Effective Start-up and Increased Plant Availability
Effective start-up and increased plant availability through fieldbus physical layer diagnostics
Advanced Diagnostics for the FieldConnex® Power Hub
Advanced Diagnostics for the FieldConnex® Power Hub transfers physical layer supervision of the fieldbus in real-time to the control room. Detailed analysis increases productivity during commissioning, operation and troubleshooting in process automation.
In today’s well-accepted fieldbus installations reliable communication at the field device level has become a critical factor for system availability. Yet fieldbus physical layer status itself is the only link in the chain exempt from supervisory control and asset management functions. Until now diagnostic work required expensive on-site troubleshooting utilizing hand-held devices or cumbersome oscilloscopes. Long-term supervision of the fieldbus was impossible.
Monitoring the communication signal
Advanced Diagnostic Solutions from Pepperl+Fuchs monitors the fieldbus network in real-time. Its trending capabilities detect creeping changes in particular and help predict availability of data, thereby enabling planned, proactive maintenance. Despite difficult to control factors such as water ingress, EMI or corrosion adversely affecting the fieldbus, overall plant availability is increased. Turnkey plant builders improve productivity during commissioning with Advanced Diagnostics: In-depth views on signal levels or jitter per device expedite fieldbus checkout. Automated documentation removes tedious and repetitive work.