A New Approach to Commissioning for Faster Startup

摘要

Field devices and control systems are smarter than ever. However, commissioning practices have remained largely the same today as it was with traditional analog instrumentation. The technology has changed, but device configuration and loop checks practices still follow old methods. The HART protocol has been brought improvements, including being widely utilized for troubleshooting and manual setup of devices, but it remains underutilized during project execution. Even as new DCS I/O technology has been introduced, project execution approaches have remained the same. Why? Because project execution and commissioning approaches have not evolved with emerging technology. By creating a new commissioning approach, organizations can take full advantage of the new technologies and save significant amounts of time on-site and during the entire project execution. To make this change, commissioning should no longer be considered only as an on-site activity. It is an opportunity to improve the whole project execution by eliminating schedule dependencies and moving tasks out of the critical path of the project. Effective implementation of HART communication can make this possible and help reduce visits to field, improve consistency and reduce errors in device configuration, lower the effort for loop checks, and facilitate the documentation of commissioning activities. The end result of this new approach, based on sound commissioning practices, is that project teams and organizations can reduce the risk of startup delays and avoid budget overruns.