Automated calibration aids smooth turnover of new plants

Accurate documentation of instrument calibration saves time and money in the completion of construction projects. There are thousands of newly arrived instruments that must be checked and calibrated and then documented prior to installation in new plants. Such an extended effort was not necessary at the recently completed Front Range Power Station, a 480-MVV combined cycle power plant constructed by The Industrial Company (TIC) near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Instead, one technician printed out calibration certificates in an orderly fashion for more than 60 turnover packages. Ultimately, more than 1,200 HART (highway addressable remote transducer) and conventional devices were documented, and not a single calibration document was subsequently questioned or returned. Even better, no additional costs were incurred for recalibrating the instruments or reworking the documentation, providing an estimated savings of up to US$50,000 in avoided costs. These savings - and the accurate documentation that made them possible - were accomplished through the use of a software tool, the AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager software created by Emerson Process Management. This package was originally designed to help end users reduce instrument startup and maintenance costs by accessing diagnostic information from smart field instruments. The database that functions as an integral part of this predictive maintenance technology is also suitable for use by instrument technicians, making instrument calibration easier by saving them time before and after the actual testing and calibration. Furthermore, a record is automatically generated every time an instrument is calibrated or a configuration parameter is changed. Loaded into a PC in a control room or maintenance shop, this software communicates with smart field instruments on the control network, capturing diagnostic information generated by those devices. The massive amount of data obtained in this way is integrated into a single database, organized, processed, and presented on the PC monitor for use by engineers and technicians to streamline and simplify their work.