Yokogawa Electric Corporation has announced a major upgrade to its Exaquantum Safety Function Monitoring (SFM) software, an OpreX asset operations and optimisation solution that helps identify whether actual operating performance meets safety design targets
Improving health and safety is one of Yokogawa's six sustainability focus areas. New upgraded software, SFM R3.35, provides continuous monitoring and evaluation of safety data to highlight deviations or failures in plant safety system performance.
Already in use across the globe in industries such as oil and gas, chemicals and power generation, SFM collects all safety-related data to track and analyse key performance metrics, including safety-instrumented function (SIF) activations and maintenance (proof testing), independent protection layers (IPLs), and initiating causes and overrides. This new version now supports the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61511 standard, a regulatory standard for functional safety in the process industry, and includes several new features to help SFM users identify potential safety issues, optimise maintenance activities, and improve overall safety solution design.
Yokogawa recognises the continuous challenges that plant owners face in trying to efficiently maintain process safety integrity over the entire life cycle of their plant facilities. As one component of a sustainable SIS solution, SFM automatically monitors operational safety data to quickly determine whether real-time operating data meets safety design targets and to track and analyse key safety performance metrics. Proof tests are recorded to track when they took place and identify when they reach their expiration date. SFM assists plant managers by identifying any potential safety issues, reducing unnecessary maintenance activities, and improving the overall safety solution design.
