System302 approved in interoperability test at PDVSA

In September, Smar System302 was approved in an interoperability test at PDVSA, the Venezuelan petroleum state company. This approval highlights the success of Foundation Fieldbus technology in the Latin American petroleum market.

Testing was conducted at the PDVSA-Guaraguo facilities in Puerto La Cruz city. The engineering team included Claudio Aun Fayad, Adriano Teixeira and Swen Rodulfo from Smar International Division, Alberto Garcia from the Representative Eleinca and a group from PDVSA with individuals from various areas of the petroleum industry.

Testing Procedures included:

Installation/Configuration of the System.

1. Install and configure a Foundation Fieldbus channel.

2. Put a device on the configured bus. Change and check polarity.

3. Check the automatic detection of the instrument on the system.

4. Install another manufacturer’s instrument on the bus.

5.Check the new instrument detection on the system. Check the available function blocks for the instrument.

6.Configure a simple PID loop for those instruments. The configuration shall be on the field level.

7.Check the functionality of the control loop (automatic, manual, etc.).

8.Configure some function blocks not aproved by the Foundation Fieldbus (ex: input selector) on the field level.

9.Prove the loss of the LAS.

10.Configure a secondary LAS on another manufacturer’s Foundation Fieldbus field device. Execute procedure 9 again.

11.Configure a simple control loop with an input selector function block, but with the blocks now held on the main processor.

12.Configure a compound control strategy (field and main processor). Check functionality.

13.Configure the default fail conditions. Check it mailing a control loop.

14.Configure a new channel on the system.

15.Configure a control strategy using instruments on both channels

16.Install a transmitter with the same address as an existing one.

17.Configure online without affecting the process and the possibilities of new control strategies.

Maintenance.
1. Change transmitter.

• Smar transmitter without previous configuration.
• Smar transmitter with an existing different configuration.
• Same with an approved Foundation Fieldbus device.
• Check the control strategies operation on both cases.<

2. Check the control loop parameter compatibility (ex: PID tuning) with another manufacturer’s instruments.
3. Simulate an H1 fail. Check to insure the field control loops have not been altered.
4. Prove a field instrument short circuit and loss of the bus terminator.
5. Calibration tests.
6. Generate a direct parameter change of a specific controller on the field level. Check the possibility to update the database (upload).

For these tests, Smar used the System302 with a redundant DFI302, composed with two H1 channels. One was performed using only SMAR equipment and the other was done using an equipment mixture from Smar and another manufacturer. The system also included the DC302 (Foundation Fieldbus remote discrete I/O processor) and a logic coprocessor for the conventional I/Os.

The software version for the tests were: Syscon 5.20, ProcessView 6.13 and AssetView 2.23, all part of the System302 6.1.3.8.

Another requirement was for satisfactory communication of the System302 with the SCADA using the Smar OPC server.

This interoperability test proves another successful step for Smar in the Oil & Gas sector and will improve the company’s market visibility worldwide.