Chemical Processing reports in an recent article about a new tool from the Center for Operator Performance and University of Texas at Austin. The tool works like an early warning system for process upsets.
In field testing, it recognized a multistage compressor surge event hours before the event occurred. "The tool now is being tested on distillation tower flooding, fired heater (furnace) operation and flaring. These tests should be completed before the COP’s November meeting."
"The tool beat by more than 90% the average detection time in the Tennessee Eastman Challenge Process, which is a realistic simulation of a chemical process."
“Being able to detect and visualize faults before they occur is very important. The methods being worked on by the COP are very promising. We look forward to testing these techniques on a wide range of applications,” comments Mark Nixon of Emerson.
Emerson Process Management is a control system vendor member in the Center for Operator Performance. COP is a diverse group of industry, vendor, and academia representatives addressing human capabilities and limitations with research, collaboration, and human factors engineering.
As the DeltaV Product Marketing Manager for Operations, I'm proud to report Emerson makes the process industry safer and better for the environment through it's participation in COP. For more information visit www.operatorperformance.org.