78 F Designing an Ethylene Plant Control Room

78 F Designing an Ethylene Plant Control Room and Operator User Interface Using Best Practices J. Errington NOVA Chemicals Inc. I. Nimmo User Centered Design Services Prepared for presentation at 2001 Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas. Copyright Jamie Errington, NOVA Chemicals Corp, Joffre, AB and Ian Nimmo, User Centered Design Services

Acknowledgements u The authors wish to acknowledge the support of: – Tim De. Maere - NOVA Chemicals Inc. – Peter Bullemer - Honeywell Technology Center Copyright 2 01/03/20

Objective & Outline u Objective: – Outline the design process and results of NOVA Chemicals’ E 3 Manufacturing Building and User Interface u Presentation Outline – Background – Overview of ASM (Abnormal Situation Management) and Best Practices – E 3 Manufacturing Center • Building Location • Building Design – E 3 User Interface Copyright 3 01/03/20

Background u Ethylene 3 – – – u 2. 8 Blbs/y - ethane cracker project kick-off 1997 mid-2000 startup located in Joffre Alberta, Canada joint venture between NOVA Chemicals and Union Carbide Designing for Abnormal Situation Management – AICh. E paper presented in 1998 at New Orleans – Described how NOVA Chemicals was applying ASM Best Practices information to the design of new facilities Copyright 4 01/03/20

Joffre Opportunity in 1998 u Concurrently Building New Facilities – Utilities Plant Expansion – Ethylene 3 – Polyethylene 2 u Training Simulators – E 3 – PE 2 u u Exposure to ASM - AEGIS Prototype Management Support of ASM program Copyright 5 01/03/20

ASM - Abnormal Situation Management u Consortium of companies and university affiliates: – NOVA Chemicals, Exxon/Mobil, BP/Amoco, Shell, Chevron, Texaco, Celanese, Union Carbide, Phillips – Honeywell (IAC, HTC) – BAW – Purdue, Ohio State, University of Toronto u NOVA Chemicals joined in 1994 Copyright 6 01/03/20

Goals of the ASM Consortium u u Reduce preventable process upsets by 90% Understand the problem – Site Surveys u Develop better methods for aiding operators during process disruptions – AEGIS prototype u Improve other Supporting Systems – Collateral Studies – Other technology Deliverables Not by Technology alone! Copyright 7 01/03/20

ASM Best Practices u Compiled from extensive site reviews across a wide spectrum including: – – – Copyright Training Procedures Tracking and Reporting Communication Systems Work Context and Environment 8 01/03/20

Control Centre Location u Goal – “to build a control center that will enhance the human performance in and around the control room” u Location Design Process – literature survey – multi-discipline team examined alternative locations – evaluated on cost, impact on people, safety implications, business issues u Review Solutions – remote - centralized control building - multiple plants – centralized control building within battery limits – individualized distributed control buildings u Selection – individual distributed control buildings u Driving forces – communications within unit – higher personnel safety Copyright 9 01/03/20

Manufacturing Building u Goal – to enhance how the manufacturing team (Operations, Maintenance and Technical) control system works together in and around the control system u Building Design Process – Created design vision for the building – Interviewed primary users at adjacent Joffre units for needs and requirements – Iterative process to refine key elements and share vision u Key components – control room was the center of focus – communication patterns in the control room and the building – determined adjacency matrix • prioritized the layout and size of rooms • task segregation (permitting, meetings, etc. ) • traffic flow patterns – control console layout Copyright 10 01/03/20

E 3 Control Room Copyright 11 01/03/20

User Interface u u The goal of the User Interface Design is to improve operator access to information thereby improving plant performance. Principal design aspects which have been considered in the design were: – Navigation – Visual Coding – Alarm Information • live alarms • AOA design information – Control Information • cascades • critical / redundant instrumentation – Trend Information – On-line Documentation Copyright 12 01/03/20

User Interface Copyright 13 01/03/20

User Interface u Status View – Level 1 - Area Overview – Alarm Summary u Operations View – Level 2 - Unit Summary – Level 3 - Sub-unit – Level 4 - Group Displays Copyright 14 01/03/20

Status View Copyright 15 01/03/20

Operations View Copyright 16 01/03/20

Task- and System-based model integration u Research Project – University of Toronto / Honeywell/ NOVA and ASM Consortium u Task Modelling – focus on the user’s tasks, plans and goals u System Modelling – functional structure of the plant or system – captures the physical and chemical principles Copyright 17 01/03/20

Conclusion u u Manufacturing building design has been successful User interface design is a bold step that will get even better with new developments – online information, – new modelling approaches, and – faster computers Copyright 18 01/03/20