Prognost SILver: Monitoring, Protection And Shutdown In One

Germany-based Prognost Systems, specialist in online diagnostics of reciprocating compressors and critical rotating equipment, has launched a full-spectrum asset care solution in a single device: Prognost-SILver. It is a condition monitoring, machine protection and emergency shutdown system in one SIL 3-certified hardware unit, designed for reciprocating compressors and other critical rotating equipment used in the oil and gas industry.

The first Prognost-SILver was introduced in 2008, and the current upgrade evolved to include an expanded scope of capabilities requested by maintenance and instrumentation experts, including SIL-rated relay contacts on board. Also, the 19 in. (483 mm) device can operate in hazardous areas without expensive housings.

“Combining these three products into one functionally safe hardware device has been at the top of customers’ wish lists,” said Eike Drewes, managing director of Prognost Systems. “We committed substantial resources to developing user-friendly software for configuration tasks. No matter how complex shutdown parameters may be, the user can easily configure intricate voting schemes, trip multipliers or exception ranges using a simple drag-and-drop function.”

According to Prognost’s product manager, Ralf Thien, the setup of the machine tree is a breeze thanks to an extensive library of machines, rack cards and sensors. “For enhanced security, we included hardware and software options to protect configuration files from unauthorized access,” he said.

Prognost said the product offers reliable and powerful signal analyses to identify detects, while signal plausibility checks avoid false alarms and shutdowns. At the same time, onboard signal diagnostics eliminate the need for sensor redundancy. Hot-swappable cards provide uninterrupted protection and a redundant power supply avoids system outages.

The device features 68 input channels to monitor up to eight machines simultaneously, and 30 relay outputs with SIL 3 certificate onboard, which make the rack a shutdown device.

Prognost said legacy Prognost-SILver users can easily upgrade and use their existing input cards.