Source: Emerson Process Management.
Training Simulators Make Real Difference
Operators gain proficiency faster and safely experience abnormal situations
By Seán Ottewell, Editor at Large
OPERATOR TRAINING simulator (OTS) technology
is becomingly increasingly important in the drive to
maximize personnel, project and process performance,
as the experiences of vendors including Emerson Process
Management, Schneider Electric and Honeywell Process
Solutions show.
A major refinery in Texas typifies what OTS can deliver.
The site, which had converted key process areas to Emerson
Process Management’s PlantWeb architecture featuring
the DeltaV distributed control system (DCS), used OTS
to prepare employees with the knowledge of how to get the
greatest performance and cost benefits from its new system.
Emerson’s educational services experts delivered a
hands-on, process-specific training program; simulations
exposed operators to what they would experience in their
actual control room and allowed them to practice and
respond to process upsets. This enabled the operators
to gain confidence and experience in an offline, no-risk
environment prior to actual plant operation.
The refinery reported the training program exceeded all
its expectations and was crucial to improving operational
readiness and results. The OTS is an integral part of plant
life now, providing training for new operators and refresher
training and practice for experienced ones in handling
potential incidents.
Within DeltaV’s “simulate” environment, operators
get to use exactly the same configurations they would
use in a real system. “This is very unusual in the market
t.
as most other DCS systems have to be used in an offline
environment and require modification, translation, etc.,”
notes Mark O’Rosky, OTS engineering manager, process
systems and solutions, Round Rock, Texas.
Also unusual, he says, is Emerson’s use of an open
environment for process simulation; pretty much any
modeling software package — indeed any software with an
OPC interface — can talk with DeltaV.
The trainer environment is another differentiator,
he adds. Many other DCS companies have process
simulation packages that include, for example, instructor
function pieces for grading/scoring scenarios and
student monitoring; so, a user must create a simulation
package linked to the vendor’s own software. “We draw a
different boundary at Emerson. We have created a trainer
environment so you can do scenarios/grading, etc. within
the DCS environment… We can use anybody’s process
simulation package — and keep the instructor/student
functionality in the DCS environment. So the training
environment is in the same DCS for both the trainer and
the student, i.e., they use the same screen [Figure 1]. That’s
a very big thing for us,” adds O’Rosky.
THE VALUE OF VIRTUALIZATION
Virtualization, which has become increasingly popular
for automation projects (see: “Chemical Makers Embrace
Virtualization,” http://goo.gl/qPruRm), also can impact
training. For example, a company might have difficulty
justifying an OTS for just one small gas plant. However, if
it has four or five similar plants, a single trainer hosted in
central engineering can support all the units; operators at
any facility can access it simply by logging in.
Large sites also can benefit. For instance, in the past a
chemical complex with numerous processing units might
have had a training system for each. However, with a
virtualized training system, you can train operators on any
unit individually or on any combination of units. This gives
users huge flexibility in terms of training.
“It means that you can achieve in a morning and
an afternoon what previously could have taken a
week. And utilization of the trainer has gone right up,
too. For example, at one site a chemical company is
closing in on 3,000 hours of operator training with the
simulator being used at all hours, including evenings
KEY ELEMENT
Figure 1. Both trainer and student use the same screens in Emerson’s
OTS approach. Source: Emerson Process Management.
and weekends,” notes O’Rosky.
This also is helping to tackle the demographic challenge
posed by the industry’s aging workforce (see: “Plants
Grapple with Graying Staff,” http://goo.gl/ZzGWDq).
Emerson’s own research shows that training an operator to
the appropriate level can take 6–7 years. Simulation speeds
this up substantially, it says.
THE FUTURE
The benefits of OTS, while now increasingly well
documented, likely will grow further as the technology
continues to evolve.
For instance, Emerson is developing internal tools that
can take a database and create tie-back modules in just a
couple of weeks. “Quicker model incorporation shortens all
delivery times,” notes O’Rosky.
So-called multi-purpose dynamic or lifecycle simulation
also is receiving attention. The aim is for a simulation model
to be able to handle the whole project lifecycle rather than
discrete parts of it. “We’ve already seen that simulation
software is being used for design, checkout, training,
optimization, etc. So we want to increase the value that this
simulation can provide. This is happening now, notably
with large oil and gas companies such as Statoil and Shell
taking the lead,” he says.
Electronic permissions to Emerson Process Management from Chemical Processing
February © 2016 PUTMAN (Excerpted)