Invensys Operations Management packed its press conference time with safety news. In many ways, this is refreshing as well as a validation of bringing in Mike Caliel to take the reins. To be fair, the developments were probably in the pipeline for a while. But Caliel’s main challenge was to bring stability and focus to a fractured assemblage of divisions. That seems to be going well.

Software Tools

The Triconex Safety View solution is the said to be the world’s first software for effective alarm and bypass management certified by TÜV Rheinland to IEC61508 Systematic Capability 3 for use in applications up to Safety Integrity Level 3. Additionally, the company’s Triconex Trident and Triconex General Purpose safety instrumented systems now support OPC Universal Architecture for greater communications connectivity.

“Changing market dynamics and emerging technologies require a fundamental rethinking of how companies will manage their operations today and in the future,” said Gary Freburger, president of the company’s Systems business. “To address these new and ever-more complicated challenges, companies need to become more agile without jeopardizing plant safety. Our new Triconex products provide this agility by reducing risks when bypassing safety systems during startup and shutdown, as well as the risks associated with integrating safety systems across different vendor platforms. In addition, they provide a pathway for modernizing existing plant operations, one that links business processes with production processes; removes traditional barriers to collaboration; and empowers our customers’ most valuable resource – their people.”

Safety View improves situational awareness and broadens visibility into the risks that come with system startups, shutdowns and other critical process transitions that must be managed by plant personnel. It draws attention to changes in process conditions that require immediate attention, giving operators, maintenance engineers and shift personnel better visibility into the process so they can take actions that reduce risk, optimize total cost of ownership and increase overall asset performance. It is built on the company’s ArchestrA System Platform and Wonderware InTouch HMI software, which have been adapted specifically for use in safety applications.

OPC UA

Invensys has also embedded OPC UA communications in its Triconex Trident and Triconex General Purpose safety instrumented systems. OPC UA maximizes interoperability between systems and streamlines connectivity through open platform architecture and future-proof design. The new communications interface module contains an embedded OPC UA server that supports up to 10 concurrent clients, delivering high performance and secure, reliable communication of real-time data, alarms and historical events.

“The addition of OPC UA communications reinforces our commitment to providing secure, reliable and future-proof communications that seamlessly integrate our market-leading safety systems with various distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers, HMIs and other plant assets,” said Steve Elliott, director of Triconex product management for Invensys. “This freedom of choice allows clients to select the best of the best for their control and safety needs without compromising performance.”

OPC UA provides a single communications solution from the device level to the enterprise level, maintaining platform independence without sacrificing performance. It provides better interoperability (complete with certification); reliability by design; access via firewalls and across the internet; and reduced configuration time with built-in information and security models.

Controller

The Triconex General Purpose system is a SIL2-certified high availability, fail-safe and fault-tolerant controller. Redundancy, diagnostics, error checking and failure modes are all built into the system as standard. No knowledge or understanding of redundancy is required to make the system work. Users simply just wire up the inputs and outputs and then write the logic for the piece of equipment they need to control or protect. The Trident General Purpose system does the rest. And there is no single point of failure and very high mean time between failure rates.

The latest version also features OPC Universal Architecture communications connectivity, which maximizes interoperability between systems and streamlines connectivity through open platform architecture and future-proof design. The new communications interface module contains an embedded OPC UA server to provide a cohesive, secure and reliable cross-platform framework for real-time data, alarms and events. It also implements X.509 certificates for additional, enhanced security protection.

Key Capabilities:
• Control and safety in one package;
• Simple and easy to use, requiring less engineering than PLC’s;
• No need to program redundancy and fail-over functions;
• No need to program diagnostics or failure modes;
• No need for external diagnostics, such as watchdog timers;
• No need for calibration of analogue inputs;
• No need for testing of failover redundancy;
• Simple to maintain and fault find;
• Transparent Fault Tolerant Operation (triplication is seamless to users);
• Standard design delivers repeatable, maintainable and supportable solutions;
• Lowest overall lifecycle costs.

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