[FUN] Fieldbus Tools

[Stephen Mitschke]

The FF-EUAC is producing a white paper on "FF Tools" and would like togather input from the experiences of those who have installed FF-H1segments. What are some of the problems you have come across & how you havesolved them is the basis. Details of what tools (even a wish list) you used& how the info these tools provided, solved the problem would beappreciated.Suggestions for the "ideal" tool for input to manufactures would alsoassist, maybe some are already on the drawing boards.Please respond to this list or if you wish to keep the comments morerestricted to Allen directly at "alanrt@ieee.org"Allen Tighe

[Stephen Mitschke]

Allen,With the exception of valves, device calibration is usually a two-personjob; one in the field at the instrument applying a pressure or immersing atemperature sensor in a bath, and the other at the system looking at theDCS. At the present time we know of no method for electronically recordingas-found and as-left data; this must be done manually.The fact that we have a mix of HART-based devices (for measurementsconnected to the ESD system) and FF devices (for basic control) addscomplexity as well.Another asset in our complex uses the NI fieldbus tool. We are looking intoa laptop-based platform from our main instrument vendor which may remedy thetwo-person problem. We already have one that's exclusively for valves.Ideally, I think a neatly packaged PocketPC based HMI (with appropriatehazardous area approvals) could solve this problem as well as severalothers. I think there's value in getting away from multiple platforms.John RezabekBP BDO Manufacturing

[Stephen Mitschke]

-----Original Message 1 -----The Relcom FBT-3 is a very useful tool.We were able to determine that we had a old version of the H1 cardinstalled.Actually more correctly put, we noted the Invert reading with the FBT-3 andRelcom told us the problem.A useful device would be a portable hand held bus monitor simillar to theNational Instruments (ie simillar to using a 275 Hand held to interpretHART) . I am not sure if this is currently available but most vendorsprovide all their configuration via the National Instruments softwarepackage as they do not own a HOST system. This information is presenteddifferently in the HOST system.(If this device had print capabilities wouldbe even better).When using Delta V, the instrument transducer block configuration isdisplayed in a different format to that used by National Instruments and canbe very confusing.For example when I look at a the transducer block for a Fisher Valve,Flowserve valve or a Samson valve, none are presented in the same format. Iknow that this is related to the DD file but it can be confusing if you havea problem.Recently I had a problem with a control valve. To get to the cause of theproblem I had to manually write down each and every line of information inthe transducer block. I then created a fifteen page spreadsheet (NoteEmerson tell me it is not possible to down load this information this exceptby doing multiple screen dumps). After I emailed the spreadsheet, the valverep in the USA was able to make sense of my problem and provide somesensible solutions.RegardsAmbrose Hargan-----Original Message 2 -----John,If I am not mistaken, and please correct me if I am wrong or did notunderstand you, there are commercial Calibration systems that automaticallyrecord the field calibration process and the as found as left values. Thisdata would then be downloaded into the calibration software to analyze theas found as left dataPlease educate me if I am wrong.Meir SteinSmartPlant Electrical Product Manager

[GLR54]

We need to understand if there has been any further development in calibration equipment/software for FF similar to existing analog/HART type Documenting Process Calibrators. If not right now, is there any in development?
If a transmitter is found to be out spec, what happens then?
Is everything still essentially manual?

[jberge]

I have not seen anything portable yet like there is for HART.

Fluke! Beamex! Where are you???

There HAS BEEN a major obstacle in the past. The lack of standard transducer blocks or device profiles.

It was relatively easy to make a documenting calibrator for HART because most relevant information can be read and written, and even some calibration, can be done using universal and common practive commands - without the need for DD files in the calibrator.

For FF some draft documents with standard transducer blocks were created but for some inexplicable reason they were not approved along with the function blocks. Device registration did not take transducer blocks into account. Therefore some devices followed the draft standard, while others did not. I guess many thought that since there is DD, there is no need for standard transducer blocks - forgetting about "simple" devices such as documenting calibrators and flow computers with instrument audit trail that need to communicate with instruments without usind DD.

However, work is going on to fix this. The specification for transducer blocks for a pressure transmitter is already approved, and work is being done for the temperature transmitters. This is the platform needed to create DD-less devices such as documenting calibrators. So, please ask Fluke, Beamex, et al to take a look at this and ask your local end user council to rush the ratification of the specs for the other transducer blocks.

[rezabejd]

Last time I visited Fluke's website (in the last month) I was prompted to complete a short survey. Among the questions were "wants" or priorities for calibration devices. Fieldbus was one of the boxes available to check off.

It may be an opportunity for users to alert one of our suppliers that a need and market exists for this sort of device. http://www.fluke.com

Emerson offers "Device Audit Trail" for DeltaV. We have it but have yet to try it out. In the meantime we still use the "manual" method for FF device calibrations.

John Rezabek
ISP

[Robin Burnikell]

Hi All,

The "Device Audit Trail" offered by Emerson, Smar and other system vendors are functions of our Asset Management software which is Windows Operating system (NT, 2000, XP, 2003 etc) based, not hand held device based. Emerson and Smar do provide levels of integration between our hand held configurators and our PC based software, but this does not meet all the requirements.

A few of our customers use Hand Held PDA e.g. Palm/Pocket PC with WiFi cards and wonder around the plant with these. This enables the engineers to access both our SCADA software and our AssetView (Asset Management software) so they can reconfigure and recalibrate devices as if they were sat at a PC hence maintaining the full audit trail, and system security.

However, there are many limitation to this, they have to have WiFi access, the battery life is not great (4 hours continuous use) and the Handhelds are not scope meters. Having said all that, those that use them love them, because they also have all the functionality of a PDA, e.g. they can keep track of their emails, their calendar, browse the internet (to a degree) etc whilst out on the plant.

I guess what I would really like is a scope meter and Palm/Pocket PC PDA and DDL HART/FF configurator hybrid all in one device. But as that is not going to arrive for a long time (if ever) I guess we would look forward to having a generic FF auditing scope meter we can use alongside our Hand Held Palm/Pocket PC PDA DDL HART/FF Configurator.

Regards,

Robin

[Jaime F. Garcia]

Emerson has a 375 Hart/FF calibrator. It provides some of the functionality of the FBT-3 plus access to FF devices on the segment.

Jaime F. Garcia
Fluor Canada