Quantifiable benefits are also reported by Innovation Achievement Award winner Evonik Degussa Specialty Chemicals. “Brainstorming sessions based on technical reports regarding the use of Hart in asset management systems led to establishing a more efficient loop check methodology in compliance with international standards,” says Luc Sterck, project manager, instrumentation, Evonik Engineering-Automation and Process Management. “As a direct result of this implementation, we cut loop check time and costs by 25 percent. As well, daily troubleshooting of instruments are now mainly performed from the safety and convenience of the control room.”

Benefits listed

According to Sterck, benefits realized through the real-time use of Hart communication include: easy configuration of field instruments from the control room; easy calibration management of instruments; online diagnostics and status monitoring of devices; automated documentation of calibration and configuration data into the 
asset management database; fewer people needed for maintenance; and easy checking/adjusting of device parameters for better control loop tuning.

“We are now initiating a predictive maintenance program in which priority equipments such as control valves and safety instruments in key implementations receive immediate attention,” Sterck says. “We strongly believe that our plant’s commitment to implement predictive device diagnostics on all Hart instruments will bring comprehensive and pertinent operating information to key personnel and therefore assure better plant availability by predicting unexpected failures and avoiding associated downtimes.”

Evonik is a global leader in specialty chemicals and has been producing specialty chemical products in China since the early 1990s with wide-ranging trading relations already in place prior to this. The Group now has a total of 20 companies and 16 production sites in the region. In fiscal year 2008, 4,000 employees generated sales of over €820 million.

Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.is Japan’s largest chemical manufacturer, and has 39,000 employees, including subsidiaries. The ethylene plant capacity is 380,000 tons per year. Approximately 800 Hart devices are currently installed in the plant with an additional 2200 4-20 mA only devices that will be upgraded over time.

Hart Communication Foundation
www.hartcomm.org
        
Subscribe to Automation World's RSS Feeds for News