Control Console Technical Specification for Industrial Control Projects

This article is about Control Console Technical Specification as per international codes and Saudi Aramco standards. And topic is referenced from Engineering standards SAES-Z-001.

Control Console Technical Specification

What Are The Requirements For Console Structures?

Today’s modern industrial plants require consoles to control and monitor their processes. Consoles are used to house control systems, monitors, and other equipment that are necessary for the operation of a facility. In order to ensure the safety and efficiency of the plant, there are certain requirements that must be met for console structures.

This article will discuss the various requirements for console structures, including panel and monitor mounting structures, work surfaces, flame spread index, protective enclosures, power supply and distribution, telecommunication equipment, push buttons, switches, lamps and other devices, operator consoles, engineering consoles, and backup and recovery servers.

Panel and Monitor Mounting Structures

The first requirement for console structures is that they must be equipped with tabletop work surfaces. This allows operators to quickly and easily access the equipment they need to manage the facility. Additionally, consoles must be noncombustible. If this is not possible, then the flame spread index must be 25 or less per NFPA 255.

Workstations within a console must also be housed in a protective enclosure with a locking mechanism to prevent unauthorized access to the workstation. Furthermore, all power supply and distribution wiring, grounding, and I/O termination wiring within consoles must comply with the requirements of 34-SAMSS-820.

Telecommunication equipment, such as phones, plant paging systems, and PA systems, must also be incorporated in a separate bay within the same console furniture. Additionally, all push buttons, switches, lamps and other console mounted devices must have a nameplate permanently attached indicating the service description.

Operator Consoles

Operator consoles must be equipped with a minimum of two operator workstations with equivalent functionality. This requirement applies to manned consoles only, and consoles in remote locations which are not permanently manned and not essential for the operation of a facility may contain a single workstation.

Operator workstations within an operator console must be provided with dual-headed display monitors to maximize the display work area while minimizing the total number of workstations required. Additionally, each operator console must be supplied with the capability to monitor process alarms and system diagnostics alarms at each workstation within the console. The capability to acknowledge process alarms must be provided for each workstation, and the capability to acknowledge system alarms must be provided to a minimum of two workstations within the console.

Each workstation in the operator console must also have access to a minimum of two networked printers for reporting and graphical printing.

Engineering Consoles

Engineering consoles may be designed with dedicated engineering workstations housed within the console or with equipment which provides access to rack mounted engineering servers located in server cabinets which are physically separate from the console. When a console design requires more than four (4) workstations, the use of rack mounted servers and KVM switch technology to minimize the number of workstations at the console is recommended.

Engineering consoles must be provided with the following functionality:

• Centralized Backup and Recovery server
• Network Attached Storage device
• Centralized Anti-virus and Patch management server
• User account administration
• Engineering Configuration
• System Configuration
• Graphics Display configuration and management
• Tag Search capabilities
• Reports generation and retrieval
• Loop Tuning / Control Loop Performance monitoring
• System Diagnostics
• Network Configuration and Management
• Long term data historization and trending system
• Instrument Asset Management system
• Alarm management system
• Sequence of Events / First – Out / Trip Reports
• Access to I-Plant drawing management system
• Repository for Project Documentation
• Repository for Systems Documentation

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are a number of requirements that must be met for console structures. These requirements include panel and monitor mounting structures, work surfaces, flame spread index, protective enclosures, power supply and distribution, telecommunication equipment, push buttons, switches, lamps and other devices, operator consoles, engineering consoles, and backup and recovery servers. By meeting these requirements, industrial plants can ensure the safety and efficiency of their facility.