POWER August 2015 - 41

REINVENTION AWARD
4. Daily review. This construction observation
photo shows two of the four new natural
gas valve manifolds during installation. Photos
were taken regularly during construction activity
to document actual progress. Notice the
neatness of the work area. Uncluttered work
areas were typical for the contractors, which
also contributed to project safety. Courtesy:
Colorado Energy Nations, GDF SUEZ Energy
NA, and Behrent Engineering
Behrent's software designers (Chris Silkey,
Clay Sorensen, Lori Coughlin, and Jim Darling)
repeatedly referred to those descriptions
for clarifications of requirements.
Plant layout drawings were also well archived,
saving many hours of field measurements
for developing layout drawings for the
new gas piping.
The Involvement of Plant Personnel.
Many CEN employees have worked at
the plant since Boiler 5 was built, so they
have a tremendous sense of ownership and
knowledge of the facility. The project team
benefited greatly from their knowledge. For
example, during the piping design phase,
Behrent regularly consulted with Maintenance
Manager Capps to ensure that the new
gas piping would not interfere with existing
operations and would also allow easy maintenance
access to valves and instrumentation.
During the controls engineering phase,
age and in contract documents.
■ An in-depth safety questionnaire was included
with each contractor bid package
and was part of the contractor selection
process.
■ Each contractor was required to administer
its own safety program that met or exceeded
safety protocol at the plant.
■ Each contractor was required to name an
onsite manager of safety.
■ Proper personal protective equipment was
required at all times during construction
activities.
■ Each employee of each contractor was required
to take the site-specific safety orientation
training before beginning work.
The Availability of Up-to-Date Technical
Documentation. Since Boiler 5 was
placed into service in 1979, the plant maintenance
organization has done an exceptional
job of organizing, saving, and maintaining
electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, and
technical descriptions of operation. After
some statistical spot-checking, it was determined
that the electrical drawings were an
accurate reflection of actual wiring. That
saved many hours of hand-over-hand tracing
of existing wiring, which would have risked
accidental boiler trips.
The technical descriptions of operation
provided valuable insight into the original designers'
strategies for controlling the boiler.
August 2015 | POWER
Behrent regularly reviewed design ideas with
the maintenance technicians (Jerry Pyle, Jay
Schmidt, Curt Holsinger, and Justin Hake)
and received valuable feedback. Plant Engineer
Jerome Cain set up a joint meeting
between the engineers, maintenance technicians,
and control system manufacturer at the
local Rockwell Automation office. During
that meeting consensus was established for
optimum control system design.
During software development, Behrent
worked closely with the operations group,
led by Operations Manager Mike Jeffres. The
operations group gave valuable input about
how they intended to control the processes.
Behrent provided " cut and paste " tools so
the operators could agree how to best configure
the human-machine interface (HMI)
overview screen for ease of use and for best
display of key operating parameters.
Cain began studying the details of the
Norpak Flame Safety Controls before the
project was approved. He took on the task of
translating the Norpak logic into PLC software.
He also had developed a plant standard
approach for programming PID instructions
in the PLC and for displaying PID faceplates
on the HMIs. Behrent adopted those standards
for use in the combustion controls software.
Close coordination also was required
for hardwired interlocks and network communications
between PLC systems. Because
he works with it regularly, Cain updated the
iFIX SCADA system.
The extensive involvement of plant staff in
the project resulted in new systems that dovetail
with existing systems and that are easy
to operate and provide good maintenance
access. Most importantly, there were no surprises
during startup.
Construction Observation. Typically,
engineers observe construction to ensure
www.powermag.com
that the installation follows the design,
which was done on a periodic basis by Skaflen
and Terry Shelander, PE, Behrent's
principal electrical engineer. (Shelander
provided the majority of the information for
this article.) However for this project, because
the plant maintenance group had been
deeply involved in reviewing the design,
they knew the scope of work well. And because
they were on site every day, the maintenance
group took a lead role in observing
construction. This wasn't really part of the
project plan; it just became an obvious solution
early in the construction process.
Russ Schelle, project manager for Atlas
Industrial, coordinated on a daily basis with
Capps. Together they would evaluate how the
day's construction plans might affect ongoing
boiler operation and make adjustments if
necessary (Figure 4). Schelle also previewed
installation details with Capps to ensure compliance
with plant expectations. Similarly, Phil
Morgans, project supervisor for Piper Electric,
coordinated on a daily basis with Jerry Pyle.
The result of this daily coordination was that
the installation met the owner's expectations,
and not a single boiler trip was experienced
during the entire construction process.
The Use of Detailed Plans. Behrent developed
detailed checklists for panel checkout
and software testing. For each panel, the
checkout plan included issues such as:
■ Resources required (people, test instruments,
technical documents).
■ Verification that all components were installed
according to design (using a checkbox
for each component).
■ Point-to-point wiring checks (a check-box
for each wire).
■ Power-up sequence and voltage testing.
■ Network switch configuration.
■ PLC module configuration.
■ I/O checkout.
Although several days were required
to develop the panel checkout lists, the actual
panel checkouts were completed ahead
of schedule. As part of their training, plant
maintenance technicians participated in the
panel checkouts. The checklists helped all involved
parties stay focused on the next item.
When a checklist was complete, the panel
was ready for startup.
Similarly, each software module was individually
checked off. Each interaction between
HMI and PLC was a separate item on
the checklist. The software testing plan by
itself was 60 pages long.
Operations Manager Jeffres was the
startup coordinator, and to guide that effort,
Givens required development of a detailed
plan for each shutdown. Jeffres developed
41
http://www.powermag.com
POWER August 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER August 2015
