A Burner Management System or BMS is a safety system used to assure safe start-up, operation and shut down of process burners.
Burner Management System (BMS)
A Burner Management System
- It is a safety mechanism that monitors fuel-burning equipment and assures for safe and efficient operation of process burners in the boiler system during the start-up period, range operation hours (transient conditions) and during shut down period.
- It is used on heated vessels in the oil and gas industry where precise control of temperature is required.
- These Burner Management Systems are found everywhere to control heat within a vessel such as Heater, Line heaters, and some horizontal separators.
- Burner Management systems can be easily identified by observing a stack and flame arrestor.
- It is a combination of products for
- Monitoring and controlling the temperature in a heated vessel.
- To ensure safe start-up and shutdown process burners.
What is a transient condition?
A transient condition is defined as the normal operating period of the system, where the operating parameters lie outside the defined system specification for normal steady state operating conditions. These do not include normal start-up, normal shut-down, and emergency shut-down.
What are the steady state and transient state?
Steady-state: steady state of the system is a condition where the flowing fluid does not vary with time and is being balanced.
Transient state: A transient state of a whole system is a condition where the flowing fluid varies with time and is unbalanced.
Generally, both steady state and transient state are opposite to each other.
Objectives of Burner Management System:
- Sequence burner through safe start-up
- Ensure a complete pre-purge of the boiler
- Supervise safety limits during operation
- Supervise the flame presence during operation
- Sequence a safe shutdown at end of the cycle
- Integrate with combustion control system for proper fuel and air flows
Various types of BMS System:
When the sensors are unable to detect the flame the Burner Management System directs the actuators to close the fuel flow to the burners, to slow down the flame.
In industry, the Burner Management systems are classified into two:
1. Separated:
- It is the traditional method to implement a Safety Instrumented System (SIS) and a Basic Control System (BCS).
- Both the SCADA systems communicate with each other through buses and a common communication protocol.
- In this method, Safety Instrumented System (SIS) and a Basic Control System (BCS) logic solver and workstations are two separate pieces of equipment.
2. Integrated:
- This is the modern method to implement a Safety Instrumented System (SIS) and a Basic Control System (BCS).
- In this method, the Safety Instrumented System (SIS) and a Basic Control System (BCS) logic solver and workstations are on common equipment.
- The logic solver is a Programming Logic Controller that respects industry standards such as Safety Integrity Level.
An integrated system offers:
- Integrated operating interface
- Integrated fire and gas detection system
- Integrated peer control
- Integrated power supply
- Integrated diagnosis
- Integrated security tools
- Integrated backup and recovery tools
- Integrated post-incident analysis
- Integrated simulation and optimization tools
- Data exchange of data between systems is fast because of direct communication.
What are the Components of the Burner Management System?
1. Burner :
It is the equipment or device for producing heat in the furnace by burning fuel in the presence of air.
2. Controller:
It is the microprocessor-based controller used for sequencing and controlling the purging and ignition operation of fuel valves and ignitor.
3. Flame Detector:
The flame detector is a device to sense the existence of flame by providing a proper signal to sense the flame.
4. Ignitor:
It is a fixed device to ignite all burners in the furnace for fuel burning.
5. Valves:
These valves are used to regulate or shut off the fuel and airflow to the fuel system.
What are the logical functionalities of Burner Management Systems?
Logic functionalities of Burner Management Systems:
- Prevents the equipment from start-up and firing in the furnace without completing of combustion chamber purge
- Prevents or restricts the equipment start-up and firing without any safety interlocks when the conditions are unsafe.
- Protects the heater from inappropriate quantities of fuel entering it.
- Monitors and controls the sequencing of every component during start-up and shut-down of the equipment.
- This will allow for the continued operation of equipment only after assuring safety interlocks.
- Provides the status and feedback of the equipment to plant operators, control systems, and data loggers.
- During the On period of equipment, this provides automatic supervision and Master Fuel Trip (MFT) when unacceptable firing conditions occur.
What happens if we do not use Burner Management System?
- The burner management system reduces the chances of fire and accidents.
- The absence of BMS causes the burner gas to vent out to the atmosphere until manually shut off.
- If a pilot flame turns off the burner gas flows continuously regardless of the absence of temperature control.
- This creates a very critical situation that can cause damage, proving to be dangerous and expensive.
What are the benefits of the Burner Management System?
- Enhances the overall plant performance,
- Reduces the ownership charges, and ensures controlling duty in the plant.
- Increases on-site workers and equipment safety with appropriate interlocks.
- Reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
- Minimizes the expenses by reducing intervention and shutdown time
- requires less maintenance
- Improved Reporting Capability
- Simplifies the operation of the unit by providing alarm notifications.
Application of BMS System:
The Burner management system is used in industries that have boilers, furnaces, burners, or other flaming equipment such as
- Oil and Gas industries,
- Power Generation,
- Chemical Industry,
- Process Industry.
