Process Safety Solutions has recently completed the installation and commissioning for a full HMI upgrade for a key UK onshore gas terminal’s emergency shutdown (ESD), fire and gas (F&G) and Burner management systems (BMS).
The system upgrade was completed with zero plant downtime and implemented based on PSS’s proven HMI phased migration strategy.
This migration strategy allows for both legacy and new systems to run in parallel for a number of weeks to provide control room operators to gain familiarity with the new system whist also gaining confidence that the new system responds and behaves as expected.
If any issues arise with the new system the risk is mitigated as operations have the ability to resort to using the legacy system.
All HMI operator screens, static elements (such as vessels, heat exchangers), dynamic elements (including valves, analogue indicators, histograms) were updated to align with the recommendations of the EEMUA 201 guidelines, including but not limited to;
- Limited use of colour, where colour is used very specifically and consistently
- Grey backgrounds to minimize glare
- No animation except for specific alarm-related graphic behaviour
- Analogue representation of important measurements, indicating their value relative to normal, abnormal, and alarm conditions
- A proper hierarchy of display content providing for the progressive exposure of detailed information as needed
- Low-contrast depictions in 2D, not 3D
- Logical and consistent navigation methods
- Consistent process flow depiction and layout to minimise crossing lines
In addition to aligning with EEMUA 201, a study was conducted to ensure common functionality and visual representation with the ABB 800xA DCS HMI, currently being upgraded by PSS.
The ESD, F&G and BMS HMI is based on the Codra Panorama E2 platform.
The existing HMI, based on Panorama E2 version 5 was migrated, as part of the upgrade, to Panorama Suite 2020.
New redundant servers and operator stations were deployed with the latest operating systems and all servers and PCs have been cyber security hardened aligning with the guidelines of IEC 62443.
Process Safety Solutions are a Panorama Certified Integrator (PCI) and have been working closely with Codra for over 12 years.
