Integrated plant management

This combination of the field-based PlantWeb architecture from Fisher-Rosemount and the Foundation field bus technology enables the potential opened up by intelligent field devices, device-neutral automation and company-wide information transfer to be exploited to the full.

In addition to various other economies, it facilitates a higher return on investment, more consistent processes and improved plant availability.

The protocol of the Foundation field bus makes use of open, digital communication technology that conforms to international standards. It has been specially designed for automation tasks and offers a robust functionality for intelligent field devices operating in a network. The protocol has been developed by the Field Bus Foundation. The members of this Foundation are all leading international suppliers of control systems and field instruments. The newly defined user layer (above the application layer in the ISO/OSI 7-layer model) allows the functions of interoperable devices to be distributed via a network. The device descriptions (DD) used for this purpose and the device description language (DDL) guarantee access to all the device functions through the network. Furthermore, the clocked, coordinated data transfer principle of the Foundation field bus facilitates flexibility and a data throughput that would be unthinkable with ordinary master-slave protocols. This functionality is a major ingredient of the process management architecture via the network of the PlantWeb concept.

Synchronisation techniques in conjunction with devices that offer „automation in the field“ enable automation tasks to be processed according to deterministic principles. Defined tasks are in other words executed at fixed times and within fixed periods.

Thanks to the combination of these technologies, the Foundation field bus is able to implement device-neutral automation and company-wide information transfer in process management systems. The key to its success lies in compliance with standards and functional compatibility. The field-based PlantWeb architecture with Foundation field bus technology is already installed and opera-tional in a number of plants. Significant reductions have been achieved in both installation and engineering costs.

The devices used to monitor the furnace belonging to a large chemical firm in Alberta, Canada, comply with the final specification of the Field Bus Foundation. This successful project is the first time the Foundation field bus has been implemented in the field-based PlantWeb architecture. Not only wiring costs have been drastically reduced, but also the time and effort required for installation, commissioning and testing. The installation and testing phase was completed within a mere 15 man-hours instead of the usual 200 hours for analogue devices. The overall costs were around 30% lower than for projects based on conventional instrumentation.

The waste gas pressure in the plant is measured using Rosemount’s 3051T series of transmitters, arranged on field bus segments. The devices are linked to the Delta VTM automation system from Fisher-Rosemount Systems to facilitate communication on the field bus, management of information about the process and the connected instruments and interfacing with the plant’s existing central control system.

The field bus technology of the DeltaV system, its integrated plant management software (AMS) and the information supplied by the 3051T transmitters enable both operators and maintenance technicians to keep an eye on the status of all connected devices, and to configure, calibrate and if necessary repair them remotely from the control room. The plant owner anticipates a significant reduction in maintenance costs and down times as a result of this new plant management system.

Fisher-Rosemount

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Further information cpp-204