System and method for protection system design support

• US 20050197812A1
• Filed: 12/17/2004
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corporation (Curtiss-Wright Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corporation (Curtiss-Wright Corporation)
• Inventors: Hoover, H. James, Kolenc, Josh, Olekshy, Anthony G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,565,215 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/9
• CPC Class Codes: F04C 14/28 Safety arrangements; Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F04C 2270/80 Diagnostics
• CPC Class Codes: F04C 2270/90 Remote control, e.g. wireless, via LAN, by radio, or by a wired connection from a central computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management

Abstract

A method and system for examining and safely evaluating process systems, including fluid pressure systems, to aid overpressure design and/or sizing of overpressure equipment. The system includes a server subsystem, a storage subsystem, an assessment subsystem, and optionally a report generation subsystem, including computer hardware and application software for supporting these subsystems.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating a process system, said process system comprising a plurality of equipment including a protection device for protecting the process system, said method comprising the steps of:

storing equipment information representing each of said plurality of equipment in a computer database;

serving content including some portion of said protection device information to an application executing on a user computer;

automatically determining an adequacy of the protection device for protecting the process system using the stored equipment information;

automatically generating protection assessment information using results from the assessment process; and

storing some portion of said protection assessment information in said computer database or in another computer database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said serving to the user computer is via a public communications network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the public communications network is the Internet.

4. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of:

receiving updated equipment information from the user computer via the public communications network; and

storing said updated equipment information in said computer database or in another computer database.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the public communications network is the Internet.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said content also includes some portion of said protection assessment information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said content also includes some portion of said protection assessment information.

8. The method of claim 1, further including the step of generating an assessment report based on said protection assessment information for supporting an auditing process of the process system.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

utilizing said assessment report to perform a PSM assessment, wherein

said assessment report includes an assessment based on one or more failure scenarios, and wherein said assessment report is utilized for one or both of;

certifying and/or verifying that the process system is adequately designed or

identifying inadequacies of the process system design.

10. The evaluation system of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

supporting process engineering functions including one or more of the steps of;

uploading P&

ID and/or system sketches;

uploading equipment parameters;

uploading ISO drawings;

defining a protected system model;

defining potential overpressure scenarios for said system;

determining how physical properties are input into said evaluation system;

defining mitigation;

and wherein said automatically determining an adequacy of the protection device includes one or more of the steps of;

automatically generating internal protected system links between any combination of associated pieces of equipment, associated defined overpressure contingencies, and associated documentation;

generating interactive P&

ID/system sketch models;

calculating defined overpressure contingencies;

calculating piping losses accessing physical properties through a linked VMG database; and

assigning mitigation procedures.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

utilizing said assessment report to perform a PSM assessment, wherein

said assessment report includes an assessment based on one or more failure scenarios, and wherein said assessment report is utilized for one or both of;

certifying and/or verifying that the process system is adequately designed or identifying inadequacies of the process system design.

12. A method for evaluating a process system, said process system comprising a plurality of equipment including a protection device for protecting the process system, said method comprising the steps of:

storing equipment information representing each of said plurality of equipment in a computer database;

serving content, via a public communication network, to an application executing on a user computer;

serving at least a portion of said content, via the communication network, to another application executing on another user computer;

automatically determining an adequacy of the protection device for protecting the process system utilizing some portion of the stored equipment information;

automatically generating protection assessment information using results from the assessment process;

storing some portion of said protection assessment information in said computer database or in another computer database;

receiving updated equipment information from one or both of the user computer and the another user computer via the communication network;

providing said updated equipment information to said storage subsystem;

updating said equipment information in said computer database with said updated equipment information;

automatically updating said protection assessment information by utilizing said updated equipment information; and

serving updated content to one or both of the user computer and the another user computer, wherein

said content includes some portion of said protection device information and some portion of said protection assessment information, and wherein,

said updated content includes some portion of said updated protection information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said serving to the user computer is via a public communications network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the public communications network is the Internet.

15. The method of claim 12, further including the steps of:

receiving updated equipment information from the user computer via the public communications network; and

storing said updated equipment information in said computer database or in another computer database.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the public communications network is the Internet.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said content also includes some portion of said protection assessment information.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein said content also includes some portion of said protection assessment information.

19. The method of claim 12, further including the step of generating an assessment report based on said protection assessment information for supporting an auditing process of the process system.

20. The method of claim 12, further including the step of generating an assessment report based on said protection assessment information for supporting an auditing process of the process system.

21. The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

utilizing said assessment report to perform a PSM assessment, wherein

said assessment report includes an assessment based on one or more failure scenarios, wherein said assessment report is utilized for one or both of;

certifying and/or verifying that the process system is adequately designed or

identifying inadequacies of the process system design.

22. The evaluation system of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

supporting process engineering functions including one or more of the steps of;

uploading P&

ID and/or system sketches;

uploading equipment parameters;

uploading ISO drawings;

defining a protected system model;

defining potential overpressure scenarios for said system;

determining how physical properties are input into said evaluation system;

defining mitigation;

and wherein said automatically determining an adequacy of the protection device includes one or more of the steps of;

automatically generating internal protected system links between any combination of associated pieces of equipment, associated defined overpressure contingencies, and associated documentation;

generating interactive P&

ID/system sketch models;

calculating defined overpressure contingencies;

calculating piping losses

accessing physical properties through a linked VMG database; and

assigning mitigation procedures.

23. A method of using an evaluation system for performing a PSM assessment of a process system, said process system comprising a plurality of equipment including a protection device for protecting the process system, said method comprising the steps of:

entering equipment information representing one or more of said plurality of equipment, including the protection device, into a client computer for transmittal to a host system via a computer network;

said evaluation system storing said equipment information representing each of said plurality of equipment in a computer database;

said evaluation system automatically determining an adequacy of the protection device for protecting the process system using the stored equipment information;

said evaluation system automatically generating protection assessment information using results from the assessment process;

said host system storing some portion of said protection assessment information in said computer database or in another computer database; and

said evaluation system generating an assessment report based on said protection assessment information, wherein said assessment report is utilized for one or both of;

certifying and/or verifying that the process system is adequately designed or

identifying inadequacies of the process system design.