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HIMA is the first port of call for many companies throughout the world when it comes to safety-related automation solutions.

The secret of our success is that we focus uncompromisingly on the field of safety.

That is because focus leads to absolute expertise and increases experience - and that in turn means better ESD, BMS and F&G.

Go to HIMA Australia’s website for more information.

The following papers have been generously provided to ICEweb by our valued sponsor HIMA - Please support our sponsors, without them ICEweb could not exist.

TÜV Functional Safety Program - This course has been developed to provide an overview of current industry standards such as AS 61508 and AS 61511, functional safety concepts and current tools used to determine safety levels while applying industry recognised techniques and methodologies.
Perth 29 June- 2 July 2010 , Melbourne 23-26 November

Analysis & Design of SIS Course - The objective of this course is to provide engineers with the functional safety knowledge required to analyse and design safety instrumented systems for the process industry in compliance with the analysis and realisation phases of the AS 61511 safety lifecycle.
Perth 20 April , Adelaide 27 April, Brisbane 8 June .

Operation & Maintenance of SIS Course - The objective of this course is to provide operations and maintenance personnel with the functional safety knowledge required to operate and maintain any safety instrumented system such that the designated functional safety is maintained throughout the operation and maintenance phase of the AS 61511 safety lifecycle.
Perth 21 April, Adelaide 28 April, Brisbane 9 June .

Electronic Machine Guarding - This training course is designed for electrical workers who design, modify, service and commission machines with electrical safeguards. From concept to commissioning, and well into the operational phase of a device, participants will have the skills and knowledge to comprehend and solve most machine safety problems.
Melbourne 16-17 March, Adelaide 4-5 May .

HIQuad Maintenance Course - The HIQuad maintenance course is a two day course designed to provide hands on practical troubleshooting experience for the HIQuad range of safety controllers. Students will build an understanding of the safety principles of HIQuad programmable electronic systems.
Perth 9-10 March 2010

HIMatrix Engineering Project Development - This training course is designed to provide the knowledge required for control engineers to design, develop and deploy functional safety projects using HIMatrix Controllers. Participants are introduced to ELOP II Factory and guided through its vast array of functions. Details of how to utilise ELOP II Factory for rapid and accurate project development is discussed.
Perth 30 March – 1 April 2010

HIQuad Advanced System Training - This course provides a complete overview of the safety lifecycle of the HIQuad Programmable Electronic System (PES). It provides training on hardware and communication configurations including system architectures and maintenance along with the configuring, loading and modifying of a HIMA PES application program.
Perth 13-16 April 2010

3.10 Integration of Burner Automation into the Safety System - The Combustion Engineering Centre at BASF AG commissioned HIMA to install a safety related automation system for the burner controller in its thermal exhaust cleaning plant at the Ludwigshafen production facility. The plant operator decided to install the combustion plant’s regulating and control equipment in one compact, centralised system and to replace the conventional burner controller with a safety-related automation solution.

3.10 Integration today - Integration solutions - For years people have been discussing the subject of “integration” in automation technology. There are a variety of solutions available for the integration of safety and control systems. Provided the right decision is made you can take advantage of all the opportunities and potential synergies of integration, long-term.

Boiler Management Systems for Queen Mary 2 - The Queen Mary 2 is a luxury liner of superlatives, and the world’s longest passenger ship. Two H41q controllers from HIMA Paul Hildebrandt GmbH + Co KG are installed in its new systems for heating the fuel and the hot water system, which Saacke GmbH has supplied for the Queen Mary 2. The two safety-related controllers act as a boiler management system, guaranteeing dependable operation and functional safety for the application.

Next Generation Safety Controller Maximizes Availability for Demanding Process Applications - The nemesis of all continuous processes is unplanned stoppage resulting from controls malfunction, equipment failure, or operator error. System availability can be improved significantly through the use of redundant control architectures – especially those that allow hot-swapping or on-the-fly program changes. Modern process safety solutions provide comprehensive diagnostics that help users to recognize safety-critical situations and act quickly and accordingly to avoid unnecessary system shutdowns. This paper from ARC highlights why companies should invest in process safety.

HIMA Australia have launched their HIMax Safety System - This Safety System sets new standards in performance, safety and availability within the process industry. In the development of flexible and intelligent safety platforms, HIMA’s special focus was on increasing the availability and profitability of process plants. Offering unique features, HIMax ideally satisfies the global process industry’s demand for increasing the profitability of safety-oriented applications.

Complete Burner Automation with Safety Controllers-A new solution for simple single and multi burner arrangements through to complex BMS applications, e.g. for power plants, waste incineration plants or processing plants.

Functional Safety: A Practical Approach for End-Users and System Integrators- Tino Vande Capelle,Dr. M.J.M. Houtermans - The object of this paper is to demonstrate through a practical example how an end-user should deal with functional safety while designing a safety instrumented function and implementing it in a safety instrumented system.

Safety Bus Systems -Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Josef Börcsök - Modern distributed control systems are connected via bus systems, which need effective and uninterrupted communication between all subscribers. Therefore it is necessary for these communications to be fault tolerant and safe. For safety related systems, additional safety layers are required to fulfil these requirements.

Introduction in Safety Bus Systems-Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Josef Börcsök - This paper discusses how modern distributed control systems are connected via bus systems, and need effective and uninterrupted communication between all bus stations. Therefore it is necessary that these communications are fault tolerant and safe.

Safety Critical Software-Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Josef Börcsök -This paper discusses the methodical analysis of hardware architectures used in safety-related applications. It provides an excursus on a safe computer system’s software technology and specifies the overview in greater detail.

Safety Systems -Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Josef Börcsök - This technical paper gives an excellent overview of Safety Systems covering development history, the fundamental considerations required, fault avoidance basis and measurement, fault control basis, along with external influences such as environmental demands, electromagnetic, mechanical and climatic considerations.

Comparison of PFD calculation -Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Josef Börcsök - This paper discusses the compares calculation methods.

Sharing Control & Safety Instruments-Are your layers overlapping?-Dirk Schreier - Since its release as an Australian standard in July of 2004, AS61511 is rapidly being accepted and applied on Safety Instrumented Systems throughout the process industry. Principles such as independence between control and protective instruments have existed for many years; however they continue to often be overlooked even with the introduction of this standard.

Risk Prevention and Mitigation-Where does gas detection fit in?-Dirk Schreier - It is quite common in today's process industry to see the terms fire and gas (F&G). These terms have been used hand in hand for many years and are also combined when referring to applications involving safety-instrumented systems. This article challenges the thinking behind this concept and demonstrates that although fire systems and gas detection systems both reduce risk; their methods are actually quite different.

Legal Implications in Australia for Companies and Individuals under “Industrial Manslaughter”-Dean McNair - There has been a lot of discussion in Australia recently over proposed new occupational health and safety (OH&S) legislation which will include the provision to prosecute corporations and individuals under industrial manslaughter laws. State and territory governments are enacting these new laws in response to workplace deaths in the hope that it will force company directors and senior executives to improve the safety cultures within their organisations.

SIL Assessments -Identification of Safety Instrumented Functions-Dirk Schreier - Since its release as an Australian standard in July of 2004, AS61511 is rapidly being accepted and applied on Safety Instrumented Systems throughout the process industry. AS61511 is a performance based standard with a risk-based approach to safety. Performance based standards are by nature very open to interpretation, and therefore allow for more than just one analysis technique. Some of the techniques currently applied in industry have some shortfalls in achieving the objective of the standard. This article looks at some common problems encountered during the analysis phase of the AS61511 safety lifecycle.

Communication with SafeEthernet -Franz Handermann- The application of SafeEthernet paves the way for the open automation- and network systems of the future.

Safety Considerations
Dr. Josef Börcsök,-Statistical evaluation of HIMA systems in the context of IEC 61508. This article contains the first comprehensive description of IEC 61508-compliant calculation of errors in safety-related systems in general and describes how relevant values for the H41q/H51q systems currently available from HIMA can be calculated.

Integrated safety controllers with safeethernet - By combining the world's fastest safety controllers "HIMatrix" with the world's fastest safety bus "safeethernet", HIMA is creating a hitherto unknown level of flexibility for safety-related automation. This flexibility is the basis for the development of new potential. The current system limits of safety-related automation concepts are disappearing, paving the way for truly application-based safety solutions. This creates new potential for increasing productivity and reducing the total costs for safety technology.

Programmable Safety and Control Systems for Use in Burner Control - Adam Hallinan -There are many BMS systems running today which do not comply with current standards. They are either using non approved standard PLC’s or antiquated relay based control systems. Not only is the potential failure to danger a risk to man and machinery but even non dangerous sporadic failures can be difficult to fault find and lead to costly down time. Programmable safety and control systems (PSS) suitable for use in BMS have been available for well over 10 years now. These controllers can identify any dangerous failures before they create a hazardous situation, and also provide a level of diagnostics to minimise downtimes. By taking the I/O into the field, large distributed applications with many burners can be accommodated economically with minimum install time, and also safely.

Safe firing - Optimised Hardware and Software for Burner Management - Today’s modern burner controls for commercial and industrial gas and oil firing systems do more than just start the burner safely. They monitor and control all functions from ignition of the ignition burner through to the operating position of the main burner – all on the basis of the standards EN 298 and EN 230.

Excellent BMS Information follows from A E Solutions http://www.aesolns.com

Case Study: Safety Instrumented Burner Management System (Si-Bms) - This case study discusses the application of the Safety Lifecycle as defined by ANSI / ISA 84.00.01-2004 (IEC 61511 mod) to two (2) single burner multiple fuel boilers.

Industry Update BMS ISA04-P280 - This paper explores the current trends in the market place and the industrial process control industry in general with respect to Burner Management Systems and their relationship to Safety Instrumented Systems. The concept of a Safety Instrumented Burner Management System is introduced and explained in detail.

Safety Instrumented Burner Management Systems Ready or Not Here They Come! - Michael D. Scott - The concept of a Safety Instrumented Burner Management System (SI-BMS) is to stay. If you are unsure of this statement one should consider that six (6) different codes / standards currently exist and / or are being revised to invoke the Safety Lifecycle with respect to Burner Management Systems.

Safety Instrumented Burner Management Systems – Requirements For The Paper Industry - Bud Adler/ Michael D. Scott - What most of the companies do not yet realize is that all safety critical processes must be analysed and their potential risk determined. It has come as a surprise to many that Burner Management Systems (BMS) associated with fired devices in the pulp and paper industry such as, dryers, kilns, thermal oxidizers, power boilers and black liquor recovery boilers are all defined as Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) if they contain sensors, a logic solver and a final control element according to ANSI/ISA 84.01. Additionally, FM Approval Standard 7605 requires that PLC based BMS must comply with IEC 61508. This paper explores the requirements for conformance to ANSI/ISA 84, IEC 61508, IEC 61511, NFPA 85, NFPA 86 and BLRBAC guidelines.

What is the Safety Integrity Level of my existing BMS? - Michael D. Scott, P.E./ Iwan van Beurden / David Cochran - Many facilities have existing legacy Burner Management Systems that utilize a General Purpose Safety Configured PLC as the logic solver. Most of these systems were installed prior to the development and finalization of ANSI/ISA 84.01, IEC 61511 and / or IEC 61508. This paper discusses the issues, decisions, and challenges encountered when attempting to apply the concepts of the Safety Lifecycle per ANSI/ISA 84.01, IEC 61508 and / or IEC 61511 to the design of an existing BMS for a single burner natural gas fired installation. In addition, development of a Markov model for a General Purpose Safety Configured PLC, identification of some typical BMS Safety Instrumented Functions (SIF) and subsequent Safety Integrity Levels (SIL) determination are discussed in detail.

ANSIISA 84 Grandfather Clause

Burner Management System Safety Integrity Level Selection - Michael D. Scott - This paper discusses how quantitative methods can be utilized to select the appropriate Safety Integrity Level associated with Burner Management Systems. Identifying the required amount of risk reduction is extremely important especially when evaluating existing legacy Burner Management Systems. Selection of an overly conservative Safety Integrity Level can have significant cost impacts. These costs will either be associated with increased Safety Instrumented System functional testing or complete removal / upgrade of the existing Burner Management System. In today’s highly competitive business environment, unnecessary costs of any kind cannot be tolerated.

Standard's use spreading, but confusion still surrounds Fire and Gas Systems - Kimberly A. Dejmek and Richard Skone - Consistency is the hallmark of any great organization or process. When it comes to fire and gas systems (FGSs), consistency is not a desired goal; it is a must. But since the promulgation of ISA S84.01 in 1996, there has been confusion surrounding the treatment of fire and gas systems. Some believe that the standard excludes coverage in fire and gas systems, while others prepare FGS specifications that require compliance with ANSI/ISA S84.0.01-1996. This has led to inconsistency in the approach between and within operating companies.

ISA Webinar Safety Instrumented -Fire and Gas Systems - A neat presentation.

Safety Lifecycle for Burner Management Systems - Michael D. Scott - There is much confusion with respect to the design of BMS’s in industry in general. The confusion stems from the existence of multiple standards, guidelines, and / or recommended practices within different industries that contain both prescriptive requirements (i.e. NFPA) and performance based requirements (i.e. IEC 61511 / ANSI/S84.01) that could be applied to the design of BMS’s. Thus, individuals are struggling with the concept of which standard guideline, and / or recommended practice should be applied.

Is a Burner Management System a SIS? -Michael D. Scott - Process safety is a very hot topic in today’s competitive environment. This article discusses Burner Management Systems (BMS) and their relationship with the new safety standards.

Life Safety Systems in High Tech & Semiconductor Industries - Michael D. Scott -This paper discusses the issues, decisions, and challenges encountered when attempting to initially apply the concepts of the Safety Lifecycle per ANSI / ISA S84.01 to the design of a Life Safety System at a state of the art fiber optic manufacturing facility. More specifically, the methodology / procedures utilised for identification of Safety Instrumented Functions (SIF) and subsequent Safety Integrity Level (SIL) determination will be discussed in detail. In addition, industry specific issues associated with the design of Life Safety Systems and the use of mitigation versus prevention techniques (typically encountered in the process industry) are also addressed.

A Database Approach to the Safety Life Cycle - Michael D. Scott/Ken O’Malley - A systematic database approach can be used to design, develop and test a Safety Instrumented System (SIS) using methodologies that are in compliance with the safety lifecycle management requirements specified in ANSI/ISA S84.01. This paper demonstrates that through a database approach, the design deliverables and system configuration quality are improved and the implementation effort is reduced.

3.10 Designing a Burner Management System to Comply with NFPA 85 & ANSI/ISA 84 - Mike Scott/Bud Adler- This paper explores and contrasts the system implementation requirements for a Burner Management System mandated by NFPA 85 – The Boiler and Combustion System Hazards Code 2001 Edition - and those mandated by ANSI/ISA 84.00.01-2004. Thanks to www.safetybase.net

3.10 Combustion Safety for Furnace Operation - Glenn Showers - This article provides an overview of the requirements of NFPA Standard 86 with an emphasis on the theory of combustion safety as it applies to any type of combustion device, especially a direct-fired furnace- from www.industrialheating.com

3.10 SafetyBase.com is a site that is full of some excellent information about Boiler Management Systems, Machine and Process Safety. You’ll be able to share ideas with colleagues across the country, stay current with compliance requirements, and read the latest case studies, white papers, and articles that can help you keep your people safe and your process moving.

3.10 Center for Chemical Process Safety - The Global Community Committed to Process Safety - CCPS is a not-for-profit, corporate membership organization within AIChE that identifies and addresses process safety needs within the chemical, pharmaceutical, and petroleum industries. CCPS brings together manufacturers, government agencies, consultants, academia and insurers to lead the way in improving industrial process safety.

3.10 Guidelines help identify SIFs in Burner Management Systems - Is your BMS an SIS? How do you ID SIFs in your BMS? - Sound like the latest text messages on your teenager’s mobile phone? To some perhaps, but for those involved in functional safety and safety instrumented systems (SIS) in the process industries, these questions need no translation and demand serious answers—many of which are to be presented a new ISA (International Society of Automation) technical report from the Burner Management System (BMS) Working Group under ANSI/ISA 84.00.01-2004 (IEC 61511 Mod) Functional Safety: Safety Instrumented Systems for the Process Industry Sector. Thanks to www.safetybase.net .

NOx Reduction with Improvement in Plant Efficiency - from Foster Wheeler - Texas Municipal Power Agency (TMPA) personnel developed a plan to lower NOx emissions at the Gibbons Creek plant as much as possible with only combustion modifications. This plan was to reduce NOx emissions without selective catalytic reduction (SCR). Gibbons Creek, a 480 MW unit, has reduced its NOx average from 0.35 lb/mmBtu to less than 0.12 lb/mmBtu for the 4th quarter of 2002, while at the same time improving unit operation and performance. Fuel delivery deficiencies were corrected, to provide balanced delivery to each burner. New low NOx burners, and separated over fire air was installed. Equipment to dynamically measure fuel flow and air flow to each burner level, and SOFA, was installed. After upgrades to the DCS system, a neural net system was implemented to adjust boiler firing while maintaining NOx and CO. This paper describes the methodology used, the equipment installed and the results of the performance testing.

Burner Management papers from John Zink Technical Management - Lots of really good technical papers here.

8.09 Introduction & background to IEC 61508 - Ron Bell - Over the past 25 years there have been a number of initiatives worldwide to develop guidelines and standards to enable the safe exploitation of programmable electronic systems used for safety applications. In the context of industrial applications (to distinguish from aerospace and military applications) a major initiative has been focussed on IEC 61508 and this standard is emerging as a key international standard in many industrial sectors. This paper looks at the background to the development of IEC 61508, considers some of the key features and indicates some of the issues that are being considered in the current revision of the standard. Thanks to the Safety Users group.