Transcript Designing an Ethylene Plant Control Room and Operator User

78F
Designing an Ethylene Plant Control Room
and
Operator User Interface
Using Best Practices
J. Errington
NOVA Chemicals Inc.
I. Nimmo
User Centered Design Services
Prepared for presentation at 2001 Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas.
Copyright  Jamie Errington, NOVA Chemicals Corp, Joffre, AB and
Ian Nimmo, User Centered Design Services
Acknowledgements
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The authors wish to acknowledge the support of:
– Tim DeMaere - NOVA Chemicals Inc.
– Peter Bullemer - Honeywell Technology Center
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Objective & Outline
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Objective:
– Outline the design process and results of NOVA Chemicals’ E3
Manufacturing Building and User Interface
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Presentation Outline
– Background
– Overview of ASM (Abnormal Situation Management) and Best Practices
– E3 Manufacturing Center
• Building Location
• Building Design
– E3 User Interface
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Background
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Ethylene 3
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2.8 Blbs/y - ethane cracker
project kick-off 1997
mid-2000 startup
located in Joffre Alberta, Canada
joint venture between NOVA Chemicals and Union Carbide
Designing for Abnormal Situation Management
– AIChE paper presented in 1998 at New Orleans
– Described how NOVA Chemicals was applying ASM Best Practices
information to the design of new facilities
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Joffre Opportunity in 1998
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Concurrently Building New Facilities
– Utilities Plant Expansion
– Ethylene 3
– Polyethylene 2
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Training Simulators
– E3
– PE2
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Exposure to ASM - AEGIS Prototype
Management Support of ASM program
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ASM - Abnormal Situation Management
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Consortium of companies and university affiliates:
– NOVA Chemicals, Exxon/Mobil, BP/Amoco, Shell, Chevron, Texaco,
Celanese, Union Carbide, Phillips
– Honeywell (IAC, HTC)
– BAW
– Purdue, Ohio State, University of Toronto
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NOVA Chemicals joined in 1994
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Goals of the ASM Consortium
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Reduce preventable process upsets by 90%
Understand the problem
– Site Surveys
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Develop better methods for aiding operators during process disruptions
– AEGIS prototype
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Improve other Supporting Systems
– Collateral Studies
– Other technology Deliverables
Not by Technology alone!
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ASM Best Practices
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Compiled from extensive site reviews across a wide spectrum
including:
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Training
Procedures
Tracking and Reporting
Communication Systems
Work Context and Environment
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Control Centre Location
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Goal
– “to build a control center that will enhance the human performance in and
around the control room”
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Location Design Process
– literature survey
– multi-discipline team examined alternative locations
– evaluated on cost, impact on people, safety implications, business issues
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Review Solutions
– remote - centralized control building - multiple plants
– centralized control building within battery limits
– individualized distributed control buildings
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Selection
– individual distributed control buildings
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Driving forces
– communications within unit
– higher personnel safety
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Manufacturing Building
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Goal
– to enhance how the manufacturing team (Operations, Maintenance and
Technical) control system works together in and around the control system
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Building Design Process
– Created design vision for the building
– Interviewed primary users at adjacent Joffre units for needs and
requirements
– Iterative process to refine key elements and share vision
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Key components
– control room was the center of focus
– communication patterns in the control room and the building
– determined adjacency matrix
• prioritized the layout and size of rooms
• task segregation (permitting, meetings, etc.)
• traffic flow patterns
– control console layout
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E3 Control Room
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User Interface
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The goal of the User Interface Design is to improve operator access to
information thereby improving plant performance.
Principal design aspects which have been considered in the design
were:
– Navigation
– Visual Coding
– Alarm Information
• live alarms
• AOA design information
– Control Information
• cascades
• critical / redundant instrumentation
– Trend Information
– On-line Documentation
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User Interface
Status View
Alarm
Summary
Level 1
Operations View
Level 2
TagNam
e
Level 3
SP
PV
Level 4
OP
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User Interface
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Status View
– Level 1 - Area Overview
– Alarm Summary
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Operations View
– Level 2 - Unit Summary
– Level 3 - Sub-unit
– Level 4 - Group Displays
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Status View
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Operations View
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Task- and System-based model integration
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Research Project
– University of Toronto / Honeywell/ NOVA and ASM Consortium
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Task Modelling
– focus on the user’s tasks, plans and goals
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System Modelling
– functional structure of the plant or system
– captures the physical and chemical principles
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Conclusion
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Manufacturing building design has been successful
User interface design is a bold step that will get even better with new
developments
– online information,
– new modelling approaches, and
– faster computers
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