In the present age, the dynamics of mechanics have changed for all industries. Other than profitability, industries have to resort to technologies that maximize sustainability and make daily operations more efficient. Therefore, large sectors like the oil and gas industry invest in revamping their existing machines, which accelerates productivity and efficiency. In that pursuit, Mark Vle integrated control system is becoming an essential requirement.
The Mark Vle distributed control system was developed by General Electric Gas Power (GE), the world’s leading brand in gas power technology, solutions, and services. It is a flexible platform for operating multiple applications. Besides high-speed networked I/O for simplex, triple-redundant, and dual systems, it also offers a SIL3 safety system under a familiar operator and engineering suite of tools. Lately, Mark Vle has been actively adopted in the oil and gas industry due to its high resonance, scalability, and adaptability to this perpetually evolving industry.
But where does its application lie?
By utilizing Mark VI and Mark VIe together as a turbine controller and as a compressor controller, one is able to use the same system to control the prime mover as well as the compressor. GE Speedtronic Mark VIe control system is fast enough to allow high-speed dedicated applications such as compressor search control on the same platform that they can do the rest of their process control. The flexibility of the platform certainly helps meet the requirements of different projects. It gives the operator the capability to have one set of instrumentation for safety and for basic process controls. In addition to being a control system, Mark VIe is also a flexible general purpose PLC which gives the industry the flexibility to cope with today’s complex market.
The Mark Vle integrated control system aids all industries in the same objective as it has the following features:
- Accelerated computational power offers access to meticulous software enhancement modules, which help improve turbine performance, operability, and reliability.
- Intuitiveness has features like drag and drop type editors, industry-leading trender, video type forward-reverse-freeze capability, and code compare tools.
- Makes maintenance efficient – For configuring networks, processors, and I/O boards, Mark Vle carries a single integrated software tool with software for editing applications, managing block libraries, and displaying system diagnostics.
- Better operational productivity – possesses user-friendly HMI graphics for alarm and managing events which results in recognizing operators and resolving system faults better.
- I/O expandability – it carries modular and flexible architecture, which enables future growth of capabilities and applications.
- Time-wise – Alarms are time stamped in the control platform so one does not need a SCADA or an HMI to that. Moreover, the entire alarm framework is fully embracing ISA 18.2 which is the standard in the oil and gas market.
- Full-featured power monitoring system built-in – Mark VIe is able to monitor all of the incoming voltages, all of the produced voltages, and is capable of measuring the health of each of the power supplies. So one is able to determine whether the power supply is performing below its capacity before it fails entirely.
In the parlance of the oil and gas industry, specifically, performance optimization and efficiency play key roles, and all elements to attain the same have to be incorporated into the daily operations to achieve the goal in the long term. One can not support big data and an industrial internet if the data is not synchronized and time coherent. Mark VIe holds an Achilles Level I cybersecurity certification from Wurldtec, which means they are hardened against any major cyberattack. It uses Ethernet for providing connectivity and flexibility. It can be configured for simplex, dual, or triple redundant operation offering the right level of reliability for the specific system while providing high performance.
The oil and gas industry is segmented into three categories: Upstream (exploration and production), midstream (transporting the exploration site to refinery), and downstream (refineries).
The upstream segment is the companies involved in exploring and producing the resources (E&P companies). They find resource pockets or reservoirs worldwide and drill oil and gas wells. This segment involves high risks, high investment capital, and a long period of revenue generation as it takes time to locate the reservoir and then extract the raw material. This segment is also the most technology-intensive, and machinery like Mark Vle declutter operations by facilitating security, reliability, and enhanced performance and productivity.
Similarly, the downstream segment removes impurities and converts the oil and gas resource extracted into consumer-ready products like gasoline, fuel for jet, heating oil, and asphalt. Finally, the Mark Vle protects the entire facility or plant by improving unit operation, streamlining maintenance, and increasing operator performance. Its archetype with integrated excitation, dynamic swirl chart, automated DLN tuning, fast start upgrades, and more makes it indispensable in the two main segments of the oil and gas industry.
By simplifying plant-wide control from the most valuable assets, enabling comprehensive connected plane automation, reducing multi-system complexities risks, and operating costs with the support of the global dominion in gas and power automation for over 45 years, GE; deploying Mark VIe is the top requirement of gas and power industry today.
