Case Studies

Oil & Gas Tank Filling System for Hazardous Locations

Posted in Allen Bradley PLC, Chemical, HMI and SCADA, Manufacturing Automation and Intelligence, Oil and Gas Engineering, PLC Programming

Summary

DMC was approached by a client of ours in the Oil & Gas industry to automate an Acetylene tank filling process. DMC developed the control system and performed the installation, debugging, and testing at their facility. DMC also designed the electrical panel to meet Class I, Division 2 Hazardous Location specifications.

Solution

DMC's client is in the business of specialty and explosive gas distribution. One facility was using a manual method of filling and handling Acetylene tanks. To improve quality and safety, there was a need to implement a solution that automated the measurement and refilling process, while still allowing for necessary operator interaction.

DMC designed and developed a system to perform this automation in a hazardous location. The HMI program guides the operator through a sequence of steps to connect a tank to the system. The system contains a scale and weight and pressure-based valuations that estimate the level of Acetone remaining and the amount needed. After measurement and refilling is complete, the system gives the operator instructions for disconnecting the tank and resetting the sequence.

DMC provided thorough documentation for both sequence-based and operator-based interactions as well as for different tank types.

Due to the facility's explosive gases, hazardous rated hardware devices were used on the system. DMC designed and implemented a control panel with Z Purge to inject an inert gas into the electrical control panel to ensure safe operation.

Learn more about DMC's Oil and Gas engineering services.

Customer Benefits

  • Eliminated operator mistakes by implementing an explicitly guided system
  • Improved throughput for processing tanks by automating steps
  • Control system design for a hazardous location

Technologies

  • Class I, Division 2 Hazardous Location
  • PanelView Plus HMI
  • Rockwell CompactLogix PLC
  • Serial connection to scale RS-232
  • Z Purge control panel