Publications

Foundation fieldbus is a standard communication protocol for exchanging information among intelligent field devices and constituting the most advanced technology applied in the field automation systems. The fieldbus technology offers efficiency coming from numerous advantages such as digital protocol, flexibility for design, inter-operability, self-diagnostics, ease of installation, minimum cabling, easy calibration, and simple commissioning of automation systems and intelligent instrumentation. Although, implementation of the foundation system architecture has been introduced to meet different needs within the process automation environment, but in massive scale application, it is still rarely found, more over in Indonesia. This paper explores application of this kind of technology on marine systems of a Floating Production Unit (FPU) by taking the example of a 1.1 billion’s FPU project, where the hull ship was built by a shipbuilding company in South Korea. Considering its massive scale implementation of the technology, the FPU is a good example for fieldbus application, due to the various reasons. Fieldbus, particularly when using H1 cards with integrated power, significantly reduces the footprint and weight of the process automation system that meet extreme restrictive space requirements of the hull ship. Nowadays, the field instruments are no longer integrated with just one signal each. The fieldbus instruments, may have 3 signal each, which means a huge reduction in I/O hardware use with a consequence of the simpler wiring cable and the associated cabinets, ease of in its installation all at once cost effectiveness of the installation procedure. Since the “topsides” automation of the FPU consists of process modules fabricated in a different yard, the foundation fieldbus enables these modules to be connected with the rest of the hull using only fewer cables. Fieldbus technology also provides digital documentations available early to support the project execution. Fieldbus architecture is appropriated with modular segmental approach to simplify the hull and topside integration, which is monitored and controlled efficiently by overall Integrated Control & Safety System (ICSS). Furthermore, the diagnostic software available speeds up checking the status condition of the fieldbus instruments during the process commissioning. With the early status detection features, activities such as point-to-point checking, loop checking, and wiring checking could be well-managed, which in turns, helps in the commissioning management in efficient ways and timely. Keywords: fieldbus, digital field device, FPU, digital maintenance