(32cw) SIF Testing Hybrid Dashboard

Dinu Caragheorghe

ABSTRACT

Objectives/Scope:

The paper presents the challenges to monitor, record and analyze the safety instrumented functions and provides practical solutions to have an effective management of safety instrumented function testing, activation and performance, by developing a hybrid dashboard that includes online feed and manual input.

Methods, Procedures, Process:

The Safety Instrumented Function is a protection layer to achieve or maintain a safe state of the process when a specific dangerous event occurs. The SIF is implemented in the Safety Instrumented System which is normally composed of several Safety Functions and the function testing is usually performed during shutdown or T&I periods. Testing and tracking the performance of the SIF is crucial to maintain safe operations.

A practical model proposed to track the activation of each SIF, count the days since last activation, check the ESD command activation (output signals) and final element to attain the fail-safe position in required safety time. Failure alarms to be triggered for the SIFs that fail the command or fail-safe time requirements. If a SIF is not activated/tested within the required testing interval, a warning and then critical alarm to be initiated directly to console operators. All this data is integrated automatically into a Hybrid Dashboard for Safety Instrumented Functions. Manual input to the Dashboard includes event type (PM or plant incident), comments, acknowledgment of alarms and test intervals.

Results, Observations, Conclusions:

The model is based on the need to reduce the production downtime required for function testing and optimization of resources. SIFs activation either from PMs or plant incidents to be monitored, tracked and verified against requirements. The SIS feedback to be included in the Plant Information (PI) system and used in the Hybrid Dashboard together with the manual input from Process and Control System Engineers.

The dashboard provides advanced and immediate overview of the SIF performance and testing compliance and to be available to all relevant parties via internal company interfaces.

Novel/Additive Information:

The paper highlights the applicability of combining manual inputs and online automated logic to process and analyze ESD commands, final elements positions, travel time, trigger alarms and use them in a corporate Hybrid Dashboard to improve the tracking, compliance and reporting of SIFs.