Good component failure rate data is a cornerstone of good quality reliability metric analysis. As mentioned in a previous exida whitepaper, one of the shortcomings of reliability databases has been the inability to handle variations in the operating environment. A sensor monitoring a flame and the processor interpreting the signal…
exida explains Blog
- by Todd Stauffer
- Thursday, August 12, 2021
- Software
“Data is King” – Introducing the Sovereign of Component Reliability Databases
With the drive for digitalization and the Internet of Things the expression “Content is King”, coined by Bill Gates, has now been replaced by “Data is King”. This is especially TRUE in functional safety where the safety and reliability predictions generated from a Failure Modes, Effects & Diagnostics Analysis…
- by John Yozallinas, CFSE
- Tuesday, December 04, 2018
- Software
Who needs sliced bread? We’ve got ARCHx!
I’ve heard this phrase so many times in my life… “<Something> is the best thing since sliced bread.” I personally can’t remember a time when sliced bread was not available, but I certainly remember going to the deli and having them use the slicing machine before handing me a bag…
- by Kate Hildenbrandt
- Wednesday, January 18, 2017
- Software
Reducing Project Lifecycle Cost with exSILentia®
The international functional safety standard IEC 61511 provides the safety lifecycle as a steadfast guideline to assess and mitigate risk for manufacturing processes including refineries, chemical, petrochemical, pulp and paper, and power plants. To achieve a functionally safe system, it is essential to follow each…
- by Iwan van Beurden, CFSE
- Tuesday, June 14, 2016
- Software
The Meaning of Tool Integration
What does tool integration mean? One can argue it is the ability for different tools to talk to each other and exchange data. Though this may be true from a typical software tool integration, a common definition of integrate, i.e. to bring together or incorporate (parts) into a whole…
- by Iwan van Beurden, CFSE
- Monday, May 23, 2016
- Software
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: exSILentia® – PHA / PHAx™
Each month at exida, we strive to spotlight one of our products that makes the job easier for today's industry professional. In this blog, I wanted to talk about the PHAx module as part of our exSIlentia Safety Lifecycle Suite.
Process Hazards Analysis (PHA)
Process…
- by Todd Stauffer
- Tuesday, March 15, 2016
- Software
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: SILAlarm V2.10 - Alarm Flood Suppression
The ISA-18.2 and IEC 62682 alarm management standards provide recommended targets for average alarm rate and for alarm floods - a condition during which the alarm rate is greater than the operator can effectively manage (e.g., more than 10 alarm per 10 mins)…
- by John Yozallinas, CFSE
- Tuesday, September 15, 2015
- Software
Return to the “Just Do It” Approach
*The “Just Do It” approach was previously referenced in the blog entry Seat-of-your-Pants Software?
If used early in the development lifecycle, a “just do it” approach could help marketing determine the look-and-feel of an application program with a complex user interface. Early software prototyping on a PC…
- by Dr. William Goble, CFSE
- Thursday, September 03, 2015
- Software
To Spreadsheet…or NOT to Spreadsheet
I remember the first time I ever saw a spreadsheet program. It was called “VisiCalc" and ran on a Commodore PET computer. My first thought was, “What is that good for?” Then I tried it and was totally hooked. I conclude that the creation of the spreadsheet has changed…
- by Iwan van Beurden, CFSE
- Thursday, April 30, 2015
- Software
LOPAx™: This is Awesome!
You will probably not hear me sing the LEGO® Movie’s “Everything is Awesome” song, I’ll keep that private (and you should be thankful to me for that). However as we just released the LOPAx™ module of the new exSILentia® v4 platform, I have come to…
- by Iwan van Beurden, CFSE
- Thursday, February 26, 2015
- Software
Using the PHAx™ Libraries
Conducting a Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) can be quite laborious. In a HAZOP, you will systematically evaluate the applicable deviations for each node, within each unit, within each plant. The exSILentia® v4 PHAx™ module is setup to use…
- by John Yozallinas, CFSE
- Wednesday, December 03, 2014
- Software
Seat-of-your-pants Software?
I’ve had software development folks tell me that the “just do it” approach is a valid lifecycle model for SW development. In their context, this means writing the code based on limited marketing and design information and then backfilling the requirements and design specifications to describe what was done. …
- by Steve Gandy, CFSP
- Monday, April 28, 2014
- Software
Still Using Excel to do PFD Calculations?
It’s very interesting to me to find that people are still using excel to do PFD calculations. Whereas this is probably okay for simple single element architectures (i.e. single sensor, single logic solver and single final element), it becomes extremely complicated when dealing with redundant architectures. Moreover, for performing…
- by Dave Butler, CFSE
- Thursday, August 29, 2013
- Software
Software Modeling and Functional Safety: Part 2
Part 1 of this blog entry discussed software modeling, modeling notation, and modeling tools. But, what does this have to do with Functional Safety? The IEC 61508 standard has requirements, for certain SIL levels, regarding the use of:
- “Semi-formal methods”
- Computer-aided specification and design tools
- Design standards
- Performance modeling …
- by Dave Butler, CFSE
- Tuesday, August 27, 2013
- Software
Software Modeling and Functional Safety: Part 1
Mechanical CAD and electronic schematic capture tools have been around much longer than graphical software tools. This is primarily because physical objects are more naturally represented as components in a computer-aided design program, and it was more obvious how to design those technologies at the time. The “soft” in…