Product category:
Plantwide control
News Release from: GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK | Subject: Cimplicity
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 14 April 2003
Bespoke switchgear for Siberian oilfield
Cimplicity software is used to provide vital power management of the electricity generated for the process system infrastructure at a custom-built modularised packaged substation in Kharyaga, Siberia.
Bradford-based Switchgear and Instrumentation (S and I) designs and manufactures multi-million-pound bespoke switchgear systems to meet the needs of major process industries around the world A recent system is a custom-built modularised packaged substation which is currently being commissioned in Kharyaga, Siberia, for a multinational oil company
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 1 May 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Cimplicity software, Series 90-70 and Series 90-30 PLCs, all from GE Fanuc, are used to provide vital power management of the electricity generated for the process system infrastructure.
Founded over 40 years ago to provide specialist skills in the design and manufacture of electrical and process control systems, S and I is now the leading UK manufacturer of low and medium voltage motor control centres, switchgear and power management systems.
S and I has played a leading role in extending the boundaries of control technology with a portfolio which includes sophisticated microprocessor-based electrical control systems.
Particularly strong in the oil and gas industry, the company now exports around 75% of its manufactured goods around the world.
S and I has offices across the Middle East and Asia, and is involved in a joint manufacturing venture in China.
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The company works with a client to design the switchgear that will meet his requirements with regard to function, performance, reliability, delivery schedule and price.
Contract engineering management co-ordinates the contract internally, involving the client at all stages of the design and build process to ensure the system is built within the agreed constraints.
S and I builds its switchgear from raw materials.
The cabinets are cut using precision high-speed lasers and protective coatings are applied either electrostatically or wet sprayed, according to the needs of the application environment.
Copper bus bars are cut and bent on-site.
Full electrical assembly and testing of systems are carried out on site.
The objective of this Phase 2 development is to increase the oil production capacity of the site from 10,000 barrels per day to 30,000 barrels per day.
Electrical power for all the pumps, motors, valves etc.
on the site is provided by four 6MW gas turbine/generator units (three operating and one on standby) with backup provided by two diesel engine driven generators.
This electrical power is then distributed throughout the site using medium (6kV) and low (400V) voltage switchgear.
Cimplicity is used as the HMI software to provide the front end operator interface and control of these electricity generating units which are used to supply power via the S and I switchgear to the infrastructure of the plant.
The system handles around 6000 I/Os.
The operator interface allows the user to control switchgear and gather information via GE Fanuc PLCs from relevant areas of the plant.
It offers efficient assessment of switching operations and status combined with reliable control of plant equipment.
Features include real time data access and archiving, event handling, alarm logging, and historical event retrieval for reporting and analysis.
Drill down methods and shortcut buttons provide screens which cover, for example, the whole site overview, a particular plant area, or a specific motor control centre (MCC), by graphical representation of the devices and equipment in the associated MCC and bus section.
Clicking the mouse on any device or cabinet section will allow access to a specific device page for that piece of equipment.
A single operator interface server handles alarms for the whole operator interface system.
Each of the workstations, either the server or clients may view or acknowledge the alarms for the entire plant area covered by the installed system.
The power distribution control system is concerned with the control and monitoring of the electrical power and switchgear.
It includes a power management system (PMS) for the electrical system, an electrical control system (ECS) for the electrical generation and distribution system, an interface between the process control system (PCS) and the HV/LV switchgear, and a manual synchronising panel.
GE Fanuc Series 90-70 PLCs operate in dual redundant configuration as the PMS master controller, which plays a key role in the vital management of power that is generated and used within the process plant.
The high availability achieved by the dual redundant configuration of the PMS master controller is important for the vital functions of the power management system such as load shedding and load sharing.
The load shedding function of the PMS will protect the power generation system against failure or instability.
Around 40 intelligent protection relays in the HV switchboard provide generator control information over a serial Modbus link.
The overall communications management of these relays via Modbus is provided by a VME-based unit which was developed by S and I.
Within the PMS cabinet, this S and I CMAC interface controller communicates with the VME-based 90-70 master controller PLCs.
System frequency is monitored by three specialist relays on each of the busbars of the 6kV generator intake switchboard.
If the frequency falls below the system limitations due to a shortage of generator capacity, then the only way to recover stability is through load shedding.
Frequency alarm data is supplied by hard-wired links direct to a 90-30 PLC, also in the PMS cabinet.
Unit control panels (UCPs) on each gas turbine are also hard-wired to the 90-30 in the cabinet to provide a status signal to the PMS if a generator is about to be isolated from the electrical system for any reason.
Again load must be shed to compensate for this.
Should the power generation system be compromised in any way then this will initiate the fast acting load shed function of the PMS, operating in less than 200ms from detection to action.
Signals are sent from the duty 90-70 on an Ethernet network using global data transfers to 90-30 PLCs in the low-voltage motor control centres.
The PMS cabinet 90-30 PLCs, the operator interfaces and other servers are also on this Ethernet network.
The 90-30 PLCs in the locally sited MCCs time stamp to a 10ms resolution and can activate up to around 270 contactors and motor feeds in total.
This data is made available to Cimplicity via the 90-70 PLC in the PMS cabinet.
Feeders are removed according to a configurable, preset priority until the trigger condition is removed.
Authorised operators can adjust these preconfigured priorities.
In order to synchronise the time stamping function within all the PLCs on the network, their system time is automatically adjusted to a signal broadcast by the operator interface, which is configured as an SNTP server.
The intelligent relays in the HV switchgear also facilitate real and reactive power load sharing.
They monitor the electrical load being drawn from each generator and provide information over the Modbus serial link.
Thus the PMS can compare loads to determine if a particular generator is supplying too much or not enough power.
Signals will be transmitted from the PMS to alter the speed/output voltage of individual generators to keep the load evenly distributed between the online units.
The PMS will also control the overall intake voltage and frequency of the system (normally 6kV 50Hz).
Should the frequency or voltage fall outside the required setpoints then signals will be transmitted by the PLC to the generators to increase/reduce the frequency/voltage.
The PMS will not automatically start generators if the available capacity of online power sources is low.
Conversely it will not automatically stop generators if there is high spinning reserve within the power distribution system.
Instead the PMS will signal this information to the PMS operator through the operator interface.
It is the responsibility of the operator to start or stop generators as prompted by the PMS.
Generator synchronisation is vital.
To bring a generator online to supply a live power distribution system the voltage and frequency of the power distribution system and the offline generator must be matched and synchronised.
This task is carried out by the generator UCPs, but once introduced the load must be redistributed amongst all the online generators by the PMS.
A function within the PMS will record all significant events occurring on the power distribution system.
The occurrence of a significant event will trigger an event recorder mechanism within the electrical control system.
Once the slave PLC has received a signal to indicate that a device has tripped it will record the date and time of that event and any subsequent events to a resolution of 10ms.
Once the event recorder function within the slave PLC has been triggered a signal will be read by the operator interface to allow it to read the event data out of the slave PLC.
This data will then be presented to the operator interface system and stored in Cimplicity's historical database.
A partner company fabricated the modularised packaged control substation for the Kharyaga project to provide a fully serviced facility.
The substations includes the outer shell, HVAC and lighting, as well as all the switchgear, and was shipped ready for commissioning on site.
According to S and I's Electronics and Control Department, "GE Fanuc engineers were particularly helpful with the design of the overall system".
Integration of S and I's CMAC computer into the 90/70 VME rack, along with continued support of the Cimplicity were all valuable contributions made by GE Fanuc Technical staff.
We also took advantage of GE Fanuc's excellent training facilities at Milton Keynes". Request a free brochure from GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK ...
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