Challenging initial situation
The plant in Dossenheim consists of several production facilities with associated technical rooms. Each of these production areas is equipped with different equipment, such as reactors, which are used to produce various active pharmaceutical ingredients. Increased safety requirements necessitated a revision of the entire safety concept of the Dossenheim plant. In addition, integration into an existing Yokogawa control system was an absolute must for the new, comprehensive safety concept. One particular challenge was the programming of the formulation management and the associated sequences.
Flexible Installation
Various products are manufactured in each of the reactors. For each product, a “formulation” is stored in the control system, which is defined via a sequence. Any future safety system would have to safely execute the shutdown parameters defined for each formulation.
This is where HIMA’s automation expertise came in. Individually defined sequences ensure that the correct shutdown parameters (according to the sequence of the respective formulation) will always react as required.
There was no room in the Dossenheim plant for a safety control system in the form of classic control cabinets being placed in a separate electrical room. Instead, a decentralized safety solution had to be devised.
In the course of the project, HIMA ended up developing the preconfigured local safety concept: a 1200 x 1600 x 300 mm box that can easily be mounted on the wall and integrated into Ex zone II. Each of the boxes contains one HIMatrix F35 03, which
is connected remotely via SafeEthernet in a ring structure – a perfect, highly flexible safety solution for Evonik.
A total of 8 decentral ssps boxes were installed in the production and technical rooms to save space.
The extendibility of the safety systems was also an important criterion. The ability to accommodate additional I/O signals in the existing boxes at a later stage without significant effort was vital. Based on HIMatrix controllers, the decentral ssps boxes are designed for future expansion, so that up to 96 individual signals, including Ex separation, could be connected in the final configuration. This safety system, which is part of the HIMA Smart Safety Platform, offers ultimate flexibility. All safety controllers of the HIMA Smart Safety Platform (both the HIMax and HIQuad X safety controllers) are compatible with each other.
