2007 Press Releases-26

To meet the latest safety instrumentation needs of the oil, petrochemical, and other industries, the remote optical communications capability has been enhanced and a digital output module and a simulation test function have been added to this new version.

Development Background
There is a growing emphasis on operational safety in the oil, natural gas, petrochemical, and other industries that arises from the need to ensure a safe workplace and be a responsible corporate citizen by, for example, protecting the environment. Although distributed control systems (DCSs) and safety instrumented systems have conventionally been kept separate, high-level integration of their functions is increasingly required to strike the right balance between operational efficiency and safety.

To meet these needs, Yokogawa released the ProSafe-RS Safety Instrumented System, and has continuously strengthened its functions to work in conjunction with the CENTUM CS3000 R3 Integrated Production Control System. In particular, these enhancements have strengthened functions that improve efficiency by enabling instrumentation rooms to be placed in one central location.

Overview of Enhancements

1. Increased communications range
   By using optical bus repeaters, the ProSafe-RS controller and the I/O modules can now communicate at distances up to 50 km over a fiber optic cable. This enables the instrumentation rooms for individual processes and the safety instrumented controllers scattered throughout a large-scale plant to be placed in a single location.
   
   Furthermore, this increase in the communications range enables the monitoring and control of field devices for safety instrumentation that are installed in wellhead areas and other remote locations.
   
   
2. Addition to input / output module lineup
   A high-current digital output module for long-distance wiring has been added to the module lineup.
   
   
3. Simulation test function added
   A simulation test function has been added that uses software* to test the communication with DCSs, operation monitoring, and communication between safety instrumented system controllers. With this function, these simulations can even be run when a connection with the hardware has not been established, improving engineering work efficiency.
   
   * To carry out these simulation tests, a separate test software package for the CENTUM CS 3000 R3 is required.

Major Target Markets and Applications
Oil, natural gas, petrochemical, and other process industries that makes use of systems for emergency plant shutdown, fire prevention/fighting, and burner management

About ProSafe-RS
Released in February 2005, the ProSafe-RS Safety Instrumented System helps prevent accidents by detecting unusual conditions in plant operations and carrying out emergency operations such as shutting down the plant. Unlike conventional safety instrumented systems and DCSs, which are regarded as having different roles/functions and operate separately, the operation of the ProSafe-RS and the CENTUM CS3000 R3 can be fully integrated. Furthermore, an independent certification body has certified that ProSafe-RS conforms to the IEC61508 (Note 1) international safety standard and can be used in SIL3 (Note 2) applications. As a result, ProSafe-RS is held in high regard by users and has been installed in more than 200 projects worldwide since its release.

Yokogawa aspires to expand its safety instrumentation business by quickly responding to the needs of users of its popular ProSafe-RS.

(Note 1) IEC61508
A standard relating to the functional safety of electrical and electronic equipment that was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

(Note 2) SIL3
Safety integrity levels (SILs) have been defined by the IEC. SIL3 means that the risk factor for a plant where safety measures are not in place has been reduced to a range from 1/1000 to 1/10000.

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