March 28th and 29th, 2023

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When & Where?

Date: March 28th and March 29th 2023

Time: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

Location: Microsoft Teams

Burner Management Systems are one of the most common unit operations in the Process Industry.  However, they are also often one of the least understood unit operations due to the complexities associated with its various modes of operation: pre-fire, purge, light off, normal operation and post purge.  Furthermore, if one desires to select Safety Integrity Levels (SIL) associated with typical Burner Management System interlocks this can result in some very common Functional Safety Engineering misapplications, which typically have budget / schedule implications.    

So using real world examples this class will present Safety Instrumented Burner Management System fundamentals in a simple and easy to understand manner.

The purpose of the course is to try prevent the most common problems one can encounter when attempting to overlay ISA84 / IEC 61511 on top of a piece fired equipment.  If SIL targets are too high or SIFs defined incorrectly, it has business impacts on cost of field devices, reduced test intervals, higher nuisance trip rates, production impacts, etc.  On a capital project this translates into budget / schedule concerns.   Conversely if targets are too low you might have “invisible” risk in the organization. 

So in this class we’re going to discuss Burner Management Systems modes of operation and associated hazards via PowerPoint. To reinforce risk analysis concepts the attendees with participate in a Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) on a typical gas train as a group.  We’ll also play “what if” during the LOPA session to show where things can go awry and result in undesirable LOPA outcomes. 

With realistic SIL targets in hand, we’ll discuss resultant Safety Instrumented Function designs, typical achieved SIL targets and what can be done to extend test intervals / improve availability.

And finally we’ll end up focused on O&M KPIs that one can leverage to get better insight into fired device safety performance.  Since it’s an open class, students in the past end up networking with their peers on who does what type conversations.

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Course Overview

This course provides a thorough overview of a Burner Management System unit operation and associated process safety related hazards associated based upon a natural gas fired steam boiler and the various modes of operation (e.g., pre-fire, purge, light off, normal operation and post purge). This course includes BMS specifics on:

• Process Hazards Analysis

• Layer of Protection Analysis

• Safety Requirements Specification

• Safety Integrity Level Verification Calculations

• Cause & Effect Diagrams

• Proof Test Plans

• Operations and Maintenance insight in Steam Boiler safety performance

• Leading Indicators

• Bypass Research

• MoC Research

• Demand Research

• Test Interval Extension / Deferral

Instructor – Mike Scott – PE, CFSE

Mike Scott is the CEO of aeShield, a software company that specializes in the digitalization of process / functional safety lifecycle solutions. He has over 32 years of experience associated with fired devices including risk analysis, safety instrumented systems and control systems engineering, where he performed / implemented conceptual design, detailed design, configuration, and startup / commissioning exercises for the process industry for over 152 fired devices.

• Licensed Professional Engineer

• Certified Functional Safety Expert (CFSE)

• Voting member of ISA S84 committee

• Co-Chairman of the ISA S84 Working Group on Burner Management Systems

• IEC 61511 committee member

• Granted 7 patents on safety lifecycle tools and implementation

• ISA Fellow