions, by using this system 'time spent managing and configuring asset management activities is reduced by 90 per cent'.

Like the EHM system at BP, Asset Manager PKS interfaces with the plant via products such as Loop Scout for control loop management, DocuMint for calibration management, and the brand new Mobile PKS, 'the first wireless human interface to industrial process automation'.

Developed in collaboration with SAT Corporation, Mobile PKS is described as a family of solutions that, using wireless hand-held computers, will enable engineering, operations and maintenance personnel to manage work processes, sharing and capturing knowledge throughout the plant - no matter how far away they may be.

With only two members so far - IntelaTrac PKS and Mobile Station PKS - the software 'family' is yet to grow, but it already provides plant personnel with access to historical data, process graphics, video and other key functions from the control room to anywhere on the plant.

SAT's mobile computing software IntelaTrac is embedded into Mobile PKS in such a way that, according to SAT ceo Don Frieden, 'the combination allows process manufacturing companies to efficiently and effectively adapt to plant changes through better management of operations and maintenance work flow.'

One way in which Mobile PKS can increase productivity is by addressing the problem of what Frieden calls 'stranded assets'. In other words, those parts of a plant that don't necessarily reside on the DCS, or do not feature any on-line condition monitoring capability. Frieden believes that, by using Mobile PKS, a 4½ to 6 month payback period can be achieved on the investment in the system.