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Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) is a Bolivian state-owned company in charge of managing all the country’s hydrocarbon resources: exploration, operation, refining, distribution, import, export. Within the Accuload III project, YPFB’s logistics branch (YPFB Logistica S.A.), which handles storage and transport of liquid hydrocarbons refined on the national scale, entrusted our TRITEC(2) partner with the renovation of the automated loading platforms and their integration to the ERP(1), the SIGOPER(3) information system of YPFB.
Effectively manage tanker loading orders
In addition to traditional control/command functions of the automation equipment – M340 controllers by Schneider Electric – Topkapi provides the interface with the truck loading orders management system. Indeed, the latter are generated on the level of the SIGOPER software, then transmitted to the AccuLoad III controllers and calculators by FMC Technologies through Topkapi.
The principle of information exchanges between databases was chosen: Tritec developed a routine allowing duplex information transmission between the SIGOPER database and a MySQL database dedicated to Topkapi. The loading orders are hence written continuously in the DBMS linked with TOPKAPI. Topkapi’s OWSQL component loads them into the real-time database, which then writes them into one of the M340 controller’s tables.
The OWSQL object, a module instantiated in Topkapi’s database as all variables, ensures event-based triggering of SQL queries (freely configurable) to read data from the DBMS to Topkapi or conversely write data from Topkapi to the DBMS.
A well-honed mechanism to have all the necessary data for loading
At this stage, the controller then has the information necessary to loading:
- Transaction number
- Product to load
- Total volume assigned
- Volumes assigned per truck compartment
The truck driver merely enters his transaction number in the HMI of the AccuLoad calculator, which checks whether the number exists and delivers only the quantity of hydrocarbons specified in the loading order.
YPFB Logistica S.A. managers are provided with real-time remote monitoring of all transactions on each loading platform, through a Web server connection. Once loading completed, a report is generated in Topkapi’s real-time database. The OWSQL module then writes it into its MySQL database to make it available to the SIGOPER system.
Topkapi is now deployed successfully in the main YPFB Logistica S.A. sites. The original structure of its database associated with its SQL ADO.net connector makes it a solution easy to deploy and adapted to the need. AREAL’s technical support in Spanish played an important part in proper performance of the project beside TRITEC.
(1) Enterprise Resource Planning
(2) TRITEC is a Bolivian automated systems integration company intervening in the fields of industrial computing and low and medium voltage systems. They have been AREAL’s partner in Bolivia for more than 20 years.
(3) SIstema de Gestión OPERativa / Operative Management System