Hima-Sella, a specialist safety systems integrator, has supplied High Integrity Pressure Protection Systems (HIPPS) for use on five of Oil & Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC's) unmanned wellhead platforms; as part of the operator's B-193 cluster development off Western India.

Eddy Turnock, Hima-Sella's sales & marketing director, commented: "Our HIPPS is a safety instrumented system designed to prevent over-pressurisation of downstream plant and equipment, by isolating flows at source or at key points along a pipeline."

Each HIPPS is independent of all other safety systems on the platforms - thus providing an isolated, fully autonomous and fail-safe layer of protection - and comprises: three electronic pressure transducers; a dedicated HIQuad programmable electronic system (performing two-out-of-three voting on the transducers' outputs) and HIPPS shutdown valve/actuator assemblies, each with dual solenoid valves (which are SIL 3 certified in accordance with BS EN 61508).

HIPPS panels are located in non-air-conditioned building modules on each platform and are powered from batteries which are kept topped up by solar panels. Turnock notes: "Of particular challenge for this application was that the HIPPS had to draw very little power, and this, along with Hima-Sella's track record of HIPPS projects, was a driving factor in the selection of the HIMA HIQuad as the logic behind the system."

Fundamental to the project was close collaboration between valve manufacturer Tyco and Hima-Sella. Tom Vikenes, projects and customer service manager of Tyco Valves & Controls Norway, commented: "It was essential for us on this first complete HIPPS loop project (comprising of Tyco FCT ball valves, ATC compact actuators, ASTAVA manifolds with ABB pressure transmitters in addition to the Hima-Sella logic solver) to work with a long-time player in safety. The fact that the end-user also knew Hima from before helped us to successfully secure the order. Hima-Sella did a very good job working with TÜV Rheinland, which obviously ended in an approved full loop system certified for use to SIL 3."

Hima-Sella acted as the technical authority for the project, producing system documentation including calculations for the TÜV to issue the SIL 3 certificates.

Tags: Hima-Sella, ONGC