Power & Controls
Controls, Automation & DCS Systems
Senior industrial controls and automation capability for DCS and PLC systems, instrumentation, control logic, interlocks, sequence control, alarms and trips, system integration and commissioning. Particularly valuable where control behavior may have contributed to a plant trip, equipment event or operating instability.
30+ years in industrial controls and automation
- UEI
- ZR3PJZEA7A21
- CAGE
- 174X8
- Independence
- Findings challenged before release
- Deployment
- Remote response within 24 hours
What This Discipline Covers
Scope of the technical capability.
Senior industrial controls and automation capability for DCS and PLC systems, instrumentation, control logic, interlocks, sequence control, alarms and trips, system integration and commissioning. Particularly valuable where control behavior may have contributed to a plant trip, equipment event or operating instability.
- DCS
- PLC
- Instrumentation
- Process controls
- Control logic
- Interlocks
- Sequence control
- Alarm and trip logic
- Control philosophy
- System integration
- Commissioning
- Startup
- Control system troubleshooting
Problems The Technical Lead Solves
The questions this discipline is engaged to answer.
- 01
Plant trips
- 02
Control system failures
- 03
Logic review
- 04
Interlock and trip investigation
- 05
Instrumentation problems
- 06
DCS upgrades
- 07
Commissioning problems
- 08
Mechanical and control interaction investigations
Equipment And Systems
Assets this Technical Lead has worked on directly.
- DCS platforms
- PLC systems
- Field instrumentation
- Control valves
- Motor and equipment control interfaces
- Process control loops
- Trip and interlock systems
Industries And Environments
Operating environments where this experience was built.
- Chemical and process
- Oil and gas
- Power and utilities
- Industrial operating facilities
Diagnostic And Investigation Methods
How the technical work is actually performed.
- Sequence of events and relay target reconstruction
- Waveform and power quality analysis
- Protection coordination and settings verification
- Insulation, winding, and dielectric condition assessment
- Control logic, alarm, and interlock review
- Arc flash and incident energy evaluation
Tools Capability
The platforms, instruments and measurement methods used on assignments.
These platforms, instruments and methods are used to produce evidence that holds up under audit, underwriting review and cross examination.
Industrial Control Platforms
Emerson DeltaV and Ovation
DCS configuration, logic and event evidence review in process and power plants.
Honeywell Experion PKS
Control strategy, alarm and operator action review.
Rockwell Studio 5000 and Allen-Bradley
PLC logic interrogation and interlock verification.
Siemens SIMATIC and TIA Portal
Control logic review and sequence reconstruction.
ABB control system environments
Distributed control review across legacy and current ABB platforms.
Safety Instrumented Systems
Triconex, HIMA and ProSafe
Safety function review, bypass history and trip performance evidence.
exida exSILentia
SIL determination and verification where protective function adequacy is in dispute.
Historian and Operating Evidence
AVEVA PI System, PI DataLink and PI Vision
High resolution process and machine data retrieval used to reconstruct the operating state before and during an event.
Sequence of events and alarm record analysis
Millisecond ordering of trips, interlocks, alarms and operator actions to establish cause and effect.
AVEVA System Platform and HMI logs
Operator interface evidence showing what the control room actually saw and did.
Root Cause and Analytical Method
Event and causal factor charting with barrier analysis
Identification of which protective layer was missing, bypassed or ineffective.
Apollo Root Cause Analysis and 5 Why screening
Structured progression from the trip event to the latent configuration or management cause.
Monitoring and Analytics
Anomaly detection on historian data
Identification of drift, instrument fault and control loop degradation ahead of an upset.
Control loop performance monitoring
Quantified assessment of tuning, valve condition and loop stability across a unit.
BlackOut Power / TerraTolga Proprietary Capability
- Engineering Records Intelligence
Cause and effect matrices, logic narratives, SIL reports and MOC records assembled into one reviewable set.
- TerraTolga PDF / Vault Compare
Version comparison of logic documents and cause and effect charts to show what configuration changed.
- FMECA Engine
Failure mode review of instrumented protective functions and their supporting devices.
Codes And Standards
Frameworks applied to the analysis.
- NFPA 70 and NFPA 70E
- IEEE 242, 399, 1584 and C57 series
- NETA acceptance and maintenance testing specifications
- IEC 61508 and IEC 61511 for safety instrumented systems
- ISA 18.2 alarm management
- ISA 84 and IEC 61511 safety lifecycle
Credentials And Qualification
The professional basis for this discipline.
- 01
Electrical engineering background with utility or industrial power system experience
- 02
Protection, controls, and automation platform experience across major vendors
- 03
Testing and commissioning experience on medium and high voltage apparatus
- 04
Mission critical facility operations exposure
Scale And Breadth
Reported scale of professional exposure.
- 01
30+ years in industrial controls and automation
- 02
Major DCS and control projects delivered under BlackOut Power leadership
Representative Professional Experience
Assignment types this discipline supports.
- 01
Origin determination for a medium voltage switchgear arcing event including protection performance review
- 02
Reconstruction of a mission critical outage from electrical monitoring, UPS, and generator records
- 03
Assessment of transformer failure cause and resulting damage scope for a claim
- 04
Control system logic review establishing why an automated protective action did not occur
Assignment descriptions are generalized to protect client confidentiality. Specific references can be discussed during scoping where permissions allow.
Multidisciplinary Interfaces
Disciplines this work commonly coordinates with.
- Process
- Electrical
- Machinery
- Mechanical & RCA
- Reliability
- Vibration
Discuss a controls & dcs assignment.
Initial conversations are confidential and without obligation. We will confirm independence before scope is discussed.