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Innovative Handling Of Telemetry Enhances Gas System Automation

Brazilian Utility Extends Application To Custody Transfer Function

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by Aldo Rosa, C&P Instrumentacao e Controle S/C Ltda, So Paulo, Brazil

etrobras Distribuidora (Petroleo Brasileiro) the gas distribution company in the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil recently innovatively extended the traditional application of telemetry by using GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). Although telemetry is widely known and used in industrial applications by means of leased lines, private lines, radio networks and even satellite communication, its application in natural gas custody transfer has been pioneered by this installation. The telemetry system is being used for the automation of the natural gas distribution system. This automation system integrates all the information and enables Petrobras to have more control, trust and safety in its activities. Until the installation of the automation system, all the required information for monitoring and custody was acquired by daily employee visits to the units. The acquired data were stored in a notebook and updated in the corporate networking computers at the end of the day. Gas Distribution System In State Of Espirito Santo. The Lagoa Parda and Gasvit pipelines supply the metropolitan area of Vitoria City comprising 22 industrial plants, 16 gas stations, 1,187 houses and 28 commercial places. The gas distribution system in this state is composed of the following units: 40 natural gas meter stations. In each natural gas meter station there is a flow computer that measures pressure, temperature, and flow of gas. Using an algorithm of AGA-3, AGA-7, AGA-8 it calculates the gas consumption. In addition to the pressure, temperature and quantity of gas, in some natural gas meter stations other measurements are registered such as the upstream pressure of gas

pipeline and condensation vessel level. These measurements are acquired by flow computer through analog input. Four subway pressure regulator stations. In each subway pressure regulator station a Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) was installed for the monitoring of the filter differential pressure, shut-off valves status and the leakage gas detection by infrared sensors. Five cathodic protection systems. In each cathodic protection system an RTU was installed to monitor the voltage and current in the most important places along the pipeline. One chromatograph and one oxygen analyzer. The chromatograph and the oxygen analyzer communicate with the RTU through the Modbus protocol. The gas analysis result is sent to the control room and after its validation it is sent to the correction of the flow computer. One Gas Odorizing System. In this station natural gas is odorized. This station communicates with one RTU through Modbus for monitoring and dosing control. Automation System Architecture. The control room was planned to monitor the entire natural gas pipeline. A second step was planned to implement remote control through

the control of the shut-off valves. To accomplish this, five operating stations based on Supervisory Control And Acquisition (SCADA) and data historian software were installed that in addition to collecting and storing data makes the interface with the corporate network. The operational system used is the Microsoft Windows 2003. An Ethernet TCP/IP LAN was installed to communicate to and from the operating station to the corporate network of Petrobras Distribuidora. Telemetry Definition. The first stage of telemetry implementation was the definition of the variables to be transmitted. In addition to the variables acquired by flow computer such as pressure, temperature, gas flow, condensate vessel level, pipeline pressure and gas chromatograph, the audit and log files transmission stored in the last 35 days were chosen. Because these files are stored in different format, they cant be transmitted by means of market- standard protocols. After a research to define which market protocol would satisfy these requirements, Modbus Enron was chosen because it has all the data transmission capabilities that are nec-

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essary and it is widely used by big transport and gas distribution companies in several countries. Up to that point, all the choices were strictly technical to guarantee the system would work as expected. The field instruments, either the flow computer or the measurement instruments for pressure, temperature and level, are well known and there was no difficulty in installation and operation. The same is true of the SCADA and Historian software which is widely used in the industrial field. When the process of definition of the communication medium was started, other variables had to be analyzed, and the definition of real time of the process was critical in this phase. Some units needed continuous monitoring (24/7) while the others could be monitored less frequently. This affects the costs of implementation and maintenance of the data transmission system that should be considered to calculate the pay back. For this system, several alternatives were studied. One alternative was a hybrid system with the transmission through the dial-up line and leased line. This system has the advantage of being the most traditional and widely used method of transmission. As a disadvantage, this transmission method presents high mplementation costs due to the large number of modems required in the field and in the control room in addition to the high cost of maintenance and the difficulties due to the telephone lines installed in some units. These factors made this alternative impractical. Radio Modem. This communication medium has the advantages of being well known and demanding low maintenance. However, the implementation cost is high due to the cost of radios and the installation, plus the difficulties of installation of the transmission towers and transmission, once the several units are located in the far wing of the control room. Mobile Modem. This was the most challenging and attractive option due to its technology. An analysis of the benefits and costs demonstrated it to be the best alternative. The initial cost of this installation is less compared to other alternatives. The price of the mobile modem is compatible with dialed-line modems and less than the radio modem. The utilization cost is billed by packet and not based on the time connected. This makes the cost very low, about US$3 for each MB transmitted. For each unit, the forecast is to transmit about 20 MB

per month being always connected. GPRS Technology. The GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) technology, known as 2.5G (Two and a half generation of mobile communication) integrates a new concept in sharing the same wavewidth of GSM network. It uses data transmission by IP-oriented protocol packages. Communications through the GSM system uses circuit commutation technology. While a transmission is done by circuit commutation, network equipment remains busy during the transmission and billing is determined based on time used. Communication through GPRS system uses data communication technology. In this case, several users share communication channels and one user has a channel opened just when there is a data transmission. The advantages of GPRS technology compared to GSM are: Simultaneous transmission of voice and data in the same channel. Wide coverage in all the units. Quick and permanent access of data. With GSM technology, it takes 15-30 seconds to make a connection to the network and this time is required for each new connection. In the GPRS system, once the connection is done, it will remain permanently active. Significant increase in data transmission speed. By means of GSM network, the speed can reach 9.6 kbps. GPRS offers speeds that vary from 40-144 kbps. Uses a popular X.25 and IP protocol. Many telephone operating systems and different cellular modems can be used, leading to flexible and independent choices in the market. Cost saving. In the GSM technology, billing depends on the time of connection. In the GPRS system, billing depends on the amount of transmitted data. GPRS cellular modems can be classified in three different types: Class A: simultaneous transmission of voice and data. Class B: transmission of voice and data, not simultaneous. Class C: exclusively for data transmission.

telephony company. This link is connected to the Ethernet network by a router. Flow computers are set to sleep most of the time to save energy, as long as their batteries have low storage capacity. In this application the flow computers were programmed to work continuously (always on) and their supply was switched to solar energy as mobile phones. Mobile modem communicates with flow computers through a serial port RS232 Enron Modbus protocol and it connects in the network IP of the mobile phone operator as soon as the same gets energy. When it connects in the network IP, the mobile phone operator gives an IP number to the mobile modem that becomes its identification in the networking. This mobile, after having connected and received its IP number, searches for the IP number of that control room. The biggest difficulty encountered concerned the IP number because it is dynamic, and the software SCADA was unable to identify it. It was necessary to develop a correlation list between the identification of each mobile, the dynamic IP and an IP that is not valid and registered in the SCADA software. This list was loaded in every station and initiated with the SCADA software. It remains constantly active. This overcame the difficulty.

Conclusion
With this project, Petrobras Distribuidora demonstrated again that it is a pioneer in using new technologies. To define which would be a better choice for the natural gas distribution system in the Espirito Santo State, new technologies were evaluated. A technology was chosen thatin addition to presenting innovation benefitscomplied with the security rules.Petrobras achieved: Cost reduction: workers do not need to move to the units to make the acquisition station. Security: all of the gas distribution system is checked continuously (on line) which allows a fast response in case of an alarm. The data are sent by tunneling protocol (GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol) increasing the communication security. Optimization: all acquired data will be sent to a corporate network for integration (billing, call center, operations and maintenance) in an automated way without the need to file manual reports. Simplification: once the data network uses TCP/IP protocol, the entire automation structure can be utilized and improved. The transmission network can be installed in thousands of units (up to 65,000). The maintenance and operation staffs were technically trained and benefited from learning how to use this innovative technology. P&GJ

Telemetry Installation
After the choice of a data transmission system was made, tests were done to certify the introduction. Working meetings were programmed with fixed and mobile telephony companies. The technology tested was GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) with GPRS (General Packet Radio System). In the control room a link was installed with static IP 128 kbps redundancy by a fixed

Author: Aldo Rosa, automation engineer, is General Director of C&P Instrumentacao e Controle SC Ltda, a Brazil-based automation consulting company. He developed the Pioneer Project in Brazil using GPRS Technology in the BR Distribuidora. He can be reached at cpic@cpic.com.br.

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