Ultrasonic Flowmeter Upgrading Project

On March 2009, we upgraded our GE ultrasonic flowmeter from type of XMT868 to XMT868i and equipped with the surge arrester.

It was found that the fuse on the old meter electronic card was blown. After replaced the meter was OK. However, after that, the old meter was suddenly off temporarily, after which it was back to OK again and it happen several times.

Considering its important function to measure how many filtered produced water injected to the wells for enhanced oil recovery program, we decide to replace it with the new one equipped with the surge arrester as suggested by engineer from GE.

           

Invited Guest Lecturer

In June, 2008, I was invited to give a general lecture at the Electrical Engineering Department of State Islamic University of Sultan Syarif Qasim Riau (UIN SUSKA RIAU), Pekanbaru. I brought the subject of “Introduction to the Instrumentation System at Upstream Oil Industry”.

The process of crude oil processing & its facilities were introduced first. The operating principles of the main processes, i.e. the two phase separator process control, tank protection-measurement-and-control, automatic custody transfer, including the functions and working principles of each type instrument installed at those facilities were described in more details. By understanding those, I expected that those could got the whole picture of the systems and the reasons why instrument is needed to protect, measure, operate & control the process.

Glad to share it with you all…

 You may download the course material on the bottom of this post (in Bahasa Indonesia only). By downloading the file, you are considered agree with the disclaimer beneath.

 

Disclaimer: Neither I, Hendri, BOB nor any of their affiliated entities assumes responsibility for the design, selection, use and maintenance of any product on this course material. Responsibility for the design, selection, use, and maintenance of any product on this course material remains with the purchaser and end-user.

 

On The Job Training of the PCR’s Students

In mid of August, 2007, my department accepted two students from the Politeknik Caltex Riau (PCR) under On The Job Training Program to learn about the instrumentation system commonly found in upstream oil industry for one month. And I was appointed as their supervisor during the program. At the end of the program, these students had to make a report and presentation.

After gave them a brief introduction about our company, I explained a little bit more detail about the crude oil processing principles and its facilities started from the oil well to the gathering station. The process knowledge is very important if you want to be a good instrument engineer.

Due to time constraint, I directed them to learn specifically about the application, operating principle, and calibration of the pressure switch used to protect the pump and the level transmitter used in the level control system. For those, they had to learn about pump operation principles, fluid mechanics (pressure), electricity, analog and digital signals, programmable logic controller, and calibration principles. That was a lot, right?

I also allowed them to have hands-on experience to calibrate the pressure switch and the level transmitter using deadweight tester, pneumatic hand pump and HART field communicator.

The program was ended after submitted their report and conducted the presentation. So.. good luck, guys !!!

Wire the level transmitter before configuration & calibration

Configuration & calibration of the level transmitter

Wire the pressure switch to be calibrated

Pressure switch calibration

Pressure switch calibration

The student & me

The student & me

The Internal Short Course of Pressure Gauge

Having experience as training instructor, I was attracted to give a sort of short course in field of instrumentation to the others . The course title was Pressure Gauge: Selection, Installation, Operation, Maintenance & Calibration. It was held on May 27th, 2007.

My reason to choose this topic was that it was found that most of pressure gauges installed for monitoring of the pressure of the pump’s suction and discharge sections did not a vibration & pulsation-proof type. So that, It was difficult to read the measurement reading and also shortened the gauge life. Moreover, most of the gauges installed were heavy corroded due to the corrossive atmosphere. So, by presenting this topic I would like to ‘enlight’ people in Pedada Area who involves in utilizing the gauge about the right selection, operation and also how to maintain & calibrate it properly. The use of the Chandler Engineering Deadweight Tester to calibrate the gauge was also demonstrated. Related participants who would do the maintenance & calibration of pressure gauge were asked to have hands-on experience before do their real job.

Deadweight Tester Demo

Pressure gauge calibration demo

Classroom atmosphere

 You may download the course material of pressure gauge on the bottom of this post (in Bahasa Indonesia only). By downloading the file you are considered agree with the disclaimer beneath. Don’t forget to visit my blog often since there will be more course materials you can download. .

Disclaimer: Neither I, Hendri, BOB nor any of their affiliated entities assumes responsibility for the selection, use and maintenance of any product on this course material. Responsibility for the selection, use, and maintenance of any product on this course material remains with the purchaser and end-user.

MTC-PDD-INST-TR-001_Short Course on Pressure Gauge

The Instrument Documentation

While looking for the tools for the shop, I also looked for the brochure/product flyer, product bulletin, operation & maintenance manual of each type of the installed field instruments. These documents are very important for maintenance activities including calibration & troubleshooting.

I also documented the instrument drawing such as P&ID, wiring diagram, instrument & control block diagrams, termination diagram etc which kept separated by other department. Based on P&ID and site survey, I developed the Instrument Index document for listing all field instruments installed.

Both manuals & drawings were filed in a single rack for easy retrieval and also burnt into CD ROM as backup.

For documentation of the instrument maintenance & calibration activities, I developed the several forms suitable for each type of instrument such as pressure transmitter, pressure gauge, pressure switch, temperature gauge, RTD, control valve + I/P & pneumatic positioners. At this moment, all forms are still on the Microsoft Excell format. The ISA instrument specification forms containing the technical specification of each type of instrument installed were also developed.

The instrument document files

By end of 2008, I would like to use a sort of instrument maintenance software, not a fancy/complicated one but it can be used as a single ‘gateway’ for documenting all type of instrument calibration forms, manual, maintenance & calibration scheduling, notification and reporting as well.