PTT, the petroleum authority of Thailand, has embarked on a programme of automation at all of the country’s petroleum depots in order to improve safety and reduce operating costs, using Rotork IQ range intelligent electric valve actuators. Two depots in the south of the country, at Suratthani and Pakpanang, were chosen as pilot schemes for the project. Work here involved retrofitting electric actuators on installed manually operated valves and providing Modbus connectivity with existing Allen Bradley PLC supervisory systems. Rotork’s subsidiary company in Thailand was awarded the order by contractor Carlton International (Thailand) Ltd to instal and commission 28 IQ actuators at Suratthani and 14 at Pakpanang. All the actuators were equipped with factory-fitted Rotork Modbus cards to provide the digital communication with host PLCs that was specified in the contract. Commissioning at both sites was completed on target during 2001.
