Two-way Communication Feature of FOUNDATION fieldbus™ Reduce Total Cost of Ownership

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Introduction

Two-way Communication Feature of FOUNDATION fieldbus™ Reduce Total Cost of Ownership

FOUNDATION fieldbus technology enables all-digital, two-way communications between field devices and control systems. While the advantages of using digital communications for sharing maintenance-related device information with an asset management system are well known, there are other benefits from using the FOUNDATION fieldbus technology. This paper introduces an application that relies on the two-way communications capability of FOUNDATION fieldbus.

Expected Benefits

Reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) by eliminating the need for local display panels.

Application

As shown in figure 1, gas flow is calculated by a remote terminal unit (RTU) using process data received from a transmitter. Although such data can be monitored on a SCADA system, a display panel is required to monitor the gas flow on-site.

Fig.1 System configuration using 4-20mA

Fig.1 System configuration using 4-20mA

What is 4-20mA?
4-20mA is an analog signal that has been used as a process signal for decades. It is limited to sending process data.

Solution

With conventional 4-20 mA communications, it is impossible to send the data calculated by an RTU back to a transmitter because this technology only supports one-way communications. However, as shown in figure 2, gas flow data calculated by an RTU can be sent back to a transmitter using the two-way communications capability of FOUNDATIONfieldbus. The gas flow data can thus be displayed on the transmitter's LCD, eliminating the need for the use of a local display panel or hand-held terminal.

Fig.2 System configuration using FOUNDATION fieldbus

Fig.2 System configuration using FOUNDATION fieldbus

Process data measured by transmitter (INDEX 1-3), output data calculated on RTU (INDEX 4-6) and configuration parameters set to RTU (INDEX 7-10) are periodically displayed on transmitter's LCD with measurement units and comments.

What is FOUNDATION fieldbus?
FOUNDATION fieldbus provides all-digital communication. It provides two way communications between devices and their information in addition to process data.

Customer Site

The United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published a notice of the minimum standards and requirements for the sale and allocation Electronic Flow Computers (EFCs) in 2008. The requirements for EFC displays are mentioned in this notice. "The display shall be readable on site without the need for data collection units, laptop computers or any special equipment, shall be onsite, and shall be in a location that is accessible to the BLM."

To meet these requirements, Yokogawa Corporation of America proposed using the transmitters' LCD as a substitute for local display panels, reducing the total cost of the ownership (TCO) of the projects.

Industries

  • Drilling

    Onshore unconventional drilling is commonly used in the extraction of oil and natural gas today. There are an increasing number of multi-well pad type drilling programs in most of the active plays. Different drilling technics are used to decrease drilling time, lower environmental impact and to improve initial and estimated ultimate recovery.

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  • Offshore (FPSO FLNG & FSRU)

    Offshore exploration and production requires maximum uptime under harsh conditions. Manned and unmanned facilities need reliable integrated control and safety systems (ICSS) with advanced remote monitoring capabilities. Yokogawa has state-of-the-art technology and extensive experience in executing offshore projects of all sizes and automation levels of complexity.

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  • Oil & Gas

    Yokogawa has a wealth of experience in every part of the oil and gas business, from offshore and onshore facilities to pipelines, terminals, and deepwater operations. We provide solutions that enhance safety, ensure accurate and reliable operation, and increase plant efficiency.

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  • Onshore

    The onshore upstream industry faces ever higher demands and greater challenges with increasingly difficult and hostile environments in which it must operate.

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  • Topsides

    • Topsides processing and handling on the production platform prep extracted hydrocarbons for transport
    • Yokogawa integrated control/monitoring maximize topsides operations productivity and availability
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  • Upstream

    The upstream industry includes offshore and onshore activities including wellhead automation, fractionation, completion, and separation to recover and prepare underground or underwater crude oil and natural gas.

    As petroleum is brought to the surface, it must be separated prior to transport. Primary and secondary separation stages commonly distribute gas flow, water flow, and oil flow in three phase separation. Gas movement requires pipeline and can include a fractionation process in the upstream stage prior to movement. Liquids can be placed into a tanks or pipelines and sent for processing, requiring accurate level measurements.

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  • Wellhead & Separation

    The wellhead provides the structural and pressure-containing interface for the drilling and production equipment. The surface pressure control is provided by a christmas tree, which is installed on top of the wellhead. Isolation valves and choke equipment physically control the flow of well fluids when the well goes into production. Various automation packages are added to locally or remotely monitor, control and optimize production from each well or multi-well pad. Oilfield separators employ a pressure vessel to separate well fluids produced from oil and gas wells into gaseous and liquid components which are then transferred to pipelines or localized storage depending on the areas infrastructure.

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