HIPPS is an acronym for High Integrity Pressure Protection System and is a type of safety instrumented system (SIS). Its purpose is to protect against over-pressurization of a plant and equipment including pipelines, piping and process packages. The HIPPS package typically consists of Initiators that detect the high pressure, a logic solver that processes the input and final elements that perform the corrective action and consists of a valve, actuator and solenoids. Valve performance and reliability are crucial to operational safety and information relating valve activations and travel times are important to ensure stability and consistency of the safety system.

Reporting on HIPPS Activations

Reports on HIPPS (High-Integrity Pressure Protection System) activations were being generated at a production site using a fully customized application package running on a legacy Distributed Control Systems (DCS) which needed to be replaced.

The client required a standardized solution that was independent from the DCS, so that it could be implemented across many locations with minimal configuration at each site. It was essential that a replacement system would continue to provide reports showing which valves had been activated and the travel time for each activation for continuity and safety compliance.

DCS Independent Solution

Our team developed a DCS independent solution based on Exaquantum that used the Sequence of Events (SOE) data received from the HIPPS system to generate two new reports, HIPPS Activations and Event Travel time.

The HIPPS reports are created within Exaquantum/ARA (Alarm Reporting and Analysis), replicating the reports from the previous application, to show the initiators of the HIPPS trip and calculate the valves travel time.

This new solution can be implemented across many locations with minimal configuration and has been deployed in two sites using ProSafe-SLS for the HIPPS. In one site, the SOE data is collected through an OPC server connected directly to ProSafe-SLS, in the other site, through a CHS2200 package and a ProSafe-RS acting as a communication bridge.

Reports

HIPPS Activation

The HIPPS activation report will show each HIPPS activation and the associated valve times. The report can also show an associated pressure value at time of activation.

Event Travel Time

The report summarizes the actual travel time of the selected valve compared to the configured limit time for that valve.

Both reports are created with Microsoft Reporting Services precisely meeting the customer requirements and support filtering and time range search. All HIPPS activation and configuration data is stored in Exaquantum (Data Historian), with additional tables used to store intermediary report data. The reports are also available in PDF format to facilitate review and distribution between multiple teams.

Project Implementation

By the end of 2016, the solution had been installed, configured and tested at three separate locations, with plans to roll this out across many more sites in the future. Once deployed and tested at each location, all reports are available at the centralized data center.

Key Takeaways and Benefits

Safety Compliance

This solution conformed to the HIPPS safety requirements and applicable safety standards providing full independence from the DCS.

Seamless Integration

The new solution replaced the previous system with minimal service disruption and conformed to all customer requirements. The reporting capabilities are maintained for continuity within the plant.

Easy Deployment

The solution can be installed with minimal configuration for all locations as required by the customer. The solution is easily connected to the different data sources available at each plant for easy deployment.

Conclusion

The primary goal of a HIPPS system is to protect against over-pressurization of a plant. Yokogawa provide two reports on the valve activations and response times, which form part of the corrective action of a HIPPS system. Valve closure time has the potential to affect other parts of the process that can compound the initial problem. Therefore, it is important to know what the actual valve travel time is whenever there is an activation that is based protected volumes and speed of operations. Information provided within these reports shows if both the equipment and environment is in a safe state, so operations can be maintained. Contact us to learn more.