Tokyo, Japan - July 13, 2009
Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces the release of an enhanced version of the STARDOM™ Network-based Control System's FCN-RTU low power autonomous controller. The new version will be launched for sale outside Japan on July 14.
The functional enhancements to this enhanced version include the addition of support for the FOUNDATION™ fieldbus and HART® digital communication protocols. This makes it possible to acquire maintenance information from various types of devices used at oil & gas wells and other production facilities that are distributed over a wide geographic area, thereby improving the efficiency of device management and reducing production maintenance costs.
Development Background
In response to the world's growing demand for energy, oil companies have been working hard the past few years to increase output, drilling oil and gas wells even in remote locations where there is inadequate power supply and communications infrastructure. The cost of sending maintenance engineers to these widely distributed oil and gas well sites to inspect the production equipment installed there poses a heavy financial burden for the oil companies. This is driving the introduction of solutions that make it possible for companies to centrally manage all maintenance information, including maintenance histories and field device information.
To meet this need, Yokogawa has enhanced the FCN-RTU low power autonomous controller by adding support for the FOUNDATION fieldbus and HART digital communication protocols, thereby giving it the capability to acquire maintenance information from field devices.
Features
- Reduced wiring costs
This new version of the FCN-RTU supports FOUNDATION fieldbus, which gives it the ability to receive multi-variable data (temperature, pressure, etc.) from a multi-sensing transmitter over a single cable, and also allows multi-drop connections with field devices. This reduces wiring installation and maintenance costs, and the simplified wiring is easier to maintain. - High accuracy
To reliably calculate the oil and natural gas production volume, it is necessary for a controller to obtain highly accurate data such as temperature and pressure. This controller's support of digital communications with field devices lessens the need for digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital data conversion, which improves the accuracy of production volume calculation by reducing conversion error. - Highly efficient device inspection and predictive maintenance
By using this FCN-RTU together with Plant Resource Manager (PRM™ - Yokogawa's integrated device management software package), various types of information from field devices that support the FOUNDATION fieldbus and HART communication protocols can be centrally managed. This information can be used to schedule inspections, improving maintenance efficiency. PRM's diagnostic functions such as differential pressure transmitter impulse line blocking diagnosis allow maintenance engineers to determine when maintenance should be performed. With predictive maintenance, a device is maintained before it fails; this is particularly useful with devices installed in remote locations, where a quick response is difficult.
Masatoshi Nakahara, General Manager of the Industrial Automation Systems Business Center, Industrial Automation Business Headquarters, comments as follows:
"Applying proven digital technology to oil and gas wellhead control and monitoring revolutionizes field management. The integrated diagnostics information delivered via FOUNDATION fieldbus enables predictive maintenance of sensors and actuators, thus improving device availability. Yokogawa will continue to deliver digital technology solutions that make it possible to steadily reduce costs."
STARDOM
STARDOM is an open network-based control system that consists of components for control, operation, and monitoring. Autonomous controllers, a core component of the STARDOM system, have data logging and transmission functionality as well as the control and monitoring functionality of PLCs. As intelligent RTUs, these controllers are being used in geographically distributed applications such as natural gas and oil wells. The combination of FCN/FCJ autonomous controllers and FAST/TOOLS SCADA software can be used flexibly in a variety of distributed applications. The FCN-RTU, a compact and low power autonomous controller, was released in December 2008.
PRM
The PRM software package enables the centralized management of data from equipment and devices throughout a plant. PRM allows maintenance engineers to monitor their status and perform online diagnosis via a network. PRM uses databases to centrally manage individual devices and their maintenance information, and provides technicians with the information they need to perform maintenance on the equipment and devices installed in the plant.
Major Target Markets
Highly distributed gas and oil field facilities, environmental monitoring facilities, water treatment facilities, wind power generators, gas distribution facilities
Applications
Monitoring, operation, and control of production facilities; logging and transmission of data
About Yokogawa
Yokogawa's global network of 19 manufacturing facilities and 85 companies spans 40 countries. Since its founding in 1915, the US$4 billion company has been engaged in cutting-edge research and innovation, securing more than 8,000 patents and registrations, including the world's first digital sensors for flow and pressure measurement. Industrial automation and control, test and measurement, information systems and industry support are the core businesses of Yokogawa. For more information about Yokogawa, please visit our web site at www.yokogawa.com