News & Events.
Safety Lifecycle Tool Excitement at exida
July 30, 2010
I hope everybody is enjoying their summer, getting some vacation time in and relaxing with friends and family. At exida the nice weather has surely given us extra energy and the exSILentia® team has been rather busy. I wanted to share a couple of exciting things that are coming your way.
SILAlarm
At the end of this month we will be releasing a new version of our Alarm Rationalization tool called SILAlarm. Alarm rationalization is a proven alarm management technique that reduces alarm load on the operator, eliminates nuisance / redundant / false alarms, 
and improves operator response. It is a key activity in the ISA-18.2 alarm management lifecycle and is critical to creating a sustainable alarm management program. It’s also really important for alarms that relate to the safety lifecycle (like those identified in a HAZOP or a LOPA).
SILAlarm has been developed following the ISA-18.2 standard to help users comply with the standard and best practices like EEMUA 191 and API RP 1167. It guides a rationalization team through a systematic process of reviewing, justifying, and documenting the design of each alarm in a master alarm database. Alarm design details can be imported / exported to synchronize with a control system’s alarm configuration. The SILAlarm software is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7. For more information on SILAlarm, upgrade options for your existing SILAlarm license, demos etc., contact Todd Stauffer at tstauffer@exida.com or your local exida contact.
Do you have an iPad? With you exSILentia® online account you are now able to run exSILentia® from virtually anywhere.
Do you want an iPad? Did we not just give you the best excuse to ask your manager for a new toy to support your safety lifecycle work? Do you need some more arguments to convince your boss? How about downloading all CSB videos to iTunes and your iPad? Note that all off exida’s online tools will run on iPad.
exSILentia® 3.0
The exSILentia® team is working hard on testing the release candidate for exSILentia® 3.0. We are anticipating the release on or before August 31st. What can you expect from exSILentia® 3.0?
A complete new Graphical User Interface (GUI). Why? The new GUI allows resizing of SIF windows and zoom capabilities to accommodate a large variety of screen sizes and resolutions and for focused presenting in conference room setups. In addition, for all sub-tools a spreadsheet-like overview is provided to allow a quick comparison between entered data for various SIFs.
We have made some improvements to the exSILentia® SILver sub-tool as well. Users will now be able to specify the test interval of application level diagnostics like Partial Stroke Testing. The 2.x version of exSILentia® SILver assumes that partial stroke testing is done at least an order of magnitude more frequent than the proof test, this new feature will account for those situations where this is not the case. In addition the SILver sub-tool can now be used to account for SIF dead time for those situations where the SIF is completely bypassed during normal operation to execute a proof test. A much anticipated new feature is the ability to specify MooN configurations. Though there are many situations where an expected MooN, e.g. 2oo14, should be defined as a more conventional architecture, like 2oo2, when only a limited set of the “N” components can actually detect the hazard as defined, this option will allow accounting for the rare occasions where a standard architecture does not apply. Users are urged caution when using the MooN functionality.
Improvements to the exSILentia® SILect sub-tool include the ability to have multiple tolerable risk calibrations per project. Users are now able to use both a risk graph and frequency based target (LOPA) approach for example within one project. In addition the SILect sub-tool now also has completely user definable risk graph options as well as a new frequency based target approach which ensures that all SILClass SIL selection functionality is now available within exSILentia®.
Other new functionality within exSILentia® include:
- Automated documentation of IEC / ISA 61511 compliance based on your exSILentia® tool use •
- Embedded Safety Equipment Reliability Handbook viewer, compare devices based on their listing in exida’s SERH handbook •
- Action Items; define, assign, and track action items related to specific team members and/or sub-tools •
- Reference Library; define all references in one location and refer to these references from anywhere in the tool •
- Critical Device List; ever wondered if a relief valve was considered an IPL in any of your SIL Selection work? This new feature generates a list of all IPLs defined in a project and where they are considered •
- SIF and/or Project comparison functionality, compare different versions of a project to determine what changed between versions, or simply compare 2 SIFs exSILentia® 3.0 is available in 4 different options: •
- Standard Base functionality for all users requiring functional safety standard compliance •
- Analysis Additional functionality for the process hazards analysis phases of the safety lifecycle •
- Operation Additional functionality for the operation phases of the safety lifecycle
- Ultimate Complete exSILentia safety lifecycle tool functionality
|
Tools |
Standard |
Analysis |
Operation |
Ultimate |
|
IEC / ISA 61511 Compliance Documentation |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
Cyber Security Audit Checklist |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
PHAX |
|
x |
|
x |
|
PHA Import |
|
x |
|
x |
|
SILAlarm |
|
x |
|
x |
|
SILect |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
SIF SRS |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
SRSC&E - Process SRS |
|
|
|
x |
|
SILver |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
SRSC&E - Design SRS |
|
|
|
x |
|
Proof Test Generator |
|
|
x |
x |
|
Lifecycle Cost Estimator |
|
|
x |
x |
|
SERH Viewer |
x |
x |
x |
x |
The exSILentia® Analysis option is expected to be available in 4th quarter 2010. For more information on exSILentia® 3.0, upgrade options of your existing exSILentia® license, demos etc., contact Iwan van Beurden at vanbeurden@exida.com or your local exida contact.
exSILentia® Training
exida scheduled an open enrollment exSILentia® training class which will be held September 21st-23rd in Germany. The training will be conducted in English, the exact location is still to be determined. This three-day training course will cover the basics of the functional safety standards and familiarize users with all facets of the exSILentia® software to ensure efficient implementation of Safety Lifecycle tasks.
The target audience is individuals responsible for using exSILentia to perform Safety Lifecycle tasks.
These may include the Safety Lead, Conceptual Design Engineer, Requirements reviewer, or other people involved in completing the respective Safety Lifecycle tasks.
The fee for this three day course is only US $ 1,250.00 per student and includes besides training material morning snacks, lunch, and afternoon snacks.
Iwan van Beurden
Director of Engineering
exida