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exida (http://www.exida.com/Home) /  Blog (http://www.exida.com/Blog)
/  Functional Safety Assessment of Valve Assemblies (Part 1)

Functional Safety Assessment


of Valve Assemblies (Part 1)

Chris O'Brien, CFSE


Thursday, March 29, 2018

In this blog series, I will cover the emerging trends in the valve assembly market,
how these trends relate to the IEC 61511 requirements, and what's in a final
element. When you look at the different devices that go into some of these safety
systems, the final element becomes quite complex.

I will also cover requirements traceability, the verification and validation of that
final element, and practical paths to show compliance in a real environment.

Emerging Trends
Over the past 30 months, exida and OEM equipment suppliers have seen a
marked increase in the number of requests for Certified Valve Assemblies. Five
years ago, I would occasionally hear an OEM say “my customer just asked me if
we had a certificate for this whole assembly”. Today, the request is a lot more
frequent.

I think it reflects that, as the market is maturing, more process owners are
looking at what they need to do to be fully compliant with IEC 61511.

These requests are coming from EPC and Process Owners for specific valve
assemblies related to specific projects. This indicates that Process Owners are
looking to satisfy the requirements of IEC 61511 that relate to the integration
and validation of final elements.

It might seem like overkill. Is it really necessary to buy a certified valve and a
certified actuator? When we look at what goes into these final elements, you'll
see quite a bit of complexity, which leads to the requirement within 61511 to
demonstrate that the equipment used in these safety systems will function
correctly.

What is Required by the Standards?

Take a look at this graphic. Is the assembly on the left-hand side equivalent to
what might come fully integrated on the right hand side?

The answer is -- it absolutely can be equivalent.

In fact, sometimes, it can be better. But, there is a need for visibility,


transparency, and traceability for what gets installed at the plant and run. Does it
meet all the functional requirements of the safety requirements spec? Can it be
audited? Does it demonstrate what it needs to do?

There's no prescriptive path in the standard saying that you must buy an
integrated valve assembly or you can't do certain things, but there are
requirements to show that traceability, and to show a reasonable amount of
evidence for verification and validation that the system will function correctly.

IEC 61511 Requirements


When we look at 61511, we can pull out some areas that, looking at a complex
final element, we’ll touch upon.
1. SIL Verification -  Anything that's part of the safety critical path has to be
included in that SIL verification calculation. We'll dig into each of these
bullets a little more.
2. Design -  Anything used in a safety instrumented function has to be
assessed to 61508 or justified based on prior use. Depending on the
complexity of some of these things, that may not be covered.
3. Assembly/Integration - Third is the assembly and integration of that final
element as requirements, validating that it's working correctly functionally.
4. Functional Validation - Finally,  being able to show the evidence at
functional assessment number three. That is also a specific requirement.

Anatomy of Final Elements


This blog is mostly directed at the process industry, so we're primarily going to
talk about valves and actuators, but it could be extended to other applications as
well.

When we think about the final element, what immediately comes to mind is the
valve, the actuator, and probably some type of control device like a solenoid.
That's the minimum you need in your final element, but most times, there's
additional things.

You're certainly going to need some type of integration in the sense of a


mounting bracket, which may or may not be part of the valve assembly, and in
coupling devices.

Sometimes, some OEMs have these couplings and these connector devices
included in their valve or actuator. They would then be part of the valve actuator
assessment. However, many don't. There's a stem that could be connected to an
actuator stem, but then you need an independent way of coupling it. Or you need
the mounting bracket or you need the hardware to do it.

Understanding if all those parts are included in the OEM scope is important.
Beyond that, there can be things such as feedback devices for automated testing
or proof testing. There can be functional devices like quick-exhaust valves or
volume boosters to make sure that the assembly is moving quickly enough. There
can be double-acting actuators, or hydraulic / pneumatic-assist return
actuators.  In that case, the hydraulic supply or the pneumatic supply needs to be
considered as well.

A final element can have quite a few things in addition to the valve and actuator.

In addition to making sure we have the right parts included, we need to be able
to show requirements traceability down through the design of the safety
instrumented function and then to the specific devices in the final elements.  I will
cover that in part 2.

Tagged as:     valves (http://www.exida.com/Blog/tag/valves)     SIL


verification (http://www.exida.com/Blog/tag/SIL+verification)     IEC 61511
(http://www.exida.com/Blog/tag/IEC+61511)     IEC 61508
(http://www.exida.com/Blog/tag/IEC+61508)  Chris O'Brien
(http://www.exida.com/Blog/tag/Chris+O'Brien)

Other Blog Posts By Chris O'Brien


Functional Safety Assessment of Valve Assemblies (Part 1)
(http://www.exida.com/Blog/functional-safety-assessment-of-valve-
assemblies-part-1)
Best Practices in Achieving Functional Safety in Turbine Applications - Part
3 (http://www.exida.com/Blog/best-practices-in-achieving-functional-
safety-in-turbine-applications-)
Best Practices in Achieving Functional Safety in Turbine Applications - Part
2 (http://www.exida.com/Blog/best-practices-in-achieving-functional-
safety-in-turbine-applications-part)
Best Practices in Achieving Functional Safety in Turbine Applications - Part
1 (http://www.exida.com/Blog/best-practices-in-achieving-functional-
safety-in-turbine-applications-pt1)
Product Stewardship and Engineering Ethics (http://www.exida.com
/Blog/Product_Stewardship_and_Engineering_Ethics)
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