Azbil’s DCS Life Extension Program - A Success Story for Legacy System Support

Overview

In May 2011, ARC reported on Yamatake's Hiway Life Extension Program (HLEP), a life extension support offering for the large base of TDC2000 DCS Data Hiway-based control systems installed around the world. Recently, Azbil (the new global corporate name of Yamatake since 2012) briefed ARC Advisory Group about an update to the company's HLEP offerings, which it considers to be a success story for legacy system support.

According to an Azbil executive, the company currently supports over 23,000 Data Hiway devices at 41 sites in 11 countries. At 31 of these sites, Azbil has performed detailed technical assessments to uncover hidden system risks and provide paths for resolution.

Value of Extending System Life

As industry explores new approaches and technologies, such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), predictive analytics, and cloud computing; it's critical for manufacturers and other industrial organizations to maintain production uptime and control system availability while reducing ongoing support costs. The fact that much of the installed base of control systems are becoming obsolete has considerable impact here.

As discussed in the previous ARC report, there are two major available options of DCS migration: phased migration to a new system (either from the same supplier or one of its competitors), or a total system replacement. Both can be extremely expensive and disruptive to operations, especially if multiple plants are involved. Both require careful consideration and planning to minimize costs, disruptions and engineering/training requirements. It can also be extremely difficult to justify the expenditures required for DCS migration or replacement in this environments due to the current limited availability of funding for capital projects. This is especially true in the downstream petroleum refining and petrochemicals industries.

Azbil offers a third option: a "technology refresh" for existing TDC2000/3000 systems. The company designed this to address the most pressing reliability, performance, and support issues in a cost-effective manner with minimal disruptions; while preserving the existing investment in hardware enclosures, field wiring, software, and intellectual property.

Azbil provides updated electronics that plug into existing TDC racks. Compared to the original electronic cards used when TDC2000 was first introduced in 1975, today's digital electronic modules pack considerably more processing power, are more reliable, consume far less electricity, and offer more functional features. This significantly reduces the number of different spare parts required for any given system.

According to Azbil executives, the company's HLEP offering helps users maintain system uptime and improve system robustness and reliability. The company reports proven cost savings of over 30 percent at participating sites. And perhaps most importantly, this option provides owner-operators with an opportunity to observe emerging technology developments, without having to commit to any particular platform until they are absolutely ready to do so.

Solutions Based on Customer Requirements

Azbil, which has worked closely with TDC2000/3000 system users to co-develop this system life extension solution, provides initial or ongoing service support for many customers. Depending on user requirements, the scope of the service content varies from just replacing hardware to additional technical and consulting support such as technical site assessment (TSA), system engineering, training, and long-term maintenance and spare parts support.

A long-term support contract with ExxonMobil played a pivotal role in helping Azbil establish an appropriate menu of services for HLEP. In 2011, Azbil entered into a contract with ExxonMobil to provide long-term support for the company's TDC2000-based control systems. This contract, which runs through 2025, includes services such as:

• Redesigning parts as needed and recertifying used parts via a high-quality factory refurbishment process to bring a part up to the latest revision
• Making highly skilled engineers available to support the installed base on a regional level
• Performing detailed analysis of parts failures to determine if a failure was atypical or simply due to aging
• Proactively analyzing system performance and robustness and providing recommendations for improvement
• Training personnel and maintaining detailed system knowledge (in-house or at customer site)
• 24/7 access to knowledgeable resources via phone or e-mail

Based on services, such as these and the company's willingness to work as part of the team at all ExxonMobil sites worldwide, Azbil has created a complete, cost-effective legacy system life extension program.

In addition to ExxonMobil, Azbil has HLEP customers in Europe, the US, Australia, South Africa, and other countries. The company is working closely with these customers around the world to further expand the support offerings. These efforts include the addition of new product lines such as the Universal Station.

Life Extension Services

With its well-received technical site assessment (TSA) service, Azbil can perform an in-depth technical site assessment and provide a detailed health report for the installed Data Hiway-based equipment and develop an appropriate action plan that can address current (or potential future) issues with board revision levels, hot spare system analysis and spare parts evaluation, cabling, communications loading, environment, power supplies, voltage regulation, and system grounding. The survey also includes a complete system inventory, which Azbil calls a "Hiway Map."

In addition to the many support services described above, Azbil offers the IHEAT (Integrated Hiway Evaluation and Analysis Tool) system diagnostic tools that technicians can use to evaluate the health and performance of Data Hiway systems.

Dedicated Customer Websites

To manage ongoing business relationships, Azbil creates and maintains dedicated websites for customers that facilitate the activities of Azbil and customer support teams and other specified users around the world. These secure, Azbil-hosted-and-maintained corporate websites provide access to a variety of information such as field notices, technical site assessments, product manuals, part request reports, and so on.

Updated Spare Parts

For spare parts, the company has already redesigned 62 legacy parts using current technology. These newly designed controller electronics and analog I/O cards utilize advanced components and circuit designs to reduce both the number of components on the card to enhance reliability and the number of different cards required to reduce spare parts requirements. Initially, the life extension program covered two key failure-prone components:

• Versatile Regulator Card (VREG) – Aging voltage regulators have the highest failure rate of any Hiway circuit board. Failing regulators can cause intermittent issues in both the Hiway devices and the Hiway network before complete failure. To ensure proper operation of the Data Hiway, Azbil has created a new maintenance-free voltage regulator utilizing the latest DC-to-DC technology.
• Integrated Common Electronics (ICE) Card – The Data Hiway interface cards and CPU cards contain numerous obsolete components. Today's technology can provide reduced size, increased performance (used for new diagnostic capabilities), and reduced power consumption. The new ICE combines these functions into a single new card.

   

Azbil Has Developed and Installed Key Spare Parts and Tools for System Life Extension

Azbil has also extended its HLEP offering to also include the following components:

• RCD Solid State Switch (RSSS) – Aging electromechanical relay-based switch cards are prone to stick in one position or may fail to switch entirely. Many sites do not perform the recommended preventive maintenance procedures and are therefore unsure if their uninterrupted automatic control (UAC) systems are working properly. Azbil redesigned the new RSSS cards with current solid state relay technology to provide virtually unlimited service life. (The company is on a path to also upgrade other Data Hiway cards that utilize mechanical relays to solid state technology, with priority based on customer requests.)
• Azbil Robust Output Card (AROC) – The new AROC is a redesign of the original output card utilizing current technologies. It provides low battery voltage detection to prevent outputs from going full scale when the supply voltage from a BBU (battery backup unit) or UPS (uninterruptible power supply) becomes too low. The AROC also annunciates open output circuits and provides enhanced internal diagnostics.
• The Battery Backup Unit (BBU) Cutoff and Hiway Coupler Repeater Module (HCRM) are additional spare parts seeing increased customer demand.

Azbil also offers maintenance tools such as the Loop Standby Manual (LSM08), a redesign of the existing Loop Standby Manual (LSM04). The LSM08 replaces two of the LSM04s and utilizes a PC/Tablet for user interactions to provide manual control of eight output loops while performing maintenance or repairs on controllers.

Conclusion

Clearly, while this HLEP support program represents an interim solution for most owner-operators, it does provide a practical option for maintaining the viability of their installed DCSs into the immediate future. In this manner, customers can maintain production operations and avoid unplanned system-related downtime and excessive system maintenance costs without having to engage in a major system migration or wholesale system replacement project until they are absolutely ready to do so.

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Keywords: DCS, Life Extension Program, Legacy System, HLEP, TDC2000, DCS Migration, Technical Site Assessment, Diagnostic Tools.