Burner control from HIMatrix safety system

The HIMatrix solution at BASF Ludwigshafen integrates the burner automation of the combustion plant into the safety system

HIMA have automated an existing combustion plant at the Ludwigshafen production site belonging to BASF Aktiengesellschaft (in the Rheinland-Pfalz region of Germany).

In their solution, the entire automation system for the burner is integrated into the safety system.

The standardised BMS application (BMS = Burner Management System) incorporating TUV-approved function blocks simplifies the programming of the system and makes it easier for the chemical company to convert other burner control systems in the future.

The Combustion Engineering centre at BASF Aktiengesellschaft commissioned HIMA to install a safety-related automation system for the burner controller in a thermal exhaust cleaning plant.

The operator of the plant decided to install the combustion plant regulation and control equipment in one compact, centralised system, and to replace the conventional burner controller with a safety-related automation solution.

Four function blocks for burner controllers (SIL 3) TUV-approved to DIN EN 746-2, DIN EN 676 and DIN EN 12067-2 are used in this application for the following control and monitoring functions: pre-ventilation, seal testing, ignition and flame monitoring.

The user no longer needs to test the function of each individual function block, and this saves time and expense when programming the safety system.

BASF will be using this BMS application as one of its standard options in the future, and this reduces the expense of certification considerably when conducting pre-commissioning tests.

Comprehensive diagnostic features enable all of the hardware, wiring and parameterisation faults that occur over the life-cycle of the system to be identified clearly, along with the location of the faults, which in turn reduces commissioning and maintenance expenditure significantly.

The HIMA solution incorporates a HIMatrix F30 compact controller, an F3 DIO 20/8 and an F3 AIO 8/4 remote I/O module, and a panel for the local operation and monitoring of the system.

HIMA was also responsible for engineering and commissioning the automation solution.

The planning (pre-engineering) and process optimisation were conducted by BASF and HIMA jointly, and BASF contributed the process-related expertise.

The HIMA system handles the safety-related processing of 14 digital outputs and 40 digital inputs, four analogue outputs and eight analogue inputs.

Communication with the operating and monitoring interface is via Modbus TCP.

The HIMatrix systems are networked safely with one another using the Ethernet-based safeethernet protocol.

Modbus TCP and safeethernet communicate through a shared Ethernet network; existing infrastructure was used for communicating with the process control system.

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