February 16, 2012 - PAS released inBound, an application that makes plant operators continually aware of safe operating limits. Safe operating limit information is maintained by various groups within the plant and is not readily available to operators. As such operators are generally unaware of the design and safety limitations of the processes they operate. PAS has addressed this shortcoming with inBound, a layered application for PAS’ PlantState Suite alarm management software. InBound aggregates, validates, and displays physical constraints such as a vessel’s Maximum Allowable Working Pressure (MAWP), design constraints such as relief valve settings, and safe operating limits.
These constraints may be manually entered, calculated, or imported into the software from engineering applications and databases. The application enables engineers to develop a boundary hierarchy and automatically detects and reports deviations from that hierarchy, such as an alarm setting that is higher than a pressure-relief valve setting. This capability provides assurance that configuration parameter changes such as alarm limits and instrument ranges remain within the safe operating envelope of the plant. By displaying safe operating limits in real time and in context within the plant’s existing control system graphics, inBound enables operators to proactively monitor measurements and take action as needed to prevent violation of limits.