The Evolution of Intelligent Flow Control to Intelligent Asset Management

Actuators are found within many industries and markets. In the oil and gas industry, flow control can be seen at every stage of upstream, midstream and downstream applications, including at production, processing, distribution and storage sites. Actuators control and manage the flow of crude oil, gas, condensate and water at the upstream stage and the flow of produced materials at other stages. The safety and efficiency benefits offered by good flow control is essential in the water and power sectors. For example, within water applications actuators contribute to the efficiency of water and sewage treatment processes by enabling the benefits of remote control and facilitating automation. Applications within the wider chemical, process and industrial markets also receive flow control solutions that maximize operational reliability and efficiency. Here, specialist knowledge for isolation, control and flow regulation of liquids and gases also maximizes productivity and uptime for essential equipment.

Actuator Types

The valves controlling the flow of fluids can be pneumatically, hydraulically or electrically actuated, depending on customer requirements. Each application will have a high number of variables such as valve size, frequency of operation, availability of power sources and type of fluid being controlled. On receipt of a demand signal electric actuators can react almost instantaneously to a change when required.

Electric actuators are often used in process control applications where very high accuracy/repeatability is required. They are also ideal for applications where air is not readily available or prohibitively expensive, such as remote locations or on the periphery of a plant.

Intelligent electric actuators are often the flow control asset of choice because of their reliability, efficiency, precision, ease of use and ability to capture historical data. They are often used in oil and gas applications, such as tank farms. Here, isolating actuators are used for routine flow control around the plant, fail-safe actuators for critical safety duties and modulating actuators for process applications. Intelligent electric actuators have many features that enable efficient operation and simplify installation/commissioning. Actuators of this kind mean actions like setting of the torque levels, position limits and configuration of the indication contacts can be carried out without the removal of any actuator covers, with infrared or Bluetooth® wireless interfaces. Intelligent electric actuators with a watertight enclosure permanently protect internal electronic components from any ambient environment. This increases long term reliability, durability and availability even in the harshest of climates. All sites require high levels of safety; this is especially highly regulated within oil and gas environments. Electric actuators on such sites must have the necessary hazardous area certification.

An effective asset management maintenance strategy, which looks at the entire life cycle of an asset, is a key consideration for the long-term reliability and viability of the assets on your site. To be truly effective, a service plan for flow control assets needs to have a holistic view of an asset’s life cycle, (including the management of potential obsolescence) and move towards whole life cycle and asset management. Modern intelligent actuator technology can provide plant managers with a huge amount of data, recording all the activity in detail, including the number of valve operations, alarms, failure to respond events, valve torque profiles, unauthorized operation attempts and many other events; this can be used for the accurate reporting/monitoring of the condition of actuators and flow control assets. This information is used within asset management programmes to understand the health of actuators/valves and their ability to operate successfully. Intelligent actuators facilitate monitoring the overall health of the process through data logs. Using this data to manage technical and maintenance support increases plant availability and helps to avoid costly unplanned downtime. The ongoing technical and maintenance support that an asset management system provides further contributes to increases in availability and reliability, leading to improvements in operational performance. Investment in an asset management strategy that looks at the maintenance and operability of actuated valves increases the productive life of equipment. It moves beyond a “break and fix” strategy to one that actively monitors the health of all assets in the field, enabling action where necessary, before costly and unnecessary breakdowns. The customer does not need to manually review data, saving time and reducing the likelihood of missing any problems. Early detection of anomalies allows for timely maintenance which can reduce process downtime.

Mike Devrell, Rotork Site Services Program Manager at Rotork, said: “An effective maintenance strategy should deliver the appropriate level of maintenance based on risks determined from knowledge of an asset’s criticality and condition, while also considering advances in technology, asset obsolescence and changing operating environments. A system like Intelligent Asset Management, using real-life data from actuators, enables timely maintenance that reduces failures of flow control assets. This can improve safety, quality, performance, yields, and reputation. Productivity can be maximized while operational risk is reduced.”