Advanced Automation and Project Management Article

Use Advanced Automation and Project Management

to Simplify Refinery Construction
By: Eugene Spiropoulos
Product Manager for Distributed Control Systems
Yokogawa Corporation of America

Process automation in oil refineries is undergoing major changes, driven by customers

frustrated by what they consider to be slow and incremental advances from the main
automation original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the industry. ExxonMobil has
become a de facto industry representative and is driving vendors like Yokogawa and
others to reevaluate how large-scale automation projects are implemented.
The customer message is clear: projects take too long; they are too engineering-intensive; and the automation
systems frequently become the critical path in the final stages, often causing the project to fall behind schedule. In
many instances, automation engineers can legitimately point at process engineers and others for last-minute
changes, but with little consolation from the owners.
With several hundred major automation projects executed globally each year, the industry-leading automation OEMs
can draw on several decades of experience working in various industries and with a range of technologies.
Individually and collectively, they are applying their knowledge of best automation practices and lessons learned to
answer the question, "How can we do things better?"
As a result, automation OEMs are being guided by the industries they serve to develop and improve solutions that
provide the reliability, operability and safety expected from control system platforms. OEMs are also being asked to
improve methodologies for assembling, executing and deploying a complex process solution with improved
efficiency, lower installation cost and greater adherence to schedule.
Most of the efforts fall into two main categories: project management and technical improvements. These two
categories are deeply intertwined on multiple levels and, as such, can work together to improve projects.
Serial to Parallel
For the past few decades, projects have followed the same basic path shown in Fig. 1. Each phase takes place in a
serial fashion, as each builds on the previous effort:
1. The design phase typically includes
development of functional detailed specifications
and agreement on project engineering standards,
schema and, sometimes, resources.
2. The design phase leads to the main
engineering activities, which can be grouped into
hardware-related and software-related activities.
It is desirable to have as much parallel
engineering as possible with these activities, and
the conventional model achieves this up to a

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Advanced Automation and Project Management Article

certain point. Control logic, graphics, alarm

configurations, tuning parameters, etc., can be
application-engineered by a software team in a
single location or multiple locations. At the same
time, controllers, input/output (I/O) cabinets, marshalling boxes and enclosures can be manufactured, wired and
tested by another specialized team.
3. The significant dependence of application engineering on the design hardware is a challenge. An automation
application must be configured to fit the very specific controller, I/O module, marshalling, termination and wiring plan
for which it is designed.
4. Upon site delivery, the application piece is bound to the hardware loop by loop. Late binding allows enough time in
the schedule for project design changes to be implemented in both hardware and software before final binding.
Flexible binding allows for these changes, as well as reconfiguration, at any point in the project.
5. Either after or during loop commissioning, the owner signs off on the automation project, and the plant starts up.
Depending on the business environment, schedule flexibility in startup may be acceptable, but late is never desired.
If events unfold as planned, then the project can stay on schedule, although the schedule might be longer than the
company considers desirable. However, most projects do not run exactly as planned because process engineers
may realize a vessel is not in an ideal location, the distillation tower is not large enough, or another pump needs to be
added at some point to maintain sufficient flow. Any of these process equipment changes will create process
automation system changes by moving or adding hardware and related instrumentation.
As Fig. 2 shows, such changes can extend the time necessary for one or more project phases, ultimately stretching
out the schedule and eventually pushing the project past the startup deadline. The automation system now becomes
the critical path item holding up the schedule.
Technical Aspects of the Problem and
Solution
Compressing the schedule by including more
parallel, instead of serial, activities depends on
the ability to decouple many elements of the
process and mechanical design from the
automation system details. To be effective, this
requires a method of maintaining overall project
management and information for automation
software and hardware layers.
One reason why traditional automation projects
make such decoupling difficult is the highly
customized nature of the hardware, particularly
I/O and field wiring. These designs cannot be
finalized and built until the process and
mechanical portions of the plant are completed.

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Advanced Automation and Project Management Article

A typical example is as follows: A vessel in the process needs a level sensor to ensure that the amount of liquid is
beyond a given point. For the sake of simplicity and economy, a level switch is specified to receive the signal.
However, the process designer later decides that it is critical to know the actual level, and requests a modification.
A level transmitter must now be deployed in place of a level switch alone, so it is necessary to change from a digital
signal to a 4-20 mA signal. Such a change might not seem substantial, but in the real world, it can involve an entire
series of steps, from hardware implementation to documentation updates. Multiply this process by a few (or even
dozens of) such changes, and construction begins to fall behind schedule.
Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem, and it lies with more flexible I/O systems.
Configurable I/O Cabinets
Several automation OEMs have developed smart, configurable I/O technology capable of supporting multiple signal
types on a per-channel basis, and this development is arguably the most critical for the parallel execution of
process/mechanical and automation system design (Fig. 3).
Wiring cabinets outfitted with configurable I/O can
now be provided as stock items by the
manufacturer, tested and made ready to ship from
stock or with a short lead time. They are built to
withstand process plant environments, allowing
them to be mounted in the field to reduce wiring
complexity. Marshalling cabinets are eliminated,
along with the most termination points. The
number of wiring terminations from each device to
the control system is reduced from 20 or even
more, to perhaps five.
This kind of smart I/O increases the independence
of the automation system from the
process/mechanical design since it supports
system-independent loop commissioning. When
the I/O cabinet is in place and the field devices are
installed, the performance of the field device and
its interaction with the relevant final control
element can usually be verified, even before the control system is installed.
When changes come late in the project, such as the shift from a point level sensor to a level transmitter, as
mentioned previously, it is a simple matter to reconfigure the connection point in the cabinet. This capability for
changing configurations, along with flexible binding of the automation hardware layer to the software layer, supports
a seamless transition to the final phases of project completion, without gaps in the schedule. This is because much
of the hardware loop validation is accomplished during system-independent loop commissioning.
Smart Communication for Smart Devices
A common element of the new configurable I/O systems is their ability to use the latest digital communication
protocols for communication with smart field devices, typically instruments and analyzers. With natively supported
communication in place, the diagnostic information from these smart field devices can be gathered and used in a
sophisticated asset-management program.
One of the interesting aspects of this capability is its bidirectionality. Not only do the smart field devices send
information to the control system, but the control system can also send information to the devices. Customers
looking at this capability have asked, "Why can't the control system do the entire smart field device configuration?"
This is a simple question with huge implications. While users appreciate how the capabilities of present-generation
smart devices have advanced, the downside is the complexity of configuration. While a pressure sensor 20 years
ago might have contained a dozen or so parameters in need of setting, today's units can have hundreds of

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Advanced Automation and Project Management Article

parameters, so the configuration process can be quite tedious.

All of the information necessary to configure field devices is contained in databases in the control system, so why
should these systems be unable to transfer all of the parameters to the device? The technical capabilities are indeed
present, and several automation OEMs are developing the process to make it happen. ExxonMobil has
characterized this approach with the acronym DICED, which stands for Detect, Interrogate, Configure, Enable and
Document.
Present thinking is that all of these steps should happen automatically. When a technician installs a new field device
by placing a device with a specific tag number in a specific location, the process follows of its own accord to
accomplish the following:
The control system detects when a new device is in place and wired
The control system interrogates the device by sending a command requesting its tag. The tag number is the
only setting the device requires before installation, and this can be put in by the manufacturer per the
customer's request.
Once the device is identified, the system looks in its database at the configuration parameters and downloads
them to the device. These parameters can include range, engineering units, alarms, etc.
Once the system verifies that the configuration and the I/O channel are established, the system then enables
the device.
Since this process is automated, the system can create its own documentation, thereby updating all related
databases automatically and drastically reducing the need for human intervention.
Combining these technologies can have profound positive effects.
Putting Technical Advances to Work
When smart I/O, system-independent loop checking and automated device configuration are used together, different
functions can overlap to shorten project execution time and reduce required engineering resources (Fig. 4).
With this project methodology, there is a
significant risk reduction as a result of parallel
engineering, reduced automation hardware-tosoftware dependence, flexibility in binding,
reusability of engineering modules and best
practices. There is an additional decrease in total
project installed cost due to the reduction in
wiring, marshalling and field terminations.
It becomes possible to envision both parts of the
automation effort - hardware and software - as
independent pieces assembled from reusable
modules following their own schedules. More
equipment is purchased "off the shelf," already
engineered and tested to relevant standards, and
then shipped and assembled in modular fashion,
with flexible binding applied at the appropriate time.
This approach allows for design changes and the containment of problems related to late data within a particular
execution piece, reducing overall project impact. In fact, it becomes possible to construct an entire process unit or
skid offsite, with its associated devices, wiring, piping, equipment, etc., and to mount configurable I/O cabinets as
part of the completed unit.
Device and I/O loops can be checked and commissioned in staging, independent of the plant's automation system
design specifics. The construction and hardware pieces can be factory accepted, and the entire unit can then be
shipped to the site for assembly and connection with the rest of the plant, or adjacent units, all independent of the
actual application engineering or system platform at the site.
Creating mechanisms capable of supporting parallel activity on this scale is valuable for all of the reasons discussed,

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Advanced Automation and Project Management Article

but it does not entirely address the human resource requirements needed to exploit the advantages in the face of
demographic changes. Process control system OEMs and user companies are increasingly using engineering
resources that are scattered around the world, and many of the new developments make that easier; there are
growing libraries of modules to avoid the need for writing code from scratch for a single project.
Customers and suppliers alike are looking for ways to use intellectual property repeatedly, reducing time and cost.
Changing to new I/O platforms with self-configuring field devices reduces the time a technician must manually key in
parameter values.
Nonetheless, many aspects of a project are still labor intensive, although where, when and by whom specific
functions are performed are becoming more fluid. If a greater number of tasks can be carried out simultaneously
earlier in the project, then more people will be needed for a shorter period of time. Users will need to utilize
combinations of resources - internal engineering staff, construction companies, automation system integrators and
automation supplier(s) - in new and flexible combinations, as needed, to realize the biggest benefit.
New technologies and work practices are making these engineering approaches possible and more practical. They
can provide great benefits to EPC companies and technology licensors, who can protect their own technology and
execute projects using methodologies to provide the most value. Automation OEMs are creating these advances
now. Some are already available, but it is certain that many more will be available in the near future.

Copyright 2015 Yokogawa Corporation of America

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