Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology

Emerald Article: Automation of Real Time Monitoring and Controlling of a

Marine Loading Arm
M.K.S. Sastry, Larry Haynes Seekumar

Article information:
To cite this document: M.K.S. Sastry, Larry Haynes Seekumar, (2012),"Automation of Real Time Monitoring and Controlling of a
Marine Loading Arm", Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, Vol. 10 Iss: 2 pp. 5 - 5
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 Article Title Page

Automation of Real Time Monitoring and Controlling of a Marine Loading Arm

Author Details (please list these in the order they should appear in the published article)

Author 1 Name: M.K.S. Sastry

Department: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University/Institution: The University of the West Indies,
Town/City: Trinidad
State (US only):
Country: West Indies

Author 2 Name: Larry Seekumar

Department: Electrical & Instrumentation Engineering Division
University/Institution: PCS Nitrogen Trinidad Ltd,
Town/City: Pt Lisas
State (US only):
Country: Trinidad & Tobago

NOTE: affiliations should appear as the following: Department (if applicable); Institution; City; State (US only); Country.
No further information or detail should be included

Corresponding author: M.K.S. Sastry

Corresponding Author’s Email: mks_sastry@hotmail.com

Please check this box if you do not wish your email address to be published

Acknowledgments (if applicable):

N/A

Biographical Details (if applicable):

M.K.S. Sastry is presently with Faculty of Engineering, The University of West Indies (UWI), Trinidad and Tobago. He serves as
Postgraduate Program Coordinator of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and also as Coordinator for the Technology Degree
Programs jointly offered by UWI and University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). He is a senior member, IEEE and a registered
engineer in Trinidad and Tobago. His research interests are in the areas of Real-time Control Systems, Artificial Intelligence,
SCADA and Electrical Power Distribution Automaton.

Mr. Larry Seekumar is presently with the Electrical & Instrumentation Engineering Division, PCS Nitrogen Trinidad Ltd, Trinidad and
Tobago. Prior to this he worked with Navicom Avionics, Trinidad. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering
Technology from University of West Indies in 2010. His research interests include design and development of PLC systems, aircraft
electronic navigation, communication equipment and real-time monitoring of process plants.

Structured Abstract:

Purpose: To automate the operations and Real Time Monitoring and Controlling of a Marine Loading Arm

Design/methodology/approach: A generic control strategy to automate the operation of manually controlled marine loading arms
has been developed. This strategy employs state of the art, industry standard position sensors, PLC systems,
interactive Human Machine Interface (HMI) and integrates fail-safe operation and emergency shutdown
procedures.

Findings: This approach satisfies all the industry safety regulations and eliminates the possible risks and/ or
spurious trips during product loading. The overall engineering process is simpler, easier to implement and
manage due to the fact the industry standard equipment and design tools have been used. Using this generic
strategy, manually operated marine loading arms can be automated for effective monitoring and controlling
purposes.
 Type header information here

Practical implications: We are expecting that engineers around the world can get benefited by our approach and will be able to
design similar control equipment to automate the functionality of loading arms in their organizations.

Originality/Value: This work is ours, thoughts and designs belong to us and the ideas presented are completely original, developed,
implemented and tested by us over years.

Keywords: Design strategies, Control systems, Computer Simulation, Safety issues, Sustainability, Maintainability, Generic Control
strategy, marine loading arm, Human Machine Interface, programmable Logic controller, Emergency Shutdown System, Emergency
Release System, Sensors

Article Classification: Research paper

For internal production use only

Running Heads:

Type footer information here

 1

Automation of Real Time Monitoring and Controlling of a Marine Loading Arm

Abstract

Product loading and unloading operations to and from a ship using typical marine loading arms

are challenging due to the risks involved and industrial safety regulation protocols. This paper

presents the design and development of a generic control strategy to automate the operation of

manually controlled marine loading arms. This strategy employs state of the art, industry

standard position sensors, PLC systems, interactive Human Machine Interface (HMI) and

integrates fail-safe operation and emergency shutdown procedures. The suggested approach

reduces the overall operating cost and improves safety standards during product loading.

Keywords: Generic Control strategy, marine loading arm, safety standards, Human Machine Interface,
programmable Logic controller, Emergency Shutdown System, Emergency Release System, Sensors

1. Introduction

A Marine Loading Arm is an articulated pipe system to transfer liquids or gases to and from tank

ships or cargo vessels. Most ships and cargo vessels may have their own multipurpose loading

arms on board. Similarly chemical factories and loading docks will have their own, product

specific loading arms on the loading yards. In either case, loading arms usually have several

swivel joints for all-plane, all-directional movement for flexibility to accommodate irregular

motions of ships due to buoyancy. Once the loading arm is connected to the flange of the ship

tank, the arm is free to follow the normal movement of a properly moored ship at berth. Marine

loading arms are either manually or hydraulically controlled.

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Figure. 1 Assembly mechanism of a typical loading yard mounted Marine Loading arm

Marine loading arms are available in different configurations (GlobalSpec, 2010) for different

purposes; such as counterweighted loaders, vapor recovery loaders, top loaders, bottom loaders,

pantographs or scissor arms, slide sleeves, wash arms etc. Most of the loading arms are made of

aluminum or carbon steel. A typical, platform based marine loading arm comprises several

components in its assembly, the important components being - Base riser, Inboard arm, Outboard

arm etc. Figure 1 shows various parts and assembly mechanism of a typical plant mounted

marine loading arm. Exact positioning of the loading arm becomes difficult when visibility is

hampered by poor lighting conditions and inclement weather. Coupling and uncoupling of the

loading arm with the ship flanges are carried out manually. Figure 2 shows a loading arm

connected to a ship.
 3

Figure 2. Marine Loading arm coupled to a Loading Tanker (GFDL and CC-BY-SA France for
Marine-marchande.net)

Major turbulence and/ or excessive currents can result in unexpected/unplanned movement of the

ship, which may either violently or slowly drift away from the shoreline, thereby pulling the

connected arm with it. A situation can arise where the maximum extension of the loading arm

will be exceeded resulting in the arm shearing away at the swivel joints. This will result in the

release of poisonous gases or liquids into the atmosphere, resulting in serious harm to people and

damage to the environment. Loading operations are typically long (usually more than 10 – 12

hours) and the loading arm operator must be present on the spot all through the loading

operations to continuously monitor the loading arm and to control if necessary. Usually
 4

operators initiate emergency shutdown procedures in case of excessive movements of the loading

arm.

Marine loading arms are used all over the world; in energy industries, utilities and process plants

to transfer their products such as Ammonia, Nitrogen etc. Almost every plant is likely to have

marine loading arms in their facilities. However, the majority of them are either manually or

semi-automatically operated and controlled during product loading operations. At present,

there are manual or semi-automatic techniques which require human intervention to accomplish

the emergency shutdown procedures if necessary. Such techniques need an operator

intervention, line-of-sight and naturally probability of making errors in the operation is higher.

The existing shutdown mechanisms typically use hardwired-relay base systems involving

electromechanical relays, timers, pushbuttons and locally mounted lamps mounted within the

cabinets. Any incident that trips the process flow results in the initiation of shutdown procedure,

causing the stoppage of the product loading. Such incidents may even cause damages to the

loading arm and forced the company to pay the maintenance and demurrage costs to the tanker

for additional time spent at the loading facility. These costs are substantial and directly affect the

profits.

Therefore it is important to automate the monitoring and control of marine loading arm

operations with safety, security and reliability as the chief operating indicators. Presently

position detection based monitoring systems are absent in case of manually operated loading

arms to determine whether it is moving beyond its safe operating limits. Integrating a state-of-art

position detection system within the existing, phased-out shutdown protection systems is not

practical due to incompatibilities between the new and old technologies. Though design and
 5

construction specifications for marine loading arms are available (OCIMF, 2001), generic

solutions to automate the manually (or hydraulically) operated marine loading arms have not

been reported in literature so far. Manufacturers encourage their clients to purchase

hydraulically balanced loading arms at much higher cost. Organizations are usually reluctant to

procure hydraulically balanced loading arms as both the maintenance costs and the downtimes

are higher due to its complex, proprietary technologies. A few companies (FMC, 2010) which

manufacture the loading arms supply typical proprietary control mechanisms along with their

loading arms, as an optional feature. However, such solutions are product specific and hence

cannot be applied to other types of loading arms, especially to the manually operated types. Also

these optional control technology features are prohibitively expensive and will come with usage

licenses over fixed time periods. Most companies are concerned about maintenance aspects of

such propriety control technology features and prefer developing a sustainable solution which

can be maintained easily and yet economical to operate over years. Keeping these aspects in

view, a new generic, real-time strategy has been developed to automate monitoring and

controlling of the loading arm. This strategy involves the following major stages:

a. Determination of the envelop of motion of the loading arm

b. Sensor type selection and installation

c. Development of stage-wise monitoring and control logic

d. Design of HMI and integration with the PLC

e. Incorporation of emergency shutdown procedures

2. Determination of the envelop of motion of the loading arm

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The entire possible envelop of the motion of loading arm must be determined so that all the

different possible zones with their respective boundaries can be identified. The volume of

envelop is based on the dimensions of the loading arm. AutoCAD is used to simulate the

loading arm movement and to determine the complete envelop. Figure 3 shows envelop as

simulated by AutoCAD software. Standard loading arms can move in three different planes - i.e.

in/out, left/right and up/down and the views of the motion are also known berth views.

Figure. 3 Envelope of Loading Arm Movement.

The maximum travel distance of the arm in any of the three planes will be determined from the

OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer’s) literature supplied with the loading arm. This

information will be used to activate the appropriate stage alarms depending on the fixed
 7

percentage of different plane boundaries. The activation for the alarms of the first stage will be

at 60% and the second stage will be at 80% of its envelope which results in the Emergency

Shutdown Sequence or ESD. The final, third stage at 85% will result in the Emergency Release

System (ERS). The settings 60%, 80%, and 85% represent the proportional rotary linear

displacement of the arm within the movement envelop. These are typical settings and have

been derived from analyzing the limit switch setting on most of the existing loading arms. It

should be noted that these settings can be easily modified, if required, to suit any other operating

conditions by changing the "4-20mA" input values from the linear rotary sensors into the PLC

Analogue Input.

3. Sensor type selection and installation

Position sensors are widely adopted in industries for real-time monitoring and control

applications due the inherent advantages such as the accurate position sensing, ability to

communicate with other digital equipment etc (Guntram, 2007). The monitoring of the loading

arm is achieved by the position sensors which will be able to determine whether the arm has

reached its maximum extended limits. State of the art sensors with a hermetically sealed

explosion proof linear rotary encoder have been chosen due to their robustness, accuracy,

repeatability, ease of installation and compact design. The linear rotary position sensors utilize

the "4-20mA" standard Industrial communication protocol, which makes the primary sensory

element compatible with any standard linear rotary encoder and even future technologies. These

sensors should be installed at specific, pre-designated locations on the loading arm based on

maximum allowable extension limits and to capture movements in all three planes i.e. in/out,
 8

left/right and up/down, since the loading arm can move in three different planes. Therefore a

minimum of three position sensors will be required which can be doubled for redundancy. Any

standard loading arm comprises of three articulating swivel joints; namely the base swivel joint

and two fulcrum swivel joints as seen on fig 1. The rotary linear position sensors are placed at

these three joints to measure the linear rotary movements of the arm, thus enabling the sensory

system to capture movements of the arm in the three-dimensional space as shown in figure 3. In

fact, the rotary position sensor (encoder) can be simply compared to a rotary potentiometer

where the radius of movement of the arm is a proportional radius of movement of the pot.

4. Development of stage-wise monitoring and control logic

The Siemens PLC S7-300 is the prime controller of this process in determining the sequence of

events. The PLC via the data Acquisition system; continuously monitors the loading arm’s three

dimensional position (berth views) and analyses the data via its logic sequence. The ladder logic

for the PLC was developed using the Siemens Step 7 Micro/Win 32 software. Figure 4 shows

the overall process logic that is being developed, for the loading operations.

The suggested control strategy will incorporate three stages of protection for the arm movements

in the three planes. The first stage will be a warning alarm when the loading arm passes its first

boundary limit of 60% of the envelope. The warning alarm will be a pulsating audible tone and

a flashing yellow lamp. These audible and visual alarm conditions are intended to be installed in

the field for informing personnel in the area. The alarm condition has been divided into three

categories. The first alarm beyond the allowable working envelope would be the warning alarm,

with a distinct tone and visual effect.

9
 10

Figure. 4 Overall control logic for operating the marine loading arm

If the operator is unable to take corrective action and the arm continues to travel further in the

same plane, it will move beyond the boundary limit of 80% of the loading arm’s envelope. This

will result in a second stage activation of the system, whereby initiating a shutdown of the

product loading pumps and closing of the main product trip valve which is situated on the load

out line. In addition, a pulsating audible tone and a flashing red lamp will be activated. These

conditions will also be field mounted. To avoid spurious trips, the trip logic would only trip the

loading process if the alarm condition is present for a predetermined time (eg. 15 sec. for ESD).

If the operator is unable to take corrective action and the arm continues to travel further in the

same plane, it will move beyond the boundary limit of 85% of the loading arm’s envelope and

into the critical extension area. Again these limits are represented by both different visual and

audible alarms. This will result in a third and final stage activation of the system, initiating the

ERS; uncoupling the loading arm from the loading ship hence preventing damage to the loading

arm and potential product spills.

5. Design of HMI and integration with the PLC

An operator friendly and highly interactive HMI has been developed using the Siemens Step 7

Micro/Win 32 software. The designed HMI has only two screens for simplicity purposes.

The first screen gives an overview of the process and loading sequence while the second screen

gives a detailed look at the actual loading arm and its associated operating parameters. Figure 5

shows the first screen with the complete process flow.

 11

Figure. 5 Over-view of complete process flow of loading operations in a typical ammonia plant

In the first screen, the storage tank level, product pump status, and both control and trip-and-

throttle valve positions are displayed. Additionally the system monitors Pressure, Temperature

and Flow along the product line. All alarm conditions along the process flow are displayed on

the screen. Trip conditions associated with these parameters are tied into the trip string which

shuts down the loading system until the trip condition(s) are reset allowing product flow to the

loading arm. The key objective of the first screen is to give the operator an appreciation of the

entire loading process allowing both monitor and control in real time. Process flow control is

achieved by the use of a motor operated valve (MOV001) that can be ramped up or down as a

percentage of the total flow. This is achieved via the soft touch button on the HMI screen.
 12

Figure 6. Three-dimensional articulations and views of a typical loading arm as seen in the HMI

Alternatively, the HMI also allows a single fully open and fully close operation of the valve via

independent switching from the same HMI screen. Figure 6 shows the second screen, which is

dedicated to the continuous monitor of the three dimensional articulating loading arm. To

appreciate the full movement of the loading arm, the system is broken up into the three (x,y,z)

planes or berth views. Berth 1 shows the X- axis or the in/out movement of the articulating arm.

Berth 2 shows the Y- axis or the up/down movement of the articulating arm. Berth 3 shows the

Z- axis or the slew movement of the articulating arm.

The three Berth views together; give the operator a three dimensional view of the movements of

the articulating loading arm. Thus the operator can closely monitor the arm movements from an
 13

isolated control room within a safe operational range from the actual loading bay. If the arm

exceeds the safe envelope of movement and move into the alarm condition, the respective

audible and visual alarms are sounded. To establish a distinction between a warning condition,

an ERS condition and an ESD condition; both visual and audible alarms have been assigned to

each scenario.

The product loading facility is not just a loading arm but can be considered as a control loop.

Therefore to accomplish full automation of real time monitoring and controlling of a marine

loading arm, the real time status of both the control loop and position of the loading arm will be

continuously updated and displayed on the HMI windows/screens. Both screens are soft-linked

for easy toggle between them and also reduce the confusion as well as cost for further hardware

to display them separately.

6. Incorporation of emergency shutdown procedures

There are varying degrees of loading arm designs i.e. from manually operated loading arms to

fully automated types utilizing wireless remote control technology. These modern loading arms

all utilize some form of position monitoring systems for tracking the position of their arms.

The approach to safety in the global environment has led to the standardization on what safety

controls designs should be on a marine loading system. All marine loading arm manufacturers

follow the OCIMF (Oil Company International Marine Forum) standards in their design.
 14

As explained earlier, the system is fed with other key parameters of temperature, pressure, flow,

level, motor status among others and processes. The base riser, primary and secondary arms of

the loader are equipped with position transducers. Due to the classification of the area, the

system operates on low voltage (24Volt D.C.) which eliminates the potential of an arc flash. The

transducers deliver a linear 4-20mA signal corresponding to the angular displacement the arm

undergoes. To record the slew, another position sensor is connected to the rotation axis of the

loader. It is proposed to include an Emergency Release System at the end of the triple swivel

assembly located at the end of the secondary arm. The system will allow an automatic release of

the arm from the vessel should it exceed the specified operational limits or for other emergency

cases. The automatic release of the arm from the vessel will be accomplished by use of a

normally energized in the “run” state solenoid. It will be combined with an additional solenoid

controlled quarter turn ball valve on either side of the Emergency Release mechanism to allow

shut off of product from either end. Both quarter turn ball valves are mechanically latched to

ensure their operation via the same actuating solenoid, using the standard double block and bleed

detachment method. Similar designs of the Emergency Release mechanism have already been

used in similar systems and therefore only the application will be considered and not necessarily

on the construction.

7. Discussion
The monitoring and control of a loading arm position during loading operations is absolutely

essential due to the risks involved and industrial safety regulation protocols. Manufacturers of

marine loading arms provide safe operating instructions, but the primary responsibility of

monitoring these areas is placed with the operators. Without another means of automatically

monitoring these areas, it can go unchecked and the results can be devastating. The main
 15

objectives were to design and simulate an automated positioning control system on a loading arm

to safely determine when the loading arm moves beyond these safe operating areas. Three levels

of alarm were designed, a warning level, an ESD level and an ERS level. These alarm levels

were tested in all of the three plane movements of the loading arm i.e. the left/right, up/down and

in/out.

When the movements of the loading arm violate the first level, audible and visual annunciations

were activated. When the second level is violated an audible and visual annunciation are

activated, in addition to the shutting down of the loading process to prevent any possible release

of the product (such as anhydrous ammonia) into the atmosphere, which can be dangerous. And

finally when the third level is violated, both audible and visual annunciations are activated in

addition to the Emergency Release System that was activated to uncouple the loading arm from

the ship to prevent damage to the loading arm.

8. Conclusion

A PLC based real-time monitoring and control system for a generic marine loading arm has been

developed so that it can be implemented on any manually operated loading arm. The overall

engineering process is simpler, easier to implement and manage due to the fact the industry

standard equipment and design tools have been used. This approach satisfies the standard

industry safety regulations and eliminates the possible risks and/ or spurious trips during product

loading. Using this generic strategy, manually or hydraulically operated marine loading arms

can be automated for effective monitoring and controlling purposes.

 16

References
OCIMF (2001), Oil Companies International Marine Forum, “Design and Construction
Specifications for Marine Loading Arms” (Third Edition 1999), ISBN: 185609071,
Witherbys Publishers

FMC Technologies (2010), “Chiksan Marine Loading Arms”,

www.fmctechnologies.com/EngineeredProducts/ChiksanMarineLoadingSystems/ChiksanM
arineLoadingArms, last accessed on November 2010.

S7 200 Brochure [CD-ROM]. (2008). Siemens AG automation & drives, Germany: Siemens AG
Automation & Drives.

S7 300 Brochure [CD-ROM]. (2009). Siemens AG automation & drives, Germany: Siemens AG
Automation & Drives.

Guntram Scheible, Dacfey Dzung, Jan Endresen, and Jan-Erik Frey (2007), Design and
implementation of truly wireless real-time sensors”, IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine,
Summer 2007, pp 25-34

GlobalSpec (2010), “Loading Arm Information on GlobalSpec”, http://flow-

control.globalspec.com/LearnMore/Flow_Control_Flow_Transfer/Related_Flow_Transfer_
Products/Loading_Arms, last accessed on November 2010.
Webb, J. A. and Regis, R. A. (1995), Programmable logic controllers (2nd ed). New York,
Prentice Hall Publishers

Petruzella, F.D (1996). Programmable logic controllers (2nd ed.). New York: Mc Graw.