Last Updated | S012020 |
MOG508
Unit Name | FIRE AND GAS SYSTEMS |
Unit Code | MOG508 |
Unit Duration | 1 Term (online) or 1 Semester (on-campus) |
Award |
Graduate Diploma of Engineering (Electrical and Instrumentation in Oil and Gas) Duration: 1 year
Master of Engineering (Electrical and Instrumentation in Oil and Gas) Duration: 2 years |
Year Level | One |
Unit Coordinator | Fraser Maywood |
Core/Elective: | Core |
Pre/Co-requisites | Nil |
Credit Points |
3 Grad Dip total course credit points = 24 (3 credits x 8 (units)) Masters total course credit points = 48 (12 credits (Thesis) + 3 credits x 12 (units)) |
Mode of Delivery | Combination of modes: Online synchronous lectures; asynchronous discussion groups, videos, remote and cloud-based labs (simulations); web and video conferencing tutorials. High emphasis on personal and group self-study. |
Unit Workload |
Student workload including “contact hours” = 10 hours per week: Lecture 1 hour Tutorial Lecture 1 hours Practical / Lab 1 hour (where relevant) Personal Study recommended - 7 hours |
Unit Description and General Aims
This unit provides depth of practical understanding of the principles, design, configuration, testing, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire and gas systems in the context of the oil and gas industry.
The underlying principles of fire and gas system requirements (detector selection and interfacing, system design, operator interface(s), alarm and suppression systems, including status and alarm notification, fire fighting, HVAC control, equipment isolation, packaged equipment, cabling, power, earthing and environmental control.) will provide the student with an understanding of how to systematically identify and apply these principles to fire and gas system design based on commercially available products. Practical aspects of overall project development and the impact on fire and gas system design development will be addressed as will system operation and maintenance.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this Unit, students are expected to be able to:
- Identify and apply principles of fire and gas system engineering to onshore and offshore Oil & Gas facilities.
- Evaluate and apply disciplined and practical engineering processes to enhance the lifecycle performance of fire and gas systems.
- Analyse and evaluate engineering practices on fire and gas related hazards, safety requirements and design development.
- Recommend and apply principles for incorporating design information into the system design and development.
- Evaluate and apply principles for the operation and maintenance of fire and gas systems.
Student assessment
Assessment Type (e.g. Assignment - 2000 word essay (specify topic) Examination (specify length and format)) |
When assessed (eg Week 5) |
Weighting (% of total unit marks) |
Learning Outcomes Assessed |
Assessment 1 Type: Quiz Word length: n/a Topic examples: Fundamental concepts of fire and gas system design, installation and maintenance |
After Topic 5 |
20% |
1, 2 |
Assessment 2 Type: Report (Midterm Project) [This will include a progress report; literature review, hypothesis, and proposed solution with concept workings] Word length: 1000 Topic examples: overall fire and gas system design development considerations
|
After Topic 8 |
25% |
1, 2, 3, 4 |
Assessment 3 Type: Report (Final Project) [If a continuation of the midterm, this should complete the report by adding sections on: workings, implementation, results, verification/validation, conclusion/challenges and recommendations/future work. If this is a new report, all headings from the midterm and the final reports must be included.] Word length: 4000 Topic examples: overall fire and system specification for an offshore production facility covering accommodation, process and utility plant and packaged equipment or as specified by the lecturer |
After Topic 12 |
35% |
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
Practical Participation May be in the form of quizzes, class tests, practical assessments, remote labs, simulation software or case studies: E.g. Fire and gas detector to logic solver interfacing 2/3 /4 wire detectors, EOL resistors, resetting, diagnostic alarms |
Continuous |
15% |
5 |
Attendance |
Continuous |
5% |
1-5 |
Prescribed and recommended readings
Required textbook(s)
- P. Nolan, Handbook of Fire and Explosion Protection Engineering Principles: for Oil, Gas, Chemical and Related Facilities, 2011.
- Duncan, Fire Protection Systems, 2nd Edition, American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) ISBN 978-1-891255-14-4. ELECTRONIC ISBN 978-1-61344-579-2
Reference Materials
- J. Reddy, Industrial Process Automation Systems - Design and Implementation, 1st Edition, Elsevier, 2015. ISBN 978-0-12-800939-0
- IEC 61508/ 61511 Functional Safety of Electrical / Electronic / Programmable Electronic Safety Related Systems
- ISA TR84.00.07 Guidance on the Evaluation of Fire and Gas System Effectiveness, 2010, International Society for Automation (ISA)
- EN 54 Fire detection and fire alarm systems
- IEC 60079-29 (parts 1 & 4) Gas detectors
- NFPA 20 Fire Pumps
- Number of peer-reviewed journals and websites (advised during lectures) [some examples below]:
- Fire Protection Engineering
- Control Engineering
- EIT notes
Unit Content
One topic is delivered per contact week, with the exception of part-time 24-week units, where one topic is delivered every two weeks.
Topic 1
Introduction to Fire and Gas Systems
- Introduction to the purposes of fire and gas process control systems and their role in managing safe plant operations
- History and development of fire and gas systems
- Typical control system architectures and characteristic features used in the Oil & Gas industry
- Current state of technology and key challenges
Topic 2
Legislative and Compliance Framework
- Typical legislative requirements
- Codes and standards including Certifying Authorities (Lloyds, DNV, ABS)
- Safety case
- Safety critical elements and performance standards
- Design, operation and maintenance considerations
Topic 3
Fire & Gas Hazard Management
- Fire
- Flammable gas
- Toxic gas
- Control of ignition sources
- Risk assessment
- Application of functional safety management to Fire & Gas systems
Topics 4 and 5
Fire & Gas Detection
- Fire detection: smoke (ionisation, optical, beam, VESDA), fire (frangible bulb, fusible loop, point & rate of rise, UV/IR)
- Gas detection: flammable (pellistor, infrared point, open path / line of sight, oil mist, ultrasonic, portable), toxic (carbon dioxide & monoxide, hydrogen sulphide)
- Cabling, interfaces (2 / 3 / 4 wire, 4-20mA, Hart, RS485, addressable, EOL), fault detection, detector resetting and interface type testing
- Commissioning, testing and calibration of fire and gas detectors
- Specific Oil & Gas applications (eg galley, accommodation, turbine enclosure, safe by pressurisation area, machinery space, crane, wellhead, paint store, process equipment, laboratory, floating roof storage tank, LPG bullets)
Topics 6 and 7
Fire Fighting and Related Systems
- Passive fire protection
- Active fire suppression: water (deluge, water mist), foam, gaseous fire suppression, chemical agents
- Fire water systems, fire pumps, fire pumps controls, fire pump testing and maintenance
- Fire dampers, fire doors
- Electrical isolation
- Fire alarms, local control and status panels (including package equipment, escape and evacuation, temporary refuge, muster points)
- Specific Oil & Gas applications (as for detection)
Topics 8 and 9
Fire and Gas Design Development
- Hazard analysis, fire and gas philosophy (including energise to operate, voting and redundancy, combined FGS & ESD/PSD safety system), fire area layouts / zoning, cause and effects, CFD modelling, mapping and detector locations, installation drawings
- SIL determination, SIL verification, performance standards, testing, lifecycle requirements
- Environmental – ingress protection, hazardous area (normal operation and upset conditions), remote equipment rooms
- Fire and gas system (detectors, logic solver, fire suppression, status and control panels) procurement process
- V-model system development process
- Project lifecycle, contracting strategies, evolution of design information and third party vendor data
Topics 10 and 11
Fire and Gas System Development
- Logic solver, power sizing criteria (including field devices in normal and upset conditions), power isolation in hazardous areas
- Lifecycle requirements, user requirements, system functional specification (clear, concise, unambiguous, defined fault/failure modes), distributed architecture, packaged equipment, black start, graphical interface, operator panels (including status, fire pump and deluge controls), alarm management (including PA, sequence of events, inhibits and overrides), incident management support, project planning
- Hardware build
- System configuration
- System testing
- System installation and commissioning
- System operations and maintenance
- Change management
Topic 12
Project and Revision
In the final weeks students will have an opportunity to review the contents covered so far. Opportunity will be provided for a review of student work and to clarify any outstanding issues. Instructors/facilitators may choose to cover a specialized topic if applicable to that cohort.
Professional Development
Completing this unit will add to students professional development/competencies by:
- Fostering the personal and professional skills development of students to:
- Be adaptable and capable 21st century citizens, who can communicate effectively, work collaboratively, think critically and innovatively solve complex problems.
- Equipping individuals with an increased capacity for lifelong learning and professional development.
- Planning and organising self and others
- Instilling leadership qualities and a capacity for ethical and professional contextualization of knowledge
- Enhancing students’ investigatory and research capabilities through:
- Solving complex and open-ended engineering problems
- Accessing, evaluating and analysing information
- Processes and procedures, cause – effect investigations
- Developing the engineering application abilities of students through:
- Assignments
- Labs / practical / case studies / self-study (where applicable)
Resource Requirements
Software
Web & Video conferencing software
Students will be provided with Blackboard Collaborate (or similar) for video and web conferencing. This will allow them to attend lectures, interact with lecturers and fellow students, and use the Remote Lab facility. Students will be required to download the latest version of Java and .NET in order to use these packages.
Skype
For ease of communicating with peers and lecturers, installation of this package is recommended.
Word, PowerPoint and Excel
It is recommended that students install at least a 2007 version of the Microsoft Office. Older versions will work, but sometimes create issues with file compatibility. If individuals are reluctant to use these, they can also use Open Office (www.openoffice.org).
Virus detection
As students are co-operating with people from throughout the world with a multitude of different PCs, it is recommended that they have good quality up-to-date virus detection software installed. The free version of AVG is sufficient. A thorough automated scan of computers at least once a week is recommended.
Learning Management System
EIT uses a state-of-the-art learning management system (Moodle) for lecturing and interacting with lecturers and fellow students. Students can chat, socialize, and collaborate on projects with similarly motivated and enthusiastic course participants.
Computing resource requirements
Computer
Students’ computers should have an Intel Core Duo CPU and 2 Gigabytes of RAM. Hard disk space available should be at least 2 Gigabytes free. If necessary the built-in hard drive can be augmented with an inexpensive USB drive. No particular special graphics card is required. The operating system should be Windows with Windows 7 Service Pack 1 as a minimum.
Internet
An ADSL Internet connection with a minimum speed of 128 kbps down and 64 kbps up is recommended.
Good quality headset and low cost web cam
Students will require a good quality stereo headset with analogue or USB connectors. In addition, a low-cost USB webcam is recommended. Students should budget in the order of $30 for a headset and $20 for a webcam. This will vary from country to country.
Technical Help
For difficulties with other online materials the lecturer should be contacted. Technical material will be accessible 24/7 through the online portal.