Industrial technology Systems Ltd (ITS) was responsible for completing a £650K project to reverse engineer the customer’s existing non-standard Honeywell TDC 3000 control systems. The project included ten plants and ITS’ engineers were responsible for all stages of the project, from the production of the User Requirement Specification to the full system implementation. The project provided ITS with the opportunity to rationalise, modify and upgrade the systems to achieve the best operational practices.
The customer’s investment and ITS' expertise have resulted in greater control, improvements in monitoring and data acquisition, and a reduction in costs through the simplification of the process.
The new Honeywell TDC 3000 Distributed Control System sequence format has standardised the operator/maintenance interface to the plant operation, providing increased productivity through the enhanced process control capabilities and increased sequence visibility.
The functionality of the existing system was expanded to include the new automation software. This software included database I/O and controllers, Interlock Logic, Control Logic, Process Calculations, and Sequence Code (BPO Format). ITS also provided system and process alarm and historical trending facilities.
In addition communication to a Honeywell TDC Fail Safe Controller (FSC) was included to provide an approved fail safe control system for safety critical operations and monitoring.
The reconfiguration of the existing Honeywell TDC 3000 Distributed Control System was executed on a plant area by area basis. Once a specific plant area configuration had been rewritten and fully tested it was installed at the next scheduled plant area shutdown.
The new software has provided the operator with the facility to operate the plant from a new central control room. The new graphics provide the operator with Interlock Status Graphics, Recipe Value Graphics and Plant Mimics, providing a dynamic graphical representation of the plant for monitoring and control purposes. Additional interlock logic has been supplied, providing both a reduction in process excursions and a safer operation. Sequences are written in a standard format, making the software easier to understand for plant based technicians and engineers. Therefore, any additions or modifications needed at a later date can be implemented quickly and easily.
Due to the functionality required and the file size limitations of the Honeywell TDC 3000, we were unable to include all the operator messages required by the client within the main sequence. To overcome this problem, a specific bespoke message handler was developed by ITS.
The project was completed successfully within the timescales and budget.