I received a note from Emerson’s Jonas Berge of a recent Foundation fieldbus (FF) General Assembly meeting in Mumbai, India. It was their largest gathering of process automation professionals to date. Jonas shared with me that India has an ever-increasing process automation engineering community, and that events such as these provide practical examples of how Foundation fieldbus technology helps throughout the lifecycle of a plant.
The presentations are available over in a Foundation fieldbus forum post, General Assembly 2011 Presentations. There is a nice mix of end user, automation supplier, analyst, and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor presentations. Here are links to the posted presentations:
- Asset Management with FOUNDATION fieldbus – Jonas Berge, Emerson
- Saudi Aramco Safety Instrumentation Technology Development Strategy – Patrick Flanders, Saudi Aramco
- New Technologies for the FF Physical Layer – Michael Kessler, Pepperl+Fuchs
- FOUNDATION™ Fieldbus Technology Update – Dave Glanzer, Fieldbus Foundation
- Control in the Field – Travis Hesketh, Emerson (Download the presentation and see it in viewing mode to see the slide builds.)
- Implementation of FF in KGD6 – Harvindar Gambhir / Madhuri Allika, Reliance
- Operational Excellence using FF – T. Senthil, Chemplast Sanmar
- Engineering and Execution Advantages Using Foundation Fieldbus (FF) – Ravi Gupta, HPCL Mittal Energy
- Operational Excellence through Fieldbus and Collaborative Process Automation Systems – Rajabahadur V Arcot, ARC Advisory Group
- Keynote: Achieving Operational Excellence with Foundation Fieldbus – P Mahajan, Engineers India Limited (EIL)
Jonas shares the diagnostics available in different types of Foundation fieldbus devices to support a plant’s asset management practices. These include continuous (not on-demand) performance diagnostics, common diagnostics, and more versatile ones that may be unique to a particular automation supplier. An example of the unique diagnostics is statistical process monitoring in Rosemount 3051S Foundation fieldbus devices. Examples of applications on which these diagnostics can be applied to include detection of:
- fast “stick slip flow” of fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) catalyst before standpipe damage
- furnace flame instability before flameout
- pulsation indicative of pump or compressor damage
- entrained air causing measurement errors
- distillation column flooding before separation is affected
- leaks in impulse lines and manifolds
- liquid carryover in gas stream
In Travis Hesketh‘s Control in the Field presentation, he shares how the faster control loop execution can reduce loop-settling times upon loop output changes and process disturbances. This faster response reduces loop variability and allows the process to run closer to setpoint.
Beyond tighter control, Travis shares examples on how the Foundation fieldbus technology can increase reliability, reduce wiring and installation, and provide proactive maintenance opportunities.
Make sure to look at the end user and EPC examples from Saudi Aramco, Reliance, Chemplast Sanmar, HPCL Mittal Energy, and Engineers India Limited (EIL) for more practical applications of Foundation fieldbus technology to improve project and ongoing process performance.
Update: Travis sent me his presentation and I provided a link for you to download it to see the builds on the slide. The PDF mashes these together, which impacts readability.
