Life Cycle Management for Control Valves, 1999 Process Control, Electrical & Info. Conference Proceedings

Jari Riihilahti, M.Sc. (Eng.)

Jouni Pyötsiä, Ph.D (Eng.)

NELES CONTROLS

Life cycle of a control valve is one of the longest in process industry. In this paper, we discuss how life cycle performance and costs can be optimized with the help of new Life Cycle Management (LCM) concept.

A new Life Cycle Management (LCM) software has been designed. It can manage and analyzes all the information from con-trol valve selection to the end of the life cycle. An analyzing tool helps to make maintenance decisions.

Sizing and selection information are saved to a database. Also, valve performance is recorded before the delivery of the con-trol valve to end users. Later, condition and control performance of an installed valve can be checked periodically. This service is called Control Valve Survey. It consists of performance analysis of the control valve and the control loop. Smart valve controllers have their own testing capability. Conventional valves can be tested with a portable testing system. All the test data is transferred to LCM database.

Maintenance actions are based on visual inspection, test result and life cycle analysis. LCM analyzing tool helps to make correct and profitable maintenance investments. Decisions are based on real data. LCM database saves also the maintenance history and recommendations for next service.