Instrumentation and Automation Workshop-eyes, ears and stirrups of technological process
It’s hard to imagine today «KARPATNAFTOCHIM» Ltd. without this powerful and technically capacious division, like it’s impossible to imagine any other industrial enterprises without automated techniques. And in difficult industrial situations the specialists of instrumentation and automation are always called for help and assistance. And they do not need to be called. They are always near. They are everywhere.
– Job of Instrumentation and Automation Workshop, – tells its Chief Igor Dubovyk, – is probably not very notable and public. It’s not conspicuous, does not flicker in front of the management and is not often to be mentioned in mass media reports. Job of workers of this Workshop is silent and diligent, but requires from workers broad and deep knowledge and skills.
I will not prevaricate or exaggerate, if I say that Instrumentation Workshop is really eyes, ears and stirrups of technological process
It was created together with creation of our enterprise, was functioning and developing along with it. And for more complicated industrial processes were needed more precise and safer devices and systems.
As per Igor Volodymyrovych words, the process of production is closely linked with measurements. And no wonder people say: «Measure seven times before you cut». And he mentioned this proverb for the reason in order to develop his opinion and to outline the current tasks of his team.
– Since ancient times, when a person started to produce something, – explains Igor Dubovyk, making the example from history, – it always faced the question: how much? How much material do I need for this or that? How much time or energy should I spend? Where could I take the ingredients from in order to receive the desired product? Tens of thousand, hundred, thousand of such «how much?» were accompanying a person throughout its whole life.
And for more precise measurement and more exact real result a person started to create certain tools. They were firstly simple, but with increase of requirements and production needs, instruments for quantity and quality measurements were becoming more complicated and more perfect. This process lasts already ten and maybe hundreds of thousand years and will last so long as a person creates something and produces.
Main target of our specialists is securing of uninterrupted, effective and safe run of technological process. By means of thousand instruments, which are at each Unit, are measured transient processes and their parameters, signals about the measured values are going via hundred thousand kilometers of cables and sent to modern computing systems. The whole information is processed, estimated in automatic mode and is transferred backwards to executive or safety means – control valves, shut off valves, shutters, etc. And such large industrial object is controlled, maintained in working condition and repaired, if necessary, by professional specialists of instrumentation and automation. In shifts and divisions they are informal called as Instrumentation guys.
– As it’s understandable from the aforementioned that the targets of specialists of this division at «KARPATNAFTOCHIM» Ltd., are for a long time not limited only by measuring instruments.
Sure. They work on modern systems of automatic management and protection that are installed and are operating at our production facilities. These are control and emergency shutdown systems of leading companies manufacturing, such as Yokogawa (Japan), Siemens (Germany), Sneider Electric (France), and other foreign and domestic companies.
Employees of Instrumentation and Automatic Workshop are engineers with high special education. The enterprise in these days can’t do without them, because modern technique contains high speed automatic systems and devices, created on up-to-date scientific processes and require high qualification and powerful special knowledge and experience.
– It seems so that winter time causes the most troubles, isn’t it?
– Though at the enterprise equipment and technical means are chosen with consideration of climatic conditions, still there are some problems. As a rule within winter time one of them is freezing of communications. And then is really tested the knowledge and technical capability of process personnel and instrumentation people. This year, especially in February, frosts brought a lot of concerns to all employees. But no emergency case connected with freezing of equipment and pipelines was admitted. The raised problems were quickly and professionally eliminated.
– And what about staffing of your division, Igor Volodymyrovych?
– At the enterprise in general and particularly at our Workshop a great attention is paid to the preparation and professional growth of employees. As for young people, as a rule experienced veterans work with them. And such responsible approach for preparation and upgrading of skills should be, because automatic systems and means of measurement are constantly improved. Even this that was modern five years ago is considered to be at present as out-of-date. Progress is moving with crazy speed. And exactly young professionals should work at complicated tasks of modern times.
The updating process will be never stopped and never terminated. With technologies development continually increases the level of automatic control and protection systems. It means that in future the team of Instrumentation and Automation Workshop will have a lot of tasks. And solution of these tasks is a matter of honor.
Vasyl TKACHUK
