TESTING AND COMMISSIONING
The Project Manager will develop a testing program that will include identification of requirements, procedures and necessary participants in the various testing programs required for this project. Testing programs will be in accordance with the relevant specifications.
It should be noted that the Hydrant System, Receiving Station and the Fuel Depot are parts of the same technical system. Therefore, each and every activity involving fuel dispensing through the Hydrant System must be coordinated and must be “compatible” with the Control System. This applies to the normal operations as well as to testing, commissioning, flushing, shut-down, start-up, manuals, training, set-up of emergency procedures, quality control procedures, leak detection sequences etc. Therefore, not only the development of the software that is compatible with all systems will be required but also significant knowledge about the specific needs and proceedings required for operation and commissioning of aviation fuelling facilities.
The internal testing will be based on simulation technology reflecting the real system environment and specifically configured for the Control System at the destined installation. A Test Plan will be generated, which will outline the Test Procedures. The respective Test Results Sheets will explain exactly how each individual test is to be carried out and what results should be expected. The key objective will be to optimize the solution in the development stage prior to up-scaling on-site.
hansaconsult’s experience has shown that it is essential for the project success to consider an ample time frame in the project programme to allow for thorough testing of the Control System. For a major complex system, we budget for instance a three-month testing period in our R&D-premises to ensure full compliance to Quality Control criteria.
The hansaconsult quality simulation testing replaces traditional methods of directly setting up parts or the whole system on-site and then connecting lamps and switches to simulate the inputs and outputs from the plant. The local setting and switching by the test engineer is satisfactory for testing very simple functions, however, it is difficult to test complex functions or to test two functions at the same time. For instance, for testing the hydrant leak detection function, the operator may need to simulate the behaviour of possibly twenty valves at the same time, together with a pump, pressure measurements, etc. Furthermore, any testing after the control system has been installed, have to be carried out at the real plant.
The high performance simulation for testing control systems of fuel plants is carried out by the unique fuel simulator KLEOPATRA® by hansaconsult. The simulation procedure involves setting up the SCADA and PLC parts of the Control System and simulating the operation of the hard-wired control panels, the instrumentation and the plant.
The simulation software runs on a PC, which is connected to the Control System’s PLCs. Hence, the Control System can be operated as if connected to the real plant which enables a comprehensive simultaneous testing of many functions. The simultaneous testing is important to detect system conflicts.
The KLEOPATRA® simulation testing is provided by hansaconsult in the development stage, on-site for testing any changes of the Control System (simply by disconnecting the PLCs from the plant and connecting them to the simulation PC) or for training purposes as an excellent, and very realistic, training tool for the operators during the training lessons.