General Purpose of Instrumentation

Presented By : Akhilesh Thapliyal

Management Trainee
Instrumentation Engineer
 Introduction
Instrumentation system is one of the most important system for safe & efficient running of
pipeline station.It helps the station operator in running the station smoothely.

How it can be useful?

It measures the various field parameters & converts them in engineering units for display.
All important parameters are printed at regular intervals so that hard copy can be use for
reference.
Visual & Audible alarms are extended automatically when parameters crosses the set
point, so that corrective action can take place.
Trip Command is automatically extended to prime movers,flow control valves etc.
whenever the field parameters crosses the set point.
PLC plays a crucial role by continuously analysing the field parameters, so that speed of
prime movers can be adjusted according to the process variables variations.
 FIELD INSTRUMENTS
Field Instruments purpose is to indicate the condition and value of the process variables to the
control panel so that appropriate action can take place.
Some of the field instruments used in pipeline station are:
Pressure Transmitter :- It senses the mainline pressure of the pipeline and sends the analog
signal to the control panel from where it is fed to different control loops as per the
requirement, so that any indication, recording,control action can be carried out.
Pressure Switch:- A pressure switch is a electromagnetic device which measures the
mainline pressure and when the pressure reaches too high or low of a given set point, the
device will switch means it will open or close a circuit that powers a certain device like an
alarm system or shutdown valve.
Thermal Relief Valve:- In case if a pipeline station is shutdown or a pipeline section is
isolated, there will be a increase in pressure due to increase in temperature which can
damage the pipe so to avoid this excess pressure is vented out with the help of thermal
relief valve.
Level Switches :- These switches are used for monitoring the level of fluids in various
tanks.A information is send to station control panel if fluid crosses the upper and lower
level limit by indicating the alarm/trip command.
Temperature transmitters:- It is used for monitoring the pipeline fluid temperature.A
temperature transmitter is an electrical instrument that interfaces the temperature
sensor(like thermocouple,RTDs, Thermistor) to a control device(PLC,DCS or loop
controller).It typically amplifies the input signal from sensor and then sends the
standardizes output signal to control device.
Pressure Indicators:- These are used to indicate the analog pressure value in the
pipeline station.
 Pressure Indicator
Thermal Relief Valve

Level Switch
Temperature Transmitter
 Density Measurement & Interface Detection Instruments

We do density measurement of crude oil petroleum products mainly for two reasons:
1. Accounting Purpose:- Accounting of all petroleum product is done because pipeline
companies charges for their gas or crude oil transportation from shippers and to the
customers which is based on volume accounting. This is done on the basis of weight and
for calculating this, measurement of density is done.
2. For Identification of petroleum Products/crude oil:- Different petroleum products are
used for different purposes, but medium of transportation is same i.e Pipeline. So there is a
chance of intermixing of product while transporting them in batches. So to avoid these
density is measured as different product would have diff. densities and we can separate
them by changing the storing tank when interface is detected by density meter.
Generally two type of density meters are used in addition to manual measurement of
density with the help of hydrometers.
 Density measurement Instruments

1. Density Meter with Ultrasonic Sensor:- A vibrating densitometer uses

the drive coil to excite the tube or tuning fork to vibrate at its natural
or resonant frequency. As the fluid in the tube changes so there will be a
change in the density and consequently resonant frequency will also
change. This change in resonant frequency is non-linearly proportional to
the flowing fluid density.
This change in resonant frequency is detected by the density meter and
accordingly it gives the output signal. It gives a standard signal of 4-20mA output for the entire
range of density measurement.
This output signal is used for recording, indication,interface detection and flow computation
purpose.
Density Meter with Radio active element :- This is also used for density measurement of
crude oil and petroleum products.
Area around density element is declared hazardous & special care is taken by the people
who are handling the instrument because sensing element is radio active which emits
harmful rays.
Radio active rays are continuously generated by source and detected by the detector.
When the pipe is empty a recording is made on the basis of rays detected by detector and
this recording is compared when the fluid is passing through the pipeline.
And on comparing this density meter gives the output signal.
 Interface Detection
As Pipeline is used for transporting the different petroleum products and crude oil and each
of them has different use and purpose. All are need to be store separately.
When a particular batch which is under receipt,is about to be completed, the density starts
changing from the preset batch as it is a different product.
So this interface is detected by the density meter and a control command is extended for
alarm indication so that tank for storing that particular product can be change.