Effective Compliance with IEC 61508 When Selecting Solenoid Valves for Safety Systems

Safety is a critical requirement for all industrial plants, particularly those in the oil, gas, chemical, and power industries. It’s vital that users and OEMs keep up with recent changes in IEC 61508 regulations concerning SIL levels and the transition from 1H to 2H methodologies. These issues can impact selection of solenoid valves and prepackaged redundant control systems (RCS) for implementation in a safety instrumented system (SIS).

This paper explains how the new regulations are especially applicable to applications such as safety shutdown systems, boilers, furnaces, high-integrity protection systems, and more. It reviews the issues in developing a compliant SIS using valves and RCSs. The paper also explores how making the right choices in safety system planning and valve selection can affect design time, costs, and effort — as well as the safety of the plant itself.