Wireless in at Shell Houdini

Pulau Bukom, Singapore –? Shell Eastern Petroleum Ltd (SEPL) has deployed wireless technology to provide secure mobile access to process control systems at its recently completed ethylene cracker complex (ECC) part of its Houdini project on the island of Pulau Bukom.

The wireless system was designed to provide mobile access to all process data via WLAN at defined places in the refinery. It was also intended to provide faster commissioning time for the petrochemical process control system, improved maintenance efficiency, as well as an overall system cost reduction due to fewer local panel units being needed.

Working with the main automation contractor Yokogawa, a Belden team took on the project management, design and building of a complete WLAN system. This comprised a wireless distribution network incorporating 90 of its Hirschmann BAT54-F X2 access points for the ECC and multiple antennas, linked across a redundant, fibre-ring backbone.

“We contracted Belden to design and deliver the wireless infrastructure, which acts as an interface to our process control systems,” said Peter Roodenburg, project manager at Yokogawa, which delivered all the process control and instrumented safety systems for the Houdini project.

ATEX compliance
A specific challenge for Belden was to provide all equipment with proper ATEX/IEC60079 certification for the hazardous area conditions found in this project, noted Tsjoi Tsim, a consultant for wireless technologies acting on behalf of Shell Global Solutions International.

The application required a range of Hirschmann WLAN products, including outdoor access points together with accessories, antennas, surge arrestors, managed switches, media converters and Industrial HiVision. Belden also used an Eagle firewall at the demarcation point to the customer’s process LAN.

To build the backbone, engineers used PROFInet copper and fibre-optic cables, as well as Lumberg Automation Ethernet M12 connectors for all Ethernet devices. At locations where wired LAN access was difficult, connectivity was achieved via wireless point-to-point links.

Following the factory acceptance tests (FATs), in The Netherlands, Belden moved the entire set-up to Singapore for the integrated FATs to ensure that the system functioned as a seamless part of Yokogawa’s control system. After a final site-acceptance test, it was handed over to the customer in January 2010.

“Our initial thoughts during the front end engineering and design phase, was that wireless would give us a number of key benefits,” said Peter Beerepoot, who was responsible for instrumentation process control for the entire Houdini project for Shell Eastern Petrochemicals. “So we considered substitution of local panels, which we believed would bring us advantages in terms of cost reduction and increased efficiency.

However, it is always difficult to test a new system in an existing plant. Here we were given the opportunity to develop a complete infrastructure. Today, we not only have the proof that the [wireless] system works, because the coverage is better than we originally expected, we are now looking at options to maximise our usage of the system.”

Belden is to continue work on this project to deliver service programmes and further expand the network for better WLAN coverage. It also envisages new services such as Ex zone certified wireless video for safety and surveillance applications.