M H Tang explains how a smarter approach to actuators is assisting Malaysia's economic transformation.
With a storage capacity of five million cubic metres, the Pengerang Terminal near the city of Johor Bahru on the south-east coast of Malaysia is a major part of the country's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), designed to create a more dynamic and progressive oil and gas industry.
With the completion of Phase 1A of the project, 274 explosion-proof Rotork IQ3 non-intrusive intelligent electric actuators fitted with Rotork Gears IB bevel gearboxes have been installed for the automated operation of gate valves on flow control applications throughout new import jetty and storage tank facilities. The actuators are monitored and controlled by eight Pakscan P3 120-channel hot/standby master stations, situated on-site in three cabinets and linked to a centralised Yokogawa SCADA system.
The Rotork IQ3 actuator incorporates advanced data-logging, diagnostic and communication features, providing a high level of functionality and asset management abilities. The large, toughened glass wide-angle indication window is the focus of attention for non-intrusive two-way wireless communication and multi-functional indication, encompassing user-friendly menus for set-up, configuration and commissioning, local position indication, valve and actuator status, asset management and diagnostic operating information. Diagnostic graphics present a window into the process, showing the valve torque and usage profiles along with service logs, facilitating real-time analysis directly at the actuator and, via the Pakscan P3 network, in the control room.
Secure comms
Pakscan P3 delivers secure field communications with inbuilt network redundancy and is specifically designed for valve actuation activities in the spacious environments associated with tank farm installations. Each master-station supervised network is capable of monitoring and controlling up to 240 field units without repeaters on a single two-wire highway with a 20km maximum length.
Rotork has received orders for over 700 IQ3 actuators with Pakscan P3 for the Pengerang Terminal. The company's success with this project has been assisted by customers' previous experience with Rotork products and the support of its international sales and service organisation. More than 300 IQ actuators with Pakscan have been operating reliably for almost five years at the nearby Tanjung Langsat Tank Farm, with a local source for service engineers and after-sales support provided by Rotork Malaysia.
For the Pengerang Terminal project, the order for actuators was placed with a valvemaker in China and supplied by Rotork Shanghai, whilst the Pakscan order was placed with Rotork Malaysia.
For more information at www.engineerlive.com/iog
MH Tang is general manager for Rotork Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
