Industrial Automation

and Optimisation

OIL & GAS

Solution Sheet
Solution:
Rockwell techology used for
subsea control
Plant:
Oil and Gas - Subsea

Sub-areas:
Subsea Master Control Station (MCS)

Primary Solution:
Control systems - PLC and DCS

Application:
Subsea MCS library developed for deployment using Rockwell
technologies
 ROCKWELL
SUBSEA MCS SOLUTION
SALIENT SOLUTION DETAILS
Development of a subsea software library for
Rockwell PLCs, using a Cimplicity HMI solution.
The MCS is typically located onboard an oil
platform or FPSO and works in conjunction with
hardware located on the seabed.
The MCS controls elements such as valves,
chokes on subsea wellheads and manifolds.
The MCS also monitors the health of the entire
subsea installation by checking pressures,
temperatures, flows, etc.
BACKGROUND
Control elements on the seabed are controlled
from a surface-located master control station
(MCS) typically on an FPSO.
The distance from the surface to the seabed
doe not allow for all signals to be hardwired, as
subsea control often entails tens of thousands
of I/O.
As a result specialised subsea electronics
modules (SEMs) are physically located on the
seabed, and signals are multiplexed to the
surface through umbilical cords.
PLCs are used for final control after being
interfaced to the SEMs.
Subsea control is critical and algorithm required
extensive testing and verification. Software
libraries for the PLCs are develop to facilitate
project deployment. This drives standardization,
and reduces the testing effort.
The standard libraries provided with the PLCs
do not have the requisite functionality for
subsea deployment, and hence customization
is required.
Moore has extensive experience with MCS
development, having successfully delivered
solutions on six FPSOs and platforms.
TYPICAL WELL HEAD
SCOPE OF THE SOLUTION
Development of a subsea software library for
deployment on Rockwell PLCs.
OUR APPROACH
A suite of standardized Rockwell function blocks
was developed for control of subsea equipment
used in the Offshore Oil and Gas industry.
These blocks form the basis of a software library
for current and future subsea developments, to
ensure a robust and consistent approach across
all projects.
The library was specifically designed for the
Rockwell ControlLogix PLC, utilizing many of
the key features of this PLC, with HMI facilities
developed within the Cimplicity SCADA system.
A main feature of the project was the need to
encapsulate multiple device variants within a
single block type, in order to reduce the number
of library elements. For example, the Analogue
Input block accepts either single or dual input
signals, with corresponding selection of average,
minimum or maximum as output. Intelligence
built into the library element ensures that only
the selected variant is active at any one time
and unnecessary information is hidden from
display on the HMI faceplate.
Moore | 2
All of the library elements were feature-rich,
with facilities such as forcing of signals, override
functions, selection between pre-scaled or un-
scaled inputs, selective alarm or trip enable
facilities for each type, etc. This was done to
enhance the usability of the block for a variety
of up-coming projects.
Development of the Rockwell Add-on
Instructions (function blocks) required sound
Rockwell PLC knowledge, to ensure that the
Add-on Instructions performed optimally and
with minimum system overheads.
To guarantee maintainability of the software
by future development teams, comprehensive
design documentation and software
commentary was provided, to fully describe the
operation and usage of the software library.
TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION
• Rockwell 1756 redundant PLCs
• Rockwell 1715 Duplex and Simplex I/O
racks
• RS Logix 5000 V20 PLC programming
environment
• Cimplicity v9.0 HMI
CLIENT RESULTS AND BENEFITS
99 Each library element able to cater for
multiple type-variants.
99 Highly configurable library elements, with
information hiding on the HMI.
99 Extensive information and diagnostic
capabilities available on the HMI faceplate.
99 Software specifically optimized for the
target PLC system.
99 Provision of comprehensive design and user
documentation.
99 Operator friendly, intuitive, and easy to
identify and rectify process upsets
CONCLUSION
Rockwell technology lends itself well to subsea
control, provided a robust library has been
developed and tested.
The Rockwell MCS library was written such
that library components could easily be reused
across a wide range of subsea control elements,
thus reducing the need for customization for
new projects or field deployments.
Moore | 3
 Key Clients: Contact us:
info@moore.co.za

South Africa Head Office (Johannesburg)

Tel: +27 (11) 466 1673

South Africa (Vanderbijlpark)

Tel: +27 (16) 932 4471

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Tel: +27 (17) 631 2744

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Tel: +1 832 631 6349

Europe (London)
Tel: +44 777 265 1605

Singapore
Tel: +65 6742 0776

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