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Montag, 12.Juni 2006

Taking off safely

HIMA safety controllers are monitoring the fuel station at Johannesburg International Airport

(Bruehl, Germany, 12/6/2006)
Johannesburg International Airport is the largest airport in South Africa and the air transport hub of Southern Africa. Aircraft are supplied with kerosene via a fuelling system which stretches from the fuel depot to the apron. This system must meet very high standards. On the one hand, in terms of system safety because of the extremely high potential hazards it poses to people and the environment and, on the other, in terms of system availability because aircraft have a constant demand for fuel. This system is now being reliably monitored by safety-related controllers from HIMA Paul Hildebrandt GmbH + Co KG, which is headquartered in Germany.

The ESD system (Emergency Shutdown System) from HIMA is replacing an old relay-based safety system, which was no longer able to meet the airport's expansion plans. Six safety-related controllers of type H41q (IEC 61508/SIL 3) are being used to meet the requirements of a safety-related network with safeethernet which is based on standard Ethernet.

The ESD system is monitoring a large number of shut-down valves, which are positioned in zones along the fuel line, as well as the feed pumps in order to ensure safe shut-down in case of an emergency. Each of the six H41q systems processes approximately 70 safety-related signals and is responsible for monitoring one zone.

HIMA systems are integrated into the airport's "Infrastructure Management and Control System" (IMCS) via OPC. Furthermore, the safety controllers are connected to a SCADA system, which is used for visualising purposes, via an OPC interface.

The safety system from HIMA was successfully chosen in the tender because of its cost-effective advantages, the system's openness as well as its compact design.