One of our customers is located in the Port of Rotterdam and specialises in storing mineral oils. DWG was engaged to optimise the emergency stop system and process automation network. We spared no effort in delivering: an improved emergency stop system and a network upgrade.
Quick review of the old situation
This customer’s emergency stop system was originally quite small and engineered as a separate system. The terminal grew rapidly, so more emergency stops were needed, plus an interface to the Siemens PCS7 system. In the past, the customer always chose to stick to the existing arrangement. Why? Well, this had the least impact on projects and commissioning. But, as time passed, the emergency stop system became stretched to its limits. Substantial growth and the many modifications implemented within the terminal led to an ever greater impact on the processes.
These were the reasons why we and the customer decided to engineer an entirely new emergency stop system. The goal? A much neater, more flexible, safer and more future-proof system. In addition, this new emergency stop system reduces the negative impact during future commissioning work.
Operational reliability has increased, downtime has reduced and cost savings have been achieved.
Innovative gigabyte ring network
DWG also helped the customer with the process automation network. All parts of the automated process are interconnected through a ring network. This ring allows the data to flow in both directions. The advantage is that data communication can continue as usual at all times, even if one of the components fails.
We replaced the components in this ring network. Partly because of their age, but also because of the need for more bandwidth. We switched the entire system to a 1 Gigabit network in a number of phases. With minimal disruption to the process. How did we pull this off? We equipped each new extension at the terminal with new Siemens Scalance 1GB switches. The old components were then changed one by one. Thanks to this approach, we were able to renew the ring network step by step. In the end, the assignment was spread out over several years to ensure minimal process disruption.
Future-proof result
The customer is ready for the future. The new ring network provides significantly more bandwidth. Furthermore, this network is extremely stable and it guarantees more uptime. Additional emergency stops can also be added in the future without a major shutdown. Very useful when expanding the terminal!
The 4 main improvements
- More bandwidth is now available on the network. In other words: totally future-proof!
- The new network is extremely stable. And a stable network = more uptime.
- There are spare contacts for adding additional emergency stops in the future. Without the need for a major shutdown.
- The number of emergency stops associated with RTO 3 has been expanded and the cumbersome input to output to input configuration has been optimised.
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